So one of my players has the Gremlins quality. I'm concerned, however, that the best guide to what is affected and what isn't is "late 20th technology or later". So by this definition, are only smartguns affected, or would removing the smartlink let the player use the gun without worrying about constant glitching? What about vending machines? Elevators?

Even un-smartlinked guns have a lot of internal electronics in SR - enough to be affected, I'd say. An elevator could go either way according to the GM's whims. Likewise for a vending machine, if that ever becomes important to the game somehow. If you're the GM, just eyeball it and tell the player that if he doesn't like it, he can buy the quality off with Karma.

Like any of the other flaws that are worth muncho points, a high rated Gremilins should make the character's life living hell. Think about what happens around wizards in The Dresdin Files on crank, and then have it only kick in when the results woudl hurt the character.

However with that said, it isn't too bad as long as you keep the flaw at ( Rating 1/2 ).

Each negative quality has at least one of two uses:
1) A bother to the PC (to pay for the BP gained)
2) GM tool
(frequently both).

Look at Gremlins as a tool you can use to propel the game in the direction that's most fun. You can use your storytelling prowess to put that PC in situations where he/she has to frequently use technology, thus increasing the opportunities for glitching.

I'm very partial in the way I deal with Gremlins.
If the player took it to add fun and flavor to the character (such as the gremlinsed-hacker/tech/streetsamurai), I'd be much more lenient than if the player took it for his awakened character "who doesn't have to use anything technological anyway" (and who's often computer illiterate as well).

Unless there is a roll there'd be no glitch. So unless you as the GM want the PC to roll to use vending machines or to riding an elevator, then there should be no problems. Thing is if someone has Gremlins to any serious degree, he won't be using anything technological. It would simply be too inconvenient for him in the first place, unless he has some way to guard against Gremlins. And he would know what works and what doesn't, unless Gremlins is a very recent occurance.

Being stuck in an elevator is a true definition of the Gremlin flaw as a GM tool.

A friend has the Gremlin flaw, I have never seen anyone else break digital watches by simply being near, having ATMs reboot, and generally causing low level electronic mayhem.

You have to be careful though because it does state that you can't use the gremlin flaw for personal gain (like having the enemies weapons malfunction).

Personally as a GM I believe if the PC has the gremlin flaw then it may not be just him that needs to roll to trigger it. (If he hops into an elevator then I'm justified as a GM to roll his Edge attribute to see if he is just plane unlucky enough to be caught in an elevator. The only problem I have as a GM is every time I roll dice the PC's think I'm up to something .

I think at certain dramatic instances the GM should roll the dice.

Not sure if this is a good suggestion, so feel free to comment:

For simple things that would not require a dice roll, I could sometimes ask the player to roll (5 - Gremlin Rating) # of dice. If there's a glitch, then your gremlin got the best of you.

Examples of where you normally don't need to roll, but could ask for it:
- The runner gets an important call. On a glitch, the connection breaks, most possibly pissing the caller. Role-playing follows to patch things up
- The elevator example stated earlier in the thread. On a glitch, the runner is stuck, possibly arriving late for a meet
- The runner has an access code and needs to use it on a maglock. On a glitch, he triggers an alarm

I'm not saying to roll for every thing, but only to the ones that matters.

Yeah, I had a player try that. And then I informed said player that gremlins only affected *the PC*, and only when the PC didn't really want it to.

Other people's cars won't break down because the PC passes... only if he rides in them, and REALLY needs to get somewhere.

*raises hand*Ü
Light Bulbs have a tendency to go PLIJNK when i walk by.
Energy Savings Light Bulbs light up, when i touch them.
I managed to shoot an entire Network by touching a wire once <.<

And you're in IT?

How have your coworkers not killed you dead?!

My mom has a friend who can't use digital watches because the batteries die in about 2 hours. Every time.
Another person I knew could walk into a computer lab, touch a machine, and within 5 minutes it would crash, and they'd touch them all (causing the entire lab to go down).
I myself have seen/witnessed some very weird bugs in software that don't happen except around me, though very very rare. The best example was a self-checkout machine that would refused to dispense the correct cash back / change (I was the cashier for the group of them at the time). Repair man shows up, runs it through diagnostics--three times--finds no errors, lets the machine be used normally, first guy that comes up--bam, incorrect change. Home Depot had to take that machine offline for a week (I think it was replaced, but I don't know for sure).

