I’ve got pages for new talents, new techniques, new technique-based advantages, and new perks, all waiting to tie up your PC’s precious character points (or cash, in the case of new weapons). Now it’s time to help you claw back some of those points with new disadvantages.
My collection of new disadvantages is small, but I’ll of course add to it if I create more.
Code of Honor variants
For some general discussion on these codes and their use in the game, see this forum thread. For any fantasy game, you’ll also find many good examples of codes on Banestorm p. 185.
As with any disadvantage, a code should be made a mere Quirk for a PC if the GM thinks it won’t likely have much impact on adventures.
Code of Honor (Dwarven miner’s)
“Only dwarves mine with respect,” say some. The Code of Honor below is perfect for dwarves who embody that respect – including the bold wanderers who bring their ideals to all underground exploration and adventuring. (For a less restrictive code that might be found in any thoughtful subterranean explorer, see the Code of Honor (Caver) quirk in GURPS Underground Adventures.)
Code of Honor (Dwarven miner’s) is of course perfect for proud miners in dwarven communities. It might also be found in a dwarven mystic, along with traits such as Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism) [-5], Sense of Duty (Places of importance to earth spirits) [-5], Higher Purpose (Protect places of importance to earth spirits) [5], and Hidden Lore (Nature Spirits or Elementals). Some combination of those traits will yield stumpy-legged boulder-huggers who gather at subterranean Stonehenges to beat iron drums and sing Khûmbaya.
Code of Honor (Dwarven miner’s)
-5 points
Respect safety procedures, mining claims, tools, fellow miners, and whatever earth spirits or other rightful denizens dwell below. Always aid fellow miners in peril. Leave 10% of ores, jewels, or other natural finds behind as tribute for underground spirits. When unable offer this tithe out of some necessity (or even just Greed), beautify the site with shrines or art of similar value. (This tithe gives the GM reason to stock abandoned dwarven mines with shrines, sculptures, and unspoiled bits of ore or gems to be taken – though possibly at the risk of angering honor-bound dwarves or local spirits.) “Mining” and “miner” here are only typical contexts; this code applies to any underground resource extraction, exploration, or delving!
Compulsive Lying variants
Compulsive Lying is an oddity among other compulsive behaviors, with a high value that befits its outsized capacity for trouble-making. (DFRPG even issues a “the GM may wish to forbid it” warning.) To accommodate more varieties of fibber, such as a self-promoter whose sin is only exaggerating his own merits and accomplishments, I created some variants.
The following assume no change in the mechanics of Compulsive Lying’s reaction penalty (which is determined solely by the self-control number). Even if you intend your tales as mere exaggeration, to your audience, a lie is a lie! The lesser-value variants below should spur reaction penalties less often, though, as the reduced scope or severity of the lies should get the fibber caught less often.
Compulsive Lying
-15 points
You happily lie about most anything, concocting stories and “facts” out of thin air. This is the disadvantage from GURPS Basic Set p. 128 and DFRPG Adventurers p. 59.
Compulsive Lying (Boasting)
-10 points
As Compulsive Lying, but you’re only compelled to fib about yourself – almost certainly in a flattering way, of course! Listeners are sure to get an earful about your royal Elvish heritage, the orphanages you established with gold from dragons you’ve slain, and the armies of knights who come to you with tears in their eyes to say “Sir, no one’s ever saved the kingdom as bigly as you…” And who knows, you might even believe your tales!
Compulsive Lying (Exaggeration)
-10 points
You lie like a rug, but at least with some floor of reality underneath. You did indeed have an audience with the King… well, okay, you were in the audience for his public address, but he totally waved at you. (Toward you. In your direction.) And to get there, you had to ride through the worst storm in history – look, it was definitely a bad storm, and if people still want to disbelieve you, maybe they can take it up with your traveling companions, who are the deadliest warriors in the kingdom, at least as dangerous as an obsidian ant swarm, which can turn a horse into a skeleton in two seconds…
Compulsive Lying (Boastful Exaggeration)
-5 points
The intersection of Compulsive Lying (Boasting) and Compulsive Lying (Exaggeration). You limit your untruths to claims about yourself, and even then with some grounding in truth.
Lies, lies, and more lies
It’s possible to create a rough system for “building” variants of Compulsive Lying through specific components. See the Appendix for such as attempt.
Vows
Vows of poverty
GURPS and DFRPG make references to the Vows “Own no more than your horse can carry” for -10 points, but DFRPG also prices “Own only what you can carry” at -10 points. While they’re both fine as vows, a horse can typically carry a lot more than an adventurer! So, I suggest a lesser value for the horse variant below. This is followed by some new anti-materialist vows: two versions of a vow to indulge in no luxuries, followed by two lesser (half-value) versions that eschew only owning such luxuries.
Vow (Own no more than your horse can carry)
-5 points
Although DFRPG Adventurers p. 25 prices this Vow at -10 points, I’m revising the cost to -5 points to distinguish it from the much stricter “Own only what you can carry” [-10]. In a dungeon adventuring environment, a horse-load of possessions is usually plenty!
