Statting a teenager--skills needed and likely

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by IrishRover

What skills should she have after her freshman year in high school?
It seems that even one point in history or mathematics is just a bit much, likewise in any other classes such as bio or whatever science classes she's taking. Perhaps a language at Broken, or a point in a game or sport. I'm mainly after the academic skills that would merit a point--and likewise, what would a high school graduate merit.

I think there's a Perk, called "Dabbler" or something, in "GURPS Power-Ups: Perks" (either the first or second PDF; the other PDF is about Imbuments) that essentially works as two half-points in two skills four quarter-points in four skills or eight 1/8 points in eight skills.

Even a GM who normally will not allow PCS or NPCs to have that Perk can still allow it with specific combinations of skills, to represent the benefits of mass education, for instance you could have a Perk that gives 1 CP worth of bonus to eight skills to represent junior high school education, or two Perks each giving 1 CP worth of bonus to four skills to represent senior high school education (the same eight skills as before, but split into two groups).

Characters who have one of those Perks then paid attention in class. Characters who paid a lot of attention can take more powerful Perks, e.g.s a junior high school student can buy one or both of the senior high school Perks, or a senior high school student can take Points that split CPs into halves, although in most cases only one such Perk to represent a particular preference or educational focus. And students who didn't pay attention in class an take a lower grade Perk, or if no Perk exists, they're stuck with default.

Furthermore, characters who keep up with their subjects after graduation, e.g. by reading popular science magazines and watching TV documentaries, get to keep those Perks, while others lose them.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Oh, and I don't actually buy Savoir Faire (teens) as a separate skill. Where's it go when you grow up?

I think shadowjack is on to something, having it be specific to a particular generation, such as one decade, or a decade-and-a-half. Thus the character cannot use it later on with current teenagers without much embarassment and hilarity ensuing.

Another interpretation is that CPs aren't just earned, they are also lost, at least in terms of CPs that the character once had in his backstory, even if this phenomenon, of CPs disappearing, ceases after game start.

A no-longer used skill or a Perk (as in Dabbler Perk) gets lost, and since it is prior to gamestart, nobody gets hurt. It is as if the trait had never been on the character sheet in the first place.


Some characters would of course keep their Savour-Faire (Teenagers) up to date, by staying in touch with current teenage culture, either due to working with teenagers (school teacher, social worker, particular kinds of law enforcement) or having a less socially acceptable kind of interest in that age group.

I think either of those two, legal or socially unacceptable, looks more to me like trying to learn Savour-Faire for the next generation of teens, but it could well justify the character keeping his points in Savour-Faire for his own generation of teens (because he constantly contrasts and compares the current teen culture with how it was when he himself was a teen, whereas most of the rest of us tend to have rather biased recollections), which can then come in handy in the unlikely event of time travel.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

I'm not sure about Savoir-Faire (Teenager). But, I admit, I don't like skills that "fade" or don't stay relevant, etc., so that may be the reason why. For ordinary, mainstream culture, I'd assume this is just an IQ roll, covered under your Cultural Familiarity. A Savoir-Faire skill suggests a pretty elaborate set of behaviors for a particular part of society. My own experience (my daughter is 15) tells me that teens certainly have their own cultural codes, but nothing so elaborate that they should have to pay for a skill. It's basically middle class manners with an emphasis on Facebook. :)

I think perhaps it's more like having the skill to empower the few to excel at it. Most teenagers use Savour-Faire (specific Teen Generation) at default, while the clueless and adults don't have a default at all, but a few teens truly excel at that skill, having 1 or even 2 CPS in it.

One of the protagonists in Iain M. Banks "Excession" Culture novel is in her very early 20s and claims to have excellent social skills; she probably did as a teenager too, and probably mostly interacted with her own age group (and with university teachers who, given the setting, can mostly be assumed to be quite familiar with Culture teen culture).


As for Languages, as others have pointed out, a very young character with CPs in Languages, beyond a single native one, almost certainly learned it by immersion, e.g. growing up in a bilingual enviroment - or just reading English langauge novels, as I did - not in a classroom setting.

[jacobmuller]

The following is something I put together for a TL10 background. The cp allocation would be campaign dependant.
The Background skills are based on advice from the master himself, he who puts the Kung in GURPS, but I can't find the original thread [grrr]. I've attempted to edit out my personal weirdness but if you find something completely unintelligible then I've obviously failed to find that too.

