GURPS sex/class/race templates

[Speeko77]

First I will take this opportunity to laugh at how this ended up as an argument between two people who apparently know each other in the real world. Funny how boards work out this way.

Second,being a psych student, I saw Luther's refute of the multitask trait and I remembered a study. The multitasking thing really is proven. Women have a thicker and more developed corpus callosum (sp) which is the membrane that connects both hemispheres of your brain. This allow them to focus on more than one thing at a time much more efficiently than men (who are better at specializing in one area). This also accounts for the fact that men are more extreme. Males are MORE LIKELY to lean towards right or left brain, wheras women sit in the middle. I remember seeing a study where men and women were put into a kitchen with several things going on at once. The women proformed alot better.

I am far too lazy to go find the video tape so I won't. It isn't that important.

[banditangel]

I remember seeing a study where men and women were put into a kitchen with several things going on at once. The women proformed alot better.

Did they take in to account the fact that males have a racial -4 to Cooking skill? ;)

(Actually, pretty much every guy I know cooks better than me :))

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by banditangel

Did they take in to account the fact that males have a racial -4 to Cooking skill? ;)

(Actually, pretty much every guy I know cooks better than me :))

my Pych class covered the same study, got to see the tape.

Taskes included, making toast, taking a phone message, ironing a shirt...

basicly nothing that TL8 person should not beable to complete on deafults, even males.

[Kyle Aaron]

Originally Posted by Speeko77

First I will take this opportunity to laugh at how this ended up as an argument between two people who apparently know each other in the real world. Funny how boards work out this way.

Naw, I just see him on other boards. He's on a whole different continent.

Second,being a psych student, I saw Luther's refute of the multitask trait and I remembered a study. The multitasking thing really is proven.

Yep. And almost every man disagrees with it despite all scientific evidence, and almost every woman agrees with it. Funny, that:)

My cheffing experience suggests that women are better at, quite literally, keeping several things on the boil at once. Of course, that's anecdotal, but so is, for example, Olympic athletic performance, and that's been quoted at length, so :-p.

Remember - the boys talking about "realistic" games don't want a realistic game. They want their favourite action movie.

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by Jim Bob

Yep. And almost every man disagrees with [multi-tasking concept] despite all scientific evidence, and almost every woman agrees with it. Funny, that:)

If it's true, it would make evolutionary sense. You have to watch out for what the toddler is doing while you're watching out for predators and gathering roots and berries and whatnot. Or chipping tools. Or weaving.

(And, anecdotally, I handle child-based distractions in the middle of MMORPG combat a lot better than ze spouse, who gets very snappish.)

Even if true, it's more of a Perk for flavor than anything else -- I have no idea if it actually helps in a real life and death situation (as opposed to MMORPG life and death). It would mostly be something like seeing a woman cooking with a full stove and a half, or cooking and baby-wrangling, or a computer wizard with several forums and a chatroom or three running, or the tactical expert who always has her hands busy doing something (whittling, knitting (deadly knitting needles of doom!), smoking), or the research mage with five projects in various stages of completion strewn around her workroom.

It would be more striking as a Perk/Quirk pairing -- not only would the signs be there, but there might be a psychological addiction to multi-tasking. The character might be actually bored if she's not doing 2-3 things at once -- knitting, cooking while chatting on the phone, on five chatrooms at once, etc.

If a GM wanted to have a particular slant for psi, though, women might get a small (or large, if the GM really wanted a slant) bonus to Mind Shield type skills/abilities -- with the ability to stuff pop songs at the top of the brain and still be relatively effective doing things. Or the GM could slant that the other way -- the pop songs and the crucial data are both "in the surface thoughts." Or it could be something of a mix -- they're both in surface thoughts, but mixed in so that a male telepath might be at a disadvantage (-1 or whatever slant the GM is advocating) sorting them out.

Note all of the above is speculation on whether multi-tasking aptitude (if it's true at all) would have any effect on a character or game whatsoever. It might be subtle enough that in most people, it doesn't manifest at all in a way a game would care about.

[Luther]

Originally Posted by Speeko77

Second,being a psych student, I saw Luther's refute of the multitask trait and I remembered a study. The multitasking thing really is proven. Women have a thicker and more developed corpus callosum (sp) which is the membrane that connects both hemispheres of your brain.

And do you think this should provide the benefits of the original advantage?

[Speeko77]

Well Luther, I'm not sure if the way the multitasker advantage was written is coherent enough to be playable. It says +1 to tasks after the first. Does that mean in combat? Does moving, then attacking count as two things? I think that the difference is enough to warrant some sort of bonus, maybe not in a combat situation but perhaps out of combat such as researching and making something and cooking? I don't know if it would be very helpful in game terms but it would add flavor. Perhaps the issue would merely be rewriting the multitasker advantage, not removing it.

[Luther]

+1 is a good bonus in GURPS. It can be as high as +2/+3 in D&D.

I don't think there is scientific evidence to justify such a big bonus.

[HolsteinCow]

EVIL GODLESS SOCIALIST (-5 to -60)

Advantages

IQ +2 (40)

Select one of the following:

Patron [infidels.org](5)
Patron [somethingawful.com](30)
Ally [That guy you met on a gaming forum that lives close to you](15)
Claim to Hospitality [The Communist Party of America](5)

Disadvantages

Fanatisicm [The Canadian Government](-15)
Enemy [The NRA](-45)
Intolerance [Republicans](-15)

Choose one or more of the following:

Killjoy(-15)
Callous (-5)
No Sense of Humor(-10)

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by HolsteinCow

EVIL GODLESS SOCIALIST (-5 to -60)

Intolerance [Republicans](-15)

Close, but it's actuly

Intolerance [worshipers of Green-back] -15

Though Callouse doenst work fit. it mean the core consept of socialism is to look out for your fellow humans.