Anime Ordinary High School Students

[Huyderman]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

[2] Clueless (Romance only, -80%)
You can't tell when someone is interested in you romantically. Indirect hints go right past you, you won't think an invitation to go somewhere is a date if it is not explicitly called a "date", etc. Going the other way, you don't get it when you are being politely brushed off. Only blatant heavy handed approaches have any chance of getting through to you.

-80%? Isn't that pretty high? Romance would be a pretty big aspect of social interaction in high school themed games, especially of a animé bent. I would probably put it closer to -60% or even -40%.

(On a side note, it would be really great if a future Power-Ups PDF would handle disadvantages, and modifiers for these.)

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by robkelk

More importantly, the Japanese focus on the group over the individual should have produced a low-point-cost Ally Group (classmates or clubmates) for almost anyone in high school.

It seems to me that Ally Group is probably a bit more extreme than necessary here. Allies, in general, are pretty willing to help out PCs in all circumstances - even if that means putting themselves into serious danger (some Allies may not have the skills for combat, but even then, in my experience, they're usually willing to do what they can). Whereas the stereotypical anime character's social circle is willing to help with "mundane" things, like homework and dates, but when the Hadokens and Blazing Swords start flying around, they sensibly head for the hills. Of course, lots of anime characters do have some close friends who'll stick by them no matter what, but those probably aren't an Ally Group - if nothing else, they're probably too different from each other to qualify, and, odds are, they're the other PCs!
Offhand, I'd qualify the helpfulness of your peer group as a perk. Call it "Close Friends" or something. Basically, a perk-level Ally Group, that will only help you with mundane stuff, and includes a responsibility to do the same for them.

Originally Posted by robkelk

Sometimes it doesn't, so this is again an optional trait, but it's a culturally-important one.

Giving someone with disadvantages like Loner or the Uncongenial quirk a negative Reputation would probably not be unreasonable.

[Mgellis]

Originally Posted by Huyderman

-80%? Isn't that pretty high? Romance would be a pretty big aspect of social interaction in high school themed games, especially of a animé bent. I would probably put it closer to -60% or even -40%.

(On a side note, it would be really great if a future Power-Ups PDF would handle disadvantages, and modifiers for these.)

I agree. It's sometimes hard to tell what the limitation should be for something that is "Only with..." Is it an accessibility limitation like "Only on redheads?" or a "type of material" limitation like "Only against fire/heat" as with DR?

One clue is that each sub-type of a larger class of thing ("Specific") is usually treated as an additional -20%. Clueless affects many types of social interactions and "Romantic only" might be treated as a major sub-division of social interaction, which suggests what we're looking at is...

Clueless (Romantic situations only, -20%) [-8]

Anyway, that's my take on it.

Mark

[Huyderman]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

I agree. It's sometimes hard to tell what the limitation should be for something that is "Only with..." Is it an accessibility limitation like "Only on redheads?" or a "type of material" limitation like "Only against fire/heat" as with DR?

One clue is that each sub-type of a larger class of thing ("Specific") is usually treated as an additional -20%. Clueless affects many types of social interactions and "Romantic only" might be treated as a major sub-division of social interaction, which suggests what we're looking at is...

Clueless (Romantic situations only, -20%) [-8]

Anyway, that's my take on it.

Mark

I also thought about pricing it at -20%, as for Aspected, but there is one significant difference between advantages and disadvantages. If you have Aspected (romantic situations) on an advantage, you would likely activily seek out those situations. However, with an disadvantage, you would likely activily avoid those situations.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Huyderman

I also thought about pricing it at -20%, as for Aspected, but there is one significant difference between advantages and disadvantages. If you have Aspected (romantic situations) on an advantage, you would likely activily seek out those situations. However, with an disadvantage, you would likely activily avoid those situations.

So? It's a case of a PC effectively enforcing a worse level of a Disadvantage: the PC effectively plays Vow (Will not try romance at all!) [-10] instead of merely being bad at it (compare to merely not trying sex at [-5]). For [-8] of actual point cost, why not let them play it?

[Huyderman]

Originally Posted by Molokh

So? It's a case of a PC effectively enforcing a worse level of a Disadvantage: the PC effectively plays Vow (Will not try romance at all!) [-10] instead of merely being bad at it (compare to merely not trying sex at [-5]). For [-8] of actual point cost, why not let them play it?

Good point

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Huyderman

I also thought about pricing it at -20%, as for Aspected, but there is one significant difference between advantages and disadvantages. If you have Aspected (romantic situations) on an advantage, you would likely activily seek out those situations. However, with an disadvantage, you would likely activily avoid those situations.

In Japan romantic situation seeks you! The romantically clueless person even if he doesn't try to find romance will often find himself the subject of someone else's interest, and won't even know he's hurting her feelings or provoking her her into a murderous rage until it's too late.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Huyderman

-80%? Isn't that pretty high? Romance would be a pretty big aspect of social interaction in high school themed games, especially of a animé bent. I would probably put it closer to -60% or even -40%.

I think -80% is about right... I might drop it it -70% for a game where such interactions are especially important, but that's a trivial difference at the this point level. The obliviousness to seduction attempts is a minor part of Clueless (the -2 reaction penalty is the greatest factor in the cost). I could see an argument for making this just a Quirk in most campaigns, akin to an Incompetence.

[cptbutton]

My thanks to everyone for their comments.

2nd draft:

(I'm probably over analyzing this whole thing. Especially since the granularity of the system at this level makes stuff hard to fit.)

Template for Ordinary High School Students (Japan)
Net cost [25]

This is nominally at the end of the first year of high school (10th grade in the US), 15 years old, so there are no Attribute modifiers.

ST 10 [0]
DX 10 [0]
IQ 10 [0]
HT 10 [0]

Advantages:
[30] Patron: Parents, level 1, 15- (But many anime characters sell this down considerably.)
[0] Language Japanese, Native
[2] Language: English, Broken, Written and Spoken (Frequently changed to Written only [1], or Accented, Written only [2].)
[4] Ally Group (classmates or clubmates) (11-20 interchangeable NPCs, less than 25% of point total, fairly often 9-, mundane assistance only (-50%))

[10] from Advantages listed (at start of thread)


Disadvantages:
[-15] Poor ($3200 in mundane assets, $800 available) (Note that most living expenses are provided by parents.)
[-5] Social Stigma (Minor)

[-10] from Disadvantages listed (at start of thread)

Hair color: any (Any!)

Skills:
Mathematics (applied) 8 [1]
Literature 8 [1]
History (Japan) 8 [1]
Writing 9 [1]

[5] from Skills listed (at start of thread)

General rules of thumb:
After 10th grade, total of [1] in each, skills 6 or below are failing, 7 marginal, 8 average, 9 superior, 10 honor students.
After 11th grade, total of [2] in each, skills 7 or below are failing, 8 marginal, 9 average, 10 superior, 11 honor students.
after 12th grade, two skills have [4], two skills have [2]. skills 8 or below are failing, 9 marginal, 10 average, 11 superior, 12 honor students.

I'm assuming that the stuff you learn in elementary and middle school goes into defaults and basic IQ.

(Note that, as a template, this is just a default starting point. Any of these can be removed or increased as the player desires.)

[cptbutton]

Anime additions: (2nd draft)

Disadvantages:

[-5] Clueless (Romance only, -50%)
You can't tell when someone is interested in you romantically. Indirect hints go right past you, you won't think an invitation to go somewhere is a date if it is not explicitly called a "date", etc. Going the other way, you don't get it when you are being politely brushed off. Only blatant heavy handed approaches have any chance of getting through to you.

Swiped from Flynn Leek:
http://www.thecabal.org/gurps/rareitems/anime.html

Love Triangle (-5/-10 points disadvantage)
Player is involved romantically in some fashion with two other people. This results in either friendly rivalry for affection (5 point version) or outright combat to remove the person being fought over (10 points). The exact nature of the relationship is left up to the player or GM. This can be taken multiple times for really confusing situations...

Secret Love (Variable points disadvantage)
Character is in love with another character, but, for various reasons, it is kept secret. There are three catagories for who can know about the secret love: The intended target (most common), The character (He loves her, he just doesn't want to admit it, not even to himself), and everyone else in the campaign. For each category that doesn't know, add three points. If they know, but are just keeping quiet about it, they're only worth 1 point. If a rival is involved somehow, add five points

Perks:

[1] Shoujo Mallet (From GURPS Mecha, p34)

Quirks:

[-1] Chronically Late
You don't mean to, but somehow no matter what you do, you are almost always at least a few minutes late.

[-10] Easy To Read (Special effect: Expressive Hair)
Your hair reflects your emotional reactions. It will literally stand on end when you are shocked or surprised, droop when you are depressed, turn red when you are enraged, etc. This is not under your conscious control and is not strong or dexterous enough to be able to manipulate objects.