How do i handle under age characters parents?

Joaorevilo · 12-09-2020, 01:44 PM

Hello everyone, this is my first post here, i'm a 17 years old brazilian man that recentelly find out how incredible GURPS is! (Sorry for my grammatic errors)
I am planning a campaing about a group of kids who get involved with a lot of paranormal things, and start to investigate them

I came here just to make a small question, currently i am reading the third edition of GURPS, and i noticed that most of the system assume that your character will have more than 18 years olds..
Even though some things helps you build a under age one, as the disadvantage "Youth", i still get confused to how to handle it, especially on things like Wealth, Parents, School and Family

I just wanted to know if someone can help me think on a fair way to make those things count. Like, should "Parents" be advantage? How much points is this going to cost? The social class of the parents will make them cost more of character poinst??

It's just that, thank you for everyone who take some time to read my post, and thank you even more if you reply to it, good evening! :)

Gold & Appel Inc · 12-09-2020, 01:50 PM

Depends on the campaign and how much they help you. Could be a Patron, an Ally, a Watcher Enemy, more than one of the above, nothing at all...

Varyon · 12-09-2020, 02:03 PM

What you'll want to do is decide what sort of role you want the parents to play in the story. They may not really exist outside of the background - a character's Wealth would represent things he has received from his parents over the years (and if the kid gets a regular allowance, consider Independent Income). They may instead provide equipment/gear (and be able to take it away) following the rules of Patrons. If the kids need to keep watchful parents from finding out what the kids are doing, they can be built as Enemy (Watcher). A parent who can be relied on to help the kids if they get into danger may be built as an Ally (or a different sort of Patron).

DeadParrot · 12-09-2020, 02:09 PM

Nothing says that the characters have to be the same age(s) as the players. Nothing wrong with letting 14 year old players pretend they have already graduated high school.

You can use the Harry Potter universe as a general guide for how to handle underage kids in a paranormal world. In that universe, the student's parents were normally out of the picture most of the time.

A lot of times, players are searching for disadvantages to offset the advantages they want to buy. Just use 'Youth' as a mandatory disadvantage and set a point cost for it. Don't worry about an offsetting advantage like 'Parents'. Your players will find something to spend the points on.

Probably a good idea to have a conversation with the real life parents of your players about how much 'adult' stuff the parents are comfortable with their kids encountering in your game.

Black Leviathan · 12-09-2020, 02:50 PM

I'd generally limit the disadvantage value of being a minor to how it's really going to impact the character. I'm guessing your player isn't planning on showing up for school while the rest of the party is saving the world.

Most children have a minor duty to school with very little investment. Part of that will also be demands their family puts on them. If they're wealthy that Duty could be worth a bit more as they're a greater weight that can be leveraged against them doing whatever they want. Most parents love their kids and just want them to be happy but there needs to be order in the home. A child PC that's skipping school or disobeying their parents flagrantly will face stern consequences or even have the cops called.

Children don't technically own anything and can't control real wealth in society. I'd treat rich parents as a low-level patron that gives the character resources. The second they push their luck and **** of mom and dad that Infinity Sapphire Credit Card is going to stop working.

Joaorevilo · 12-09-2020, 03:36 PM

Thanks for the replys!! :D
You guys give me good ideas, i guess i'll do this way:

- everyone will buy the disadvantage youth, the parents will be counted as patrons, some parents will be more useful and have more drawbacks that others (depends on the backstory)
- if a player doesn't work, he will be classified as dead broke, they Status will be the same as the family
- a player can work, and get they own "Wealth" this way, richer characters can have betters jobs by working for the family or friends of the family
- school will happens normally, they don't need to show up, but if they miss a lot of classes, there will be consequences
- they will have to find alternative ways to keep up with the paranormal, since they cannot own weapons, vehicles and cannot just buy 10 med kits on a random store (it's okay to praticle martial arts)
- most of the cases will not require a lot of time, but will require energy, they characters will find hard to pay attention to classes or to pretend nothing is happening to they friends and family
- when they enter on vacation, the climax will begin, with a lot of free time they will be able to train a lot and solve a lot of cases involving the occult

something i was thinking too, i create a skill named "Academics" that adds 1/5 of the skill level on any untrained skill relationed to school. that way they won't need to spend a lot of points on skills that they won't use (and drop-out characters wont become stronger than average students characters)

again, thanks for the replies! :DD

RedMattis · 12-09-2020, 04:09 PM

It sounds like you are planning some sort of slice-of-life occult game.

