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Old 11-17-2019, 08:17 AM   #1
WaterAndWindSpirit
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Default On-hand items

Hello everyone!

So, if I wanted, as a campaign switch, to say that any PC can make a roll of his better of IQ and Urban Survival, with bonuses if he's wealthy, penalties in unfamiliar areas, and penalties if he went through some event that should by all rights have a chance to damage his stuff without resupplying, to pull a miscellaneous, small, unrestricted, cheap but common item (a cheap lighter, a hairpin, a pack of cigarettes common to the area, a bag of candy, cheap over the counter drugs you can legally buy at any drugstore without needing a prescription like aspirin) like the Gizmo advantage out of nowhere on the basis that "he carries miscellaneous supplies that are legal, cost basically nothing and can always be useful (yeah, there are huge penalties for making a Lock Picking skill roll with a hairpin, but at least you can attempt it and get away with it with a high enough skill, many people smoke, and giving someone who is currently nervous a cigarette if he's a smoker is a small gesture that helps establishing trust, ditto for a PI giving a small store-bought, unopened bag of candy to a child he's currently asking for info on the case he's working on) that he has bought off camera recently, would anything break?
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Old 11-17-2019, 08:24 AM   #2
johndallman
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Default Re: On-hand items

Well, you're essentially giving the PCs free uses of the Gizmo advantage, with limitations of "cheap things only" and "requires an IQ/Urban Survival roll." It should be fine, provided the players don't try to abuse it. That's something you need to discuss with them beforehand.
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Old 11-17-2019, 09:03 AM   #3
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: On-hand items

Quote:
Originally Posted by WaterAndWindSpirit View Post
Hello everyone!

So, if I wanted, as a campaign switch, to say that any PC can make a roll of his better of IQ and Urban Survival, with bonuses if he's wealthy, penalties in unfamiliar areas, and penalties if he went through some event that should by all rights have a chance to damage his stuff without resupplying, to pull a miscellaneous, small, unrestricted, cheap but common item (a cheap lighter, a hairpin, a pack of cigarettes common to the area, a bag of candy, cheap over the counter drugs you can legally buy at any drugstore without needing a prescription like aspirin) like the Gizmo advantage out of nowhere on the basis that "he carries miscellaneous supplies that are legal, cost basically nothing and can always be useful (yeah, there are huge penalties for making a Lock Picking skill roll with a hairpin, but at least you can attempt it and get away with it with a high enough skill, many people smoke, and giving someone who is currently nervous a cigarette if he's a smoker is a small gesture that helps establishing trust, ditto for a PI giving a small store-bought, unopened bag of candy to a child he's currently asking for info on the case he's working on) that he has bought off camera recently, would anything break?
It sounds sort of like a cross between Doodad and an SOP perk.
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Old 11-17-2019, 09:25 AM   #4
evileeyore
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Default Re: On-hand items

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Originally Posted by Donny Brook View Post
It sounds sort of like a cross between Doodad and an SOP perk.
I was about to say, I'd at least charge them a Perk level of Gizmos for this.

And I'd allow them to buy the Perk the next time they had points to spare if they had none right at the moment of first occurrence.
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Old 11-17-2019, 10:38 AM   #5
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Default Re: On-hand items

Quote:
Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Well, you're essentially giving the PCs free uses of the Gizmo advantage, with limitations of "cheap things only" and "requires an IQ/Urban Survival roll." It should be fine, provided the players don't try to abuse it. That's something you need to discuss with them beforehand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
I was about to say, I'd at least charge them a Perk level of Gizmos for this.

And I'd allow them to buy the Perk the next time they had points to spare if they had none right at the moment of first occurrence.
The question is whether it's also available to NPCs. If it's limited to PCs, I'd say just make it a Perk, but if everyone in the setting (who has the opportunity to, which for example little kids usually wouldn't) can do it, then it's fair as a setting switch, because it isn't giving the PCs any advantage over the rest of the setting.
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Old 11-17-2019, 10:57 AM   #6
WaterAndWindSpirit
 
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Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
The question is whether it's also available to NPCs. If it's limited to PCs, I'd say just make it a Perk, but if everyone in the setting (who has the opportunity to, which for example little kids usually wouldn't) can do it, then it's fair as a setting switch, because it isn't giving the PCs any advantage over the rest of the setting.
A lot of people carry a lot of odds and ends that simply aren't listed on a character sheet. One acquaintance emptied her handbag to find something, and I saw her pull promotional matches (the kind with business infos printed on them), over the counter headaches meds, and other stuff she had no idea she carried with her cluttering said handbag. One time I found a paperclip in my jacket's pocket, no idea why or when I stashed it there. People who willingly go court trouble logically have misc legal, cheap and small odds and ends that may bail them out, but neither I nor any of the players I played with are private mercenaries or other similar things IRL. Basically, it's a way to say "well, you don't know what legal and cheap odds and ends a private merc might be carrying that may bail them out of trouble, but your character, who is, might know. So let's split the difference and roll an appropriate stat or skill if it comes up.". An NPC that has "courting trouble" as a job descriptions would be similarly prepared despite me as the GM not being a professional merc.
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Old 11-17-2019, 12:34 PM   #7
evileeyore
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Default Re: On-hand items

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prince Charon View Post
The question is whether it's also available to NPCs. If it's limited to PCs, I'd say just make it a Perk, but if everyone in the setting (who has the opportunity to, which for example little kids usually wouldn't) can do it, then it's fair as a setting switch, because it isn't giving the PCs any advantage over the rest of the setting.
So what about the Characters that don't routinely packrat generally useless junk in their pockets? Is that a Quirk to opt out of this in such a setting?

I'd rather got the Perk route, if you're the type to carry cheap but occasionally useful things, Perk it.

Further it would be listed as Gizmo (Accessibility: Cheap, Common, Not Immune to Searches, -80%).
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Old 11-17-2019, 08:00 PM   #8
Purple Haze
 
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Default Re: On-hand items

Sounds like the contents my mom's purse, or the kit I carried as a boy scout. Including at least: a razor blade, a needle, thread, a couple of buttons, half a dozen safety pins, bandaids, gauze, bandage tape, scissors, gauze, dimes (for phone calls), disinfectant, aspirin, a mirror, a comb, a swiss army knife, waterproof matches, a nail file, hard candies, chewing gum...
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Old 11-18-2019, 05:27 PM   #9
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Default Re: On-hand items

I look at rules like this and I always wonder... What are we trying to accomplish?

The real advantage would be allowing PCs to have items without detailing every single little thing they carry. The disadvantage is... extra system.

I feel like it would be better to have each player write down a brief description of the sorts of things that they normally have. Something like "First aid kit, a purse with assorted debris from everyday life, and always a snack of some sort." or "Assorted tools and gadgets, things to fidget with, and whatever office stuff happens to have been put in my pockets"

Then, a roll can be made for how appropriate a given item is to the description. This is about the same level of system but adds a little more character development into it.

Or maybe I'm missing the point entirely.
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Old 11-18-2019, 05:54 PM   #10
safisher
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Default Re: On-hand items

To each his own, but I simply don't let the PC's have anything on them if they don't declare it. It simplifies a lot of things and it makes supplies, money, encumbrance, ST, fatigue really matter. Now, if we are talking about what they have at home in "non-adventuring" gear I'm more lenient, but then it's based on background and skills. If you have First Aid, you likely do have a well-stocked medicine cabinet, or if you have Computer Operation, yeah you likely have a standard array of computer gadgets. But if we are talking about on your person, no, I don't allow it. YMMV.
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