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Old 07-13-2018, 05:13 PM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Duty [-2 to -25] is a mundane social disadvantage. You have obligations, which can be enforced against you, must be carried out personally, and sometimes demand hazardous activities. This is often associated with some kind of Rank, a Patron, or some form of social privilege, such as Legal Enforcement Powers or Legal Immunity. Most mundane jobs are not Duties, although very arduous or responsible ones might be. Obligations towards Dependents are included in their value, and can’t be increased via Duty. Obligations that are not enforced, except by your feelings, are normally Sense of Duty rather than Duty. This disadvantage dates from GURPS 1e, and the idea has not changed since then.

The base cost of a Duty [-2 to -15] is determined by its frequency of occurrence (6- to 15-). In theory, the GM rolls for this before each session for each character with a Duty. This is a lot more workable if Duty is part of the campaign framework, such as all the characters working for the same organisation. In those cases, the GM can roll once for all the characters, and the cost of Duty may be excluded from any disadvantage limit in use. Another way to play a Duty is for it to impose a secret agenda or additional mission for the character, within their normal adventuring. That might well be a Secret as well as a Duty.

The GM has explicit license to forbid or limit Duties if they’ll be disruptive to the story. They also have the implicit right not to roll, and just decide if characters are on duty. Modifiers to the cost of a Duty include [-5] for one that’s routinely hazardous and imposes major penalties if it’s refused, [-5] for one that’s involuntary because it’s enforced by means like threats to loved ones or mind control, and [+5] for one that isn’t ever hazardous. Duties with zero or positive cost aren’t valid disadvantages.

Published templates for characters with important and risky jobs, such as soldiers, police and spies normally have a Duty. Slaves have an involuntary one. The Discworld RPG has a lot of examples, since many jobs there are life-defining; Action has quite a few, and some extra ways of incorporating them into adventures. Adaptions has examples of Duty and its relationship with Patrons and Allies. Alphabet Arcane has NPCs with some strange Duties, and Banestorm has more comprehensible ones. Boardroom and Curia emphasises the relevance of Rank to Duty, and the Harrowed Hearts Club can impose Duty via possession. Horror has Duty examples raging from a veteran soldier being reactivated to a vampire’s thrall; in Lands out of Time, tribal warriors and hunters all have Duty or Sense of Duty. Martial Arts often involve Duty to a school, teacher or liege, as does being involved with Gladiators. Mysteries has Duty (Legal Ethics) [-1], although it can be more if the GM approves.

The Power-Ups series has perks that involve a minor Duty, and a way of constructing one-off duties as quirks. Social Engineering has material on detecting Duty, promotion in an organisation, and calling on its resources; Pulling Rank elaborates on the last of those. Nearly everyone has Duty in Tales of the Solar Patrol, and Template Toolkit 1: Characters has reasons (apart from genre convention) why that’s so. Thaumatology has Duty (Being Used) for magic items that are characters, and Transhuman Space: Changing Times has Duties for AI characters. Ultra-Tech has Duty for robots, and people with implants they don’t control. Giving your Zombies Duty is a good way to keep them under control.

I’ve only ever used or played Duty as part of a campaign framework, where even for a 15- Duty, the occasional off-duty scenario is possible. Using it any other way seems to require subtlety: I could imagine a campaign where some PCs had regular duty as police, for example, and spare-time collaborators who used information that was gained during police service, but that’s a lot easier for an author to do than a GM. How has Duty been important in your games?

Last edited by johndallman; 07-15-2018 at 03:44 PM. Reason: Markup
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Old 07-15-2018, 06:58 PM   #2
acrosome
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Well, almost any campaign involving PC police or military will have Duty. Something like Delta Green springs immediately to mind. Realistically, EVERYONE in a medieval setting has a duty, even the peasants if they are subject to levy. Well, maybe not the king.

My the modern US legal definition a LOT of people have a "duty", like doctors and lawyers and EMS. Anyone who can be either sued or charged criminally for failing to act has a duty. Not sure that's equivalent to a GURPS Duty, though.
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Old 07-15-2018, 11:31 PM   #3
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

I've made a cop NPC with a Duty to his police force, and also one to the underworld figures that planted him there. Essentially he's supposed to do his regular job, but report everything to the Boss. Of course he's got a hefty secret too.
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Old 07-16-2018, 09:18 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

The question I always had when I saw this disad was "Does mandatory military service with a lifetime prison sentence if not fulfilled counts as a GURPS involuntary duty, and if not fulfilled, is it appropriate to replace it with Enemy?".
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Old 07-16-2018, 09:21 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrosome View Post
Well, almost any campaign involving PC police or military will have Duty. Something like Delta Green springs immediately to mind. Realistically, EVERYONE in a medieval setting has a duty, even the peasants if they are subject to levy. Well, maybe not the king.

