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Old 12-23-2017, 05:23 AM   #1
WaterAndWindSpirit
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Default Poker face template

So I've heard that some professional poker players will literally get a surgery to sever specific nerve endings, preventing their faces from showing any emotion.

So, if it's real (or in a cinematic setting), how to stat such surgery as a template?

Thanks!
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Old 12-23-2017, 06:25 AM   #2
johndallman
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Default Re: Poker face template

Well, it's more or less a reversed version of the Easy to Read disadvantage. The Body Language skill is a more general version of the ability to read behaviour that comes with Gambling, and a subject wearing a mask is -5 to Body Language.

Those are the major pieces; I'd regard this as a perk with a downside, in that people will perceive you as aloof.
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Old 12-23-2017, 08:40 AM   #3
PK
 
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Default Re: Poker face template

I'd agree that a non-cinematic version of this would be a perk. While news stories tend to play up the effects, in real life this would only go so far toward suppressing your tells.

Poker Face

Others have -1 on Body Language rolls against you, or -3 if they must derive information primarily from your face (e.g., you're sitting down with your arms resting on a table). The same penalty applies to Detect Lies rolls, but only for non-verbal statements, such as if you hand someone a note and then stare at them silently. Very emotional and passionate people react to you at -1, as seem a bit aloof.
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Old 06-17-2021, 03:37 PM   #4
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Default Re: Poker face template

There is a neurological condition that produces a kind of facial paralysis that prevents facial expression of emotions. I've forgotten the name — somebody-or-other's palsy, I think, but it's not Bell's palsy.

I don't know about now, but it used to be the case that doctors were taught that one of the problems with this condition is that people in general reacted badly to the patients and treated them poorly, even sometimes attacking them. So it might be defensible in GURPS to treat this supposed poker-face surgery as entailing an Odious Personal Habit, or to make up a new Disadvantage with those or more specific mechanics. -2 to non-hostile interactions but no effect or a small bonus on reactions to attempts to seem scary?

Besides the effect on reaction rolls, a non-cinematic version of this "treatment" might also involve skill penalties to all sorts of interpersonal skills that involve seeming sincere, caring, affectionate, or even angry.
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Last edited by Agemegos; 06-17-2021 at 03:45 PM.
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Old 06-18-2021, 12:16 AM   #5
mr beer
 
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Default Re: Poker face template

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
So I've heard that some professional poker players will literally get a surgery to sever specific nerve endings, preventing their faces from showing any emotion.

So, if it's real (or in a cinematic setting), how to stat such surgery as a template?

Thanks!
Sounds like an urban myth, especially since you could reversibly achieve the same effect with Botox, and not you know, have nerves cut in half so that you can never smile at your loved ones again.

However some pros take beta blockers at the table, to prevent physiological reactions associated with an adrenaline dump.

EDIT

For a "Poker Face" Perk, you might have a bonus to resist Psychology or Gambling rolls to attempt to read your hand. If making a Gambling roll to win at poker, you might get a +1 bonus.

Last edited by mr beer; 06-18-2021 at 12:20 AM.
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Old 06-18-2021, 01:20 AM   #6
DangerousThing
 
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Default Re: Poker face template

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr beer View Post
For a "Poker Face" Perk, you might have a bonus to resist Psychology or Gambling rolls to attempt to read your hand. If making a Gambling roll to win at poker, you might get a +1 bonus.
I'd give the others a -1 to Gambling rather than give the Poker Face'd character a bonus.
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Old 06-18-2021, 01:14 PM   #7
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Poker face template

I wonder about the true opposite of that; someone that has great difficulty reading facial expressions. I couldn't reliably do so until around age 20. From my perspective, everyone had this poker face advantage.

I could almost make do with hearing intonation and "expression", so perhaps an unusually nasty quirk?
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Old 06-18-2021, 06:21 PM   #8
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Default Re: Poker face template

This thread may be relevant.
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