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Old 08-14-2016, 01:18 AM   #1
Christopher R. Rice
 
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Default Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

So in my current campaigns I've been looking at secret identities for characters and I think a modifier for hero costumes to give a bonus to Disguise rolls is in order:

+1 for +4 CF, +2 for +19 CF, and +/TL for +99 CF.

Anyone have any thoughts to add here? How they handled it in there games? What do you think about a static Disguise roll for the costume itself?
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Old 08-14-2016, 01:35 AM   #2
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Depends a lot on the costume.
Superman, Wonder woman, Aquaman, not so much.
Batman, most of the archers better.
Heck Daredevil in the Netflix show used a shirt tied around his head so cost isnt the real issue.
I would go with +4 for costumes that included gloves, helmet, and body armor or padding. Your not trying to look like someone in particular your just trying not to be seen as yourself.
Your voice is going to be more of an issue, especially if people record and broadcast your speeches. I would say Mimicry is best for that, and a SOP perk to be consistent about using it all the time.
Voice distorter may be better if you can afford one.
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Old 08-14-2016, 01:59 AM   #3
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

In the short superhero campaign I ran I basically divided costumes into three types for disguise/donning:
1)Easy: something that can be under normal clothes and at most pulling a hood and gloves from the pocket. These types of costumes did not require any special things. Though technically they hard to be hidden with holdout but mostly with a bonus so did not have to roll for normal hiding. If they had been captured by a villain as "civilian" or similar there might have been a roll. All costumes were in this category unless you had gadgets and/or ally suit and/or you wanted a complex suit.
2)Hard: something that includes larger gadgets or similar things that cannot be easily hidden. Here they could either hide them at a hefty penalty or come up with a reasonable explanation how their gadget could masquerade as something common and buy a perk to allow that. That perk changed the thing to basically be same as the easy ones. Without the perk you would definitely had to roll to hide it.
3)Impossible: Things like battlesuits and such things that are about impossible to hide. If they were bought as Allies they could have summonable for effectively being able to hide. If they where bought as gadgets I allowed them to buy a special version of low/no signature that instead of hiding the effect hid the gadget when not in use. In both cases they had to explain what happened to the gear.
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Old 08-14-2016, 02:27 AM   #4
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Thing is, superhero costumes work because people are less-than-observant, and has nothing to do with the quality of the costume. Various actors have tried this IRL, including going to cons immediately after a movie or while standing right in front of a poster.
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Old 08-14-2016, 03:17 AM   #5
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Don't forget that the Skintight Schtick Perk (from Supers and Power-Ups 2: Perks) enables you to wear a superhero/villain uniform underneath your civvies without having the uniform show through it. This is pretty much standard for folks like Superman and Spider-Man who wear their uniform underneath their civvies (in Spidey's case, it also hides the bulk from his full-face cowl essentially being stored where most would see a lowered hood).

Without that perk, the TDMs I'd use when dealing with hidden super outfits.

+1 to Holdout for thin layers of spandex and similar materials, provided you wear clothing that would fully cover it (no hiding Superman's uniform underneath a tank top and shorts).

-2 to Holdout for somewhat bulkier stuff, such as uniforms made from ballistic fabric.



For maintaining a secret identity when parading around in your uniform:

+0 to Disguise for a mask that covers just the mouth and nose or covers just the eyes, leaving the hair run free.

-2 for just using grease paint over the eyes when wearing a hood (sorry, Ollie).

+2 to Disguise for a full-face mask that leaves the hair free.

+2 to Disguise for a Batman-type cowl that leaves the mouth and nose free.

+4 to Disguise for a full-face mask like Spidey's or a helmet like Iron Man's.

+1 to Disguise for wearing a wig.

+1 to Disguise for having a symbol on the chest that distracts from your face.

Of course, some folks go out with their face open, but most of them who have secret identities hide their identity in other manners: Clark Kent wears glasses, Superman does not.
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Last edited by Phantasm; 11-15-2016 at 02:51 PM. Reason: finished incomplete thought
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Old 08-14-2016, 04:24 AM   #6
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Why only +4 for disguises that include a helmet? For something like a helmet and a bulky coat, I would be inclined to give enough of a bonus to make it an almost impossible challenge to recognise even someone using Disguise at default and who only spends a few minutes putting on the disguise. A bonus of +25 or more.
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Old 08-14-2016, 04:56 AM   #7
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andreas View Post
Why only +4 for disguises that include a helmet? For something like a helmet and a bulky coat, I would be inclined to give enough of a bonus to make it an almost impossible challenge to recognise even someone using Disguise at default and who only spends a few minutes putting on the disguise. A bonus of +25 or more.
There are other factors involved: height, build, and body language, among others. Also note that I did not mention "a bulky coat" when it came to the helmet; I'd give a bulky coat a +1 or +2 to the roll as well.

