Furry Hell Parallel

[Tom Mazanec]

Another thing that this webcomic brings up...what the hooch is the Divergence?
The League of Nations still existed at the Fall of Civilization but World War Two (with Nazis) had occurred. Neitherland is a major nation and its Capitol Hillside is one of the top five or ten World Cities. But Tootsie Rolls™ and The Wonder Twins © are part of the cultural background. Technology is at least TL 9 with some superscience but uses teeny-tiny vacuum tubes.

[Tom Mazanec]

@Michael Cule:
It gets darker as it goes. Aaron implied everything will work out in the end, but since he has repeatedly been in the ER in the last few years I hope he lives to show us the end.
This is a world where Unique would be an Advantage!
One Disadvantage not covered in the rulebook (because it hadn't been revealed at the time) is Four Fingered Hand. The mutated human anthros, who have gone through the ultimate Outside Context Problem and survived for years in a hellscape of giant ravening monsters (which are also former humans) and genocidal biosuited Topsiders, and who have come to terms (more or less) with being anthropomorphic animals, have four fingered hands but do not realize this fact until it is forcibly brought to their attention. Then they suffer extreme cognitive dissonance and near nervous breakdown. It takes awhile for them to recover.
How would GURPS model this Disadvantage?

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

How would GURPS model this Disadvantage?

Pretty sure there's nothing in the RAW written specifically for this kind of situation, but off the top of my head if I wanted to do this I'd probably call it something like:

[b]Five-Fingered Delusion Time-Bomb [-1]: You have four fingers on each hand and suffer no physical disability from it, but whole-hearted believe you have five and being forced to perceive otherwise causes mind-blowing trauma. If this happens to you, roll an immediate Fright Check at -20. Any permanent mental effects from failing badly reduce your point total, but it also goes up by [1] for "free" because this Quirk is lost.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

One Disadvantage not covered in the rulebook (because it hadn't been revealed at the time) is Four Fingered Hand.

Secret (from one's self)? Once it's forced on you, then you take disadvantages equal to twice the value of the secret? I wouldn't give this a high value, though. Maybe -5 points.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

This is a world where Unique would be an Advantage!

Debatable. There are advantages to being an anthro (not least of which is their increased healing), and topsiders have been indicated to hate those immune to the transformation even more than they hate the anthros. It's probably a small Advantage for a topsider, as it means they won't turn into a monster if their suit is breached and they may be able to conceal the fact their suit was breached from their compatriots, but it's probably not worth counting on.

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

One Disadvantage not covered in the rulebook (because it hadn't been revealed at the time) is Four Fingered Hand.

The anthros have quite a few mental blocks like this, really. They are unaware of their enhanced healing, fail to comprehend that many of the transformations markedly reduce their lifespan (hence the general lack of insect-folk), do not notice that their - and their friends'/family's - personalities shifted when they changed, etc. I'd be tempted to put all of it in a single [-5] Delusion.

As for the horrible reaction to finding out, I think that was largely specific to Wally. He was already under a lot of stress - he kept getting fired for doing too well and was now at risk of losing his adopted son, in addition to it being pointed out to him by a creepy guy who was specifically trying to mess with his head (out of boredom). Oh, and said creepy guy brought up Wally's brief interaction with "God," which likely dug up some stressful memories. He's also someone who is introspective and pays a lot of attention to details, so the fact he'd missed it was quite the shock to him. Note Kirbee's response to finding out was markedly less intense. Granted, Kirbee may have simply passed her Fright Check with flying colors (she doesn't seem to spook easily).

[Tom Mazanec]

Good points, Varyon.
Me, I didn't know how long something like a broken arm takes to heal...never had such an injury, and don't remember how long it took the one classmate who had one decades ago to heal. I'd just think it was faster than I might have expected, that's interesting. Stuff like mass change you may not think of because it is like the stars in daytime...the Big Change is so huge I wouldn't notice the details. Maybe the fingers were the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

Me, I didn't know how long something like a broken arm takes to heal...never had such an injury, and don't remember how long it took the one classmate who had one decades ago to heal.

About 3-6 months for the bone to mend, possibly longer to regain full strength and motion depending on the specifics of the injury. EG: I fractured my ulna with a poorly-executed strike to a jaw (well, kinda poor - the guy did drop like a rock) and had my arm in a cast for 3. One of my exes had a horrific mishap while snowboarding that actually knocked her elbow outside of her arm, and she had surgery, then various metal braces and such for about 6, but it was over a year before she was 100% like new.

[Tom Mazanec]

Everett Smith agrees with you, Varyon. He emailed me that realizing you have only four fingers is one mind point.
BTW, I suppose Infinity would just write this place off as a Hell Parallel and forbid access (that's what they usually do with such nasty places, right?)?

[Tom Mazanec]

Debatable. There are advantages to being an anthro (not least of which is their increased healing), and topsiders have been indicated to hate those immune to the transformation even more than they hate the anthros.

This looks to me like Regeneration (slow) pB80. We know it's complete in a maximum of a couple weeks, but that is the first time her arm was "tested"...it may have healed faster.
EDIT: And what kind of Disadvantage are the Topsiders for the Anthros? Secret hardly seems appropriate when they are obvious targets.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Tom Mazanec

This looks to me like Regeneration (slow) pB80. We know it's complete in a maximum of a couple weeks, but that is the first time her arm was "tested"...it may have healed faster.
EDIT: And what kind of Disadvantage are the Topsiders for the Anthros? Secret hardly seems appropriate when they are obvious targets.

Probably Regen (slow) and a modified version of Regrowth. Note Regen doesn't normally have an effect on any case of Crippling beyond Temporary (where you regain function once you're back at full HP), and a broken bone is always at least Lasting if not Permanent. To have a reduction in time from Lasting, you'd need some form of Regrowth. As we don't know when Holly's arm actually healed, it's hard to say if they simply have a reduction in time or if they have the full Regrowth effect of all Crippling being treated as Temporary, so long as the limb is still attached.

Topsiders are simply a threat for any character who isn't a topsider - just as you don't need a Disadvantage to represent the fact there are marauding orcs in a fantasy setting, you similarly don't need anything to represent the presence of topsiders here. If they are specifically after a certain character (or if said character simply has really bad luck and tends to run into them frequently), said character could take them as an Enemy.

It occurs to me this would be a good setting to make use of GURPS Horror's Stress and Derangement rules. Also, After the End's rules for scavenging and the like. And, of course, GURPS Furries, once that comes out (or if you happened to be part of the playtest).