Social Background

Variable

The next few sections discuss your society's level of technological development, cultures, and languages. It is an advantage to be technologically advanced, culturally literate, or linguistically talented. Inadequacy in these areas can be a crippling disadvantage.

Technology Level (TL)

"Technology level" (or "tech level") is a number that rates technological development. The more advanced the society, the higher its TL; see Tech Level and Starting Wealth for examples from Earth's history. The GM will tell you the TL of his world. Be sure to note this, as it affects your access to certain traits – notably skills – and equipment.

Characters also have a TL, equal to that of the technology with which they are most familiar. Unless you are especially primitive or advanced, you should record the TL of your game world as your personal TL and move on.

In some game worlds, your personal TL may differ from the campaign average. A world might be TL8 on average, but the citizens of one advanced nation might be TL9 while those from an underdeveloped region might be TL7. And the TL of a space, time, or dimension traveler might differ radically from that of his current surroundings.

Being from a higher TL than the campaign norm is an advantage; being from a lower TL is a disadvantage.

Low TL

-5 points/TL below campaign TL

Your personal TL is below that of the campaign world. You start with no knowledge (or default skill) relating to equipment above your personal TL. You will be able to learn DX-based technological skills (pertaining to vehicles, weapons, etc.) in play, if you can find a teacher, but fundamental differences in thinking prevent you from learning IQ-based technological skills. To overcome this limitation, you must buy off this trait, increasing your personal TL. This usually requires a lengthy period of re-education.

High TL

5 points/TL above campaign TL

Your personal TL is above that of the campaign world. You may enter play with skills relating to equipment up to your personal TL. This is most useful if you also have access to high-TL equipment (see Tech Level and Equipment), but the knowledge of a high-tech doctor or scientist can be very useful in a low-tech setting, even without specialized equipment!

Culture

You are automatically familiar with the social peculiarities of one major culture of your choice. You suffer no skill penalties when interacting with people from that culture. The GM will provide a list of cultures to choose from (or let you invent your own – many GMs appreciate players’ contri- butions to the game world!). When dealing with an unfamiliar culture, you have -3 to use any skill with a significant cultural component, including Carousing, Connoisseur, Criminology, Dancing, Detect Lies, Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Games, Gesture, Heraldry, Intimidation, Leadership, Merchant, Poetry, Politics, Psychology, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Sociology, Streetwise, and Teaching. To get rid of this penalty, buy the following advantage: Cultural Familiarity 1 or 2 points/culture You are familiar with cultures other than your own, and do not suf- fer the -3 penalty for unfamiliarity. This costs 1 point per culture of the same (or very similar) race, or 2 points per alien culture. To prevent point-cost inflation, the GM should use broad definitions of culture: East Asian, Muslim, Western, etc. A single nation would have to be very different to merit its own Cultural Familiarity. In fantasy worlds, the GM might wish to have one culture per race; in a futuristic setting, an entire planet or even a galactic empire might have a single, monolithic culture. See Cultural Adaptability (p. 46) for additional options.

Language

GURPS assumes that most characters can read and write their "native" language. This ability costs no points, but you should note your native language on your character sheet; e.g., "English (Native) [0]."

The rest of this section is only important if you can communicate in more than one language (an advantage) or have difficulty with your native tongue (a disadvantage)

Comprehension Levels

The point cost to learn an additional language depends on your "comprehension level": a measure of how well you function in that language overall. There are four comprehension levels:

None: You are completely incapable of functioning in the language. If you do not spend points on a non-native language, this comprehension level is assumed – there is no need to note it for every language you don’t know! 0 points/language.

Broken: You can recognize important words and understand simple sentences if they are spoken slowly. You have -3 when using skills that depend on language, such as Fast-Talk, Public Speaking, Research, Speed-Reading, Teaching, and Writing. This doubles to -6 for artistic skills that rely on the beauty of the language (Poetry, Singing, etc.). In stressful situations – e.g., encounters involving combat or reaction rolls – you must roll against IQ to understand or make yourself understood in the language. On a failure, you convey no information, but you may try again. Critical failure means you convey the wrong information! For hurried speech, bad phone connections, etc., this roll is at -2 to -8! Native speakers who already dislike foreigners (see Intolerance) react to you at an extra -1. 2 points/language.

Accented: You can communicate clearly, even under stress. However, your speech and writing are idiosyncratic, and it is obvious that this is not your native language. You have -1 when using skills that depend on language, doubled to -2 for artistic skills. You receive no reaction penalty from native speakers, but you will be unable to pass for a native (this can be a major problem for would-be spies!). 4 points/language.

Native: You have full mastery of the language, including idioms. You can think in the language. You have no penalty to use skills that depend on language. You start with one language at this level for free. If you buy Native comprehension in a foreign tongue, you can pass for a native speaker. 6 points/language.

Exceptional Competence and Incompetence

Great orators, writers, and other masters of the language should start with Native-level comprehension, then learn skills such as Public Speaking and Writing at very high levels.

Poorly educated individuals who can barely get by in their native tongue should take the point difference between their actual level and Native level as a disadvantage. For instance, someone who has his native tongue at Broken level has a -4-point disadvantage.

Spoken vs. Written Language

The point costs above assume that you read/write and speak the language equally well. If your written and spoken ability differ, select separate spoken and written comprehension levels and pay half cost for each. For instance, if you learned to write French from a book, you might have "French: Spoken (None)/Written (Native) [3]."

Literacy

Your written comprehension level determines your degree of literacy in that language:

Literacy is a written comprehen sion of Accented or better. You can read and write competently and at full speed.

Semi-literacy is a written comprehension of Broken. A semi-literate person would require three minutes to read this sentence, and would have to make an IQ roll to understand the full meaning! Many words are always unintelligible to a semi-literate person, including some in this paragraph.

Illiteracy is a written comprehension of None. If this is the case, you really can't read! Signs, scrolls, books, and names on maps (though not the maps themselves) are completely incomprehensible to you. The player may pass secret notes to the GM (and vice versa), but the character cannot read anything.

At TL4 and below, it is quite possible to go all your life without needing to read. In settings like this, illiteracy or semi-literacy is the norm. Most people have a spoken comprehension level of Native, but their written comprehension is Broken or None.

Illiteracy in your native tongue – Spoken (Native)/Written (None) – is a disadvantage worth -3 points.

Semi-literacy – Spoken (Native)/Written (Broken) – is worth -2 points.

The GM should not count these points against the disadvantage limit if illiteracy is the norm in the game world.

Sign Language

A true sign language – e.g., American Sign Language – is complex, stylized, and can communicate almost any concept. Treat it as any other language, with one important difference: a sign language has one form (signed) instead of two (spoken and written). As a result, sign languages costs half as much: 1 point for Broken, 2 points for Accented, and 3 points for Native comprehension.

Characters with the Deafness or Mute disadvantages start with one sign language and written ability in one regular language – both at Native level – instead of spoken and written ability in one language. Those who are illiterate, or incompetent at sign language, can buy down their language abilities using the usual rules.

Learning Languages

To learn a new language, use the rules for learning skills: 200 hours of learning gives you one point to spend. Note that language study is four times as hard without a teacher!

If you live in another country and speak its language at all times, that is the automatic equivalent of 4 hours/day of training; there is no need to allocate specific study time unless you want to get more than this default. Thus, every 50 days, you get a character point to spend in that language.