[gurps] Mitigators (was Cyberpunk & 4e)

[Johannes Trimmel]

Personally i dislike rules that make getting advantages, attributes ect.
at character generation easier or harder then with earned cps. I also
dislike the double cost for attributes rule of 3e.

It makes it too tempting to optimize your character for such rules, like
dumping more then neccessary in attributes at the cost of skills.

Like in the example given with wealth and buying caberware later, sure you
can annoy the pc with doctor availability and such, but either you have to
do the same with cyberware bought with money earned in play, which might
or might not be the background and style you aim for, or it is simply
petty revange.

I see at the moment 2 ways to handle cyberware:

1) Cyberware is equipment and bought as such. Lack of natrual limbs ect.
is a mitigated disad depending on availability and practicality of
cyberware propably mitigated to -1 or -0.5 cps. I'd likely exclude these
disads from disadlimits.

That approach is especially suited if cyberware is intended to be regulary
upgraded or damaged.

2) Cyberware costs cps. For such a campain players should get enough cps
to be able to buy some cyberware (to get the right amount of cps to give
each session is a bit of a challange though) and you should have rules for
cp debts.

That likely works best with strict rules what you can spend your cps at.
Like for instance one of our favourite houserule is that only 1 cp may be
spent per session in any attribute, advantage or skill. So if you want to
raise your ST and need 10 cps for it, you don't collect 10 unspent cps,
but in 10 sessions you spend 1 cp for ST. That rule then would not apply
to cyberware. You might also have rules for only certain percentage of
your cps from a given session might be spent at attributes, and only a
certain percentage for skills ect. Again getting thoose rules right is not
trivial.

An option for the monetary cost would be to reduce the cp cost of
cyberware by the amount of cps neccessary to get the money via spending
cps for equipment.

So if a pice of cybeware gives an advantage worth of A points, and costs
C$, and you need M cps to get C$ with "spending cps for equipment" rules,
the cyberware actually costs A-M cps.




One mans groundfloor is an other mans earthmissle
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Johannes Trimmel
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