Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-13-2018, 11:07 AM   #51
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert View Post
The big part is the latter clause, where it notes that skill descriptions count. As whswhs has noted, if it specifically notes that some advantage does apply for one skill, that implies that it does not for others.
Yes, and of course you CAN make an exception and apply an unusual modifier, just as you can make an exception and treat Law or Dancing as an Influence skill. It's a judgment call, which the rules specifically allow.

As far as Voice is concerned, the appeal to Darth Vader appears to be rhetoric rather than demonstration; as Aristotle says, where demonstration relies on induction (that is, comprehensive survey of the evidence), rhetoric relies on striking examples. But "Darth Vader is a memorable villain and his striking voice makes him so" does not mean that everyone with a resonant voice is capable of being intimidating. Nor does it mean that people without striking voices can't be intimidating. Indeed, a Disturbing Voice, with a harsh rasp, can just as well be intimidating.

I'd also suggest that while a movie villain, or for that matter an opera villain, might well have a memorable voice, that doesn't necessarily mean that a person who is intimidating in the real world would have such a voice. "I'm not a terrifying monster, but I play one on TV" might be what's going on.

In purely literary terms, the most memorably scary line I've read in fiction is "You're going to be thumbs, my dear," in Panshin's first Villiers novel. It wasn't described as being delivered in a basso profundo!
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2018, 11:10 AM   #52
Vaevictis Asmadi
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

So would Scary Voice be narrow enough for a perk, or require a one-skill Talent?
__________________
I have Confused and Clueless. Sometimes I miss sarcasm and humor, or critically fail my Savoir-Faire roll. None of it is intentional.

Published GURPS Settings
(as of 4/2013 -- I hope to update it someday...)
Vaevictis Asmadi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2018, 11:50 AM   #53
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi View Post
So would Scary Voice be narrow enough for a perk, or require a one-skill Talent?
There's the precedent of the perk that lets you speak in a quiet voice, and get a +1 to Intimidation, as if you had shouted. So I'd say a perk would be fine. Though if your voice is *always* scary, that might be a quirk instead: You try to flirt with someone, or buy a kilo of tea, and the other people reacts as if you had threatened them, often inconveniently.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2018, 01:20 PM   #54
Stormcrow
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Leviathan View Post
What's intimidating about Darth Vader? The costume is striking and his Appearance advantage for it certainly helps but he doesn't look much more menacing than a storm trooper.
Sorry, I have to take this tangent.

Darth Vader is way taller than any Stormtrooper <https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-82f70841eb992e5bf35dd39f385b19e6>, and Luke Skywalker is "short for a Stormtrooper." Mark Hamill is 5'9".

Darth Vader has that creepy breathing sound wherever he goes.

Darth Vader wears black robes and a scary black mask, and so far as anyone knows no one has ever seen his face.

Darth Vader is THE Sith Lord, with unknown and dangerous powers.

Darth Vader is known to effortlessly kill underlings who fail him.

Most of the time, Darth Vader is IN CHARGE. There may be someone behind him, but HE'S the guy in the field getting what he wants.

Just his voice? There's way more than that.
Stormcrow is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2018, 02:04 PM   #55
ravenfish
 
Join Date: May 2007
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rupert View Post
The big part is the latter clause, where it notes that skill descriptions count. As whswhs has noted, if it specifically notes that some advantage does apply for one skill, that implies that it does not for others.
If a skill or advantage said "gives a bonus to influence rolls using this skill" I would agree with you that would strongly imply that it doesn't give bonuses to influence rolls with other skills, but, in general, they don't say that. When Voice says that it gives a bonus to Fast-Talk, that does include influence rolls with Fast-Talk, but it also includes rolls to cause a distraction, to feint in combat with the appropriate perk ("there's a man behind you!"), and so forth. Voice provides a bonus to all rolls for the skills listed, which I don't think should be taken as implying that other skills do not get bonuses in certain situations (in this case, influence rolls) when the rules written for those situations call for them. Certainly, I would have a hard time arguing that Voice shouldn't help one with Savoir-Fair (High Society).

The Discworld Roleplaying Game, which is admittedly not mainline canon, but which is written by Phil Masters who has a pretty good understanding of how GURPS works, mentions in an example on page 74 that Attractive appearance would give a +1 bonus to an influence roll with Savoir-Faire (but not any other sort of roll with that skill), so there is that.
__________________
I predicted GURPS:Dungeon Fantasy several hours before it came out and all I got was this lousy sig.
ravenfish is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2018, 03:11 PM   #56
weby
 
weby's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Default Re: When do you use Reaction Rolls?

I use reaction rolls a LOT in my games and they have allowed PC to bypass a LOT of possible combat scenarios. But I also give huge modifiers to them based on the situation(much larger than RAW, bot in positive and negative).

In my current campaign all the PCs are kind of influence monsters as they are each trying independently to gain a following to become gods.

The lowest reaction bonus is +9(+situation modifiers like talents) and the highest is +27(+situation modifiers like talents).
__________________
--
GURPS spaceship unofficial errata and thoughts: https://gsuc.roto.nu/
weby is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:15 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.