[roguebfl]

Some Relevant Kromm Quotes:

Originally Posted by Kromm

Oh, I love this idea of treating Games and Sports skills as "the bits of several broadly general skills pertinent to one narrow activity, mashed together into one skill for people who want to learn just that activity"! That would make Games and Sports a lot like Soldier, or Expert Skills. The rules tying full-fledged skills into a game or sport would be just a perk at most . . . much as how Style Familiarity forges a bunch of skills into a martial-arts style. It makes sense that a hero who already has Running, Sumo Wrestling, and Throwing could play rugby if he dropped a point on Sport Familiarity (Rugby), rather than the current situation where those costly skills are completely useless and only Sports (Rugby) matters. It would also be kind of cool to see PCs vary in position and role within the activity due to different combinations of skill levels.

Heh, and in a hurry, you could still reduce it to a generic Sports or Games skill roll: Just average the skills in the set and round up (people tend to play their strongest position, so be generous), and then give those who lack Sport Familiary or Game Familiarity the same -3 that separates combat skills, Combat Art skills, and Combat Sport skills. Thus, a professional rugby player with Sports (Rugby)-14 would roll vs. 14; a rugby-loving adventurer with Running-12, Sumo Wrestling-16, Throwing-13, and Sport Familiarity (Rugby) would roll vs. 14; and a random thug with Running-12, Sumo Wrestling-16, and Throwing-13 would roll vs. 11 if roped into a rugby game.

Originally Posted by Kromm

That would be interesting, with a caveat: Not all pastimes will be reducible. Most physical sports come down to various combinations of skills for hitting or throwing stuff, running or skating around, and roughhousing – and most mental games would be playable with people skills, strategic skills, and a bit of math – but a few activities will call for actual Games or Sports, no substitutes. We'll have to confine our list to the ones that aren't so specialized and obscure that adventurers with broad physical or mental skill sets couldn't "fake it" with a simple perk to add rules comprehension.

• Rugby certainly involves running (Running), roughhousing (Sumo Wrestling seems to come closest), and throwing a ball (Throwing).
  
  
• Baseball involves a lot of Throwing and Running, plus Two-Handed Axe/Mace for slugging a ball with a tip-heavy club.
  
  
• Ice hockey is all about Skating, shoving people aside (Sumo Wrestling once again), and thwacking a puck with a long stick that can also be used illegally to hook people (Polearm?).
  
  
• Chess has a lot of rules . . . I'd say that it's mainly Strategy, but with a bigger penalty unless you have Game Familiarity. There's a case for adding in Intelligence Analysis, though.
  
  
• A lot of card games, not just poker, are reducible to Body Language and Gambling. A few might add Mathematics.

Remember that none of these skills are needed to play. All professionals and most amateurs just learn Sports or Games skills. These sets are for adventurers who would prefer leveraging existing skills with a cheap perk to learning yet another skill.

The interesting entries would be ones that use surprising skills. For instance, volleyball is mainly about jumping up in the air and slugging a ball, so Brawling and Jumping might well work.

And all of this suggests that Combat Sport skills are redundant if you have combat skills – just go learn a perk. Fencing on a strip might be Smallsword and Sport Familiarity (Foil), which is a lot cheaper than buying Smallsword Sport up from Smallsword.

Originally Posted by Kromm

There's only one speed in a slam: the closing speed of the two parties involved. You use that for both of them. It's physically impossible for one person to close with another at Move 5 while that other person's effective closing speed is 0.

So . . . since both parties are using the same speed, it comes down to "Who has more HP?", mostly. However, there are ways to cheat:

• Do an All-Out Attack (Strong) for +2 damage or +1 per die, whichever is better.
• Use Brawling to hit and add its +1 per die damage bonus.
• Use Sumo Wrestling to hit and add its +1 or +2 per die damage bonus.
• Make it a shield rush and add +DB to damage.
• Make it a slam with a long weapon and add +Reach to damage.

And don't forget to make your linebackers ST 13-20 with the maximum additional HP for their ST. (I'd also let them use their Sports skill just like Sumo Wrestling, both to hit and for a damage bonus.)

Originally Posted by Kromm

FWIW, I always let people wield tools or sporting equipment as similar weapons with relevant noncombat skills when there's no chance of return aggression; e.g., to attack inanimate objects, for surprise attacks from behind, or to put the pain on a tied-up torture victim (didn't say these were nice uses). The classic example is Forced Entry, which only works on doors and windows, but which the GM could be nice and allow when making a surprise attack with a crowbar, say. Recently, I let somebody with Sports (Cricket) use that to hit with a bat from behind – once ("Sorry, Philip!"). And of course there's knives with Cooking or Surgery, golf clubs with Sports (Golf), oars with Boating, and so on.