Transient Advantages

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

I've also pondered doing the exact same with cybernetics in my own campaign. We've got PSIs and stuff as well though, and not everyone may want to cyber-up themselves. Probably the Cybernetics will remain advantages, and I'll have to restrict really high-power stuff like advanced power armor to those who buy it with as an advantage with Gadget limitations. Not quite decided on how to approach it yet yet.

Having other powers does muddy the waters, but I would encourage you to use cybernetics as gear, unless it does stuff like let you jack in directly to computers or buy skill chips. The paradigm really works quite well.

Originally Posted by Emerikol

I find it unsatisfactory though from a gaming perspective that you can spend the points to raise IQ which is the equivalent of raising 5 skills (at higher levels) and raise 20 instead. It seems in this situation that anyone playing an IQ based player would just push up IQ and forget entirely about skills.

IQ is super broad, which exacerbates this issue. I usually deal with this by making Per and Will seperate from IQ, keeping IQ at 20 points, and encouraging my players to use talents, including custom talents. So instead of raising IQ in order to become good at their core skills, which are all based around fixing machines or hacking, they raise their mechanic and computer wiz talents. Or at least make a choice to spend more points to raise IQ than to raise the talents.



That relies on viewing talents as a thing that can be raised, but I find it makes for better character building choices, so I view talents that way.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

So you are arguing with my stated reasons but not my approach. My approach was no more than double your initial buy in any stat or +2 whichever is greater. That means if you start out as a 15 you can go to 20. If you start out as a 14 you can go to 18. 10 and 11 can still go up by 2.

I'd be worried that this would encourage dumping just about all points you can in attributes (3e, with its "attributes cost double after character creation" rule saw the same thing), which tends to reduce starting PCs to a small handful of paradigms and lower character diversity. Instead of being a swordmaster or brawler or gymnast or traceur, you're encouraged to create DX-guy to avoid being locked out of future upgrades.

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I'd be worried that this would encourage dumping just about all points you can in attributes (3e, with its "attributes cost double after character creation" rule saw the same thing), which tends to reduce starting PCs to a small handful of paradigms and lower character diversity. Instead of being a swordmaster or brawler or gymnast or traceur, you're encouraged to create DX-guy to avoid being locked out of future upgrades.

That is why the extra 25 points beyond 100 are like a second buy. Kind of like your character starts at 100 but immediate advances and gets 25 more. I figure if most of the points in that initial 100 are either stats or advantages/disadvantages that is fine by me.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by RyanW

I'd be worried that this would encourage dumping just about all points you can in attributes (3e, with its "attributes cost double after character creation" rule saw the same thing), which tends to reduce starting PCs to a small handful of paradigms and lower character diversity. Instead of being a swordmaster or brawler or gymnast or traceur, you're encouraged to create DX-guy to avoid being locked out of future upgrades.

Originally Posted by Emerikol

That is why the extra 25 points beyond 100 are like a second buy. Kind of like your character starts at 100 but immediate advances and gets 25 more. I figure if most of the points in that initial 100 are either stats or advantages/disadvantages that is fine by me.

So if he's intentionally trying shape characters as "promising young people", that might be the way to do it.



It does cut down on character concepts though: my last game had four "promising young people" and one "old wise man". The interactions that generated were awesome.

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by ericthered

It does cut down on character concepts though: my last game had four "promising young people" and one "old wise man". The interactions that generated were awesome.

Maybe I'm stuck in my old ways but one aspect of roleplaying that I've liked over the years is "working" your way up in level. Obviously with GURPS that is just increasing your points.

I would never say I won't change things up once I become a lot more familiar with the system. In fact I'd say even if I don't change my opinion at all I am sure I will change things up. One of the reasons I decided to go with GURPS is the ability to change things around every single campaign. So when conceiving a new campaign setting, it not only involves nations, and terrain but also the very nature of magic and the gods.

If I were going to play a shorter campaign with a specific goal in mind, then where you started and where you finished would be less of a focal point. Right now I'm just doing basic fantasy zero to hero etc... I'm not doing the caricature of roleplay that the GURPS staff ascribes to D&D type players but I am playing what is for me a traditional game.

Sandbox, well detailed world, dice fall where they fall. That is a style I like for fantasy games.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

Maybe I'm stuck in my old ways but one aspect of roleplaying that I've liked over the years is "working" your way up in level. Obviously with GURPS that is just increasing your points.

Meanwhile, I've strongly been considering a game in which the only power ups are time spent training and in-character rewards like reputation and favors (with no particular thought to point value).

I played GURPS before playing D&D so "leveling up" isn't really part of my nostalgia.

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Meanwhile, I've strongly been considering a game in which the only power ups are time spent training and in-character rewards like reputation and favors (with no particular thought to point value).

I played GURPS before playing D&D so "leveling up" isn't really part of my nostalgia.

Of course. We are all different. That is one advantage of an open ended system. It's not so much nostalgia for me as just something about D&D that I thought was good. Not 100% of everything is bad just because you are trying out a new system. There are many things I didn't like about D&D and those things I'm changing in my GURPS campaign. Kind of like the phrase - chew up the meat and spit out the bones. :-).