IST Package

[Mark Skarr]

This is my update of the 3e IST Package to 4e

IST Package [90+ points]Language (Host Country, Accented/Accented) [4]Legal Enforcement Powers 2 [10]Military Rank 4+ [20+]Patron (UN; 9-; Equipment worth more than starting wealth, Minimum Intervention, wields great social/political power)  [60]Reputation +3 (IST Team Member, All the Time, Everyone, excepting a large class) [10]
Duty (IST, UN; Almost all the time, Extremely Hazardous) [-20]Reputation -3 (Criminals, et al; all the time, small class of people) [-5]Reputation -1 (Non-UN Member nations, all the time, Large class of people) [-2]

Area Knowledge (Host City) [1]Area Knowledge (Host Country) [1]Computer Operation/TL9 [1]Diplomacy [2]History (International, UN) [2]Karate or Judo (character’s choice) [4]Mind Block [2]Strategy (Super) [2]Tactics [2]-----If using Multiplicative Modifiers, the cost of the Patron is only 38 points, and the value of the package becomes 70+ points.
ETA:  Sometime I'll remember that Yuku doesn't like taking posts right out of Word, and I'll remember to port them into Notepad first . . ..ETA2:  And, maybe, I'll get the formatting right at some point in my life.  
ETA3:  Added Mind Block skillETA4:  Yuku doesn't like me, formatting was jacked up . . . again.ETA5:  Added Diplomacy 

[Last Free Human]

I was just going to ask if anyone had done a conversion yet.

Nice.

-Mike
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Last Free Human]

The only suggestion I might make for this is to add Mind Block to the skills to represent at least minimal training in anti-psi techniques.
M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Bob Schroeck]

Makes sense to me.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

Updated.

I would say that it depends on the number of psis you might have to deal with, but, honestly, if you know there's one you're likely to start training everyone to protect against intrustion, because you know there has to be more.

[Last Free Human]

I can never remember, but does Tactics require a specialization in 4e? My only other thought is that especially for IST field team members Tactics skill should be Tactics (Small Unit) if specializations are required. But I could also just be splitting hairs here.
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Last Free Human]

Psis are like roaches, if you've got one, you've got hundreds...usually in yellow and black spandex...
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mark Skarr]

Tactics does not require a specialization, Strategy does.

Spandex is for posers and Jim Lee girls.

[Mark Skarr]

Those last two points are really torturing my OCD. What does everyone think of adding "Diplomacy [2]" into the mix to make it an even 90+ points?

[robkelk]

Those last two points are really torturing my OCD. What does everyone think of adding "Diplomacy [2]" into the mix to make it an even 90+ points?

There should be some sort of Social-Influence skill in the mix... but how often would Diplomacy be the best skill? Intimidation might be a better bet.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Mark Skarr]

Intimidation is a bad choice. From a meta-gaming perspective, you should always open with Diplomacy, it is the "best" Influence skill.

Unlike other Influence skills, Diplomacy never gives a worse result than if you had tried an ordinary reaction roll.

The U.N. would, probably, be quite willing to spend millions on making sure their IST Members don't go around strong-arming people. To me, under all but the most extreme circumstances, that would be grounds for a court martial.

On the other hand most of my characters would be using Sex Appeal . . ..

[Last Free Human]

Sounds like a no-brainer. If I was into fostering goodwill, I'd want my post-human people of mass destruction to be able to be diplomatic.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mark Skarr]

2 points gets Diplomacy at IQ-1, so not great, but, also, not bad. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (especially considering that, unless you buy DR for your eyes, or a force field, your eyes don't get protected . . .).

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm cool with it. I'm surprised I didn't have Diplomacy in the original package. (Of course I'm looking at this at work, so I don't have a copy handle to consult.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

All right, added Diplomacy.