Doing well/poorly in school could be handled as a quirk, perk, or disadvantage.

Perks:
Crafts Student [1 points] - Gives +2 to the defaults of the skills covered by the "Artificer" talent. Gives a +3 to IQ/DX rolls to succeed at school studies relating to crafts.

Good at Math [1 point] - Gives +2 to the defaults of the skills covered by the "Mathematical Abillity" talent. Gives a +3 to IQ rolls to succeed at school studies relating to math.

etc.

On the opposite end of math, f.ex. is Innumerate for someone who really doesn't... math. Perhaps you could create a quirk version of innumerate which mostly means they struggle with multiplication, percentages, etc. and perform really really badly in math classes (until they buy off the quirk and manage to catch up!)

I wouldn't bother too much with fine granularity on their character sheets. It might make more sense to track a general "performance rating" in their classes. If they miss classes they'll end up behind and might struggle to catch up doing homework and such (roll against IQ to understand the material and maybe Will to resist playing computer games instead of doing the homework in the first place...)

Btw. since it sounds like they will be fighting, remember that GURPS is quite deadly by default. If you want them to survive big angry ST 15 werewolves and such you could look at advantages like luck, serendipity, destiny, and perhaps even the cinematic flesh-wound rules. I definitely suggest using the "Extra effort" rules, such as spending FP points on dodges.

Good luck! :)

Joaorevilo · 12-09-2020, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedMattis

It sounds like you are planning some sort of slice-of-life occult game.

Doing well/poorly in school could be handled as a quirk, perk, or disadvantage.

Perks:
Crafts Student [1 points] - Gives +2 to the defaults of the skills covered by the "Artificer" talent. Gives a +3 to IQ/DX rolls to succeed at school studies relating to crafts.

Good at Math [1 point] - Gives +2 to the defaults of the skills covered by the "Mathematical Abillity" talent. Gives a +3 to IQ rolls to succeed at school studies relating to math.

etc.

On the opposite end of math, f.ex. is Innumerate for someone who really doesn't... math. Perhaps you could create a quirk version of innumerate which mostly means they struggle with multiplication, percentages, etc. and perform really really badly in math classes (until they buy off the quirk and manage to catch up!)

I wouldn't bother too much with fine granularity on their character sheets. It might make more sense to track a general "performance rating" in their classes. If they miss classes they'll end up behind and might struggle to catch up doing homework and such (roll against IQ to understand the material and maybe Will to resist playing computer games instead of doing the homework in the first place...)

Btw. since it sounds like they will be fighting, remember that GURPS is quite deadly by default. If you want them to survive big angry ST 15 werewolves and such you could look at advantages like luck, serendipity, destiny, and perhaps even the cinematic flesh-wound rules. I definitely suggest using the "Extra effort" rules, such as spending FP points on dodges.

Good luck! :)

It's really mortal though XD, they will be fighting f*cking onis and japaneses demons, i planning to something like persona or yu yu hakusho, where they start as normal people and get stronger along the journey

there is a bowsman, a martial artist, a shaolin monk, a swordsman, and two random guys (one pratices baseball and the other it's just your regular bully thief)
probably the baseball guy will receive a tetsubo and the bully will became a ninja

yes it happens on japan XD

Plane · 12-09-2020, 04:42 PM

if you want to balance it out to 0 points...

Benefactor: Parent
Debt: Parent

whswhs · 12-09-2020, 07:26 PM

GURPS Locations: Worminghall, a sourcebook for a medieval university with a faculty of magic, provides the following tradeoff:

On one hand, students have the 20% of their starting wealth that represents discretionary funds, which they are free to spend on personal possessions, but do not have the 80% that represents fixed assets, which represent their living arrangements in their family homes, owned by their parents or other guardians. On the other hand, students don't have to earn a living. If they live at home, they have no living expenses; if they work for their parents, they get 1/6 of typical monthly pay for their Wealth level, or if not, 1/15.

GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School identifies several traits that underage characters may lack, depending on their age (the core book also lists reductions in stats): Accented spoken comprehension of their native language if they don't speak it fluently, and anything from No to Accented written comprehension; Innumerate if they can't do arithmetic; Social Stigma (Uneducated) for not having a typical adult general education, but no reaction modifier, as the modifier for Social Stigma (Minor) takes its place [they aren't expected to have a full general education]; Math-Shy, Mild Dyslexia, and/or Symbol-Shy if they haven't fully mastered the relevant abilities; Advanced Learning to partially buy off Uneducated for subjects such as mathematics, music, chess or other games, or military tactics.

12-09-2020, 01:44 PM	#1
Joaorevilo Join Date: Dec 2020	How do i handle under age characters parents? Hello everyone, this is my first post here, i'm a 17 years old brazilian man that recentelly find out how incredible GURPS is! (Sorry for my grammatic errors) I am planning a campaing about a group of kids who get involved with a lot of paranormal things, and start to investigate them I came here just to make a small question, currently i am reading the third edition of GURPS, and i noticed that most of the system assume that your character will have more than 18 years olds.. Even though some things helps you build a under age one, as the disadvantage "Youth", i still get confused to how to handle it, especially on things like Wealth, Parents, School and Family I just wanted to know if someone can help me think on a fair way to make those things count. Like, should "Parents" be advantage? How much points is this going to cost? The social class of the parents will make them cost more of character poinst?? It's just that, thank you for everyone who take some time to read my post, and thank you even more if you reply to it, good evening! :)

12-09-2020, 01:50 PM	#2
Gold & Appel Inc Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: One Mile Up	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? Depends on the campaign and how much they help you. Could be a Patron, an Ally, a Watcher Enemy, more than one of the above, nothing at all...

12-09-2020, 02:03 PM	#3
Varyon Join Date: Jun 2013	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? What you'll want to do is decide what sort of role you want the parents to play in the story. They may not really exist outside of the background - a character's Wealth would represent things he has received from his parents over the years (and if the kid gets a regular allowance, consider Independent Income). They may instead provide equipment/gear (and be able to take it away) following the rules of Patrons. If the kids need to keep watchful parents from finding out what the kids are doing, they can be built as Enemy (Watcher). A parent who can be relied on to help the kids if they get into danger may be built as an Ally (or a different sort of Patron). __________________ GURPS Overhaul

12-09-2020, 02:09 PM	#4
DeadParrot Join Date: Apr 2012	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? Nothing says that the characters have to be the same age(s) as the players. Nothing wrong with letting 14 year old players pretend they have already graduated high school. You can use the Harry Potter universe as a general guide for how to handle underage kids in a paranormal world. In that universe, the student's parents were normally out of the picture most of the time. A lot of times, players are searching for disadvantages to offset the advantages they want to buy. Just use 'Youth' as a mandatory disadvantage and set a point cost for it. Don't worry about an offsetting advantage like 'Parents'. Your players will find something to spend the points on. Probably a good idea to have a conversation with the real life parents of your players about how much 'adult' stuff the parents are comfortable with their kids encountering in your game.

12-09-2020, 02:50 PM	#5
Black Leviathan Join Date: Sep 2018	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? I'd generally limit the disadvantage value of being a minor to how it's really going to impact the character. I'm guessing your player isn't planning on showing up for school while the rest of the party is saving the world. Most children have a minor duty to school with very little investment. Part of that will also be demands their family puts on them. If they're wealthy that Duty could be worth a bit more as they're a greater weight that can be leveraged against them doing whatever they want. Most parents love their kids and just want them to be happy but there needs to be order in the home. A child PC that's skipping school or disobeying their parents flagrantly will face stern consequences or even have the cops called. Children don't technically own anything and can't control real wealth in society. I'd treat rich parents as a low-level patron that gives the character resources. The second they push their luck and **** of mom and dad that Infinity Sapphire Credit Card is going to stop working.

