[gurps] 3rd Ed Question

[Coyt D. Watters]

Remember that cats also have short range teleportation as an advantage...

Something from 2002:
<beginquote>

     For any human who has been owned by a cat, the Telepathy is probably 
fairly obvious!:)

     As for the Teleportation...

     Back in the relatively early days of the US Space Program, some 
scientists were discussing adaptation to microgravity. One of them got the 
idea of seeing how a cat, with its sense of balance, and proverbial ability 
to land on its feet, would do in zero-g conditions.

     As is the case now, the best way to get sustained microgravity is to 
launch the experiment (or the person) into orbit. As this tends to be 
expensive, other means are used to obtain "weightless" conditions for 
shorter periods.

    The best known of these methods is flying a plane in a parabolic arc. 
For the benefit of those who may be unfamiliar with the technique, you put 
the nose down, make about a 3-g pullup, and coast over the top of the arc 
with about thirty seconds of "weightless" condition. At the end of the arc, 
you can pull up again, if necessary, and repeat the trajectory.

    NASA has a modified KC-135 Stratotanker transport aircraft it uses for 
astronaut crew training and the like. For easy to understand reasons, many 
who have ridden it call it the "Vomit Comet"...

    "But we don't need the big plane to carry a cat!" insisted one of Our 
German Scientists. "We can use a smaller plane -- an F-5! We can set up an 
automatic camera to record the whole thing..."

    "And the cat can ride on the pilot's lap!" agreed Another German 
Scientist. "Let's have Fred do it! He didn't make it to today's staff 
meeting!"

    Cut to the flight line at Patrick AFB, near the Cape, a few days later.  
An F-5 Tiger taxis out onto the active runway, and takes off.

    On Fred's lap, Kitty is looking around, interested. (Hey, this human is 
taking me for a trip! All riiight!)

    Everything goes routinely until it is time for the experiment. Fred 
switches on the camera, and puts the plane into the arc.

    As plane, cat, and human reach the zero-g portion of today's flight, 
Fred reaches down to Kitty, and gently places her in midair, there in the 
cockpit.

    (Yipe! Nobody told me about this!)

    _In the next frame_ of the film, Kitty is no longer in midair, but is 
latched onto Fred, through his flight suit, all claws extended.

     With some difficulty, a rather discomfited Fred detaches Kitty from 
himself, and repeats the experiment.

    _In the next frame_ of the film, Kitty is once more attached to Fred, 
and this time there is no dislodging her!

     Deciding that no amount of hazardous duty pay is worth _this_, Fred 
calls it a day, and returns to base.

     While I haven't personally seen the film, I have spoken to reputable 
sources who swear they have done so.


     As for "Hard to Kill", on second thought, the "Nine Lives" of a cat 
might be better represented in GURPS terms by buying another Compendium 
advantage -- "Extra Lives" -- eight times!

Michael Layne
theherald at hotmail.com

On 30 Oct 2007 at 15:36, Susan Koziel wrote:

> cats see in colour tho. Not quite the same colours... but colours none the
> less... so not colour blind. ;) Thanks for all the other info tho.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Eric Funk <eric_funk_anti_spam_this_is_a_real_email_address at r3d.net>
> To: gurpsnet-l at sjgames.com
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 3:47:01 PM
> Subject: [gurps] 3rd Ed Question
> 
> > The idea is that the cat form is completely in control of the
> > character, and that she's using it as a tool to spy - in my books
> > that's an advantage - albeit a minor one. I might charge her a 0 cost
> > and allow her a second form - basically a larger cat - which I
> > conviently have the stats for from the shapeshifters book.
> >
> > This is also why inconvient size isn't much an issue.
> 
> Each subsequent form is also 15 points, plus 1/4 the difference between the most
> and second-most expensive templates' final costs (in this case, 0)
> 
> 
> 
> for cats, try
> http://panoptesv.com/RPGs/animalia/mammalia/felidae/Felid.html
> 
> and enter a target weight under housecat...
> 
> 
> as default, I get:
> 
> House Cat
> 
> ST 5      DX 13      IQ 4      HT 10
> 
> Basic Lift 2.5 kg      HP 5      FP 10      Will 10      Per 12
> 
> Weight 4 kg      SM -2
> 
> Basic Speed 6      Basic Move:  12
>       Land Move:  12 (14 sprint)
> 
> 
> Attacks Attack Damage Reach
>       Bite 1d-4 cut 0
>       Claw 1d-4 cut 0
> 
> 
>       DR:  -0
> 
> 
> 
> Advantages: Acute Hearing 2; Catfall; Combat Reflexes; Discriminatory Smell;
> Flexibility; Night Vision 6; Parabolic Hearing 2; Perfect Balance; Perk (fur);
> Sharp Claws; Sharp Teeth; Temperature Tolerance 1 (cold); Ultrahearing;
> Vibration Sense (air; based on hearing)
> 
> Disadvantages: Bad Sight 2 (Motion Sensitive); Callous; Careful; 
> Colorblindness; Compulsive Pouncing (12-); Domestic Animal; Laziness; Nosy;
> Quadruped; Reduced Endurance 1; Restricted Diet (carnivore); Short Lifespan 2
> 
> Features: Tail
> 
> Skills: Brawling - 15; Climbing - 17; Intimidation - 10; Jumping - 13; 
> Stealth - 15; Survival - 12; Wrestling - 15
> 
> 
> 
> -
> Eric Funk
> "Knowledge Brings Fear" -- Motto of Mars University, Futurama 
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========================================================
-Coyt
"The Internet, billions of electrons with nothing better to do."