Re: The Woodsman Talent
It's true one of the reasons Woodsman is so basic is that TFT is a simple game. But another is that it assumes most adventures happen underground, in a labyrinth. (Among many other possible examples, see the section discussing horse riding.) In modern non-D&D role-playing, on the other hand, more happens in wildernesses (also cities) than does underground. So Woodsman is more important today than it was when TFT was written.
I find the connection of Woodsman to Naturalist bothersome. It makes gaining any skill in operating in the wilderness quite expensive, and you end up knowing about herbs and whatever, which a lot of woodsman character concepts wouldn't.
As I've said elsewhere, I also like the idea of distinguishing between the local hunter or expert scout, who really knows the forest, versus the person who just knows how to pitch a tent so he won't get scorpions coming in.
If I were writing from scratch I'd be inclined to something like Wilderness (IQ 9, 2) as a prerequisite to environmental expertises Forest, Desert, etc, all (IQ 10, 1). And push Naturalist off to IQ 11 as a more theoretical talent. But I'm far from certain what the best path is starting from the TFT baseline.
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