Terrible Teens
A nascent citizen; too young to work, too old to play; your future depends on your decisions now, as if you care. You have Background Skills only [see below].
Disadvantages: Social Stigma (Minor) [-5].
Typical Advantages: Wealth, Appearance, Social Status, Contacts [1], Patrons (parents) [5], Allies (gang/ clique) [5], any Talent (limited to 2 levels), Deep Sleeper [1], Eidetic Memory, Fashion Sense [5], Favour [1], Fearlessness [2], Fit [5], Hard to Subdue, High Manual Dexterity, High Pain Threshold [10], Higher Purpose [5], Honest Face [1], Improved G-Tolerance [5], Luck† (Aspected -20%) [12], Perfect Balance [15], Sanitised Metabolism [1].
Perks: Dabbler (any really useful skill you think you have you're more than likely a Dabbler, possibly with Talent).
Typical Disadvantages: no more than -25 if functional; up to -75 if a drop-out. Wealth, Appearance, Social Status, Social Stigma, Sense of Duty, Code of Honour, Addiction (illegal) or Quirk - Addiction to Virtuality, Bully [-5], Callous [-5], Cowardice [-5], Fearfulness [-2], Gluttony [-2], Greed [-7], Gregariousness [-10], Guilt Complex [-5], Loner [-2], Low Pain Threshold [-10], Low self-image [-10], Miserliness [-5], Motion Sickness [-10], Noisy [-2], Overconfidence [-2], Pacifism, Phobia [-5], Selfish [-2], Selfless [-2], Space Sickness [-10], Squeamish [-5], Social stigma – Criminal [-5], Truthfulness [-2], Unluckiness [-10].
Typical Gear: pc/laptop, cell-phone, personal transport (shanks' mare< bicycle< scooter< motorbike< car depending on Wealth), personal entertainment, applicable clothes. Weapons are highly unlikely.
Background Skills [16]
“lacking more than one or two of these items would likely get you marked as a weirdo by most people, and missing three or more would probably suggest an exceptionally abnormal psychology.” Sean “Dr Kromm” Punch, SJG Line Editor.
Three Skills @ [1]: Area Knowledge, Computer Operation, Current Affairs IQ/E (Popular Culture); and:
• Choose one @ [1]: Carousing, Housekeeping or Savoir Faire.
• Choose two @ [1]: Connoisseur (any), Current Affairs IQ/E (Politics), Propaganda, Games (digital, Chess, etc), Hobby Skill (any), Musical Instrument (any), Performance, Singing or Sports (football, soccer, baseball, etc) plus an Athletic skill.
• Choose three @ [1] from one of the three following groups:
o Urban: Streetwise, Bicycling, Filch, Fast-talk, Intimidation, Stealth and Urban Survival; or
o Colony: Farming, Driving, Survival, Swimming, Tracking and Weather Sense; or
o Space: Free-fall, Mechanic, Navigation, Pilot, Spacer, Vacc Suit and G-Tolerance.
• Choose Academic: six skills @ [1]: Research, Speed-Reading, and four academic subjects;
or Practical: three points to add to any skill/s available or the Dabbler perk.

[trooper6]

I really like Savoir-Faire (specific Teen Generation).

Anyway, what skills do teens have? It really depends on the teen.

Most of our Olympic Gymnasts and Figure Skaters are teens.
Teen professional tennis players. Teen professional actors.
All the teens who've been playing violin since they were 3.
Some teams are drafted into professional baseball out of high school.

I'd really start with the concept of who this teen is, what their life is like, what they've been doing with their life.

As a teen I definitely had at least a point or two in acting. I mean, I had been doing it since I was 11, I had taken classes, had won competitions, and was paid to act on TV, had never failed to land a part from an audition...so I bet I had it at 11 or 12. I had some singing skill...but that skill was lower than my acting. I definitely had never learned Savoir-Faire (Teen)...which was not a good thing, let me tell you.

So...I'd have to take it on a case by case basis.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Glutton, Laziness, Selfishness, Delusion (everyone thinks about me all the time), Delusion (I know more than my parents), Overconfidence

You forgot Lecherousness.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by IrishRover

Incidently, I've known (and helped teach) 14 & 15 year olds that I'd judge as having at least 4 points in boxing and related techniques. Very skilled, and with some techniques added. Since this is somewhat cinematic, she'll have at least that.

Concur. I've known, personally, more than one 14yo girl who excels at martial arts, and is unafraid to use them with full force. We have several students at our school who started at 2.5-3 years old. One little one seems to have a knack for very technical grappling; another has a natural talent for striking and is a point-sparring fiend at 8.

Add six years of practice with that kind of focus and this is one adventuring area where young kids could have real points in skills.

Of course, this goes for any activity that starts early and is followed up. Languages, Music, and other Games/Sports skills will likely be the most common.

[sieurin]

Delusion ("I'm the only one who hasn't done *INSERT THING ONLY FOR ADULTS HERE*!")

Erik

[DouglasCole]

Seems like a lot of the "Delusion" comments, while seemingly true, could perhaps be replaced and reflected by a mild version of Solipsism. Basically, "if I haven't experienced it personally, no one else has either." The general reluctance to take advice and the "no one understands my pain" both reflect this reflexive (and not malicious) self-centered tendency. It also would likely behoove most teens to take Impulsiveness (and for boys, this stays until age 25) reflecting the biological truth that the parts of the brain that are involved in rational decisionmaking aren't finished forming until that age.

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by trooper6

I really like Savoir-Faire (specific Teen Generation).

Nah...I just don't buy the idea.

The "where does it go" issue is one that bothers me a bit, although I imagine you can simply say that it is eventually replaced with some other more general skill like Carousing or Diplomacy as you get older. Still seems iffy, though. If you learn Savoir-Faire (Dojo) or Savoir-Faire (Military), I think you're likely to remember a lot of the rules and rituals even if you aren't involved in that culture for a while.

But what really kills it for me is that I just don't think teen "manners" are all that different than the manners of the society in which they live. The same table manners apply, the same when-there-is-a-line-you-get-in-line-too manners apply, etc. If anything, changes are deliberate violations born of "we are so cool, we are so bad"-style thinking. This is just part of their Cultural Familiarity. I don't think it's something different enough that a character should have to pay extra points for it.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned...some kids probably have a point or two in Acting or Diplomacy. They just have a knack for getting along with people, putting on a mask to show people what they want to see, getting people to do what they want them to do, etc.