My the modern US legal definition a LOT of people have a "duty", like doctors and lawyers and EMS. Anyone who can be either sued or charged criminally for failing to act has a duty. Not sure that's equivalent to a GURPS Duty, though.
The King has duty to do homage for any subsidiary titles he possesses in another realm.
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Old 07-17-2018, 04:16 AM   #6
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
The question I always had when I saw this disad was "Does mandatory military service with a lifetime prison sentence if not fulfilled counts as a GURPS involuntary duty, and if not fulfilled, is it appropriate to replace it with Enemy?".
Conscription should be Involuntary, unless avoiding it only carries very light punishments. And this modifier got to cause trouble, so an Enemy is appropriate
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Old 07-17-2018, 06:20 AM   #7
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
The question I always had when I saw this disad was "Does mandatory military service with a lifetime prison sentence if not fulfilled counts as a GURPS involuntary duty, and if not fulfilled, is it appropriate to replace it with Enemy?".
Maybe and yes respectively.

A GURPS Duty is a responsibility you cannot skip to go adventuring, no matter how much you want to. There have to be serious consequences to quitting anyway to qualify as a Duty (if you *wouldn't* quit even if there weren't it's a Sense of Duty instead). It only counts as Involuntary if those consequences are basically campaign ending, or at least far more horrible than the Duty, so if you will automatically be caught and imprisoned for life, I'd consider letting you claim Involuntary that, but if there is a decent chance you can escape and replace it with an Enemy worth less than the Duty would be, then no. And yes, Enemy is the appropriate disadvantage for being on the run from law enforcement.
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Old 07-17-2018, 08:20 AM   #8
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

I mostly use Duty as a marker for "I have a job." The penalties aren't severe, so unless it's full time (12 or less) it's not worth points, but you aren't free just to up and run off.
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Old 07-17-2018, 09:05 AM   #9
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Usually I handle Duty with a very light touch. Essentially, it is a source of adventure hooks, and the points are your “making my job as GM easier” bonus. However, I tend to assume the x1 modifier for all duties, because I don’t usually roll, and just go for when something logically turns up.

For times when most adventures are missions, I use Action’s policy of adding a secondary objective. I particularly like Action’s suggestions, and generally seeing what the player does with them. My favourite on the list is “stay close to another PC” or generally observe someone and report, because it’s relatively low-risk or less stressful for the player, and it can be fun if you’re like me and actually like doing things like IC written reports. A good use of Writing in your report can probably meet your Duty even if your actions during the mission would otherwise be lacking...

I also like Action’s method of “punishing” failed Duty, namely being a reduction in Rank-based benefits relating to your character’s position. Personally, I like to treat social connections as a reward rather than a punishment (too many problems with That Other Game and DMs who see any family members as people to kill for pointless drama) – Duty becomes how you pay for those rewards. Fail in your Duty, and the rewards from Ally/Rank/Patron is reduced temporarily, usually until you have fulfilled something for your ‘boss’ to earn their favour again. So really Duty is more a carrot than a stick.

And it can be a random encounter. Say for a policeman. Crime in progress, officer needs backup, you might be technically off-duty but you’re near the area and expected to respond… even if only unofficially. You could refuse, and might not even be punished for it on paper, but your co-workers will look at you differently, and might not respond to your requests for backup.

As for normal jobs not being duties, my guideline is that a normal job would be a [-5] Duty reduced to 0 by the Non-hazardous modifier.

I don’t usually like to use Duty for things like vampire’s thralls, possession, zombies and so on – because most of them would have Reprogrammable instead, and taking Duty feels like double-dipping. Especially with minions. I would only allow a Minion such as a zombie to have Duty if failure has consequences for the master who bought it as an Ally.
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Old 07-17-2018, 12:04 PM   #10
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Duty

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
The King has duty to do homage for any subsidiary titles he possesses in another realm.
This is not however dangerous to the king in any way (or even particularly time-consuming). It's basically the need everyone has to pay taxes. Not every obligation is a Duty.
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