Traits for clothing

[Peter Knutsen]

I'd like to have a "picks"-based Clothing Design system for Sagatafl, so that players can very quickly design outfits for their characters, by choosing a small number of Clothing Traits, each having a positive or negative picks value, essentially Clothing Advantages and Clothing Disadvantages, with most costing or giving 1 pick, but some traits being able to be doubled up or even tripled up.

So I need a bunch of Traits.

Here are my ideas, so far:

Warm (protects against cold, can be doubled, even tripled to Warm++, although not all cultures knows how to make Warm++, and in any realistic low-tech setting Warm+/Warm++ outfits ought to have one or even two levels of Bulky)
Thin (the clothing outfit is made of thin fabric without being flimsy, making it good in warm weather, can be doubled up, but tripling doesn't make sense to me - you can't make clothing ultra-thin at low TeLs. Futuristic clothing may have both Warm and Thin, 1 level of each, and strongly Enchanted clothing may have 3 or even more levels of both, but otherwise it's one or the other, the one exception being if a Reversible outfit is so thick that it automatically must buy Warn - then Thin can also be bought to negage the Warm effect)
Camo (can be doubled or tripled. The clothing gives camouflage effect in whatever Terrain matches its colours. Standard camo colours (such as brown and/or dark green or grey) tend to work in most Terrains, and even an outfit without the Camo trait will give some small benefit if its colours matches the Terrain, especially if the character isn't moving)
Ghillie (the outfit has many attachment points for twigs and the like, meaning that it's easy and quick to spend some time to "ghillie up" the outfit. The outfit doesn't need to have Camo to have Ghillie, but the two go well together)
Reversible (costs two picks. You can reverse the outfit to reveal another surface, with a different colour and some different traits. You don't have to pay extra for Camo to have Camo benefit for both surfaces, but many other traits must be purchased twice if they are to apply to both surfaces (the GM uses his sense of realism for this as well as for other effects, e.g. some Reversible outfits by necessity become so thick that they must also buy the Warm trait, even if that is inconvenient for the wearer). A very skilled tailor, spending a lot of time and expensive resources, could make a Reversible+ outfit (six picks) that's faster to remove, reverse and then put on again)
Quick (the outfit is much quicker to get into and out of than normal. Incompatible with Reversible (buy Reversible+ instead of Quick if you want this effect). Costs 1 pick. An unusual clothing trait, but useful for some character types. Magical or futuristic clothing may have Quick+ for 2 picks, but... use cases are difficult to imagine)
Proof (clothing is water resistant or water proof for Proof+, or Proof++ if the clothing can be sealed (or can function as a wet suit, giving the thermal insulating effect). Not that in a medieval setting, Proof+ and ++ are only available via magic)
Clean (clothing is easy to wash/clean, or very easy to clean for Clean+, super easy to clean for Clean++. Clean might be barely possible in a modern setting, but really it's meant for futuristic outfits such as clothing with a permanent static charge to repel dust, or Enchanted clothing in a fantasy setting to create a similar effect where you can rinse the outfit simply by dipping it in a stream for a few seconds, or even just wearing it while it rains, e.g. the favorite silk dress owned by Daalny the Herb-Wise)
Stains (the opposite of Clean, Stains means your outfit is difficult to wash if it gets stained by blood, mud or anything else, while Stains+ makes it impossible to clean. If it gets stained anyway, you will look ridiculous until you discard it. Stains++ means your outfit gets permanently stained even if exposed to rain or to heavy or prolonged snow! 1 negative pick per level)
Brig (brigandine, there's concealed armour under your clothing. Brig gives you AV 2 thin metal, Brig+ gives you AV 3 sturdier metal and costs 3 picks total, Brig++ requires post-medieval Steel and gives you AV 4 and costs 6 picks total. Fleetness penalties to be decided later, but they'll be higher than for normal visible armour of the same AV. Note that if people in general find out you wear brigandine, you might start to accrue points towards a Reputation for paranoia, unless you or your profession is recognized as liable to be assassinated, e.g. if you're a renaissance era cardinal)
Reveal (the outfit is shaped, slitted or otherwise designed such as to reveal or emphasize the wearer's body (one example is the NPC Daalny the Herb-Wise, frequently wearing a dress that she's actually outgrown, making for a very short hemline and a very snug fit: 1 level of Revealing and fortunately the silk and the tailoring is stretchy enough not to make it Restrictive). Outfits are sex-specific, and Reveal can be doubled or tripled for female outfits. It distracts people sexually oriented towards you, makes them not take you seriously (stripper ninja of both sexes, exploit this!) and should give a bonus to Seduction rolls and to Sexual Orientation Flaw trigger rolls)
Flimsy (the outfit is not very sturdy, tears easily, tends to not last long under anything resembling adventuring conditions (it gradually gains Reveal, but beyond that you must actively "work" on it to upgrade to Reveal+). Makes it easier to resist heat as for Thin. Costs 1 negative pick, or 2 for Flimsy+ which will degrade real fast. A Flimsy outfit may have Warm, but will lose that (and indeed lose many other traits as well - the GM uses his sense of realism here) very soon upon being damaged)
Durable (the outfit is sturdy. Can be doubled or tripled. Professional adventurers want at least level 1 Durable. Many working class professions wear Durable outfits as a matter of course, and (male) nobility often owns some such outfits for hunting or even warfare, so 1 level is rarely remarkable even if noticed)
Worn (the outfit is worn, small tears, some or all of them patched. Makes you look poor. Worn+ makes you look like a homeless person or a neglected slave. Costs 1 negative pick per level)

