Fashion Forward

The idea that clothes make the man is an ancient but persistent one. Fashion and ornament have been an ongoing concern from before the dawn of civilization to the present, and it’ll likely continue well into the future. GURPS Low-Tech and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 8: Treasure Tables present ways of describing and pricing fancy clothes. This article does the same for future settings, providing haute couture for ultra-tech (TL9+) societies.

This table contains costs and weights for a range of common items of clothing. Light garments are short, loose and open, or made of lightweight fabrics, suitable for hot weather or showing off skin. Winter garments are long and/or made of thick, heavy fabrics, suitable for cold weather.

As GURPS Ultra-Tech notes, conductive fibers in clothing are standard at TL9+. Garments can be a sort of hub for power distribution and personal networking for multiple devices. While most devices which need to communicate are likely capable of wireless communication, limiting them to a physical network is useful security.

Notes:

• [1] Leather or sturdy cloth, strong enough to support pouches, holsters, and other gear.
• [2] A cap is a small, brimless or nearly so piece of headgear such as a yarmulke, beret, or baseball cap. A hat is a somewhat larger item of headgear, such as a porkpie hat, fedora, or cowboy hat. A large hat is a particularly big item of headgear with a notably large crown, brim, or both, such as a top hat, “coolie” hat, or a colonial era tricorn or bicorn hat.
• [3] A tunic is a square, sleeveless top like a large vest; a shirt has sleeves. Winter shirts/tunics include sweaters, sweatshirts, and similar insulated tops.
• [4] A long coat is a full-length but uninsulated garment such as a duster or raincoat. An overcoat is insulated for cold-weather use.
• [5] Brief underwear is a minimal set of undergarments, such as socks, briefs or loincloth, and a minimal bra if needed. Extensive underwear adds undershirts or more structured foundation garments like girdles and corsets.

Expensive outfits are still impressive, or perhaps it’s that impressive outfits are expensive. Flattering cuts and attractive colors and accessories cost money. Those who dress carefully gain a reaction bonus from those who can see them. The bonus depends on the total cost of styling and decorative embellishments for the entire outfit. An outfit with a total cost twice or more the basic cost of an outfit (20% of monthly cost of living, or $120 for Status 0) provides +1 reaction bonus. A total cost five times or more the cost of a basic outfit provides +2 reaction bonus, or +3 for an outfit worth 10 times basic cost or more.

GURPS Ultra-Tech provides a number of clothing options (pp. 38-40), but those aren’t necessarily options to make garments more attractive. An untailored uniform using varicloth to switch between khaki and olive drab, for example, is unlikely to impress anyone despite its cost. The options below specifically address styling which helps provide reaction bonuses.

The things that have traditionally made low-tech clothing expensive and attractive become vastly cheaper at higher TLs. Chemists started making synthetic dyes in TL5, and developments in the field proceeded rapidly, providing cloth producers a palette of colors as diverse as it is inexpensive. Embroidery can be performed by machine, printing has gone far beyond wood blocks, painting has been replaced by inexpensive silk screening, and so on. Unlike preindustrial TLs, where any decorative embellishment was the product of significant labor and a sign of wealth, passive physical decoration is cheap and only the right kinds of embellishment cost more money (and provide reaction bonuses!).

With technological developments come new and radically different concepts in clothing: varicloth, living plastic, and more. Still, garments made out of woven cloth or analogous substances (durable papers, breathable felts, soft-textured plastics and rubbers) are likely to endure. As ultra-tech fabrication techniques make clothes cheaper, they’ll get closer and closer to being disposable, and fashions will change with dizzying speed. The positive impression one’s clothing makes, then, will be dependent on the freshness of the look.

Conventional garments, made out of simple cloth, may be purchased for any price above what’s indicated in the table on p. 24, up to a total of 20 times the garment’s base value. The premium price may indicate a particularly stylish design, high-quality fabrics, exclusive maker label or other desirable logo, decorative stitching, fancy buttons, and so on. The price premium counts toward the total cost of the outfit for the purposes of figuring reaction bonuses. However, that bonus can fade over time as that static look becomes dated and unfashionable. The GM may roll 3d annually for any garment. On a roll less than or equal to the TL, the effective value of the garment in excess of its base price is reduced by half of that original excess for purposes of calculating a reaction bonus. After two such successful rolls, the garment provides no reaction bonus. A successful roll against Current Events (Popular Culture) reveals the current effective value of a garment.

Example: Someone at TL10 buys a shirt for $150 and trousers for $200. With shoes, the total value of the outfit is $387, more than double the base price of a Status 0 outfit ($120) but less than five times, for a reaction bonus of +1. After a year, the GM rolls an 8 for both the shirt and the trousers. The excess value of the shirt (150 – 44 = 106) is halved (106/2 = 53), making the effective value of the shirt $87. The excess value of the trousers (200 – 66 = 134) is halved (134/2 = 67), making their effective value $133. The effective value of the ensemble is now $257, just barely over the double cost threshold and still giving +1 reaction bonus. If either shirt or trousers goes farther out of style, the outfit doesn’t provide enough current pizzaz for a reaction bonus.

Varicloth (Ultra-Tech, p. 39) doesn’t have an inherent decorative value, and its extra cost doesn’t count toward the value of decorated clothing for calculating reaction bonuses. Many uses are purely utilitarian. For example, a varicloth garment may contain designs like high-visibility bright orange stripes for hunters or agency logos for law enforcement. For such utilitarian patterns, only the base cost of the garment counts toward the value of the outfit for the purpose of determining reaction bonuses. Thus, a varicloth shirt has a price tag of $132, but when calculating reaction bonuses, it counts as having a value of $44.

