[Action] Other background Lenses?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

Have I missed any firefighting skills? Should I include Expert Skill (Fire Fighting)?

That would be Professional Skill (Fire Fighting) for actual firemen, I think. The Expert Skill would be for scientists who study fires and their effect on buildings - which is a real, if small, field.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

That would be Professional Skill (Fire Fighting) for actual firemen, I think. The Expert Skill would be for scientists who study fires and their effect on buildings - which is a real, if small, field.

Yeah, I wasn't too happy about the Expert Skill thing as the main skill.

But would the Expert Skill be useful for arson investigations?

And would the Professional Skill be likely to be useful during a GURPS Action campaign?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

But would the Expert Skill be useful for arson investigations?

I think the Professional Skill would be adequate for normal arson - which tends to be pretty simple AFAIK. The point at which the police/fire service need to call in an expert for weird cases is probably the point at which you need the Expert Skill.

And would the Professional Skill be likely to be useful during a GURPS Action campaign?

Fighting fires, helping with investigations, avoiding setting fire to places - reasonably so, although it's obviously not mandatory. I have seen one character I was GMing take it: he was an occupational health and safety expert who'd wound up working for The Laundry. "Don't ask what really happened at Buncefield" was the nearest he'd come to explaining why.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

The idea of fitting characters out with plausible and useful background skills is interesting to me, but I'm not so much into templates and lenses. I tend to both run and play long-term campaigns, where investing several hours of work per character at the start to fill out background and work through the skills list seems perfectly normal.

Well, you wouldn't be surprised to be told that I'm the same way, preferring open character creation, and seeing the investment of several hours of work put into character creation as fully justified relative to the expected campaign duration.

Nevertheless, I do find the Background Lens concept fascinating, both on its own (although there really is no good way to squeeze it into my homebrew RPG system) and as a flavourful component of GURPS Action.

In itself, a Lenses-upon-Lenses thing is also an interesting thought exercise, although unlike GURPS Action's simpler approach, there's a very real risk of ending up with a low-usefulness character.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Fighting fires, helping with investigations, avoiding setting fire to places - reasonably so, although it's obviously not mandatory.

No, of coures not. My Lens isn't Former Fire Fighter, but rather Blue Collar Worker. Something I think can greatly enrich GURPS Action (another one is Upper Class Wit - or Twit, a variant on the former, each with its own Lens Talent).

It's just a question of making sure that it is in fact attractive to playes. That there is a high likelihood that players choosing that Lens, instead of one of those from the core PDF, will end up being happy with their choice, rather than feeling that they have wasted most of their 20 CP.

If there is a mandatory skill in the Blue Collar Worker Lens, I think it should be 2 CP Scrounging. Either that, or some kind of mechanic, possibly as much as 2 CP each in three or four different mechanics-related skills (or just 8 in one and then you rely on defaults for related ones). But then again, spending 6 or 8 CP that way shapes the Lens too much, relative to its initial concept, so I think Scrounging 2 CP is the way to go, everything else being optional.

For that matter, Brawling 2/4/8 CP should be in the Lens too. It fits the lower class rabble concept, with some specimens being brawlers or otherwise troublemakers. Wrestling too.

Even though the Lens isn't Former Fire Fighter, fire fighters are quite popular, at least here in Denmark. Popular with the girls, but also generally well regarded, so that could be an option in the Social section of the Lens. Would that be 1 level of Social Regard? And is Social Regard even appropriate for GURPS Action?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

If there is a mandatory skill in the Blue Collar Worker Lens, I think it should be 2 CP Scrounging. Either that, or some kind of mechanic, possibly as much as 2 CP each in three or four different mechanics-related skills (or just 8 in one and then you rely on defaults for related ones).

The really defining skill of blue collar work is probably one GURPS doesn't officially have - Machine Operation, the mechanical equivalent of Electronics Operation. I think I'd go with Mechanic here, it'll be useful enough in the Action genre not to be a waste of points.

Oh, and one other skill that probably should be an option: Sewing/TL. The garment industry isn't as big as it used to be, but it's still fairly important, and it could be a useful cover if you follow the traditions of the secret entrance to headquarters being located in back of a tailor shop, or hiding the villains among the factories and warehouses of the garment district.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by malloyd

The really defining skill of blue collar work is probably one GURPS doesn't officially have - Machine Operation, the mechanical equivalent of Electronics Operation. I think I'd go with Mechanic here, it'll be useful enough in the Action genre not to be a waste of points.

Oh, and one other skill that probably should be an option: Sewing/TL. The garment industry isn't as big as it used to be, but it's still fairly important, and it could be a useful cover if you follow the traditions of the secret entrance to headquarters being located in back of a tailor shop, or hiding the villains among the factories and warehouses of the garment district.

The problem I have with Mechanic as a mandatory skill in such a Lens is that it requires a specialziation, thereby forcing the player to make a choice that he may later regret.

I think it's better to leave it as optional and then make Scrounging mandatory, representing the deep experience of a blue collar-worker at re-purposing scrap and getting things done on a tight budget. Players can still pick Mechanic if they like, choosing a specialization, or even two or three different ones, but they don't have to, if they're more into Demolitions and so forth.

Good point about Sewing, and I actually think that 2 CP in Sewing can be useful in a GURPS Action campaign, if the PC party needs to modify or make clothes in a hurry, or on a budget, or both.

Also, I don't think GURPS Action is - or should be - too strongly tied to the present day. Clearly some of the core PDF Templates require some modification for an 80s or 60s campaign, and more for a WWII or pulp or Victorian era campaign, but leaving out Sewing just because it's not as big as it used to be... Well, GURPS Action PCs can also come from 3rd world countries, being recent immigrants, or perhaps the campaign takes place there.

[johndallman]

I presume you do have Machinist as an option? That's a neglected skill, since it implicitly covers using just about all TL5+ machine tools, and that's a huge part of skilled industrial employment at those TLs.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I presume you do have Machinist as an option? That's a neglected skill, since it implicitly covers using just about all TL5+ machine tools, and that's a huge part of skilled industrial employment at those TLs.

Yup, I was very sure to include that in my original list, up above.