[Peter Knutsen]

Fine (can be doubled or tripled, a generic fanciness trait, stacks with specific fancinesses)
Silk, Beaded, Thread, Embroidered (specific fanciness traits, Beaded, Thread and Embroidered can be doubled or tripled (Thread++ would be heavy use of gold thread, Beaded++ would be the use of actual pearls and (polished) precious gemstones), while Silk is a non-tiered trait costing 3 picks and counting for 3 levels of fanciness. In some settings Cheap Silk may be available costing 1 pick)
Coarse (the outfit is made of coarse thread, making it look cheap (something a poor person would wear) and making it a bit harder to wash and keep clean. It's neither particularly sturdy nor flimsy unless one of those traits are chosen. Coarse+ is very cheap, while Coarse++ is the equivalent of wearing a sack with holes cut into it for your arms and head (also buy Restrictive if you're wearing an actual sack!). Costs 1 negative pick per level)
Dyed or Purple (Dyed costs 1 pick, means the clothing is dyed in vivid and rare hues (many common colours are available for free), or that the secondary colour is Tyrian Purple, the most extravagant dye available. Purple means that the primary colour (or if desired, the entire colour) is Tyrian Purple).
Dull or Faded (counts as 1 negative pick. Your outfit is almost completely colourless, a dull grey or dull brown, or else it is dyed but that was Moons or Years ago and long exposure to sunlight has created some uneven and unflattering fading effects. Note that Tyrian Purple is immune to sunlight, it never fades. Some other fancy dyes have some sunlight resistance but they will eventaully fade. Note also that in a medieval setting, spending lots of time outdoors is characteristic of the working classes, while the rich and privileged will stay indoors as much as possible. Take Faded instead of Dyed, not in addition to Dyed)
Fitted (can be doubled. The outfit fits exactly over your body's contours, having been made by a tailor according to precise measurements of your shape. Extremely rare in a medieval setting so creates a very striking look, but by the renaissance it's common for the upper class, and tailored suits are a "thing" in a modern setting. Tripled Fitted might be available in a futuristic setting with affordable laser-based body contour scanners and auto-looms, or could be made by a modern-day tailor with lots of time on his or her hands and some form of obsessive-compulsive perfectionist disorder. Double Fitted otfits require re-tailoring every so often, while triple Fitted ones require re-tailoring several times per Moon)
Brand or Count (not available in a medieval setting, but in a modern setting you can look expensive by wearing brand name clothing recognizable as such. Brand outfits may have an actual logo, but Brand+ and Brand++ outfits are way too fancy for logos. Count costs 1 pick but makes the gullible assume you're wearing a Brand++ outfit, while the more savvy will notice that it's counterfeit and so won't take you seriously, which may be embarassing, or may be exactly the effect you want to achive if you're a con artist)
Bulky (this outfit is bulky and gives a -2 Fleetness penalty while worn, costs 2 negative picks, or Bulky+ for -4 Fleetness and 4 negative picks. Bulky+ usually goes along with at least one level of Warm, but not always)
Padded (as Bulky (do not take both) you get -2 Fleetness, but also 1 AV, and benefits as if 1 level of Warm. Note that unlike Brigandine, Padded/Bulky is normally quite visible. 2 levels of Padded means the padding is shaped to make the character look 2 levels more Adipose than he is, e.g. Thin looks Normal, Chubby looks Fat, and so is no longer recognizable as a padded outfit, and does not automatically give Warm (buy that separately if you want it). 3 levels gives -3 Fleetness instead of -2 but makes the wearer look 3 levels more Adipose, and also doesn't give Warm. Costs 1 pick per level)
Restrictive (this outfit restricts your movements somewhat, the equivalent of wearing a long robe or the like, and so gives a -1 Fleetness penalty and a further -1 Move Factor. Not that robes can be designed to not give this penalty. That's rare, but robe-wearing adventurers do exist, and can work with skilled tailors to have suitable robes made. Many modern fancy outfits for women are both Restrictive and one or two levels of Revealing. Can be taken at 1-3 levels (-1 Fleetness and Move Factor per level, and with level 3 you're also completelyunable to take Run or Charge Move Actions, except if the outfit is Flimsy - if so your first Run or Charge causes the outfit to become torn - damaged). Note Quick above as a fast way to get out of a restrictive robe for those not afraid of partial or complete nudity)
Corset (this counts as 1 level of Revealing (stacks with normal Revealing) on a female wearer without making her look like she's actively seeking male attention, but gives -2 Fleetness and lowers effective Endurance by 2 levels while worn, and the CFP cost for Run and Charge Move Actions are doubled (6 Minutes to get rid of these effects after removing the corset, or 1 Minute if hyperventilating). Corsets were unknown in the medieval period, so the effect of a female character wearing one would be quite striking. Male corsets are a possibility, and would have somewhat similar effect (most likely to hide a belly, or to make the torso more v-shaped), but haven't been in fashion at any time throughout Human history.)

