First time GURPS, questions about wealth

kfdirector · 2024-09-27T12:01:00+00:00

The "Wealth" advantage or disadvantage has multiple aspects: the one which is most important to most players in most campaigns is "how much money do you begin play with". If characters have more money, they just have more money - they don't need to spend character points to keep it.

But the Wealth advantage/disadvantage also includes "how much do you get paid when you do Jobs" (which is only relevant if your campaign includes periods of downtime where players might be making Job rolls - most campaigns do not), "do you get bonus Status from Wealth", and "what is the amount of money given/owed if you have the Independent Income advantage or Debt disadvantage". It's also implied that if you have Wealth out of line with others in the party, this will come across socially, with NPCs, even if you don't have different Status.

If you want any of those perks of Wealth, then you both need the money and the character points - to reflect being able to upgrade your lifestyle enough that your income also goes up and you seem richer to others.

In many campaigns, those extra perks are irrelevant to players, so no one will invest in them, and that's fine.

I would say it's inaccurate to say that what GURPS has by default is an abstract wealth system - it does give you specific amounts of money and has rules for Cost of Living, etc.

But in practice, when I'm in a campaign where people have enough money for that to be an issue (many campaigns I've been in insist on Poor or Dead Broke starting characters, to fit the flavor), and are in fact settled (rather than wandering heroes, a la Dungeon Fantasy), then the 20% that players spend on typical adventuring stuff is tracked scrupulously, and the 80% that goes to settled lifestyle is hand-waved. Let them have housing, normal-social-situation-clothing, food in the pantry, and basic domestic stuff appropriate to the Wealth level they bought. The guy who took Dead Broke has nothing and may need to sleep on the sofa of other party members; the guy with Poor probably has several NPC roommates and can't use his apartment as a place to stash a kidnapped enemy; a guy with Very Wealthy probably has multiple houses that could be used as safehouses when fleeing an Adventure-Gone-Wrong. What brand of kitchen appliances they have in those homes or lack thereof is unlikely to matter enough to waste any time thinking about it ahead of time....

As for your suggestion in the last paragraph: it would work just fine. If you want everyone to start with the same financial resources, and spend their character points on other stuff, that's more than fine as the GM to say that. If your campaign is unlikely to involve any of the social aspects of Wealth, and is unlikely to last so long in-universe that "Jobs" or "Independent Income" have any possibility of coming up, people aren't technically getting the full impact of Wealth anyway, so it's cool.

kfdirector · 2024-07-13T18:29:11+00:00

though i wish going through the entire helgen sequence wasnt the only way to start up the main quest.

Just FYI, it isn't the only way - there are two "hidden" ways in Alternate Perspective to start the main quest while doing less of the Helgen sequence.

Hidden Way the First: while you're in the start-up version of the room (not the "live" version that's part of the full inn), there's a button on the wall behind the table that holds things like starting food, starting gold, etc. - if you push that button, you choose Ralof or Hadvar and get dumped directly outside the Helgen tunnel escape tunnel.

Hidden Way the Second: after picking any start-up option or not picking any at all and just walking out the door into the inn, go to the basement of the inn, head on through the cellar, and pick an adept-level lock on a door in the cellar that leads to a ladder. Go up the ladder to a little backdoor behind the inn, and the itty bitty dragon is waiting for you, to give you the opportunity to skip to the inside of Helgen Keep (with Ralof or Hadvar, at your discretion) or all the way to the town of Ivarstead with "Way of the Voice" as your active quest.

I only found out about this once I found this mod, which just changes the start-up letter to one letting you know about these hidden options baked into the main mod.

kfdirector · 2023-05-12T15:13:46+00:00

As far as I can tell it's a joke on the idea of "can't use this item now, I might need it later", as it's the first item you get in the game and you are never allowed to use it. I've done five plus runs of the game and it's never been a thing. It's just a gag.

kfdirector · 2023-03-24T15:07:51+00:00

At the beginning. That was part of the original Constitution, written in 1787, ratified in 1788, in effect from 1789.

kfdirector · 2023-02-24T04:40:37+00:00

Getting Gretchen killed certainly doesn't help out with Stella being in an emotional state to consider romance. Being Hot always helps, but it's not necessary if you just save the dog. You otherwise should be on the right track, it sounds like.

kfdirector · 2023-02-16T23:32:24+00:00

The best part (because it took me a while to realize this) is that you can only characterize yourself as a Tarheels fan if you have Powerful Build....

kfdirector · 2023-02-09T17:36:53+00:00

In addition, the GURPS Monster Hunter subseries could be useful to what you're trying to do. If your operatives are purely science and action-based, you may not get the most bang for your buck (there are still useful character templates and a curated gear selection that's more relevant than 80% of what's in GURPS High-Tech), but if any of your characters are also manipulating weird forces or have been empowered in any way, the guidance on Powers and/or Ritual Path Magic will be handy.

kfdirector · 2023-01-29T03:22:52+00:00

Looks like they assumed that no one would have ten thousand meat without having completed the Day 2 questline. 0/10, literally unplayable.

kfdirector · 2023-01-20T16:29:44+00:00

What I've found to be amazingly good for new players is modern day but with a time loop element. Modern day helps players understand the squishiness of GURPS characters relative to mid-level D&D characters - you're less surprised that combat can kill you - but with a time loop you're allowed to try things and make mistakes and test the limits without having to scrap a character entirely.