I may just be evil, but I heartily believe that a GM should roll the dice randomly behind the screen or thei hand or something every few minutes just to scare the fuck out of their players. Whether or not there's anything to worry about. Don't bother figuring out WHAT you're rolling, just ROLL 4-6 dice. Watch the players react...

Because i am THAT good.
And Computers that don't belong TO ME seem to be more or less resistant.

Some people must just give off strange bioelectric signals or something. I have a knack for finding the strangest bugs in programs that supposedly don't exist. Friend of mine cannot use cell phones. Someone will be using the phone just fine, hand it to him... signal drops. Tries re-dialing, no dice. Hands it back, they dial and it works fine.

IN GURPS this was an aptly described disadvantage: Machines hate you!

Yeah, that'd fit me more than gremlins.
And it would explain me being an IT Guy too.
They hate me. I try to understand WHY.
If i fail to do that, i try to hurt them/understand how to do that at least <.<

I took it to add flaover to my mage. He lives in a house/store where there is a complete blackout of the Matrix and tends to only use items of the late 20th century. It's actually funny IMO because he spends tons of nuYen each week just to purchase a new (old) tv. I love playing up negative qualities.



I believe the description actually says that a roll can be required for things that might normally not require a roll, such as turning on a computer would now require a Computer check...or something....

PatB has a good idea though...

It may be my adverseness to dice talking, but I think a quality like Gremlins should be taken out of rules context as well. By all means, it should function as the rules say, but I feel when a player hits a button on the elevator, I shouldn't have to roll to determine if something cool happens (ie elevator breaks). I should be justified in saying that it broke because he has the Gremlins quality. GMs shouldn't abuse this, of course. It should be used as a device to propel the game forward in an interesting way.

I don't like the no rolling for this one. Gives the GM waayy too much leeway for my liking.
I'd rather have it work more or less like uncouth, which means no etiquette skills EVER.
So Gremlins would mean no Computer and/or electronics Group Skills EVER.
Because seriously . . it does not take much to turn on a computer . . push a single button.
GM:"roll for it" *klatter* GM:"nope, you can't turn the computer on, using the big frigging button with ON written on it"
Technically, that would be perfectly justified just from reading the rules though.
On the OTHER Hand . . is Switching ON a Computer or device actually considered USING it?
Am i USING the computer if i power it up but don't touch it afterwards?

If you have a good GM, like I had, then this could work. But it really needs to be minimal, since too much of it could disrupt the game for everyone else. If you don't have a good GM, then rolling is probably a better idea...




I suppose it comes down to what gives you this gremlin quality:
do you simply not know how to use electronics? Then sure, turning it on is simple and shouldn't be affected, because it is a button that explicitly says "on"
-or-
does your body emit a weird electro-magnetic aura or something like that? Then you might know how to work with electronics, you just mess them up as if you were a magnet waved in front of a computer screen. In that case, turning a computer on might involve a check because you could inadvertantly short it out just by being near it.
-or-
Are you just really unlucky around technology? This was my friend's reason behind Gremlins, and it is kind of just a specific bad luck idea. Random events around him make it so tech doesn't function right, for example, with the computer ON button scenario I have been using: Perhaps he was washing his hands before using the computer and he didn't dry them. He then inadvertantly puts his hand on the computer's case and a bit of water drips onto some of the wires inside (via vent-holes). And this somehow causes a short-circuit, causing the ON button to not function properly. This was an entertaining version of the Gremlins quality that one of our players came up with. His character was all around unlucky, so he would always explain his qualities away with bad luck.

eh, i more or less got hit with Gremlins as a free flaw, so no points, in most characters . . some time, i stopped noticing and just played it out . . *hits wrist-phone* No you damn thing, i don't want fast tony's to deliver me a pizza, i want fat tony to make me a street pizza!

Man I have this in Spades. I'm glad my work environment is so ass backwards and out of touch with machinery.

I generally like the Gremlins flaw, excuse me Negative Quality. It's a great excuse to to add some fun, humorous and dangerous moments.

You did it wrong. It's not that the character doesn't know how to turn on a computer. It's that they turn the computer on and instead of booting, the CPU fries.