[Asta Kask]

Here's the version I made

1ST Membership 65 points + Rank
PCs who are members of an IST must pay character points for the advantage.
An IST member has a Patron: The U.N. [30] (can supply equipment over the starting wealth +100%, 9 or less) worth 60 points.
All IST metahumans have Legal Enforcement Powers (international jurisdiction, free to violate local civil ordinances in the performance of their duties, but not able to kill with impunity or ignore civil rights), worth 10 points.
All IST metahumans have Legal Immunity (not subject to ordinary laws but to the U.N. Code which are just as strict.) worth 5 points.
All IST metahumans have access to the classified information that regards their own base. This is Security Clearance worth 5 points.
All IST members can seek lodgings at a U.N station wherever in the world this may be. This is a Claim to Hospitality worth 5 points.
Cultural Familiarity with the host country's dominant culture worth 1 point.
Language (Native/Native) with the host country's dominant language, worth 6 points
The PC has an extremely hazardous Duty to the U.N. almost all the time (15 or less) worth -20 points.
IST members get a +1 reaction from citizens of member nations. They have a -1 reaction from citizens and government officials of non-member nations, and -3 from criminals. This is worth -7 points. (This cost was mercilessly eyeballed to balance the points)
Since the IST is a military organization, all IST members must have some Military Rank. All metahumans are commissioned with a rank of at least captain when they are accepted for active duty; this is a Military Rank of 4. Of course, characters may reach higher ranks; each local team will be led by a super of Rank 6 or 7. If that person has appropriate diplomatic skills, he may also be the Team Administrator (see p. 13); otherwise, a very skilled "normal" U.N. appointee will hold that position. Military Rank above 4 costs 5 points per level. For more information about Rank and the IST, see below.

The skills imparted by IST Basic Training are:
Area Knowledge (Host City) at IQ (1 point)
Area Knowledge (Host Country) at IQ (1 point)
Computer Operations/TL9 at IQ (1 point)
History (International, U.N.) at IQ-2 (1 points)
Karate or Judo (character's choice) at DX (4 points)
Law (international, criminal) at IQ-2 [1]
Law (host country, criminal) at IQ-1 [2]
Tactics at IQ (4 points)
Cost: 14 points

Look it over and see if anything makes sense to you.

[Mark Skarr]

Welcome, Asta.

All IST metahumans have access to the classified information that regards their own base. This is Security Clearance worth 5 points.

I think you're overthinking that.  I don't think that's terribly necessary.  Team leaders/commanders might need this, but the individual members shouldn't take it.

Cultural Familiarity with the host country's dominant culture worth 1 point.

As that's fairly vague, it's important to note that there's a good chance that the character already has the relevant culture as their own.  If you're saying "IST 2K Seoul characters need Cultural Familiarity: South Korea," that's not RAW, that's personal preference.  Western/Eastern works just fine.  Again, keep in mind that "Human" is a valid cultural familiarity for games with a lot of races regardless of the number of human cultures.  "Terran" would be adequte for Star Trek's earthlings.  It's oversimplified for playability and to prevent it from being a point-drain.

Language (Native/Native) with the host country's dominant language, worth 6 points

Not needed at Native/Native, Accented/Accented is just fine . . . and gives better opportunities for role-playing (Vitaly having English: Broken/Broken as a new transfer was hilarious for IST LA).  And, I'm considering allowing, for Seoul 2K people to take it at Broken/Broken to represent team members transferred as an emergency measure.  Once the war gets going, they won't even have to have the Korean language on replacement characters.

Law (host country, criminal) at IQ-1 [2]

While it would be laudable for the team members to pick this up, I don't think this belongs on the template.  Also, with their Legal Enforcement Powers, enforcing International Law, makes this significantly less important.  It's a really nice thought, and would probably be encouraged, but it's not needed.

[robkelk]

Cultural Familiarity with the host country's dominant culture worth 1 point.

As that's fairly vague, it's important to note that there's a good chance that the character already has the relevant culture as their own. If you're saying "IST 2K Seoul characters need Cultural Familiarity: South Korea," that's not RAW, that's personal preference. Western/Eastern works just fine. Again, keep in mind that "Human" is a valid cultural familiarity for games with a lot of races regardless of the number of human cultures. "Terran" would be adequte for Star Trek's earthlings. It's oversimplified for playability and to prevent it from being a point-drain.

