Monday 12 March 2001

Pic of the day: Quirk: Pajamas Liberation Front. -1 points.
Believes that pajamas need sunshine and fresh air too. (OK, perhaps not. But it sounded fun at the time.)

GURPSifying myself

I have recently spoken highly of GURPS, the Generic Universal Role Playing System. Unlike certain others, it does not depend on classes and levels; rather, it describes characters in terms of a few basic attributes and a wide range of skills and advantages / disadvantages. Crafting a character is not about rolling dice (unless you decide to do that) but rather to distribute the limited creation points in a believable way.

A side effect of this is the tendency of GURPS players to spontaneously GURPSify themselves. That is, they start to wonder what they would look like as a GURPS character, just because they can. I've seen passing references to this, but it was only this weekend that I started to feel the urge.

Of course, chances are that any one of us would spend a lot more points to define our character realistically, than even our best friend would. There are simply so many good things about us, and so few disadvantages ... You know you're probably on the wrong track when the only mental disadvantage you come up with is "self doubt". ;)

Luckily, there are certain guidelines for just how many points you can spend. For a normal non-playing character or supporting cast this would be 50 points, while a heroic character is normally set to 100 points. You want to heap on stuff, you have to counter it by adding disadvantages. I doubt that real life is similarly constrained, but my female e-pal (e-palette?) recently pointed out that genius tends to be countered by various mental disadvantages. She referred me to history, and there is something to it.

An abnormally large percentage of famous painters and poets have suffered from bipolar disorder (manic depressive). Other geniuses (genii?) had quirks that were as much larger than life as their accomplishments. Darwin seemed to suffer from hypochondria that exerbated his real digestion problems to the point where he was virtually imprisoned in his home. Carl Gustav Jung was borderline insane during his midlife crisis. St Paul the Apostle may have suffered from parthenomania (a strong need to stay a virgin, or generally to avoid sex at all costs). (Yes, that is one of the recognized mental disadvantages in GURPS. That's where I learned it. Gotta love it.)

Now while I have in the past been accused of roleplaying St Paul, this time it is all about me.

***

When it comes to basic stats, bear in mind that the average is 10. GURPS uses 3 common cube-shaped dice, like the ones you use in children's games. To check for success in any task, you roll these against your stats or skills. While the maximum there is 18, various factors count as modifiers, so humans may go all the way to 20. Of course, the more you deviate from the norm, the higher the cost in creation points. Think "bell curve" or "gaussian distribution". With an attribute of 18, ca 98% of everyday tasks in that area would succeed automatically. (Rolls of 17 and 18 are always considered failure, to keep some excitement.) With 2, no ordinary human task should succeed (the lowest ordinary roll is 3).

Strength: 8. Value: -15 points.
The basic set defines this as the strength of an average 13 year old. This may be slightly exaggerated, but decades of only the lightest work has definitely made their marks on my body. Further, in GURPS the basic stats do not represent raw potential but also the default untrained skills. As I am totally clueless in most sports and manual labor skills, this would weigh down my Strength attribute, so 8 is none too low.

Dexterity: 9. Value: -10 points.
Clearly below average, but not quite clumsy. If used in a combat oriented campaign, DX would probably more realistically be set to 8 as I lack any physical combat or brawling skills whatsoever. As it is, I don't normally bump into things (it happens, but not every month) and I don't drop stuff I'm carrying. I can type, bike etc, but I would normally lose a contest against an average person in contests of balance or gymnastics.

Intelligence: 16. Value: 80 points.
Genius. Still safely below Nobel Prize level (19) but able to handle the vast majority of normal human tasks without the need for particular luck. This also reflects the ability to reach a decent level in intellectual skills with only a minimum of training. A lack of social intelligence is factored in; low inter-personal intelligence is partially countered by strong intra-personal intelligence (self awareness).

Health: 10. Value: 0 points.
Average health. Neither better nor worse off than the average person at my age.

***

Onward to external (or superficial) modifiers, such as looks, wealth and social status.

Unattractive appearance: -5 points.
"Nothing you can put your finger on - the character just looks vaguely unappealing. -1 on reaction rolls by members of his own race" (quoted from the Basic Set handbook). As a friend said: "I thought you were a bit retarded until you started to speak." Oh well. It could have been the other way around.

Reputation: -2 points.
Even in Norway, where the average person is more leftist than Bill Clinton, there is a certain stigma in working for the more intrusive or nosy parts of government. You try to hide your workplace from all except the closest friend and family, but in your town you will still be recognized and occasionally harassed or threatened by the rougher individuals. You don't eat out in your hometown on drinking nights (Friday and Saturday in Norway) and you choose your dentist and physician with care. With today's means of communication, however, this disadvantage is much reduced, which is why I only set it to -2 points worth.

***

I'm still working on the Skills, Mental Advantages & Disadvantages, and Quirks. That's going to be big, I guess. But I can at least reveal one quirk:

Always updates online journal: -1 point.
The character cannot sleep at night without having updated his personal journal. Will also suddenly start to take down notes on paper scraps or pocket computer, even in public places ...