On 05Jul2022 2228, Alex Goodwin - alex.goodwin at multitel.com.au (via
tml list) wrote:

 > On 3/7/22 07:11, Rupert Boleyn - rupert.boleyn at gmail.com (via tml
 > list) wrote:
 >> Well, their objective power in MgT, CT, etc. would be wildly
 >> different as well. In play differing point values in GURPS don't
 >> matter that much as long as everyone has some skill or talent they
 >> can bring that's useful to the party - assuming that the players
 >> don't care about it. Note that learning new skills is fairly easy
 >> in GURPS, and stats influence skill level very strongly, and
 >> there's no built-in niche protection to stop a high-IQ engineer
 >> quickly also becoming the best at science, sensor ops, piloting,
 >> etc., so you need to be aware of this and have players that are in
 >> board with not trampling too hard on other PC's niches, especially
 >> if some of the characters are young and have limited skills - they
 >> need to be able to be the go-to guy in their niche or players will
 >> rapidly start wondering why that guy is even on the crew.

 > This has been bugging me - would Talents be usable for niche
 > protection?

They certainly help, probably moreso if you've got *Power-Ups3 -
Talents* and allow the alternative benefits for characters they fit
(more stuff to curate!). Either way, playing up the non-skill part of
the talent is important, otherwise it risks becoming just a point rebate
in the minds of the players.

I think mostly you just have to talk to your players about niches and
not walking all over each other, and possibly putting one's foot down if
people start. I certainly wish I'd done that in my game way back. It's
years too late now.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>