I'd still like Bob to rule on this... My preference is for how GURPS Infinite Worlds treats CFs, which falls between these two extremes
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm going to have to go back to Infinite Worlds and reread that before I do.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

I'd still like Bob to rule on this... My preference is for how GURPS Infinite Worlds treats CFs, which falls between these two extremes

Actually, it's exactly what I'm saying.  Per Infinite Worlds there would be precisely one IST CF, and that's "IST."  Take a look at each of the Iconic characters and you'll see that they all have two CFs, and they're all extremely generic.  One of them is, usually, world specific and the other is  "Homeline."  That means that all of Homeline is clumped into that CF.  It's more obvious, with Infinite Worlds, that the goal was to keep CFs wide-ranging because otherwise, you'd have to have "Homeline: America" or "Homeline: Western" and we just have "Homeline."

Apply a -1 unfamiliarity modifier for every two TLs away from your own era’s TL. A modern TL8 American with Culture Familiarity (Western) would only suffer mild “past shock” in TL7 WWII America, but someone brought forward from colonial times (TL5) is at -1 in that same setting. A modern American dropped into Shakespeare’s London (TL4) is at -2; one in medieval France (TL3, but still Western culture) might as well be in a whole different culture. However, that medieval Frenchman finds things the same for centuries on end from, say, 700 A.D. to 1500 A.D. – and in some parts of France, until 1800 A.D.!

An IST character in IW would have the IST CF and nothing more.  Adding more CFs to IST does exactly what the Characters book warns against:

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.

For CFs, less is more.

[robkelk]

An IST character in IW would have the IST CF and nothing more. Adding more CFs to IST does exactly what the Characters book warns against:

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.

For CFs, less is more.

That passage supports my position, actually - it doesn't divide the game-world into "east" and "west", it identifies broad cultures. "East Asian, Muslim, Western, etc." Nowhere does it say that the cultures have to be dominant.

And IST wouldn't want to have all its people knowledgeable about only the dominant cultures, anyhow. If that's all the IST members knew and they were deployed into one of the less-powerful cultures, the natives would see the IST as an imperialist force - which is the exact opposite of what the UN wants.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Mark Skarr]

Actually, Rob, it supports my position.  Just like IW does.  East Asian covers scads of ground: from India, through China, Mongolia, Indochina, Japan, and all the Pacific Islanders.  IW puts all of Homeline in one CF.  You are correct, I did oversimplify it by removing Muslim, but, the Muslim world isn't terribly relevant in IST, so it seemed to be fairly safe to remove.
You're welcome to run your games however you want, but, the RAW GURPS rules are pretty specific about CFs being broad and generic.  North, South and Central America, Europe, Western Asia (former Soviet Union, et. al.), most of Africa, Australia and Oceania are all "Western."  The Middle East and parts of Africa with a strong Muslim influence are Muslim.  The rest of the world is East Asian.  GURPS is broad and generic.
Read the passage.  The most specific CF in the entire Characters book is still pretty broad:  Baron Janos Telkozep has "18th-Century Europe"  And that's still staggeringly broad.  Two of the characters--from entirely different worlds (Xing La and Sora)--both have "East Asian!"  Xing La and Sora don't have theirs differentiated between their individual worlds!  Vastly broad is the RAW--and that's what IST needs to be representing.
The Meeranon would have "CF: Meeranon."  By your argument, Bob would have to define all the cultures for them, and, really, that's not what the game is about.  the CFs are meant to be extremely broad as to give some flavor, but not slow the game down or make a morass out of that section.  I know several groups that don't use them at all.

[robkelk]

Actually, Rob, it supports my position. Just like IW does. East Asian covers scads of ground: from India, through China, Mongolia, Indochina, Japan, and all the Pacific Islanders. IW puts all of Homeline in one CF.

IW is set in a game area substantially larger than just one world, though. If each world is its own CF, that means there are hundreds of CFs in IW.

You are correct, I did oversimplify it by removing Muslim, but, the Muslim world isn't terribly relevant in IST, so it seemed to be fairly safe to remove.

That is a chauvinistic and imperialist position.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

Ahem.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

The Middle East/Muslim world is far less prominent on the geopolitical stage of the IST World mainly because it exploded already and is in a somewhat nervous/possibly terrified quiescent stage. That does not mean it isn't relevant.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.