However, “designer” patterns are available for varicloth, presenting a more stylish appearance. High-quality patterns may be purchased for any price up to 19 times the base value of a comparable static garment. When in use, add the value of that pattern to the value of the outfit for calcualting reaction bonuses. For example, a varicloth shirt using a $50 pattern design contributes $50 + $44 = $94 to the value of the outfit. Like more expensive conventional garments, the value of patterns can decline over time, following the same rules: on a roll of TL or less made annually, the pattern loses half of its original value. However, varicloth garments may be reprogrammed, loading on different sets of patterns as they are purchased.

Video suitsprays, swarmwear, and clothing belts (UltraTech, pp. 38-39) follow the same rules as varicloth. They are not inherently attractive or impressive. They may, however, be programmed to be so. Designs may be purchased which count toward the value of the outfit for the purposes of calculating reaction bonuses, but their value is liable to decrease over time.

At TL10, bioplastic becomes available for use in garments as well as in high-performance applications like armor and space suits. The major benefit is that bioplastic clothing is selfrepairing, stitching itself back together after hits to the wearer doing up to its base value/12 points of damage, rounded up. For example, a bioplastic shirt can repair the hole made after an attack doing up to 44/12=3.66 or 4 points of damage. Bioplastic garments cost three times as much as plain cloth and provide no inherent fashion advantage, though they can benefit from styling as conventional garments do.

Responsive-fabric garments (Ultra-Tech, p. 39) are, like varicloth, not inherently more stylish than plain clothes. They typically provide only their base value toward reaction bonuses. However, responsive-fabric garments may be reconfigured to make them look and fit better. Make an IQ-based roll against Sewing skill; Fashion Sense gives +1. In a campaign where clothing matters, the GM may allow more specifically applicable skills, such as Artist (Fashion). On a success, double the base value of the garment for the purposes of calculating reaction bonuses. For example, a responsive-fabric shirt may be adjusted to have an effective value of $88 toward the effective cost of an outfit.

Other radical kinds of materials become available at higher TLs. These are essentially all for show, with only incidental practical effects. Like old-fashioned decorative embellishments, these achieve effects which are rare and expensive to duplicate. Anyone can make a knock-off logo, but it’s expensive to create a knock-off coat of bark and lichen. These garments, therefore, retain their value for calculating reaction bonuses over time; there are no rolls to reduce their effective value.

The fabric has “moving parts,” sections of fibers which physically move, possibly bending, expanding and contracting, or even traveling through the weave of the fabric. This can be used for effects like a ring of figures marching around a wrist or neck band, or thickened ribs on what appears to be a cable-knit sweater rearranging themselves into different patterns. The cost is double that of normal clothing. It may be combined with varicloth for quadruple the base cost of the garment, but only the initial doubling counts toward the value of the garment for calculating reaction bonuses. However, the value of varicloth patterns do count separately. For example, a kinetic fabric shirt costs $88, all of which counts toward the value of the outfit; a varicloth version costs $176, but without designer patterns, the shirt still only costs $88 toward the value of the outfit. 2A/10 hr. LC4.

The “fabric” of the garment consists of tiny connected cells with a magnetic grid underlying it. The cells contain a mixture of a fluid and powder responsive to magnetic attraction. The grid is controlled by a simple computer which turns magnets on and off, making the powder swirl through the fluid in interesting patterns. Too slow to act as even a makeshift low-resolution display, the flowing patterns resemble a lava lamp or shifting ink blots. Triple cost and weight of normal clothing. B/6 hr. LC4.

Video cloth uses flexible materials to make an entire garment a high-resolution video screen. It must be attached to a small computer (Ultra-Tech, p. 22) or dedicated input device ($25, negligible weight) providing a video feed. Entertaining as it may be, it emits a gentle glow, so it’s utterly useless for real camouflage. Indeed, reduce darkness penalties by -4 within one yard of the wearer. Multiply cost of its base garment by five; lightweight built-in speakers to play audio accompanying the video cost $50. B/10 hr. LC4.

Unlike bioplastic or living metal, which only mimic certain biological functions, these are actually alive. Plant-based living garments are genetically engineered outerwear with surfaces of leaves, bark, moss, and even blooming flowers, but are flexible enough to wear as clothing. Animal-based garments are mostly living skin, frequently with a soft-fur surface, but sometimes a textured-skin surface like alligator skin. They also contain rudimentary organs like lungs and a heart to keep the whole thing alive and give the garment signs of movement on its own.

They may be worn for up to 12 hours without damage, but must be returned to special environmental storage for hydration, feeding, and other maintenance for at least a few hours before they are worn again. The garments themselves are four times the cost and weight of a regular garment, and storage costs 1% of the garment cost per month. LC4.

A force suit is essentially a complex but very low-powered conformal force screen (Ultra-Tech, p. 191). It can be used simply to invisibly cover the user, providing insulation and protection from the elements but leaving the user essentially naked. However, it has more aesthetic applications than that. A force suit projects a two-layered screen with a thin void in the middle, which may be filled with any number of things: colorful vapors, the dust of crushed colorful minerals, point sources of electricity creating colorful arcs of plasma, even a layer of water and tiny fish, making it a wearable aquarium. These are held in place by the force field, moving along with the wearer. A force suit provides DR 1. $800, 1 lb. (the “filling” may require extra cost and weight). B/4 hr. LC4.