09-20-2018, 02:47 PM | #21 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
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Other than that, I like the breakdown.
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09-20-2018, 03:21 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
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I think this is just a case where some GURPS skills are too broad. The case for say Wind or Stringed instruments is harder to make when you have Small Arms, automobiles, or especially spaceships for comparison. Though as a player I certainly wouldn't be upset at a GM narrowing it down. What types should it be? Stringed Wind (wood and brass) Percussion I think the specialties listed under Musical Instrument are too narrow for the design/repair part of the triad. I really would love a Power-Ups skill book that addresses this.
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09-20-2018, 03:59 PM | #23 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
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And if you want to know whether Carpentry, or Artist (Woodworking), or Machinist defaults to Professional Skill (Violin Maker)—make it up! It isn't as if anyone was going to come into your campaign and say you're wrong, or be able to prove it if they do.
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09-20-2018, 04:00 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
I'd say use the broad categories—aerophone, chordophone, idiophone, keyboard, and membranophone—plus electrophone after around 1900.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
09-20-2018, 04:14 PM | #25 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: On the road again...
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
I agree with this idea. (I was looking up the various types when you posted, so #metoo.)
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09-20-2018, 07:54 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
A Professional skill with these specializations is what I think might be realistic enough without being using 3~5 different skills to build a single type of instrument. Although the argument with small arms and spacecrafts made me think about to just use luthier and deal with it. As an medieval fantastic world, don't know how much realism will be used but this has been on my mind for some time now.
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09-20-2018, 08:12 PM | #27 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
One approach to doing that within the RAW I sometimes use is Unique Techniques. Don't think a Carpenter has a chance of making a violin? Call Violin-Making a unique technique of Carpentry. Now you have to spend a point on the Unique Technique perk to attempt it at all, the GM can set the default at anything appropriate so even skilled carpenters can't automatically become expert violin-makers with 200 hours of training. And yet as a technique it's not horribly expensive to buy it up to full skill (or potentially beyond) like an entirely separate skill would be, and because it is a technique Violin-maker-guy automatically has at least some level of competence with any other carpentry task that *isn't* weird enough to be a Unique Technique.
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09-20-2018, 08:32 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
What would Stradivarius rate?
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09-21-2018, 03:47 AM | #29 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
A small reality check. My father definitely had points in playing fretted instruments, mostly mandolin and guitar. Like most musicians, he had a very strong familiarity with the handling, size and weight of instruments. He wanted a cittern - a type of lute - and could not find one for sale at a reasonable price, but there were kits available.
The kit he got came with all the metal parts pre-made, and the wood cut, but not sanded. He definitely had his default in Carpentry, maybe a bit of Dabbler, but no more than that. Assembling it involved a lot of sanding, steaming and bending wood into shape, making jigs, and gluing. There was simple drilling to screw the metal parts on. He took substantial extra time om this, and ended up with a working instrument that sounded pretty good. There was no design work, or materials selection involved, just finishing parts and assembly. This would be apprentice work in a luthier's business, and it is not that hard. The highly skilled parts at low TLs seem to be the design work, the materials selection, and making the varnish. Cutting the parts is less skilled, but still significant, because wood is always a bit different, and I suspect a professional luthier would buy in the metalwork.
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09-21-2018, 12:12 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Skill for building musical instrument?
Remember that Carpentry mostly covers frame carpentry. Fine woodworking uses Artist (Woodworking).
Based on the skill set of a friend who dabbled in making wooden musical instruments (mostly table harps), I'd suggest that making musical instruments is a Hard Technique based on the dominant material used to make the instrument, which defaults to the relevant skill at -4. At least one musical skill (e.g., musical composition or singing) is a prerequisite. For example, roll vs. Machinist -4 to create a valved trumpet, or Artist (Woodworking) -4 to create a lute or violin. But, certain instruments are easier than others. Anything with a relatively solid frame - like a lap harp or a solid-bodied guitar - is easier to make than an instrument where the body of the instrument must act to amplify or modify the sounds produced. I also think that it's entirely reasonable to have a Professional Skill dedicated to just making a certain sort of instrument. For simplicity, just give Antonio Stradivari PS (Violin & Cello Making) and Les Paul PS (Electric Guitar Making). |
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crafting, musical instruments |
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