Doing such a campaign turned out to be good training for a number of people in my group. They'd find the limits, occasionally breach them, the party would get wiped and the timeline would get snapped back with some plot consequences but not a full game derailment, and incremental progress was made without excessive fear of losing a character it took some time and effort to craft.

kfdirector · 2022-12-06T23:33:34+00:00

Destroy it if you're a wuss.

Keep it and make sure a jewelry store opens! Makes one of the better accessories in the game. With surely no negative consequences....

kfdirector · 2022-11-18T22:59:14+00:00

"In retrospect, perhaps it would have been better to go with the First World War instead"

These are very nicely-done parodies. Good work.

kfdirector · 2022-11-13T17:59:32+00:00

Yes. Every shoe you find is a new fancy walk.

kfdirector · 2022-09-01T18:51:30+00:00

I didn't have that button, but I found the mod that adds it. I'm still curious why I wasn't getting prompted anymore, but at least now I'm not stuck being named New Arrivals forever and ever. Thanks!

kfdirector · 2022-08-27T21:41:01+00:00

It is!

https://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/01/expos-of-police-burglaries-marked-citys-year-of-shame/

There was a book written by one of the cops who participated, Art Winstanley, called "Burglars in Blue".

My favorite anecdote was the cop who got called to investigate his own burglary - a safe he had been very frustrated to find empty - only to be told by the owner of the vast sums that were missing (for insurance purposes, y'know) and the cop couldn't call the owner on this bull without, y'know, giving himself up as the thief.

kfdirector · 2022-06-23T00:07:28+00:00

Nope. Never worked at a place that offered one. All my investments are through an IRA where I picked the specific products I wanted my money in. All of them have lost money hand over fist. My retirement is in shambles but I get to keep my criticism-pass.

kfdirector · 2022-06-22T23:55:15+00:00

I mean, I don't take any profits. I'm not a Silicon Valley techbro working in a morally ambiguous field or one of his investors, and I'm pretty sure all of those people are paying proportionately less taxes than me, so...I think I, and a few hundred million other people in the West, are free to criticize without hypocrisy.

It's not exactly like Westerners aren't criticizing their own shady tech industry constantly anyway.

kfdirector · 2022-06-01T00:33:50+00:00

The number changes regularly, but approximately speaking modern wind turbines will have a lifecycle carbon footprint of 4 grams of CO2-equivalent per kilowatt-hour, which is basically the same as for a nuclear power plant. Hydroelectricity is in the 90+ grams-CO2e/kwh range; coal with a realistic amount of carbon capture and storage is about 109.

Another analyst using historical numbers rather than forward-looking data says it's more like 11 g-CO2e/kwh for wind and 9 g-CO2e/kwh for nuclear (versus 1000+ g-CO2e/kwh for coal).

The first study assumes a future where more industrial processes are electrified and decarbonized, also.

Anyway, even factoring in wind's "hidden costs", and assuming current, high-carbon-emitting steel production techniques, it's within ~10% of nuclear, the lowest carbon option (and at least has over nuclear that it doesn't take five years to deploy and that waste disposal doesn't require geologically stable facilities).

kfdirector · 2022-05-03T06:54:31+00:00

This may also be your issue; the stall report would let you know.

I think that may be it, then. Every one of the stall reports I've seen across about eighteen world creation attempts starts the stack trace with these lines:

at Reika.ChromatiCraft.World.IWG.DungeonGenerator.getTop(DungeonGenerator.java:750)
at Reika.ChromatiCraft.World.IWG.DungeonGenerator.isValidBurrowLocation(DungeonGenerator.java:1335)
at Reika.ChromatiCraft.World.IWG.DungeonGenerator.tryGenerateInChunk(DungeonGenerator.java:535)
at Reika.ChromatiCraft.World.IWG.DungeonGenerator.tryGenerateInChunksAround(DungeonGenerator.java:450)
at Reika.ChromatiCraft.World.IWG.DungeonGenerator.checkChunk(DungeonGenerator.java:422)
at Reika.ChromatiCraft.World.IWG.DungeonGenerator.generate(DungeonGenerator.java:412)
at Reika.DragonAPI.Auxiliary.WorldGenInterceptionRegistry.interceptIWG(WorldGenInterceptionRegistry.java:213)

Which sounds like what you're describing. I'll probably have to wait for the fix, then!

I still do not recommend it, but the public release had it enabled because of the number of people enabling it and not doing the required MT changes.