12-09-2020, 03:36 PM	#6
Joaorevilo Join Date: Dec 2020	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? Thanks for the replys!! :D You guys give me good ideas, i guess i'll do this way: - everyone will buy the disadvantage youth, the parents will be counted as patrons, some parents will be more useful and have more drawbacks that others (depends on the backstory) - if a player doesn't work, he will be classified as dead broke, they Status will be the same as the family - a player can work, and get they own "Wealth" this way, richer characters can have betters jobs by working for the family or friends of the family - school will happens normally, they don't need to show up, but if they miss a lot of classes, there will be consequences - they will have to find alternative ways to keep up with the paranormal, since they cannot own weapons, vehicles and cannot just buy 10 med kits on a random store (it's okay to praticle martial arts) - most of the cases will not require a lot of time, but will require energy, they characters will find hard to pay attention to classes or to pretend nothing is happening to they friends and family - when they enter on vacation, the climax will begin, with a lot of free time they will be able to train a lot and solve a lot of cases involving the occult something i was thinking too, i create a skill named "Academics" that adds 1/5 of the skill level on any untrained skill relationed to school. that way they won't need to spend a lot of points on skills that they won't use (and drop-out characters wont become stronger than average students characters) again, thanks for the replies! :DD

12-09-2020, 04:09 PM	#7
RedMattis Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Sweden, Stockholm	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? It sounds like you are planning some sort of slice-of-life occult game. Doing well/poorly in school could be handled as a quirk, perk, or disadvantage. Perks: Crafts Student [1 points] - Gives +2 to the defaults of the skills covered by the "Artificer" talent. Gives a +3 to IQ/DX rolls to succeed at school studies relating to crafts. Good at Math [1 point] - Gives +2 to the defaults of the skills covered by the "Mathematical Abillity" talent. Gives a +3 to IQ rolls to succeed at school studies relating to math. etc. On the opposite end of math, f.ex. is Innumerate for someone who really doesn't... math. Perhaps you could create a quirk version of innumerate which mostly means they struggle with multiplication, percentages, etc. and perform really really badly in math classes (until they buy off the quirk and manage to catch up!) I wouldn't bother too much with fine granularity on their character sheets. It might make more sense to track a general "performance rating" in their classes. If they miss classes they'll end up behind and might struggle to catch up doing homework and such (roll against IQ to understand the material and maybe Will to resist playing computer games instead of doing the homework in the first place...) Btw. since it sounds like they will be fighting, remember that GURPS is quite deadly by default. If you want them to survive big angry ST 15 werewolves and such you could look at advantages like luck, serendipity, destiny, and perhaps even the cinematic flesh-wound rules. I definitely suggest using the "Extra effort" rules, such as spending FP points on dodges. Good luck! :) __________________ "Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared"

12-09-2020, 04:42 PM	#9
Plane Join Date: Aug 2018	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? if you want to balance it out to 0 points... Benefactor: Parent Debt: Parent

12-09-2020, 07:26 PM	#10
whswhs Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS	Re: How do i handle under age characters parents? GURPS Locations: Worminghall, a sourcebook for a medieval university with a faculty of magic, provides the following tradeoff: On one hand, students have the 20% of their starting wealth that represents discretionary funds, which they are free to spend on personal possessions, but do not have the 80% that represents fixed assets, which represent their living arrangements in their family homes, owned by their parents or other guardians. On the other hand, students don't have to earn a living. If they live at home, they have no living expenses; if they work for their parents, they get 1/6 of typical monthly pay for their Wealth level, or if not, 1/15. GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School identifies several traits that underage characters may lack, depending on their age (the core book also lists reductions in stats): Accented spoken comprehension of their native language if they don't speak it fluently, and anything from No to Accented written comprehension; Innumerate if they can't do arithmetic; Social Stigma (Uneducated) for not having a typical adult general education, but no reaction modifier, as the modifier for Social Stigma (Minor) takes its place [they aren't expected to have a full general education]; Math-Shy, Mild Dyslexia, and/or Symbol-Shy if they haven't fully mastered the relevant abilities; Advanced Learning to partially buy off Uneducated for subjects such as mathematics, music, chess or other games, or military tactics. __________________ Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more.