Disclaimer: The following material consists of rulings on GURPS originally posted to electronic discussion forums, newsgroups, and mailing lists by Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch. Some of these statements have been taken out of context, or have been altered for clarity or brevity; therefore, these are not "official" rulings, and neither Sean Punch nor Steve Jackson Games is responsible for the accuracy of the modified content.

I think some very important points are being missed here. My main point
is that if you take a disad worth -X and an advantage worth Y, and they
happen to largely cancel out in overall effect, then as long as -X+Y is 
close to 0, there are no problems. Sure, the advantage will very likely
grant many of the abilities that it would grant someone without the 
disad . . . OTOH, the disad will very likely still cause many problems
as well. In most cases, though, these "residuals" tend to cancel out. Kromm 7 Jul 1997 RGFG

Codes of conduct required by a faith use the Disciplines of Faith disadvantage.
DoF is considered to be a disadvantage because it limits the ability, money, time,
or will that a character can bring to bear on adventure-related activities. It is
worth the same number of points in any culture -- similar to how Honesty is worth
-10 points no matter where you go -- because these limits apply at all times to a
true believer.

If your faith is looked down upon by those outside the setting's dominant culture,
then the fact that you have DoF with respect to that faith will mean that you will
be instantly recognized as a member of the disparaged faith, which will qualify
you for a Social Stigma. This Social Stigma is a separate disadvantage that has to
do with your reaction modifiers vis-á-vis the dominant culture. Kromm 13 Jun 2002 Broken Dreams Playtest

He doesn't -- not really. Sure, he gets -50 points for the "Blind" 
disad; but he has to then turn around and shell out X points for a 
decent level of Clairvoyance -- a notoriously expensive power to 
have to any useful range. Net cost: -50 + X. 

The net result? 

If he takes the 50 points from Blind and buys Clairvoyance skill at
IQ (4 points) and 23 levels of Clairvoyance-only ESP (46 points),
he has a range of 23^2 = 529" = 44' = 15 yards. He can see a 7.5
yard-wide patch at a time.

Advantages: He can see through walls. He can see in the dark.

Disadvantages: He can only see 15 yards to the average human's 
*miles.* He can only see 7.5 yards of anything at a time. He must
concentrate and roll vs. IQ every minute just to read, and to 
change the focus of his attention or even the direction of his 
gaze. His power gives away his presence to other psis. He cannot
benefit from spells or cyberwear that augment vision.

You be the judge. If Clairvoyance were automatic, long-ranged and
essentially effortless, then the reduced value for Blindness given
on p. P14 might be fair. That reduction does not jibe with the 
rest of the skill description, though, and looks suspiciously as
if it was added on after the fact or without close consideration. Kromm 3 Jul 1997 RGFG

     Spoken like someone with good color vision. I have a fair degree
of color blindness, but far less than the extreme version in the Basic
Set, and I can tell you that it is a major pain in the butt. It killed
me in analytical chemistry, it makes me useless as a witness ("What
color were his pants?" "Blue. Or maybe purple. Gee, I couldn't tell.")
and it makes a lot of computer applications that use 16M colors look
pretty stupid to me (I still cannot tell the light-blue and mauve bad
guys apart in Civilization 2). I could not imagine what it would be
like to have the GURPS version, but it would be worth 100% of that -10
points, let me tell you. My blue-purple and green-grey-brown problems
feel like -10 sometimes. Kromm 18 Apr 1996 RGFG

There are two abilities:

1. Voice communication (i.e., speech). This is a 0-point ability; 
all characters get it for free. Characters who choose to give it
up have a -25-point disad called "Mute."

2. Telepathic communication. This is a variable-cost ability that
not every character is assumed to have. Characters who choose to 
possess it must pay points for it.

The two capabilities are chosen independently of one another, and 
there is no reason why one should affect the other. 

Throughout the GURPS rules, "conversational distance" is assumed 
to be 3-4 yards. Language is assumed to default to IQ. To have an
equivalent ability with telepathy requires a Power of 5 (25 pts.),
Telereceive at IQ (4 points) and Telesend at IQ (4 points). Total 
cost is 33 points.

To summarize, having neither telepathy nor speech (i.e., Mute) is 
worth -25 pts.; having only speech is worth 0 pts; having only 
telepathy (i.e., Mute & 33 points of telepathic abilities) is worth 
8 pts. and having both is worth 33 pts. This seems fair and balanced 
. . . where's the problem? Kromm 2 Jul 1997 RGFG

Extreme Fanaticism includes +3 Will to resist interrogation by foes
of your organization. That is considered to be balanced by the extra
degree of fanaticism this disad implies, and so the net cost is still
only -15. Kromm 20 May 1997 RGFG

     Read the description: It does not make you a permanent vegetable.
It basically means that you're not going to be very good at mental tasks
and that you will not be terribly aggressive. It in no way limits your
ability to carry out most physical tasks, or most non-aggressive ones.
Yes, this may be different than in Real Life. However, that is the way
the GURPS disadvantage works. Kromm 18 Jul 1996 RGFG

> 2 levels of weak will- 16 points 
> All perception rolls are lowered by 2 (negative perception)- 10 points

     These are included in the -2 IQ, and should not be counted separately. 
A character with this disad gets points for the -2 IQ (-15 points).

> No agressive advantages or disads- 5-10
> Must make an IQ roll in addition to any other mental skill roll- 5-10

     Making it worth -10 to -20. -15 is the median value.

> -2 to all mental skill rolls- 5-15 depending on character conception.

     Again, this is built into -2 IQ, and is not a separate disad.

>      Even at the lower point total, the lobotomized character comes out
> to more than 40 points.

     No, it comes out at -10 to -20 points, plus the -15 for the lowered
IQ (which covers the lost will, perception and skill levels implicitly),
for a net -25 to -35. Call it -30. Given that -15 comes from lowered IQ,
-15 is reasonable for the other stuff. As written, the character does 
not have the Slave Mentality disad or anything that severe, as some have
suggested. Yes, this may differ from real life, but the point value is
intended to reflect the disad *exactly as written.* The biggest problem
is that the write-up makes it sound as though the -2 IQ is part of the 
disad. Kromm 19 Jul 1996 RGFG

If a species is enslaved, Subjugation goes on the racial template. If an ethnic group smaller than a species is enslaved, Social Stigma goes on the
character sheet of people from that ethnic group. Subjugation defines a (negative) relationship between two biologically distinct species; Social
Stigma defines an admittedly similar relationship between members of the same species. The distinction is required because of the way many social
ads, disads, and skills -- especially those that give reaction modifiers -- work differently across species lines than they do among members of the
same species. (It's one thing to enslave your brother man, another to enslave the three-eyed, red amphibids of Zorgon-4 who you aren't even sure
are sentient and who emit pheromones that make humans aggressive. This makes things quite different for the slaves in question as well.) Kromm 22 Oct 1999 RGFG