11-09-2022, 02:45 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Seattle, WA USA
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Re: Points without total
I can understand the intent behind tracking point values, but as time has gone on and people have increasingly noted that point totals don't really do a lot to compare two different characters, that intent seems to have lost its value. There are times where it might be helpful to the Referee to use a point value to balance in-game consequences (a Secret turning into other disadvantages when revealed, for instance), or as a means to track intangibles like a character working through a disadvantage (say, using earned points as an abstracted way to find out when an Alcoholic hits bottom and has a moment of clarity, or when a Kleptomaniac finally gets up the drive to seek therapy), but I think in general that it isn't something that people should go out of their way to track. For the most part, just let consequences fall where they fall. To summarize: the point total of a character isn't really worth tracking, but the point values of individual character elements might have value for some game purposes.
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11-10-2022, 01:34 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Points without total
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11-11-2022, 01:27 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Seattle, WA USA
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Re: Points without total
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11-11-2022, 07:54 PM | #24 | |||||
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: The Wired
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Re: Points without total
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If it's possible to get rid of a disadvantage, then considering why your character hasn't done so yet is an important part of roleplaying that disadvantage correctly, except in cases like this where the GM builds and plays the enemy instead. Either way, point algebra is neither necessary nor sufficient for this type of sanity-checking. The real issue, from a roleplay perspective, isn't "Oh no! You got a point break! That's bad!" it's, "If getting rid of your enemy was this easy, then why didn't your character do that before the events of the campaign?" All kinds of interesting answers to this question are possible, and it seems rather restrictive to assume that this reason must be expressible as a set of other disadvantages whose combined nominal point value just so happens to match the number of points the player received when taking the Enemy at character creation. Quote:
Last edited by VIVIT; 11-12-2022 at 04:23 AM. |
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11-12-2022, 09:48 AM | #25 | |||||
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: Points without total
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Notably, the FAQ (in section 3.2.3, just below the one you cited) clearly contemplates a character point total, i.e. "Other GMs will just raise your point total and get on with the game." [Italics mine.] Quote:
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11-13-2022, 12:43 AM | #26 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Sweden, Stockholm
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Re: Points without total
I generally find either extreme a bit too much.
If a player gains a bunch of points. F.ex. get themselves deliberately turned into a vampire I generally either force them to use half their points to pay off the "loan". If it wasn't obviously deliberate I sometimes give them a discount, e.g. pay off half the change. For gained disadvantages (lost an arm f.ex.) I _technically_ refund all the points, but I don't let the player spend them (especially all at once) without offering a good explanation. E.g. during the downtime I want my character will study magic under <insert NPC>, buy up Magery and some spells.
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"Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared" |
11-13-2022, 08:49 AM | #27 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Points without total
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If you gain a disadvantage in play, you didn't gain any bonus CP for having it. So there's nothing to "pay back" for erasing said disadvantage in play. Personally, I'm of the opinion that disadvantages should only be taken at character creation if they are basically permanent to the character (even then, I'm happy to see characters develop in unexpected ways, trading disadvantages as they take vows to throw off vices, or take a dark turn after losing a loved one) but that after character creation, points are pretty much meaningless.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
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11-14-2022, 01:42 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Jun 2022
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Re: Points without total
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Now I do keep track of exp rewards, as well as Advantages and Disadvantages earned in play, however it depends on the genre as to whether or not new Characters are boosted to the party's current "level". An "old school. paper mans, D&Desque" game? No, start at 250 points regardless of current party totals... A kitchen-sink Final Fantasyesque campaign? Sure, I might figure out some average or mean that new PCs are boosted to. |
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11-14-2022, 01:51 PM | #29 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2022
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Re: Points without total
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I've considered doing this with Allies, Contacts, Enemies, and Patrons as well. In which case I'd simply adjust them as I felt was necessary as the campaign went on. |
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11-14-2022, 01:56 PM | #30 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Points without total
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GURPS Overhaul Last edited by Varyon; 11-14-2022 at 02:00 PM. |
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