GURPS: Disadvantage Limits

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

When designing GURPS characters for solo play, I limit the self-control checks to four total for either a character or 4-6 for the entire party. Too many self-control checks thrown around gets tiring to keep track of and make and slows down play.

I will combine and stack self-control checks, too. If you have a thief who hates the rich and likes stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, it could be one "Robin Hood" obsession instead of two disadvantages. A more-specific disadvantage with a lot of story flavor is better than a bunch of generic disadvantages that cover many situations. It keeps your "party management" complexity down if you run multiple characters in a solo game.

Also, I limit the number of disadvantage rolls per scene to one or two of the "best ones that apply," and that also keeps the rolling down. You want to avoid rolling too much for minutia and letting the dice control the game. Take control! Decide what problems or opportunities a scene would contain, and only roll for the best ones that affect the story.

Also, don't ignore the ones where you don't need self-control rolls, like "sense of duty" which is just a referee yes or no toggle to actions given the situation, or "social stigma" which is just a modifier to interaction rolls. It is nice the book asterisks the disadvantages with self-control rolls since you can sort through them quickly.

Remember, you do not need to roll a self-control roll either! You can have the character give in, which is considered good roleplaying and worth a bonus character point award at the end of the session. Too many or frivolous uses of self-control rolls are also considered harmful and may penalize the character awards.

But given "giving in" could sidetrack the adventure, it is typically better for a party to reduce the number of them overall or, as a referee, take control and make them happen less often or only when the story depends on the outcome.