Jewels is not a trait that costs picks, but simply a designation that the character will routinely wear his or her primary jewels and other primary accesories when wearing that outfit (i.e. unless the player specifically tells the GM otherwise).

Any outfit starts at Quality 3, and then the picks chosen will raise or lower Quality, with levels of generic Fine or generic Coarse added last to arrive at the final desired quality (e.g. a typical ArchDruid would never wish to be seen in public wearing less than Quality 6 clothes, and for vain specimens the threshold is higher, while in some cultures those of lower class are required by law or by custom to not look fancy).

[jason taylor]

Customized: fitted with unusual traits, like hidden pockets, etc.

Culturally customized: As above but made to mark a distinct group. Includes military uniforms, ethnic garb, "casual" religious garb(religious garb for daily use rather then for ceremony, for instance a necklace and metal logo), occupational or caste symbol, etc.

Ceremonial: Specifically worn on ritual occasions and kept in pristine condition otherwise(wedding dress, priestly robe, royal or noble regalia, etc). "Sacralization level" varies(a Barrayaran officer's red-and-blues on the one hand and a Count's house garb).

Functional: Assists in activity; web belt or vest, hidden pockets(as mentioned in customized) for peddlers or spies, etc.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Customized: fitted with unusual traits, like hidden pockets, etc.

Culturally customized: As above but made to mark a distinct group. Includes military uniforms, ethnic garb, "casual" religious garb(religious garb for daily use rather then for ceremony, for instance a necklace and metal logo), occupational or caste symbol, etc.

Ceremonial: Specifically worn on ritual occasions and kept in pristine condition otherwise(wedding dress, priestly robe, royal or noble regalia, etc). "Sacralization level" varies(a Barrayaran officer's red-and-blues on the one hand and a Count's house garb).

Functional: Assists in activity; web belt or vest, hidden pockets(as mentioned in customized) for peddlers or spies, etc.

Thanks a lot, I think I'll use most of those. Maybe all!

[The Colonel]

Loadbearing? The clothing has an unusually high number of pockets (like cargo trousers or a fishing vest) ... which for some women's clothing in particular could mean having pockets at all.
Probably a reversible trait as well for things like those damned annoying formal suits with "sewn up" fake pockets only.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Loadbearing? The clothing has an unusually high number of pockets (like cargo trousers or a fishing vest) ... which for some women's clothing in particular could mean having pockets at all.
Probably a reversible trait as well for things like those damned annoying formal suits with "sewn up" fake pockets only.

The problem is, each increase in Quality, meaning just 1 "pick", drastically increases the cost of the clothing outfit. I'm thinking the first few picks doubles cost each, and after a threshold each additional pick triples it.

So this means that if a player wants to say "this outfit, that I'm defining as one of those that my character wears often, has pockets in it" then he's required to pay double the monetary cost, or even triple the monetary cost, for the privilege of saying that during character creation (or later, if he wants his character to explain to a tailor what kind of outfit he wants made).

It's a much simpler system than the "Cost Multiplier" system that GURPS uses for equipment. You total up Quality (+2 for this, +1 for that, -1 for this thing...), and use a lookup table to see the final cost multiplier (if you can't do the mental arithmetic that Q7 is four doublings over the baseline Q3 and thus x16 cost). And it means that a lot of somewhat trivial things fall below the resolution of the system.

