GURPS Meta-Tech

[Christopher R. Rice]

Some books I think that might be useful to those buying GURPS Meta-Tech

• GURPS Powers: Duh, but also the premade abilities in the back will let you whip up devices super fast.
• GURPS Monster Hunters Power-Ups 1: The techie invention system in the back was the prototype for the system I ended up ripping out of Meta-Tech and can be used to quickly determine devices made in game.
• Previous publications have examples you might want to use - I tried to give a lot of new examples in Meta-Tech so that folks could use the others. They'll need to be adapted to the new rules, of course.
• GURPS Horror: Has a lot of prebuilt powers - Flashy Thing!
• GURPS Powers: Divine Favor: Divine relics could have learned prayers as their base.
• GURPS Psionic Powers: Ditto!

There are tons of others that will be suitable for given things.

I'll probably post some designer's notes sooner rather than later. I really hope y'all like this book. I put a lot into it and so have others.

[RedMattis]

I'm wondering if the book might be something I should pick up.

In GURPS I've felt there can be a bit of a disconnect between character points and wealth, does Meta-Tech help out here in some way?

E.g.

Let's say we have a TL11 game where the players are elite force guys. We have four guys:

1. Wealthy hero guy with access to restricted gear who bought all the best TL11 power armor, jetpack, guns and cool gadgets.
   
2. Broke budget-superman who can 'super' fly (in the atmosphere), shoot lasers comparable to a laser rifle, etc. as long as no totally-not-Kryptonite is somewhere nearby.
   
3. Wealthy cyberpunk gadget guy who used cash to buy tons of fancy high-end reliable cybernetics.
   
4. Garage-gadgeteer-theme guy who bought a bunch of cool cybernetics as advantage-gadgets with the "can be stolen", "unreliable", and other relevant limitations.

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In Vanilla GURPS guy one could probably be built on like 500 points (Multimillionaire), while the budget-superman would likely end up around 5000 points.

The cyberpunk guy who just bought cybernetics would also end up much cheaper to build (assuming we permit cash to buy cybernetics) than the gadgeteer who paid for the same stuff with character points.

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Based on the description of the book it sounds like it might try to balance the whole points vs cash scenario a bit. Is that the case? If so, can anyone who read it explain the general philosophy?

[Kallatari]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

I'm wondering if the book might be something I should pick up.

In GURPS I've felt there can be a bit of a disconnect between character points and wealth, does Meta-Tech help out here in some way?

E.g.

Let's say we have a TL11 game where the players are elite force guys. We have four guys:

1. Wealthy hero guy with access to restricted gear who bought all the best TL11 power armor, jetpack, guns and cool gadgets.
   
2. Broke budget-superman who can 'super' fly (in the atmosphere), shoot lasers comparable to a laser rifle, etc. as long as no totally-not-Kryptonite is somewhere nearby.
   
3. Wealthy cyberpunk gadget guy who used cash to buy tons of fancy high-end reliable cybernetics.
   
4. Garage-gadgeteer-theme guy who bought a bunch of cool cybernetics as advantage-gadgets with the "can be stolen", "unreliable", and other relevant limitations.

----------

In Vanilla GURPS guy one could probably be built on like 500 points (Multimillionaire), while the budget-superman would likely end up around 5000 points.

The cyberpunk guy who just bought cybernetics would also end up much cheaper to build (assuming we permit cash to buy cybernetics) than the gadgeteer who paid for the same stuff with character points.

-----------

Based on the description of the book it sounds like it might try to balance the whole points vs cash scenario a bit. Is that the case? If so, can anyone who read it explain the general philosophy?

The core purpose of GURPS Meta-Tech is simply to provide rules on how to convert a device whose effects are built/designed with advantages and character points into a cash $ value. That's it.

It does not attempt to balance cash vs points. It does not attempt to make devices affordable for a low-point character. It does not provide rules on what should and should not be allowed in a given campaign setting. It doesn't even give rules of how a character can build such devices in game, instead pointing to the existing new invention rules. GURPS Meta-Tech is solely about converting a device built with a character point value into a device built with a cash value.

As secondary to that purpose, it also provides numerous additional traits via variant advantages and modifiers to help you define key traits of equipment (e.g., Bulk, vehicle Handling, how to account for batteries, etc.) that you couldn't really do with just GURPS Basic. It also gives advice on how to use those traits, or what traits a given type of device should have. So these rules also make it a lot easier to build devices with character points... which you can then convert to a cash value. (For me personally, this was my favorite part.)

Any flaws of the existing GURPS rules with respect to balancing character points vs cash/equipment are neither solved nor made worse by this system (e.g., it makes no assumption on whether cybernetics should be cash or points or both; it just says here's the point value, here's the cash value, you decide what works for your game, just like the current rules).

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

Based on the description of the book it sounds like it might try to balance the whole points vs cash scenario a bit. Is that the case? If so, can anyone who read it explain the general philosophy?

