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Old 09-12-2017, 08:21 PM   #9
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: Cybernetic costs and modifiers both 3e & 34e

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericbsmith View Post
One of my biggest problems with Cybernetics is a more general problem with GURPS - and that is that some advantages become less advantageous - worth less points - when technology can mostly or completely mimic them. Everything from Innate Attack & Damage Resistance to augmented senses are just less valuable when you can get a rifle, a bulletproof vest, and IR goggles.
Agreed.

That's largely why I adopted the concept that if you buy cybernetics before the start of the character's life in game play, the points are what are used, regardless of the price value in dollars for the equipment. Once game play starts however, all cybernetics no longer have an advantage or disadvantage value, but merely a monetary value plus character down time due to surgery etc (as well as a much lighter pocket book or wallet!).

But your point is well taken.

Here is the other issue...

If you walk into a hospital, and need an MRI to be done - any metallic cybernetic implant will play hobb with the MRI scan. What I find to be FUN about cyberpunk as a genre - is trying to anticipate what effects it will have on general life overall.

For example? Suppose someone gets a computer implant, and it records everything the person sees and hears. Said individual walks into a high security area where cameras are not allowed, and all visitors are scanned thoroughly before being permitted into the R&D area that is top secret. A scan to find the computer is one way of catching things right? But what of a simple link to the optical nerve with a largely non-detectable interface between an optic nerve and say, a port embedded in the palm? Have a disguised memory chip in a pen, take the pen apart while in the High Security facility, and record everything you see onto the memory chip in the palm. Take the chip out, place it back in the pen, leave the pen some place to be picked up elsewhere by another operative, and there is your smuggled information.

Much of the cybernetic enhancements will be detectable - which makes them what, liabilities or assets? You walk through a door that has a sign reading "Warning, enter a secure MRI scan point. Declare any implants or metal items - we are not responsible for any damage beyond this point".

So - there are times where having "advantages" at full value because it is the GURPS way, may not really work out to be the advantage as written. It is also why I chose GURPS over HERO in the first place. GURPS 3e with its GURPS VEHICLES and GURPS ROBOTS built things as machinery etc - now, with 4e, things are built with character points (much like HERO did in the earlier years from my memory).

This is in a large part, why I am trying to get a listing of the various things that go into Cybernetics, and see if they make sense, are too expensive (or as Sir Pudding says) not expensive enough, etc.

Has anyone ever played DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION? Can you imagine trying to stat out Adam Jenson's cybernetics?
  • Legs that allow for a major leap
  • Cybernetic eyes with HUD capabilities
  • Cybernetic arms with killing blades
  • Reflex booster to take down two opponents at once (really not a cybernetic feat to be honest)
  • Subdermal armor and even EMP shielding due to armor
  • Hacking capabilities that functions almost like an electronic lockpick as well as a computer network invader
  • as well as other items

Point is - in that cyberpunk campaign, there is a need to take a substance to hold back cybernetic rejection - which Adam was immune to (the rejection issues).

One would like to think that GURPS CYBERPUNK or GURPS CLASSIC ULTRATECH could simulate the character easily enough, or that GURPS 4e material could simulate it well enough. Truth is - I get to the point where I grow annoyed at how really DIFFERENT the cybernetics from CP2020 feel from their GURPS Counterparts. With GURPS ROBOTS, or GURPS VEHICLES, one could build an arm with a given strength rating, and know how much energy an energy cell could provide for how long. With GURPS 4e, that's no longer the case. With GURPS ROBOTS or GURPS VEHICLES, one could build a cybernetic arm and know how much volume was available to stuff other James Bond like stuff in the arm - with a character point based system, it becomes a bit of a strain. Ever look at the payload rules and how much stuff can be hidden within based on character points only?
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