A memory for tunes: mechanics help.

[Astromancer]

Basicaly I'm trying to come up with a character with a good general memory for most things Edetic Memory, but a flawless memory for music, tunes, songs and their lyrics, stories, jokes, poems, mythology, and literature.

Do I take the full Photographic Memory and then limit it? Or do I take Edetic Memory and add one or two Perks?

Thank-you ahead of time.

[sir_pudding]

What's not included if you have a flawless memory for poems and literature? Does this include oral works? Or do you have to be able to read it?

[Phantasm]

I would use Eidetic Memory and a few Perks for "Complete Memory of Music and Literature". I'd still use Connoisseur (Music), Connoisseur (Literature), and Literature for checking to see if the character has encountered something before.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Basicaly I'm trying to come up with a character with a good general memory for most things Edetic Memory, but a flawless memory for music, tunes, songs and their lyrics, stories, jokes, poems, mythology, and literature.

Do I take the full Photographic Memory and then limit it? Or do I take Edetic Memory and add one or two Perks?

You could end up paying a not-too-unfair price using the latter method, but... If you have full Photographic Memory under common circumstances, I think the better way to model it is to limit that trait. This looks a lot like a variation of Full Power in Emergencies Only to me.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

You could end up paying a not-too-unfair price using the latter method, but... If you have full Photographic Memory under common circumstances, I think the better way to model it is to limit that trait. This looks a lot like a variation of Full Power in Emergencies Only to me.

I don't actually see it being much of a limitation at all. What can't you remember? Almost anything can be turned into a literary or poetic form. I guess you can't remember anything purely visual, that can't be described...

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I don't actually see it being much of a limitation at all. What can't you remember? Almost anything can be turned into a literary or poetic form. I guess you can't remember anything purely visual, that can't be described...

That's how the Druids of my Ärth setting memorize things: Turning it into poetry. But that takes time.

GURPS Fantasy suggests the Preparation Required Limiation on Eidetic (or Photographic?) Memory to represent classical and medieval mnemotechniques. In this case the Limitation would only apply to the 5 CP cost difference between Eidetic and Photographic Memory, not to Eidetic itself, and so the total cost would be 8 or 9 CP, instead of 10 CP as for a fully Photographic character.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Basicaly I'm trying to come up with a character with a good general memory for most things Edetic Memory, but a flawless memory for music, tunes, songs and their lyrics, stories, jokes, poems, mythology, and literature.

The key question is does this do anything important you would otherwise require a skill roll for? If it does, that's not the territory the advantage is intended to cover. It's not totally out of bounds, since just *remembering* a song or story is rather useless - as long as you still need a Public Speaking or Singing roll to actually tell it to anybody else it's not a particular abuse. I'd be fine with letting that go as a perk for each such skill. I generally use perks to represent already knowing a lot of songs or stories or whatever, this is fairly similar, except you can add anything you actually hear in play to your Repertoire without needing to spend more points.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

That's how the Druids of my Ärth setting memorize things: Turning it into poetry. But that takes time.

Turning it into generic literature doesn't, though. You just need to write it down as a narrative. Or if you can memorize oral literature, speak it aloud as a narrative. You can turn nearly anything into prose.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Turning it into generic literature doesn't, though. You just need to write it down as a narrative. Or if you can memorize oral literature, speak it aloud as a narrative. You can turn nearly anything into prose.

But poetry is easier to remember. That's why they do it. It's a memory trick, similar to the "memory palace" method used by Classical Era philosophers (and quite possibly also some late-medieval scholars).

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

But poetry is easier to remember. That's why they do it. It's a memory trick, similar to the "memory palace" method used by Classical Era philosophers (and quite possibly also some late-medieval scholars).

Yes, I understand that. I actually do know a bit about Gaelic Bardic poetry the bardic schools and the bards, filids and olavs as a social class. The OP, though specifies "music, tunes, songs and their lyrics, stories, jokes, poems, mythology, and literature". Which AFAICT is basically everything worth remembering, unless it is literally indescribable or inexplicable.