I could see an outfit having a lot of large and variously shaped pockets, all easy and quick to access, such as the one initially worn by Aiken Drum in "Pliocene Exile", costing 1 pick. That's radical enough to make sense, justifying a doubling or even tripling of monetary cost.

But whether your outfit has zero, two or four pockets, really is very far below the resolution of the system. Even more so in a medieval settings where pockets are nonexistent or at best highly unusual, although of course the system should eventually be expanded to be useable for all kinds of settings.

I need fairly coarsegrained stuff. Okay, well, "loadbearing" itself is OK. That's similar to one of Jason's proposals. But I really don't want anyone to waste time quibbling over the numer of pockets or how many cubic centimers they can contain.

Outfit traits are deliberately borderline iconic, e.g. Daalny's exhibitionistically short dress, or her brother's almost-complete refusal to actually dress like the ArchDruid he is (he very much goes for a "ranger" look). Characters express what they are, and what's important for them, through their choice of clothing (real people do too - even if I wasn't phobic about putting stuff into my eyes, I'd still opt to wear eye glasses most of the time), and it affects the first impressions they make on others (neither Daalny nor Kolku look like druids at all, in their regular outfits and with stark tans, in a setting where normal druids are pasty-faced indoors types), and if characters wear outfits not suited for adventures but adventures happen to them anyway, them we'll have something to laugh about.

Imagine a character concept for a modern day ninja who has as one of his three defined outfits a Reversible one, fancy suit-and-tie stuff on one side like straight out of a Michael Mann movie, but all colours quite dark so he can also skulk around at night in it, and the other side looks like the clothes of a homeless bum with "ghillie" attachment points, that he mostly uses to attach fake vomit and the like (bought in novelty shops - the best one give off a faintly unpleasant smell if you rub them vigorously) but can also be put to real "ghillie" use to attach twigs and branches, and "incidentally" the bum side of the outfit has urban camo colours, and whichever way the outfit is turned he can insert a narrow but heavy ceramic plate under it, 12-15 cm wide, to protect the center of his torso against pistol rounds, because he's had enough of getting shot and ending up in the ER being asked awkward questions.

That's what I want.

Building blocks for players to build interesting outfits for their characters, if they're so inclined. Most players won't, they'll just pick a standard pre-made outfit. But there's a minority of players who will see - and utilize - the opportunity to make their characters stand out in that way.

Another option is concealed carry. Anyone can put a sheathe for a knife or throwing knife up his sleeve. But if you want a fancy suit that's modified so that you can have a barely-visible shoulder holster with a pistol, under it, then sure that's a pick. Or the Ärth NPC Connor Mac Connor, who has one throwing knife up each sleeve plus two more in each boot, as well as half a dozen throwing knives visibly hanging on his belt (and spares in his travel pack). I think that's a pick too. The Swedish secret agent Carl Hamilton, whose trousers all have lots of tiny holders for individual bullets, along the inner lining... That's not a pick, even though he has this particular Chinese tailor, in the USA, that he pays to make then ship the trousers all the way to Sweden. It's below the resolution of the system. "Dude, you're a millionaire, and your outfits are all Q5 and Q6 anyway. You can have this tiny mod for free."

[jason taylor]

Variable color: Some versions may be suitable for party clothes, others for camoflage. Only available at High TL

Heraldric: Has specific emblem embroidered or otherwise attached. Elaborate for specific cultural traditions.

Implanted: Contains memory chip(s) implanted for ritual, functional or other purposes.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Variable color: Some versions may be suitable for party clothes, others for camoflage. Only available at High TL

Heraldric: Has specific emblem embroidered or otherwise attached. Elaborate for specific cultural traditions.

Implanted: Contains memory chip(s) implanted for ritual, functional or other purposes.

Variable colour is good for futuristic settings, yes. Or magical, as with Saruman's new robe.

Heraldric is already covered by Embroidered+ or Embroidered++ for something really elaborate.

Implanted does not seem to me to be a property of the clothing outfit, although if it's wired with internal data pathways (fiber optical cables) then it starts being worth +1 pick. I mean, you could add internal fiber wiring to an outfit as a cheap upgrade, but that'd be prone to damage to the fibers and so might not last long (especially if you run around and climb a lot, i.e. adventuring conditions), whereas if the outfit is "born" with it then the fiber optic material used will be sufficiently stretchy to remain reliable during normal use, and placed in the exact right spots, etc.