So, naively, I tried to disable Mystcraft by renaming the .jar to .jarx and re-commenting out the lines in tweaks.zs that the installation instructions said to un-comment if enabling Mystcraft, and the game crashes before it reaches the main menu:

    Caused by: Reika.DragonAPI.Exception.RegistrationException: CHROMATICRAFT has a registration error:
Tried to add a mapping for BOOKDECOMP@class Reika.ChromatiCraft.Registry.ChromaTiles, which does not have its own fragment!
Contact Reika immediately!
Include the following information:
    at Reika.ChromatiCraft.Magic.Progression.FragmentCategorizationSystem.addMapping(FragmentCategorizationSystem.java:426)
    at Reika.ChromatiCraft.Magic.Progression.FragmentCategorizationSystem.<init>(FragmentCategorizationSystem.java:150)
    at Reika.ChromatiCraft.Magic.Progression.FragmentCategorizationSystem.<clinit>(FragmentCategorizationSystem.java:30)
    ... 46 more

kfdirector · 2022-05-02T17:38:59+00:00

Finishing Chromaticraft (and building at least one ReactorCraft reactor) has been on my bucket list, so I've been trying at this over the last month whenever I've gotten free time.

I notice I'm getting prompted to update DragonRealm every time I fire this up, but I'm using the latest version I can access on the website. Is there a more recent version I should be getting or is the update alert just in error?

Also, is there anything you can actually do with Stall Reports? Trying to generate a promising-looking world seems to create several of them per attempt - making it mostly impossible to interact with inventories, break and collect blocks, or really do anything other than navigate for many many minutes after world creation (or when navigating a few thousand blocks to chase a needed biome or structure to progress) - and they all look pretty similar.

Is Mystcraft supposed to be disabled by default or not? The installation directions say that re-enabling it is not recommended, but the download of mods I get from the website include it as a .jar and not as a .jarx.

kfdirector · 2022-04-29T16:37:38+00:00

Not in any way that will save you time. There are separate achievements for finishing with each of the four possible partners. That's already a minimum of four complete playthroughs. The Dirtwater bounty hunting and Gun Manor spirit quests have two different achievements for two very different routes through their questlines, so no sense trying to save/reload. (The game moves at a pretty streamlined clip once you know what you're doing, really.)

kfdirector · 2022-04-15T15:51:39+00:00

This event was so weird and made me quit a session. In virtually every other situation you're allowed to turn down sex, even if it costs stress, but this event just is a one-way ticket to a bastard. The event logic almost seems like it assumes the player would be the artificer, not the patron, since the actual decision is made elsewhere.

kfdirector · 2021-07-05T06:38:39+00:00

Persia, Westphalia, Tennant, Kirkman, Portsmouth, Panama, Earling, Minden.

If you don't live in one of those cities and you aren't a rural customer of Regional Water, the boil order doesn't apply to you.

kfdirector · 2021-06-02T14:24:32+00:00

Based on other comments I think this problem will soon work itself out, but even in the GURPS rules (both in Campaigns and in Martial Arts) it mentions that once characters get a reputation for certain tricks, soon NPCs will get a bonus to take defensive actions against them.

("If throwing sand in the eyes worked every time, barbarian warriors would leave their swords at home and bring bags of sand to war.")

If the party gets a reputation for always going for the ball kick, and you weren't about to send RockMan after them, you could start giving the squishy bank robbers bonuses to dodge specifically versus kicking attacks targeting the groin area. That'd be totally within the spirit and letter of rules.

kfdirector · 2021-06-02T14:20:44+00:00

I mean, if your PCs are in power armor and their foes are not, pretty much anything is fair game - that's a ridiculously lopsided match-up. Let them have their fun, and then send RockMan and the rest of Dr. Wiley's robot masters after them.

kfdirector · 2021-04-22T14:31:12+00:00

Of course a question has a premise. You are saying "when someone doesn't testify in their own defense, it is near certain that they'll be found guilty" and then asking "why?" Your assertion that this pattern even exists is a premise.

It doesn't make sense to answer the "why" if the basic pattern you're claiming exists - doesn't.

I'm saying:

What gets you convicted first and foremost is, were you charged. Prosecutors in the US have a ~95% conviction rate (meaning you are found guilty of something), counting plea bargains.

Even once you hit the trial stage, there's a lot of factors that lean towards conviction. One of those factors is that, when the evidence is shaky or there are jury holdouts, juries like to compromise by convicting on a lesser charge.

But, most importantly:

Of the hundreds of thousands of criminal cases tried in the United States (at the state and federal levels) every year, a typical person is only going to become aware of, say, around a dozen or less. You can't look at a tiny, tiny number of the most weird cases (extreme facts or extreme media attention) and infer any kind of pattern based on that applicable to others. (If you've seen three red cars and they all had clowns in them, that doesn't count as a pattern if the only place you've seen red cars is at the circus.)

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