Help me get familiar with Familiarity

[MakDemonik]

As I am reading your replies and the other thread that was linked to.
It seems like this is a way deeper matter, but what struck me is how a -1 penalty was mentioned even by Kromm.

This could be one way to solve it.
Stacking -2s up to -6 penalty which is greater than -4 DX default seems extreme.

Maybe applying -1 per category is the way to go.
That way the penalty will never stack beyond -3.
Very different guns will be still quite different at a max -3 penalty but will never reach the point of being greater than a -4 default.
With 4 hours of 'familiarizing' taking down each -1

What still bothers me is - I notice most threads discuss penalties based on 2 specific guns. A is different in 3 categories than B. Going from M16 to AK is -X penalty. But I am still conflicted on how to choose the gun to default from.

I rarely have only 1 familiarity. If I have 4 familiarities and pick up a new gun which one do I choose do compare? And like I mentioned before. Can I Frankenstein my familiarity together?

I could also just do without the grip category, as it is just too confusing. You can shoot every gun in many different ways. Against shoulder, on top of shoulder, 1 handed pistol, 2 handed pistol, 1 handed SMG, 2 handed SMG (which is different than pistol since there are handles) Bipod. Braced against a wall on the elbow... Ideally i would like to avoid keeping track of whether "I have shot this specific gun in this specific x-handed grip, braced or not, with or with out bipod."

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by MakDemonik

Maybe applying -1 per category is the way to go.

Kromm suggested something very similar.

Also, the former Assistant Line Editor suggested capping familiarity penalties at the easiest default penalty to another skill. For example, Guns (Rifle) defaults to Guns (Pistol) at -2. That implies the maximum familiarity penalty for anything that uses Guns (Pistol) should be -2, because it should not be easier to default to another skill than to different equipment within the same skill.

I rarely have only 1 familiarity. If I have 4 familiarities and pick up a new gun which one do I choose do compare?

The one that's the most similar. The easy way to assess this is Wikipedia, which will provide you with pictures and basic details of almost any gun. If that takes too long, follow the "If in doubt, roll and shout" rule.

[whswhs]

I have used familiarities for things other than guns.

In GURPS Low-Tech Companion 1, I used it for musical instruments. If you have Musical Instrument (Single Reed) and are familiar with the alto saxophone, you can play other saxophones at -1. You can play the clarinet, hornpipe, or tarogato at -2, if you're playing Western music; you have the same penalty for single reed instruments from other cultures that use different scales, but with -3 for cultural unfamiliarity as well as -2 for unfamiliarity of the instrument. You can play various other wind instruments at default skill penalties (NOT familiarity penalties) of -3 to -6. For example, Double Reed (oboe, bassoon, and I think aulos) defaults at -3.

In GURPS Locations: Worminghall, I provided that by spending 8 hours on a spell, you gained familiarity with it, sufficient to cast it at a default of IQ-6. You could use Symbol Drawing to gain a bonus, and you could gain +1 to +5 to Symbol Drawing by taking extra time. In effect, you were having to trace out the arcane words and diagrams slowly and carefully to make sure you had the skill set up in your mind. When you got to 200 hours (or emergency casting!) you didn't need to take that time; generally one turn was enough to ready the spell in your mind and cast it.

[Polkageist]

Just in terms of when to use familiarity I've only ever found it compelling when choices have to be made in a very immediate sense, like when you're using a found item during a chase scene or something where minutes count and there's no time to work towards something other than the primary goal.

Otherwise, familiarity is just something that happens in the background. Buy a new piece of equipment? You've read the manual, touched all the buttons, fired a few rounds. It's better to assume that PC's have familiarized themselves with their equipment rather than the other way around.

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Polkageist

Just in terms of when to use familiarity I've only ever found it compelling when choices have to be made in a very immediate sense

I think that explains the emphasis on weapons. If I'm a music composer, and I decide to use a new editing suite on my next project, the project will take more than 8hr and I'll have incorporated familiarity by the time I roll for the finished product.

