11-23-2014, 01:11 PM | #41 |
Join Date: Apr 2006
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
So you're saying that "Research/TL7 using a TL8 computer to access digital data" and "Research/TL8" are distinctly different things? What exactly do you think is the difference between Research/TL7 and Research/TL8, and if it's "using a computer more effectively", then aren't you really saying that "using a computer effectively" is part of the Research/TL8 skill, thereby making Comp Op completely redundant for research purposes?
|
11-23-2014, 02:16 PM | #42 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
Skills include tools normally used at the learned TL.
TL 8 machinists know how to use power tools that would confuse TL 6, and utterly baffle those of TL 4. Should TL 8 machinists need Electronics Operation just to operate even complex power tools? I'm convinced that a single point in Computer Operation, or dabbler if it raises the default to say 10 is enough for Research using modern computers.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
11-23-2014, 03:25 PM | #43 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
Quote:
|
|
11-23-2014, 08:57 PM | #44 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
Quote:
I'd also note that changing skill prerequisites, like changing spell prerequisites, ought to be one of the things that a GM is fairly free to do. If you think it's possible to use online research tools effectively with less than 200 hours of classroom instruction in computer use, or less than 400 hours of noodling around on your computer figuring things out, you should just change the prerequisites. It's not like Kromm is going to smite you with his holy lightning. Bill Stoddard |
|
11-23-2014, 11:58 PM | #45 |
Untagged
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
That's what I meant by convinced. I was initially of an opposing opinion, but was convinced in this thread of a prerequisites for TL 8 and Research - C. Ops.
Obviously is default rises to 12, then it's perfectly suited to professionals. And I think that the C. Ops prerequisite for Research shouldn't rise nearly that high. That's why I suggested 10.
__________________
Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
11-24-2014, 11:39 AM | #46 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
In my current campaign:
Computer Hacking doesn't exist. It's intended for settings where hackers/deckers on the net are like wizards in the astral plane or something, and just "do stuff" without worrying about all that real-world nuisance. It's about as realistic as Weird Science or Alchemy. I'm not fond of that view of hacking, so I don't use the skill. Computer Programming is used whenever the PCs run into a digital countermeasure that isn't a standard out-of-the-box security solution. The team's hacker can either give up altogether or write a specific bit of code for this specific task. I use the rules for invention here, usually with large bonuses for not so much inventing something new as creating yet another variant. I also allow the PCs to develop code that acts as a persistent complementary skill roll: +1 or +2 to another task that plausibly uses a computer interface. Computer Operation is used whenever the PCs want to use computers quickly, as when trying to find a file when the night watchman is on the way up the hall, or attempting to reboot a system in combat. I also allow the PCs to roll as a complementary skill: +1 or +2 to another task that involves a computer. This can stack with the innate +1 or +2 from a good piece of code . . . a good computer operator using well-designed custom search code can get +2 to +4 to Research, for instance.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
11-24-2014, 06:15 PM | #47 |
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
I personally like the idea of Computer Ops as a complimentary skill. Additionally, I think if you're using a computer to do the research, it's a mandatory complementary skill. I've worked with brilliant professors who clearly had at least 1 point in research based on the several books they had written who could not use a search engine more complicated than a library's journal archive to save their lives. They did all their research the old fashion way.
It took them longer, and they probably had a smaller range of material, but they could still do research. Therefore, I feel they probably were failing their Complementary skill check on CO when doing the search, which penalized their results. |
11-25-2014, 03:59 AM | #48 |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Computer Operation/Programming/Hacking
Computer Operation tends to be an everyman skill in campaigns where it's available at all. I've rarely seen Programming be relevant in a game, except when I've been using some sort of realistic cracking rules.
(A real-world example of a Programming task that's a bit closer to adventuring use than most: "This company has gone out of business, and the licence key they sold us when they were still in business has just expired. Nobody can sell us a key any more. Please keep our software working!") Arguably that was a combination of sysadminning and programming, but I'm not planning to play GURPS Roger's Life any time soon; I'm happy to accept the low resolution. I have had one (pre-gen for convention games) character with Programming at TL7 - he's a student at Imperial College in the late 1960s. If he hadn't been turned psychic, he'd probably have made a fortune.
__________________
Podcast: Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice Gaming stuff here: Tekeli-li! Blog; Webcomic Laager and Limehouse Buy things by me on Warehouse 23 |
Tags |
basic, computer hacking, computer operation, computer programming, skill of the week |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|