What does this symbol mean: ¥

[jeremy]

"The amount of Corruption a caster can accumulate in this fashion is 2 ¥ Magery ¥ local Bleak Rating per casting attempt."

In Nightreign, bottom p. 28.

In GURPS books, is that a magical calculation symbol? It's probably not Japanese Yen from our Homeline.

Thanks!

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by jeremy

"The amount of Corruption a caster can accumulate in this fashion is 2 ¥ Magery ¥ local Bleak Rating per casting attempt."

In Nightreign, bottom p. 28.

In GURPS books, is that a magical calculation symbol? It's probably not Japanese Yen from our Homeline.

Thanks!

Probably a character error on a multiplication sign.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Probably a character error on a multiplication sign.

Actually I think it's a placeholder used during early stages of the manuscript. I've seen many "yen" symbols used in that role in playtest phase files.

The "yen" are supposed to be removed and the proper symbol inserted during final preparation. A global search for all "yen" symbols should work much better than one for all "x"s.

Sometimes they slip through anyway.

From context they probably were supposed to be multiplication symbols.

[jeremy]

Thank you!

[sjard]

As I recall, GURPS pdfs use a custom font, and the x for multiplication is substituted in place of the yen symbol in more common fonts.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by sjard

As I recall, GURPS pdfs use a custom font, and the x for multiplication is substituted in place of the yen symbol in more common fonts.

That tracks - copying and pasting from a GURPS PDF invariably changes the multiplication symbol into ¥. I never knew why until now, so thanks for that. Note searching a GURPS PDF for ¥ will also show all the multiplication symbols.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Varyon

That tracks - copying and pasting from a GURPS PDF invariably changes the multiplication symbol into ¥. I never knew why until now, so thanks for that. Note searching a GURPS PDF for ¥ will also show all the multiplication symbols.

Yeah its definitely this. GURPS writers often use it in their own work as they are just used to it after working with the style guide.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I thought I recalled "this means 'multiply'" explicitly stated in some GURPS book somewhere.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

I thought I recalled "this means 'multiply'" explicitly stated in some GURPS book somewhere.

I doubt it, as the yen symbol is supposed to be replaced during the final production stages. That it got through is just an error.

[Pursuivant]

It's clear that ¥ = x (multiplication sign).

It's a weird miscalculation of the ASCII/Unicode multiplication symbol, left over from whatever publishing software SJG was using in the 1990s (and might still be using AFAIK).

It's deliberate, for the same reason that templates for GURPS article/book submissions look so weird.