[freeroleplay] Re: Skills
- From: Samuel Penn <sam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: freeroleplay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 15:15:04 +0100
On Saturday 30 August 2003 15:09, Ricardo Gladwell wrote:
> Hi
>
> I think this all depends on what the 'base line' is for your characters.
> In RPG there is an unspoken structure which I will refer to as Average
> Human. This is basically a character with average abilities (strength,
> etc), that is unskilled in most skills and possesses no other unique
> traits (advantages, etc). In many ways, when developing a roleplaying
> game the first thing you must do is decide what this character is like.
Agreed. It's something I'm working on at the moment, and it's a
nightmare. The problem is, there isn't really an 'average', since
people's skills are going to improve with age. A 40-something
farmer is going to have a lot more experience than a 16 year old
farmer. Likewise for mercenaries, thieves and the like.
How will a starting level PC (probably no more than 20 years old)
compare with typical 30-40 year old NPCs?
> This explains why many early RPGs didn't take into consideration the
> concept that pre-20th century people were largely illiterate (most have
> wised up to this now) and why many 'university skills' have equivalent
> cost to normal skills.
I'd say the literacy thing is more down to the fact that it's a lot
easier in game terms if PCs can read. It's a bit tedious if they
get a map to the next dungeon, and none of them can read it...
> On Tue, 2003-08-26 at 04:19, Jerry Stratton wrote:
> > You could even combine them into one skill called "General Culture" or
> > "General Education". If they went to technical school, they might have
> > "General Education (Cosmetology)" for example; if they went to college,
> > they might have "General Education (Psychology)". If they focussed on
> > sports, they might have "General Education (Sports)" or even "General
> > Education (Football)".
>
> I think a General Culture skill would be an over-complication: should we
> make characters roll to find out, for example, if they've ever heard of
> Britney Speares? (I would rather make a roll to try and forget she ever
> existed :) Or, roll to count the change in their pockets? Similarly, you
> don't have to have a college/uni education to know anything about
> football: many people pickup a lot of knowledge without even playing,
> from following the sports as spectators.
I'm leaning more towards having my Area Lore skill cover basic cultural
knowledge, as well as geography. It's a lot more useful however for a
fictional campaign world, where the characters are going to know lots
of things the players don't.
> Also, beware your biases. In England, you stop being taught sport at
> ages 16/17 in school, so include Sport of Football would also be an
> American cultural bias.
Actually, I got 'taught' it until 18. Fortunately, some of us were crap
enough that no-one complained too much that we spent the time hidden in
some unused classroom roleplaying :-)
> My idea would be to have 'packages' or 'templates' that would include a
> bunch of skills in a single cost. For example, you could have a Graduate
> package that would include a basic list of skills that an average
> graduate would have.
This is a good idea I think, and one I'm looking at.
--
Be seeing you, -------------------------------
Sam. http://www.bifrost.demon.co.uk/
Other related posts:
