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Old 08-20-2020, 05:15 AM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

Workaholic [-5] is a mundane mental disadvantage. You feel driven to work much longer hours than is normal, and routinely miss sleep to do so. This disadvantage appeared during the GURPS 3e period.

While this is a kind of “compulsive behaviour,” it does not follow the rules of the Compulsive Behaviour disadvantage. You work at least 50% more hours than is normal, and happily suffer missed sleep penalties (p. B426). This may attract +1 reactions due to respect for your dedication, but it also causes reaction penalties from family and friends, who rarely see you. The Maniac-Depressive disadvantage imposes Workaholic some of the time.

Workaholic is a fairly common disadvantage option on published templates, usually for types who need extensive physical training, or do intellectual tasks where putting in a lot of time might help. Bio-Tech points out that it can impede recovery from surgery, and that it’s a common side-effect of “hotshotting,” while Fantasy uses it as an example of a trait embodied by an animal (ants). Madness Dossier tech can cause it, and there’s an ingenious quirk-level version in Power-Ups 6.

This disadvantage might have originated with the well-publicised late 1980s trend for working extremely long hours in the finance industry. Cyberpunk mentions it as an Odious Personal Habit, rather than a stand-alone disadvantage, and giving it a self-control roll could make sense in some settings.

I’ve never used this disadvantage, as such, on a PC or NPC. This may be because working long hours doesn’t accomplish much for me; I usually run out of clear thinking capacity before I get physically tired. Characters whom I intend to be hard-working usually end up with Selfless or a large-scale Sense of Duty. How has Workaholic played in your games?
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Old 08-20-2020, 09:31 AM   #2
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

I have a particular Player who puts Workaholic on almost half of his Characters. It's fine, though I suspect he's always hoping to parlay it into extra On The Job Training despite the fact I've never use those rules (other GMs in our group do however use them, so the habit may just be carrying over for him). Also he might just like the disad.
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Old 08-20-2020, 01:15 PM   #3
Otaku
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

I don't think I've ever taken Workaholic. It just doesn't seem worth the "rebate" you get in points for taking it. Either you're giving up sleep, potential study time, or adventuring time... at least, if I understand it correctly. It is the flat "half again" part that probably does it for me.

I'm going to suggest an untested, homebrew rewrite for this Disadvantage. Yes, it is probably going to be horrible given it is something I just came up with. XP How about Workaholic functions as a Leveled Quirk? Each level means, when your character is working, whatever minimum time you're required to spend at that job, the Workaholic spends the minimum plus either 10% more time or an extra hour, whichever is less.

I am also curious how one defines "work" for this trait?
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Old 08-20-2020, 01:46 PM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

I've taken this one a few times. Most recently, when we played a Star Wars game where I was the mechanic. There were a bunch of times where the group was partying or socializing when I was working on the ship and I was left out of a scene. Sometimes it worked in our favor because things got done ahead of schedule. Once or twice, I worked long enough hours that fatigue penalties caused problems.
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Old 08-21-2020, 03:13 AM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

One PC in my campaign has it. As he's the nominal leader, I'm sure you can imagine how popular the work rosters tend to be.
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Old 08-21-2020, 04:41 AM   #6
ericthered
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

I see it on a fair number of characters I GM for. Usually it gets used as something approximating "Code of Honor(Married to Work)". It rarely results in FP penalties. As my campaigns are usually about professionals doing their job, it doesn't usually get in the way of the adventure...but it does limit the things they can do and stay in character. I find it usually gets roll-played properly, with characters who take it showing an all-in dedication to their work.

It did result in FP penalties once, but that was in combination with manic-depressive. the character would stay up to ridiculous hours three nights in a row and then crash. It was fun. The other players took forever to figure out what was going on.
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Old 08-21-2020, 05:08 AM   #7
vicky_molokh
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Workaholic

I had it on one PC in a Transhuman Space campaign, representing the bioroid work ethic (despite no longer being indentured, and in fact by now being a Ghost). Where normal people worked about 30 hours per week, he went for 45, which was eyebrow-raising. He liked his job, had a good income, and the +50% income was non-negligible in terms of what opportunities it opened for purchasing gear to use in adventures (he was a freelancer, so the payment was a flat rate, with no bonus multipliers for overtime).
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