No, it does not do that. What you are describing would be its own book or an entirely new edition. What GURPS Meta-Tech does do is allow you to make special items not covered by the various tech catalogues such as magic swords, orgone emitters, necromantic wands, or anything else you can stat with the traditional character trait method.

[Kallatari]

Another, overly simplistic way at looking what GURPS Meta-Tech does:

You want a device (i.e., non-existing fantastical gear) for your character:

GURPS Basic rules:
a) Define your device with advantages and other traits (but not Gadget limitation)
b) Apply the Gadget limitation (which establishes its SM, etc.) to get the final character point value of the device.
c) Pay character points to have the device.

GURPS Meta-Tech rules:
a) Define your device with advantages and other traits (but not Gadget limitation)
b) Apply the meta-tech rules (which establishes SM, etc.) to get a $/point value and final $ value of the device.
c) Pay $ to have the device.


Obviously, you can convert back and forth between the two, just by adding/removing the Gadget limitation (which, in some more extreme builds is admittedly easier said than done).

In the end, GURPS Meta-Tech just gives you a $ value for all devices, letting you determine how much such an item might be worth when a player wants to buy it from a merchant (rather than finding it on a quest) or who did find it on a quest and wants to sell it for cash. Being able to add a $ value, in of itself, is a step above Gadget devices from the core rules, as there was no way to price ($) what they were reasonably worth in your setting's market.

[Kallatari]

Oh, one last benefit of GURPS Meta-Tech. Because it gives you lots of advice on how to build different types of devices, it actually inspires a lot of different things you can build as a device with advantages and other traits that you might have never thought of creating before.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Anders

How do you build Han Solo, who would need to be obscenely rich to own a ship that's literally the fastest ship in the Galaxy?

As per The Captain's Boat, Han has the Falcon as a Patron.

Originally Posted by Anders

What abut Aragorn, who wields the Flame of the West?

This one I'm unsure about, given the sword is a family heirloom with its own lore that was reforged by Elves from the shards. The afore-mentioned non-sentient Ally could work, though. But Anduril is probably easier to stat in Meta-Tech than Excalibur: it is eternally sharp (AD (2) or (3), I'd say, plus a Perk or Feature of Never Needs Sharpening), presumably glows in the presence of orc-kind (Detect Orcs), and can parry ghost-blades (not sure what that part is, though), but is otherwise a GURPS Longsword stat-wise.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

Another, overly simplistic way at looking what GURPS Meta-Tech does:


GURPS Meta-Tech rules:
a) Define your device with advantages and other traits (but not Gadget limitation)
b) Apply the meta-tech rules (which establishes SM, etc.) to get a $/point value and final $ value of the device.
c) Pay $ to have the device.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Kallatari

Oh, one last benefit of GURPS Meta-Tech. Because it gives you lots of advice on how to build different types of devices, it actually inspires a lot of different things you can build as a device with advantages and other traits that you might have never thought of creating before.

Also there are quite a few tools to help you such as lots of useful modifiers to go along with the general advice.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

As per The Captain's Boat, Han has the Falcon as a Patron.

Thanks for the love, to this date I still think that was my most popular article.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

This one I'm unsure about, given the sword is a family heirloom with its own lore that was reforged by Elves from the shards. The afore-mentioned non-sentient Ally could work, though. But Anduril is probably easier to stat in Meta-Tech than Excalibur: it is eternally sharp (AD (2) or (3), I'd say, plus a Perk or Feature of Never Needs Sharpening), presumably glows in the presence of orc-kind (Detect Orcs), and can parry ghost-blades (not sure what that part is, though), but is otherwise a GURPS Longsword stat-wise.

It's often described as flashing with or like fire, so Incendiary may be justifiable (although that could just refer to light reflecting off the blade as he strikes; at most that would probably be something like a Schtick Perk). Parrying Ghost-Blades, if that's something normal weapons cannot do, would be a lesser version of Affects Insubstantial - I'd call it +10% rather than +20%.

Incidentally, the Barrow Blades wielded by most of the hobbits probably have Affects Insubstantial and a Side Effect or Affliction for Negated Advantage: Insubstantial and Unkillable 3; said trait would have at a minimum Single Use x1/5, and possibly a further discount to cover the fact using it destroys the blade (Backlash: Heart Attack (MTD Only x1/5) -60% would probably be appropriate). The Morgul-Knife used by the Witchking on Frodo probably would have Dominance [20], and possibly Cosmic: Unhealing Wounds (calling for special treatment to recover HP, which Elrond is able to provide).

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Anders

That's not a problem with Meta-Tech, though, that's a problem with the GURPS system as a whole (and there are many, many systems with this problem). How do you build Han Solo, who would need to be obscenely rich to own a ship that's literally the fastest ship in the Galaxy? What abut Aragorn, who wields the Flame of the West?

Agreed.
We do have several options though.
Debt, Points for Cash, Signature Gear, Signature Assets (Spaceships Traders and Liners), The Captains Boat (Patrons can be powerful individuals or companies which can be a ship and its crew).