On 7/27/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Thus, a player character could start off as strictly "normal" without enhancements. The player takes obscene levels of wealth with the expectation that they will translate the wealth into advantages later on. (I can hear the angry natives growing restless already with this aspect!)
If you're going to have natives angry at this (which is a questionable assumption; the few times I've played THS, both GM and players were perfectly happy to spend a mix of points and wealth on cybernetics), this is the place to stop it, not at the point of purchase. If the world is such that people can buy advantages, not letting them buy them out of notions of some sort of game balance messes with the premises of that world. If you don't want PCs doing that, don't let the players buy high levels of Wealth for their characters. Let them know that, while it's a sensible option from the player's point of view, it's...well, tacky once play begins.
It still does not address the ugly issue of how to price various "advantages" that can be gained with the purchase of cybernetic enhancements though :(
Doesn't need to be addressed. Again: there's a points-to-price conversion rule in the Basic Set. See p. 295.
So, cybernetic limitations - what are they worth? A strength 10 set of legs and arms shouldn't cost anything right?
In terms of points, correct. In terms of $ cost, an argument could be made that any piece of cybernetic gear should it include in its cost the price of replacing whatever disadvantages it might fix. An example: I build a character who has cybernetic eyes which provide him with no advantages over regular eyes and no disadvantages. The fact that they're artificial is a zero-point feature. Should be zero points. Later on, there are two characters who want to buy similar cybernetic eyes. One is blind, one isn't. Given the 1 point/$1000 conversion, are the eyes $0 (since they're a zero point feature) for the character who can see and $50,000 for the one who can't? It seems a better solution to have the same cost, since they're paying for the same hardware. And that cost, I'd say, would be $50,000. The sighted character, after all, has to have his own eyes removed (briefly acquiring the Blind disadvantage, if only for a few minutes while unconscious on the operating table) before getting the new ones in.
A ST 11 arm fitted on a ST 10 body (ie, 10 hit points) is worth how much? Same price as a +1 Arm Strength?
Yes. In rules terms, it's equivalent to Arm ST, so it costs what Arm ST costs (but, if purchased with $, arguably subject to adding the price of correcting One Arm).
What if it requires maintenance? What if it has a reliability number to roll against or the person acquires the disadvantage "crippled arm"? What if it requires battery changes once a month? Once every two weeks? Once a week? Once a year?
Recharges and routine maintenance can be modeled using reduced-support advantages. Following on the assumptions of the Machine metatrait, recharging a battery fairly frequently or doing minor routine maintenance is no more a limitation than the "built in" biological limitation of having to eat and sleep occasionally. Having to do little or no maintenance could be modeled as a heavily limited Reduced Life Support, or whatever it's called.
Current GURPS 4e rules don't seem to even come close to answering these questions I'm afraid.
Much closer than you'd think, I'd say. -- My wife's food blog is quite interesting: http://thehappysorceress.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