In play I've occasionally assessed familiarity penalties, but I've never consulted the rules during play or any list of familiarities. On the theory that there are conditional modifiers, and as GM I adjudicate conditions, I might say something like, "You're a cowboy used to driving pickup trucks, but now in the course of an adventure you find yourself in a car case driving a corvette. It's certainly fast enough to catch up, but the danger is you might overshoot, so roll at -2."

[Polkageist]

Now I'm trying to justify a horse/moose familiarity penalty. How well do you really know moose? How well do you know THAT moose?

That's actually a good thing to have in mind for a western setting where you want to treat horses as a bit more than just furry motorcycles.

Jumping on a random horse outside the saloon is a classic of the genre, and if you're not familiar with that horse, well...

Or, The King of the Realm has heard that you are a great musician! Here, play him a tune that he might grant you a stay of execution. The courtier hands you a lute.
You play the harp.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Polkageist

Now I'm trying to justify a horse/moose familiarity penalty. How well do you really know moose? How well do you know THAT moose?

Riding has mandatory Specilization and Moose is a different Riding Skill from Horse. There are defaults from one type of animal to another but they're technically not familiarities.

I don't know how bad that penalty should be. There are no domesticated moose in the real world.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Polkageist

Now I'm trying to justify a horse/moose familiarity penalty. How well do you really know moose? How well do you know THAT moose?

That's actually a good thing to have in mind for a western setting where you want to treat horses as a bit more than just furry motorcycles.

Jumping on a random horse outside the saloon is a classic of the genre, and if you're not familiar with that horse, well...

Or, The King of the Realm has heard that you are a great musician! Here, play him a tune that he might grant you a stay of execution. The courtier hands you a lute.
You play the harp.

Riding different types of animal is actually different mandatory specializations of Riding. I don't know what the horse/moose default would be but potentially large - they're both large hooved herbivores but they're not closely related. Probably no less than the -3 Basic gives for defaulting from horse to camel. (Also if you are trying to ride a wild moose rather than a trained riding moose, good luck...there's a -10 penalty right there.)

Familiarity penalties with individual horses might make sense. But note that
the specified modifiers include +5 "if the animal knows and likes you". Familiarity penalties for riding with a significantly different kind of harness than you're used to might also be appropriate.

[Polkageist]

Boo, nerds.

But yeah, hopping on an unknown horse is a great opportunity for the GM to pull some familiarity penalties. As you've pointed out, there's quite a few ranging from the animal's temperament to the kind of gear it's wearing.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go moose riding.

https://images.app.goo.gl/qY2iHS4gzDzEbGVH9

[Gef]

I was once a strong bicyclist, but now I'm getting old, so I bought an ebike. All my experience is with road bikes, but this thing came with fat tires, suspension fork and dropper post (can't get full suspension without compromising cargo capacity), of course the motor, and it's heavy. There are lots of dirt roads, some of them notional at best, in my town, and with this hardware, I'm thinking, "Why not?" Well, maybe the reason why not is that I'm past my prime. I'm definitely working with non-familiarity penalties here, for the bike itself and for terrain, and I have laid the bike down several times. I've had a lot of fun, lost some weight, and came within an inch of a "crit fail" that would have put me in a hospital if not a coffin, so no more riding alone outside of cell phone coverage.

My point is that, however non-familiarity is handled, it's realistic. What may be unrealistic is the 8hr time frame to buy off; that's probably more case-by-case, which is why I just ballpark them. Realistic isn't always fun, but it can be; the trick is to make sure it doesn't just affect heroes. One way to tone down and speed up a conflict that's wearing down the PCs, without looking like you're handing them a deus ex machina, is to have the opponents get cocky: "And then the skinny gang leader pulls out his brand new 50-calibre Desert Eagle to finish you off... Blam! <dice clatter> With -4 for non-familiarity, the shot goes wild, and the gun is pointed straight up from the recoil. You have a moment to act - what do you do?"