Little things like that add up.
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Old 08-14-2016, 05:44 AM   #8
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
There are other factors involved: height, build, and body language, among others. Also note that I did not mention "a bulky coat" when it came to the helmet; I'd give a bulky coat a +1 or +2 to the roll as well.

Little things like that add up.
Should not disgusing your body language be an Acting roll?

It still seems way too low even if you add a +2. An IQ 10 person using Disguise at default would then only roll against 11 (and that is when spending 30 to 60 minutes on the disguise). In that case a skilled observer would have a very good chance of recognising that person.

Recognising someone just from things like roughly knowing their height and build is pretty much only plausible when you have a small number of people to choose among.

On the other hand, if we use the +25 bonus I mentioned, then the same IQ 10 person who takes 3 to 6 minutes to put on a disguise like that would roll against 21. This would make it very hard for even a skilled person to see through the disguise, which seems much more reasonable.

Last edited by Andreas; 08-14-2016 at 05:49 AM.
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Old 08-14-2016, 07:19 AM   #9
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post
So in my current campaigns I've been looking at secret identities for characters and I think a modifier for hero costumes to give a bonus to Disguise rolls is in order:

+1 for +4 CF, +2 for +19 CF, and +/TL for +99 CF.

Anyone have any thoughts to add here? How they handled it in there games? What do you think about a static Disguise roll for the costume itself?
I'm not really sure why TL should matter. What pieces of technology do we have at present for making effective superhero disguises that couldn't have been done (with different materials, but still) in, say, the 1500s if you had enough money?

That said, in sci-fi, there may be some pieces of tech that help (holograms or face shifting modifications, maybe), but I would probably deal with these separately. It doesn't seem like there's a steady TL progression.

Also, note that there's a genre convention (that you may or may not want in your game) that says that costumes that should be ineffective are actually quite effective (see Clark Kent).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
Thing is, superhero costumes work because people are less-than-observant, and has nothing to do with the quality of the costume. Various actors have tried this IRL, including going to cons immediately after a movie or while standing right in front of a poster.
Sure, and that could work for so long as nobody is specifically caring and trying to figure out who you are. Start doing superheroics, though, and there will be plenty of people looking closely and trying to figure you out, cross-referencing with image databases and probably using gait-recognition programs and the like. Your defense by nobody paying much attention goes out the window pretty quickly.

Last edited by dfinlay; 08-14-2016 at 07:19 AM. Reason: spelling
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Old 08-14-2016, 10:19 AM   #10
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Default Re: Disguise Rolls for Superhero Costumes

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghostdancer View Post
So in my current campaigns I've been looking at secret identities for characters and I think a modifier for hero costumes to give a bonus to Disguise rolls is in order:

+1 for +4 CF, +2 for +19 CF, and +/TL for +99 CF.

Anyone have any thoughts to add here? How they handled it in there games? What do you think about a static Disguise roll for the costume itself?
1. People under-rate the effectiveness of even the most modest disguise in screwing up eye-witness testimony. Rob a bank wearing a clown nose and pretty much every witnesses will only be able to say "He wore a clown nose". The much maligned domino mask probably won't fool your girlfriend when you rescue her, but if they ask the thugs afterward, all they'll get is "big and muscular, wore a mask".

2. Similarly the skimpy eye-candy costumes of many fictional heroines and some male heroes, while not especially dignified and posing other problems during physical activity do attract the eye to places that aren't especially useful for post-action identification. "I'd know those breasts anywhere!" doesn't work. This stops working, however if you have exposed scars, tattoos, or birthmarks.

3. "Pretty" is usually pretty generic. There are an endless number of ways to be ugly. Only a few to be pretty. Even though people tend to look at pretty people more, it's still usually harder to tell one pretty person from another if you can't go by voice and hairstyle. The most distinctive thing about a pretty woman tends to be her hairstyle. Wear a wig in civvies and even people who know her well may have trouble recognizing her.

4. However the rise of the surveillance society complicates the question of disguise. It becomes increasingly difficult to operate without having recordings of you in action, recordings that can be studied at length and compared to image databases. True the effectiveness of modern facial recognition software is over-rated. They're easy to confuse as long as you aren't actually posing for the cameras. But presumably they will improve as technology advances, and comic book geniuses don't have to wait for other's people's technology to advance. I recommend molded masks.
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