The GURPS Meta-Tech Hype Thread

[Kallatari]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

So, what does the book do that can't be done with “build it as an Advantage with Gadget Limitations, but then reverse-engineer a cash cost for it from the ‘trading points for money’ option”?

Varyon pretty much answered this already, but I figured I'd give my thoughts on it as well anyway.

I myself have a houserule method of doing exactly what you mentioned: Build what I want with Advantages to get a base point value, then apply the Gadget Limitation to it to get a final point value, and then I had a $/point that I simply tacked onto it. I've been using that in my medieval fantasy game for magical items for several years.

The playtest for GURPS Meta-Tech revealed that there were some things I just couldn't do with my method, which I likely never noticed because I never tried to build certain things (e.g., I never tried to build a power armor in my medieval fantasy game). And that's where the new enhancements and limitations in GURPS Meta-Tech came from; to fill in those gaps of what you can't currently build with the existing advantages and modifiers.

But GURPS Meta-Tech also allow more fine tunning that then Gadget limitation method. You build the advantages for your item (without Gadget) for a base point value. The components of Gadget - like size and mass - now instead modify the base cost per point (with more nuances that the Gadget limitation), and finally you add equipment $ cost modifiers to keep it in line with normal equipment $ cost modifiers (something that the Gadget limitation also doesn't do).

So, either method works, but GURPS Meta-Tech will likely bring up things you probably haven't thought of before because the Gadget limitation wasn't nuanced enough... like what's the default number and size of batteries do I need, and what's the impact if I want to increase or decrease that number? This book will answer those questions.

So, even though I'll probably continue to use my advantage and Gadget system for costing the enchantments in my medieval fantasy game, I'll still be implementing many things from GURPS Meta-Tech anyway in order to improve my own system. And if I was going to do a high-tech game with such devices, I would probably use the full GURPS Meta-Tech rules instead, as their costing method is more nuanced which I don't necessarily need in a medieval game, but probably would in a high-tech or ultra-tech game.

EDIT: To be clear, GURPS Meta-Tech also works just as well in a medieval fantasy setting. I simply already have something in place, that's all. If I didn't, I'd use GURPS Meta-Tech in my medieval fantasy campaign as well.

I hope that helped.

(Disclaimer: I'm making assumptions based on the last playtest draft, which may not necessarily be the same in the final production version. I doubt they significantly changed any of what I wrote about above - as I kept my comments generic enough without details - but I am definitely not the person who can answer that with certainty.)