Vow (Own only what you can carry)
-10 points
This is a Vow offered on DFRPG Adventurers p. 67.
Vow (Indulge in no luxuries)
-5 points
You limit your possessions to the simple and unadorned, seek mundane food and board, and avoid fancy comforts. You’ll allow yourself the ornate, ornamental, gilt, bejeweled, excessively high-quality, or otherwise fancier-than-normal only in cases of practical necessity, and even then only until you can find a less ostentatious replacement.
Vow (Indulge in nothing of quality)
-10 points
This is Vow (Indulge in no luxuries) taken to the extreme: even normal goods and comforts offend your ideal of spartan impoverishment or humble self-denial. Anything you own or partake in must exhibit some combination of cheap-quality, shabby, ragged, cast-off, broken, uncomfortable, etc. Sackcloth and hard black bread are good enough!
Vow (Own no luxuries)
-2 points
As Vow (Indulge in no luxuries), but your non-indulgence is limited to things you purchase yourself or otherwise own. You can put up with a short-term fancy room provided by a patron, a rich meal offered by friends, or a fancy gown temporarily borrowed for a heist.
Vow (Own nothing of quality)
-5 points
As Vow (Indulge in nothing of quality), but your ascetic slumming is limited to things you purchase yourself or otherwise own. You can put up with fancy goods and comforts temporarily provided by others or borrowed out of short-term necessity.
Appendix
Build-a-Liar
Pondering new variants of Compulsive Liar naturally leads to a dissection of the disadvantage to discover its components, followed by the building of new variants from those parts. What sort of parts would those be? I see the following four components, each of which I’ll suggest can be Strong (worth [-5]) or Weak (worth [0]):
- Audience: Strong means you’ll lie to friend, foe, stranger, anyone; Weak means your compulsion is selective in whom it targets (pick a suitable subset of people).
- Breadth: Strong means you lie about nearly anything; Weak means your compulsion concerns a narrower area (most likely yourself).
- Commitment: When challenged on a claim, Strong means you need to make a new Self-Control roll to admit being caught; if that fails, you double down, insist you’re right, and disparage your accusers. Weak means you’re capable of walking back an exposed lie.
- Degree: Strong means you readily make up lies out of thin air; Weak means you’re only compelled to exaggerate and embellish something grounded in truth.
How would one build varieties of mythomania from the above?
- Envision the sort of compulsive lying you want to define.
- For each of those four components, decide whether Strong or Weak fits better. Set any required details (e.g., what you lie about if Breadth is Weak).
- Tot up -5 points for each Strong component, 0 points for each Weak component.
- Give your disadvantage a name, and adjust its cost normally for Self-Control Number.
At least one component must be Strong to yield a valid disadvantage! If none are Strong, you’re not really much of a compulsive liar; you perhaps (as one example) only exaggerate truths, limited to stories involving yourself, and only toward higher-status people, to whom you’ll confess exaggerating if caught. That sounds like a fine Quirk (“Exaggerates own accomplishments and capabilities to higher-ups”).
Built examples
Let’s start with the standard Compulsive Lying disadvantage – which differs a bit between GURPS and DFRPG. Maybe. That is, the two may be intended as identical, with any perceived differences just artifacts of wording, not design. But for the fun of it, I’ll get annoyingly literal with wording differences in the two descriptions to build two distinct versions of the trait:
Compulsive Lying, GURPS version: Strong components are Audience (you lie to anyone), Commitment (you cling to the lie when exposed), and Degree (you invent stories whole-cloth). But Breadth is arguably Weak: while the text doesn’t specify that you lie only about yourself, it suggests this by making it the only example described. [-15]
Compulsive Lying, DFRPG version: Strong components are Audience (you lie to anyone), Breadth (you apparently lie about anything, as no limitations are noted in the text), and Degree (you presumably invent stories whole-cloth, as the text doesn’t suggest otherwise). Commitment can be assumed to be Weak, though, as the text doesn’t specify that you’ll cling to an exposed lie. [-15]
Compulsive Lying (Boasting): Audience and Degree are Strong: you’ll boast to anyone, with or without any grounding in truth. Breadth and Commitment are Weak: you limit your lies to your own deeds and capabilities, and can ‘fess up when caught. [-10]
Compulsive Lying (Exaggeration): Audience and Breadth are Strong: you’ll fib to anyone about anything. Commitment and Degree are Weak: you only exaggerate bits of truth, and can walk your tall tales back with “okay, maybe I misspoke, but still…”. [-10]
Compulsive Lying (Boastful Exaggeration): Only Audience is Strong: you’ll tell falsehoods to anyone, but only to exaggerate truth and only about yourself, and can backtrack with a “just kidding lol” when caught. [-5]
Header image: Bro got all kinds of disads, but a lack of rizz ain’t one of ’em.
(The real disad here: My inability to think of any header image that would fit the theme “new disadvantages”. Any suggestions?)
