GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys

[dataweaver]

Impulse Buys points out that the CP costs are suggestions, and that the GM should feel free to tailor them to his tastes, possibly even on a case-by-case basis. In particular, the narrative control section suggests that the GM should waive the fee for minor changes that enhance the story and/or benefit everyone, not just themselves; and the "No Growth" campaign option suggests that in a campaign where IPs completely replace CPs, the GM can use this ability to adjust costs to hand out rewards for appropriate roleplaying.

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

How I'd handle this is to refund character points (at the end of the session) if they were used in an appropriately dramatic and heroic fashion. This would encourage players to utilize the narrative control afforded by spending cp in a manner that enhances the story, rather than bypasses it; at the same time it wouldn't make PC improvement dependent on the player spending points during the session, which otherwise could lead to gamist frivolous expenditures (ie, when the session approaches its end all the players dump their remaining points into turning mundane skill checks into critical successes.)

I don't think there is a real incentive to do that, since not using the in-play points now doesn't forfeit the opportunity for improvement, only delays it (while keeping the in-play points available for in-play use), whereas burning in-play points frivolous does sacrifice the ability to use them where they matter.

I suppose if a group values improvement much more highly than in-game use to the point where delay for a session of an improvement point was viewed as a greater loss than forfeiting an in-play point to no other gain, it might be a problem, so fine tuning the exchange rate between in-play and improvement points might be necessary.

[thulben]

Originally Posted by cmdicely

One thing I've been considering (before PU5 came out) is to give out points reserved for in-play use at the beginning, and then set end-of-session awards of points for permanent improvement for each character equal to the number of points used in play for that character in the session. So, instead of in-play use and improvement being opposed, holding back points for in play use holds back improvement, as well.

Hmm... interesting. At first blush, there would be a loose correlation between session difficulty and permanent points accrued then, which is good. However, the munchkin in me then has to ask "what prevents me from spending the discretionary points on non-critical stuff in the interest of making my character more uber in the long run?".

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

This was how Force Points worked in the old WEG d6 Star Wars game, and I always thought it worked out quite well.

Hehe, well I gotta get my good ideas from somewhere. =P

Originally Posted by cmdicely

I don't think there is a real incentive to do that, since not using the in-play points now doesn't forfeit the opportunity for improvement, only delays it (while keeping the in-play points available for in-play use), whereas burning in-play points frivolous does sacrifice the ability to use them where they matter.

Ah, I misunderstood. For some reason I thought the points were awarded per-session, and vanished afterwords if not used. This makes more sense though.

I'd still probably couple it with a minor threat of "If you spend points in obviously frivolous ways, you won't get them back." This means that if someone wants to make sure he spends X points during a session (to afford that new advantage or skill level) he'll need to find that many opportunities to use points in productive ways - hopefully channeling his minor munchkinism into good storytelling.

[Refplace]

I have not bought this or a couple of other recent items due to really tight finances at the moment.
However the thread here just gave me an idea that is a variation of existing ones. Let me know if its already in the book and if so I apologize for the waste.

Take a Divine Wildcard skill and use those points for dramatic effect.
Normally a divine skill or set of skllls would not jump out as a Wild Card skill.
However by doing this your getting extra pint for use for some minor miracles, powered by your Diety or Divine Force. Could also be used for magic and other things.
Dr. Strange would have Magic! for example which is a host of magic skills like Thaumatology and some Lore skills. But now in a Supers game he can use those Super Competency points to do minor magic.

Priest of Ma'at takes Ma'at! as a Wildcard skill for Theology, Religious Ritual and some minor things, especially where it involves Justice. Such as Diplomacy to arbitrate a dispute or Naturalist to notice a corruption of a plant.
But also he gets some per session points to bend reality back towards the way it is supposed to be.

Trickster for a servant of a Trickster type god to handle various skills as thematically appropriate and Religious Ritual for his God then he has some points to toss out there just to make life "interesting" or teach people a lesson if that kind of Tricketer.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Some good examples, though it seems to me that earning bonus CP would be off the topic of this one and probably add another page or so to Word count, maybe more.

It's a given that what I'm thinking of would add word count. But I don't think that alternate advice for earning CP would be off-topic; the supplement is primarily about influencing the game through CPs; advice on how to award CPs is essentially be an extension of this concept for the GM, and is in many ways the "other half" of what's already covered. If a player knows (or suspects) that a given course of action is going to earn him some points and/or that he's likely to get a discount or refund for impulse buys that support it, he'll be more willing to pursue that course of action even if it is realistically foolish.

But again, this is only a minor quibble on my part: it's less a matter of "the book sucks because of this", and more a matter of "it would have been nice if…"

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

But again, this is only a minor quibble on my part: it's less a matter of "the book sucks because of this", and more a matter of "it would have been nice if…"

Yeah there is always a desire to see more in a good book.
I however am less unhappy when the more that got snipped is not something I consider a core concept or part of what the book is supposed to be about.
To use your example I would much prefer boxes on other styles like your ideas for silly and melodramatic campaign spending then descriptions of what would earn those bonus points.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I have not bought this or a couple of other recent items due to really tight finances at the moment.
However the thread here just gave me an idea that is a variation of existing ones. Let me know if its already in the book and if so I apologize for the waste.

Take a Divine Wildcard skill and use those points for dramatic effect.
Normally a divine skill or set of skllls would not jump out as a Wild Card skill.
However by doing this your getting extra pint for use for some minor miracles, powered by your Diety or Divine Force. Could also be used for magic and other things.

It's not in the book per se, although the tools to do this are there.

Personally, I'd combine Impulse Buys with Talents to accomplish this: specifically, I'd take the Devotion Talent and use the "Alternative Benefits" idea to have each level grant one temporary Devotion Point per session which is good for impulse buys where the object of your Devotion is involved. A nice, compact (and low-powered) alternative to Divine Favor. (IMHO, Devotion is a seriously under-utilized Talent; but that's a rant for another topic.)

And in terms of my earlier comments about earning CPs, the "Meditation, Holiness, or Study" option from Thaumatology (pages 53-54) dovetails nicely with the above; specifically, note the "Creating Character Points" option at the end of the section. Thaumatology discusses this in terms of combining that system with magic item creation rules that use character points instead of energy points; but Impulse Buys opens up other options.

You could even kick it up another notch by bringing "Path/Book Ritual Magic as Religous Ritual" (Thaumatology page 133) into the mix, but using energy accumulation instead of effect-shaping (to allow a use for the "energy" generated by devotional studies other than creating Devotion Points). But I'm starting to digress.

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

I don't think that alternate advice for earning CP would be off-topic

I agree with this, and in fact, when I picked PU 5 I was hoping to see some alternate ways for earning CPs after seeing this in the e23 product description:

Shaking the Foundations. Revisit where points come from

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Some good examples,

Although I think that these forms of earning CPs can be addressed by the roleplaying guidelines of the campaign as well, according to existing Basic Set guidelines. For instance:

Originally Posted by dataweaver

• Melodramatic games: earn character points by making important discoveries about your feelings or relationships; spend character points in cases where drama trumps reality (being sufficiently motivated is often enough to ensure success or to overcome handicaps); niche protection comes from your relationships and drives (Allies, Enemies, Sense of Duty, etc.) instead of extraordinary skill, providing Relationship and/or Determination Points in appropriate circumstances.