10-08-2008, 09:33 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
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ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
I've been thinking, trying to figure out what skills are effectively essential for a modern American to have. It seems that Driving is the only skill that every American either should have a point put into, or an explanation as to why he or she doesn't have any points into it. Same thing in much of modern Europe.
I'm wondering what skills people might think are vital for everyday life for various settings. It seems to me that thre are very few skills that almost all members of any particular society need to have.
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10-08-2008, 10:21 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Medford, MA
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
I don't even think that driving is essential. There are really big differences depending on where you live. Where I lived in Germany, no one drove. Most people had licenses...but not everyone. Public transportation was that good. Likewise, I knew people in the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up who couldn't drive...because public transportation was that good.
What were essential skills when living in the Shasta mountains were different than the essential skills when living in New York City. Rural? Urban? Suburban? That said. When I'm GM'ing. The skills I make my players take goes something like this: Me: You need Area Knowledge for wherever you grew up. And some skills to represent how you made a living. |
10-08-2008, 10:22 PM | #3 |
"Gimme 18 minutes . . ."
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
Area Knowledge and probably Housekeeping unless they're a slob or raised filthy rich. But definitely Area Knowledge of somewhere.
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10-08-2008, 11:03 PM | #4 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
I'd dispute the universality of Driving or the need to explain its absence. I don't drive and I've never held a driver's license. I have no medical reason for it (I'm not blind, prone to blackouts, or anything like that), no philosophical reason for it (I don't especially like cars, but that isn't why I don't own one), no economic reason for it (I suppose I could afford a cheap one), and no background reason for it (I grew up in a perfectly ordinary small city with merely so-so public transportation). It just happened that way. And it happened that way for several people I knew, too . . . I think that drivers simply tend to overlook those of us who don't get in their way.
As for skills for the modern West:
Put a geeky way, if you're running on default for these mostly IQ/E skills -- which is IQ-4 -- then you'll be assumed to have an IQ that's four points lower than it really is, because people expect everyone to have these skills at IQ level, at least. Some people will assume that's because you have IQ 6 or thereabouts, and are mentally challenged. The rest will assume that's because you have from -2 to -5 to IQ due to the drunk, euphoria, or hallucinating afflictions (pp. B428-429), mostly likely as a result of substance abuse. Neither is likely to be good for reactions.
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10-09-2008, 12:34 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: topeka KS
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
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10-09-2008, 12:41 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Houston
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
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10-09-2008, 12:48 AM | #7 | |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: near Houston
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
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A generous and sadistic GM, Brandon Cope GURPS 3e stuff: http://copeab.tripod.com |
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10-09-2008, 12:53 AM | #8 | |
MIB
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
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I didn't think there was a difference either, then I got my license and saw that there was. This is of course entirely cultural, and will be different in different places; but in Australia, it's certainly true that anyone over about 21 who doesn't have their driver's license is assumed to be chronically impoverished, to have had their license but lost it for some reason, or to be generally a useless deadbeat with no prospects. It's made zero difference in real and practical terms, but a lot of difference in social status sorts of terms. So for modern Australia, I'd add "Drive" to your list.
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10-09-2008, 07:35 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Manhattan, Ks
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
If you are going to force your players to waste skill points on skills like housekeeping (when is that skill EVER going to be useful in game?), then I suggest you give it to them for free. Then, if the player wants a slob character, he can buy that as a quirk. Otherwise, you are essentially lowering an adventurer's point value.
The OP did mention he wanted defaults for various settings. It seems like this aspect of his request is not getting a great deal of attention. That being said, I agree that most modern settings will have a majority of people with both Area knowledge and Computer operation. For fantasy settings, it seems a little more difficult. Perhaps just Area Knowledge and something they could use to make a living. This could be an actual professional skill, a weapon skill, magic, or a performance skill. As for the driving debate: most naysayers have been non-Americans. I do agree with the OP that in America, a player should have either: Driving, or an explanation why they don't drive (bad eyesight, economic reasons, ecological beliefs, religous beliefs, or copious public transportation are all valid).
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10-09-2008, 08:33 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Maple Grove, MN
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Re: ESSENTIAL skills for various settings
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There are very very very few things i can think of now that are purly spring/lever interface or mechanical machines. |
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Tags |
essential skill, kromm explanation |
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