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Old 03-01-2019, 02:51 PM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Jealousy

Jealousy [-10] is a mundane mental disadvantage with no self-control roll. You regard anyone who seems “better” than you as a rival, react poorly to them, and dislike it when they succeed. The disadvantage appeared in GURPS 1e, and hasn’t changed much.

The listed grounds for Jealousy are the other person being brighter, better-looking or wealthier, but variations on this with similar scope would seem plausible, as would an Aspected limitation to only be jealous on specific grounds. You resist any plans proposed by rivals, and try to take credit for everything, seeking to get all the praise and fame going. Obviously, this can combine well with lots of other mental disadvantages, notably Bad Temper, Delusions, Laziness, Megalomania, Overconfidence, Paranoia, Selfish and Stubbornness. NPCs with Jealousy react at -2 to -4 to people they are Jealous of. In a variation, Discworld regards Jealousy as a form of Intolerance.

Jealousy is a reasonably common disadvantage option on published templates, tending to be found on flamboyant or competitive types. It’s a possible side-effect of Bio-Tech genetic engineering, and some Fantasy Imps can afflict it. Madness Dossier has technology to do the same, and Magic has an elixir. Power-Ups 6 has quirk-level options, but the full-scale version is a motivator for the Overlord of Jupiter in Tales of the Solar Patrol.

This is another disadvantage I’ve never used on a PC, being fairly co-operative as a player. How has it made your games entertaining?
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Old 03-01-2019, 03:42 PM   #2
arcanus
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Jealousy

Notable character in my group is an incredibly vain egocentric elf with jealousy. The player has sabotAged his rivals and utilised suggestive magic to embarrass them.

He reacts to any successful attractive male in a generally divisive way.
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Old 03-01-2019, 04:15 PM   #3
whswhs
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Jealousy

I don't think I've seen a PC with Jealousy, and I don't make much use of it in my campaigns. On the other hand, in my current fantasy campaign, we've had a storyline where one of the PCs, a ghoul woman, decided to use her newly gained wealth to buy some respectability in nixie society, and purchased an inn, intending to use part of it as a residence and the rest as an income source. So I came up with a young ghoul streetwalker who thought, first, that there was no reason this older ghoul should have something she didn't, and second, that if she was trying to live like a nixie she probably didn't have much fighting spirit, and third, that she could practice her trade more comfortably if she had a nice building to do it in, and maybe even rent space out to other streetwalkers who wanted to move up—and tried to move in and take over. I haven't done a full character sheet for her yet, but Jealousy seems a plausible item for it.
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Old 03-01-2019, 05:44 PM   #4
jason taylor
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Jealousy

Technically that is envy. Jealousy is direct fear of competition or more specifically of tresspass.

If my neighbor is attractive to women and I want that ability I am just human. If I want that ability inordinately I am covetous. If I am afraid he will seduce my lover I am jealous. If I just resent his attractiveness even when it has nothing to do with me, I am envious. Jealousy provokes personal fights which are understandable however brutal. Envy provokes large scale things like Tall Poppy Syndrome, or worst of all pograms, and reverse tyranny.

To put it another way even dogs get jealous. They don't really get envious. If you go hunting your dog is perfectly glad to fetch the duck while you shoot it. It is not envious of you for having a pickup or a shotgun. It just wants to have fun. But if your neighbor walks to close to your fence you will see a jealous dog.

A character that is paranoid over what his girlfriend does will have Jealousy. A character with Intolerance (People Luckier then Him) is Envious.
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Old 03-01-2019, 09:18 PM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Jealousy

Quote:
Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
Technically that is envy. Jealousy is direct fear of competition or more specifically of tresspass.
I'm not sure that's how the word is used when it refers to the GURPS trait.
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Old 03-02-2019, 01:29 AM   #6
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Jealousy

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I'm not sure that's how the word is used when it refers to the GURPS trait.
The GURPS disadvantage pretty much treats "jealousy" and "envy" as synonyms.
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