Skill System Comments

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I have to agree with Ralph (Valamir) - new skill packets for every character idea is a pretty bad idea.

The optimum solution would be for the Senechesal to sit down before play and create skill packets for all the standard occupations in the culture the game is to take place in, but that's obviously a lot of work. (Something like this on the net would be awesome, though - you could have an expanded book on Stahl, for example, with all the skill packages common to Stahl.)

[Valamir]

Yeah, that would be ideal.  I personally would not be thrilled with new skill packets appearing on the website that were not cultureally specific and appropriate to whatever region of Wyerth they can be found.

[contracycle]

I agree with Valamir too.  I'm also very flexible on chargen - Frankly I don't used point systems much, I'm happy for players to just describe their charctrs to me and take whatevers appropriate - if the story hangs together thats fine.  Packages are still convenient for this though, but I'm against leaving the player to suffer - I have sometimes found this sort of thing challenging to my character concept, as a player.

[Lance D. Allen]

When I created Tiberius, I looked through every skill packet, and decided on a couple of them more than once, but I just wasn't satisfied. Swordsman didn't work, because Tiberius, as a person, would have no knowledge nor care for weapon style, for example. Others likewise did not really work.. So I created the Lawman/Guard Skill Packet. I checked the balance against all of the others in the book, and it seemed good. Then I chose Woodsman/Ranger for the second packet. The reason behind the choice on these two packets is fairly simple.. He was born on the northern coast of Stahl (near Savaxen) in a spread out subsistence community. His family, however, was slaughtered/stolen by Hef when he was just a boy.. He escaped only by hiding until they'd left. After that, he ended up in... (I don't remember the town name.. It's on the map, near the western edge of Stahl) and became one of the guardsman for a time, before meeting up with a bounty hunter who showed him the ropes.

Bounty Hunter is a default option from the Concept List, and Guardsman and Ranger seemed the best two to reflect the type. However, there were just a few things in the Ranger packet which didn't quite ring true, which is why I am considering the option of packet customization. It's not a desire to power game or minmax, only that things do not, like Contracycle mentions, entirely ring true with the character concept.

[Rattlehead]

I think it bears mentioning that while bounty hunters were probably in short supply during earth's medieval time period, this is a fantasy setting. I can swallow bounty hunters in a fantasy setting, medieval or not. Also, due to Boba Fett and his ilk, the bounty hunter has become a sort of "character archetype" in modern fiction. Especially in movies but, I imagine, in print as well.

Brandon

[contracycle]

IMO thats not much of an argument - by analogy, firearms are established now so we should feel free to have firearms too, yes?  Me and my full-auto blunderbuss have a bone to pick...

[Rattlehead]

IMO thats not much of an argument - by analogy, firearms are established now so we should feel free to have firearms too, yes?  Me and my full-auto blunderbuss have a bone to pick...

Actually, you're comparing apples and oranges. Bounty hunters appear in fiction from any time period - distant past to distant future. Firearms do not.

Still, a full-auto blunderbuss would be a sight to see... LOL.. I suppose you'd need to mount that on a tripod or some such device. I imagine the recoil would be a full blown bitch!

Brandon

[Atomic Requiem]

Still, a full-auto blunderbuss would be a sight to see...

Clearly, ammunition issues would become relevant at that point.

*AR*

[Lyrax]

Ammunition, storage of it, feeding it to the gun, cooling the gun, accuracy (hah!), yada, yada yada.

I imagine you would have an ATN of about 8 or 9, but a range increment of about 25 yards or even more. (And a really NASTY damage rating).

[Henry Fitch]

Quick semi-relevant question: Let's say you've got a Zaporozhyan feller, lived there into his early teens, soaked up a fair bit of horsemanry and a heavy dose of fantazya. But a chain of events took him mostways across the continent, and by now he's set up pretty well in the Court of a western country, playing on his talent for fancy swordsmanship and Dashing Foreigner Appeal. Still got his dad's bow and shortsword, but more likely to draw his Case of Rapiers.

Assuming this is even remotely feasible, I'm in a quandary for his skill packs. He definitely needs two of Warrior, Courtier, and Swordsman, but I dunno which. What do you think?

[Henry Fitch]

Oh god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise the dead, I swear!

[Jake Norwood]

No problem raising the dead. I don't see how he'll need whole new skill packs. What he'll need it a new proficiency and a new Ettiquite skill... both of which are easily bought with SA points over time.

Jake

[Henry Fitch]

Hmm.. see, what I described there is backstory, more or less. (This guy is mostly a character-creation experiment, at least for the time being.) I intend the character as more of a kozak-flavored swashbuckler than a swashbuckler-flavored kozak, but it's still an important part of him. My inclination is to give him Warrior and Courtier, and buy the important Swordsman skills with SA points. As long as the "I had this skill the whole time, and just did not deign to use it" trick is allowed in TRoS...

[655321]

IMO there should be *no* new skill packets that are not first socially and cultureally justifiable.  The "bounty hunter" packet especially raises flags with me.  The sort of Bobba Fett character being implied by the desired skill combinations just doesn't really have any historical parallel.  There were bounties and there were people who cashed them in, but there really isn't any group of people who are "trained" in these skills.  Frankly I find that modern notions of training and education color our conceptions of appropriate character professions far too greatly.

Looking at history and society can also provide interesting solutions to such problems, as they did in real life. If their is a steady need for a skill set/profession in that area then it became established and thus trained. On the other hand, if there was need for quick fix to a situation the eye was turned to those people who would have the closest experince. Not to mention the classic "hire a thief to catch a thief". And both can add a lot of depth to your charater. To use the bounty hutter as an example, why not use Thief as one of the packets. Not to mention, Animal Guise would be very useful for a bounty hunter. You would not want the target to be alerted by near animals scattering though the woods at your approach.