Some mechanics I'm toying with...

[Henry Fitch]

Trivia: Another well-known system that uses roll-as-high-as-you-can-but-not-over  is Unknown Armies.

[kevin671]

Unkown Armies...I'll check that out.  But I'm thinking of dropping that whole concept and going with the pure low roll.  It's a much simpler system, which is the effect that I'm trying for.

[kevin671]

Here's an idea I just had:

Skill Tiers:  Skills have various levels of training required.  Some (like driving a car) are easy to learn and master, while others (like flying a fighter jet) require  some form of advanced training, as well as prior knowledge of other skills.  In my system, skills are grouped according to this theory.  Tier 2 skills are those skills which require little training to use, and tier 1 skills are those which require advanced training.

Example Tier 2 skills:  Driving a car, Basic (high school) mathematics, swimming, climbing.

Example Tier 1 skills:  Linguistics, Engineering, Flying a fighter jet, Martial Arts.

Tier 2 skills may be used untrained, but tier 1 skills may not.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Kevin,

I may be a little over-stern in moving this thread to RPG Theory, but it seems to me as if it exists at the "pure fun idea" stage rather than at the "in development for publication" stage. Therefore I've moved it. Let me know if you think that's out of line; I'm not totally inflexible, after all.

Best,
Ron