Quote:
Originally Posted by Gollum
Your solution makes a lot of sense, indeed!
But, precisely, what makes the actual list of skills so few intuitive is that: why are specializations an option for certain skills and a mandatory for other ones? Of course, the GM can change things, like you proposed it. He can also bundle several skills in a larger bang skill if he wishes (Science!)...
But for a new GM or a player who tries a new kind of character (my archaeologist example above is a true one!) the first answer given by the Basic Set sounds to be useless complexity... While other games simplify things like that. In the BRP system, for instance, Mathematics, Physics and History are three different skills which work exactly the same way. It is more simple, more intuitive and eventually makes more sense - both in terms of realism and game play (History is not supposed to be more complex than Physics or Biology and, thus, to require a different treatment).
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More than likely the differences are down to the 'historical' additions of each of these skill in earlier GURPS editions.
There were many Historical GURPS books for 3e, and many of them would likely have used the History skill, and rather than allowing a single History skill to cover Greece, Russia, Japan, China, Aztecs, etc., each probably added the appropriate Specialisation, which wasn't a particularly as formalised a mechanism as it is in 4e.
The Physics skills in 3e was Mental/Hard, at 4e it is Mental/Very Hard - which is probably because the skill was used in 3e as a general skill, and with the more clearly defined nature of Specialisation in 4e, it was probably shifted to be a Very Hard Skill, with optional Specialisations.
The Biology Skill did not exist at 3e, instead the individual Specialties had their own Skills, each of which was Mental/Hard: Botany, Ecology, Genetics, etc. The move to 4e consolidated them into a single Very Hard Skill with optional specialisations.
The TL part is also probably highly relevant. History as a Skill is basically the same at any TL (different knowledge obviously), but at TL5 or earlier, Biology and Physics were probably not generally broad enough to distinguish between the different specialisations.
During my schooling (TL8) I studied Physics (up to but not including University level) and I don't remember much specific distinguishing between different branches of Physics, I was just taught Physics, I have an A-Level in Physics, I know some mechanics, some optics, etc., (although I probably don't remember too much detail, it was a while ago!)
I'm sure Kromm could give a more detailed summary of why some skills were left with required Specialisations and other merged and given Optional Specialisations.
It does seem easier enough to adjust the Skill List by merging or breaking down each of those skills where relevant to create the desired level of Specialisation - which would seem to be the purpose of this thread!