Discussion of 'CP' as an Abbreviation

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by finn

Hide, which page of GURPS Magic are you referring to here?

Not him, but I have my PDF handy and can confirm it's in there. Page 15 and twice on page 64.

[Plane]

based on the Mental Control Points introduced in that Pyramid article on Possession basically being MCP, I like to retroactively think of TG's points as being Physical Control Points or PCP.

As for character points, what if we called them Character Development Points or CDP? That way they all have unique initials and we don't need to worry about who gets the original two by each taking a 3-initial version.

It's not as pretty as the standard 2-letter stuff like HP/FP/ER or IQ/ST/DX/HT but for other stuff like damage don't we usually shorten it to "DMG" plus there is MAX and 1/2D and ROF or PERC or WILL which all exceed 3 letters.

[Hide]

Originally Posted by finn

Hide, which page of GURPS Magic are you referring to here?

Just as he said:

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

Not him, but I have my PDF handy and can confirm it's in there. Page 15 and twice on page 64.

Did you find it, Finn?

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Oh, and it has never used "experience points." Some people claim otherwise, but they won't find anything in print to support their view. The game has always used "bonus points," "bonus character points," "earned points," and "unspent points" for this concept.

It gets really close, though. "All in a Night's Work" in the third edition book has a box at the end titled "Experience," which tells you how many character points you get for the adventure. It doesn't actually use the phrase "experience point," but this could easily be a source of the confusion.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Harald387

For what it's worth, Basic Set never abbreviates 'character points' as 'CP'; I'm not going to do a text search on the entire library to verify …

I have. There are a few places where the error has crept in. I'll report errata.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I have. There are a few places where the error has crept in. I'll report errata.

Yep, it's an error if you see that . . . It's common knowledge, I believe, that I was too busy shortly after the release of GURPS Fourth Edition to check the first few hardbacks that came out, so if I were to wager, I'd place the errors there. That means Banestorm, Fantasy, Infinite Worlds, and Magic, though I'm not saying there are problems in all of those works. Of those, Magic was the only volume where I was left thoroughly and completely out of the editorial loop.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Of those, Magic was the only volume where I was left thoroughly and completely out of the editorial loop.

That's the only one of the early hardbacks where I found the problem.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables, PDF version 1.1, February 2011. Two instances, both on p. 5, in the box "Delayed Gratification"

GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters, PDF version 1.0, February 2009. Two instances, both on p. 8, in the box "Signature Gear", hiding close to the legitimate abbreviation "CPS".

GURPS Magic, 3rd Edition, Second Printing, September 2006, three instances: p. 15 under "Advantages and Disadvantages" and p. 64, in the "Energy cost to cast" sub-heading of Weapon Spirit.

Pyramid Dungeon Collection, PDF version 1.0, September 2019, one instance: p. 89, under "Clerical Investment".

Given a PDF search tool with regular expressions, finding this kind of thing is easy.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Oh, and it has never used "experience points." Some people claim otherwise, but they won't find anything in print to support their view. The game has always used "bonus points," "bonus character points," "earned points," and "unspent points" for this concept.

/blink blink

Originally Posted by DF 3 The Next Level, pg 42

Advancement customarily takes the form of “experience points” earned for killing and looting, which differs from the GURPS standard of bonus character points for good roleplaying!

Come on man, you even wrote it!

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

/blink blink



Come on man, you even wrote it!

Actually I think that line proves the case. experience points are in quotes and the context clearly a comparison to other games.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Actually I think that line proves the case. experience points are in quotes and the context clearly a comparison to other games.

Bingo. It's exactly a comparison to other games, clearly contrasted with "the GURPS standard."