07-24-2018, 01:54 PM | #51 | |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
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07-25-2018, 09:28 AM | #52 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
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For example, Soldier skill gives you a default to Law (Military) to recall military regulations, but SF (Military) lets you understand which regulations you can ignore, except for the cases where you can't ignore them, and the things that will never be in the regulations but are just "not the done thing." A good example is that, until WW2, and even afterwards, officers and other ranks just didn't interact socially, on anything other than most superficial level, in the British military services. In the Derek Robinson Book/TV Series, "A Piece of Cake" an American pilot officer deeply embarrasses one of his NCO mechanics by insisting on playing tennis with him. That a critical failure with SF (Military) due to penalties due to lack of Cultural Familiarity and the pilot's previous experience with the much more egalitarian forces of the Spanish Republicans. *Streetwise would be a form of SF (Criminal) but it has to cover more than just social rules and also has to cover knowledge of different criminal groups, so it's an Average skill rather than Easy and gets broken out from SF (Mafia, Triad, Biker Gangs, whatever). |
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07-25-2018, 09:39 AM | #53 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
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Well-trained soldiers might not have been able to shoot accurately, but they were able to shoot fast and in unison, and maintain something like a proper formation even when visibility dropped to nothing due to black powder smoke. All that marching in formation and manual of arms stuff that seems like BS in a TL6 or higher military organization was, once upon a time, essential battlefield survival skills. |
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07-25-2018, 09:41 AM | #54 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
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07-25-2018, 09:49 AM | #55 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
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Air Stewardess Primary Skills: Crewman/TL (Airman), Professional Skill (Steward).* Secondary Skills: First Aid, Diplomacy, Leadership, Savoir-Faire (Servant). Background Skills: Area Knowledge (Airports and surrounding areas), Fast Talk, Housekeeping, Psychology, Sex Appeal, etc. * Air Stewards were originally recruited from stewards/porters who served aboard passenger ships or trains. Since the job basically covers the skill of politely herding and managing paying customers while stuck in close quarters aboard a vehicle, there's enough similarity between pullman porters, cruise ship pursers, "air hostesses", etc. that those jobs all share a common pro skill. Last edited by Pursuivant; 07-25-2018 at 10:18 AM. |
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07-25-2018, 10:12 AM | #56 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
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Just because you never use certain elements of a skill doesn't mean that you don't practice them. A merchant seaman with a high level of Seamanship might go for his entire career without having to use essential parts of that skill, such as firefighting or lifeboat launching drills. Air Stewards are trained to deal with medical emergencies, ditching at sea, ditching on land, evacuating the aircraft, use of oxygen and firefighting equipment, use of aircraft intercom systems, and a certain amount of "damage control" in that they can intelligently report damage to the aircraft to the flight crew. They might also be able to fix very minor aircraft problems in flight. Except for not having to worry about keeping their oxygen masks from freezing up and their electrically-heated suits from failing, the skill set isn't that much different from what the crew of a WW2 era B-17 or Lancaster bomber learned. Arguably, Crewman/TL (Aircrew) shouldn't be required for flight deck crew, since those jobs are covered by more difficult skills, such as Mechanic, Navigation (Aerial), or Pilot. But, for a large plane where the flight crew and "cabin crew" need to operate as a team, they might have that skill as well. Last edited by Pursuivant; 07-25-2018 at 10:17 AM. |
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08-01-2018, 09:17 PM | #57 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: In the UFO
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
In a situation where characters are making Leadership rolls to quickly convey orders to subordinates, perhaps a Soldier roll should allow the recipient to more rapidly understand and implement the order?
Player: Okay, I want bob and joe to provide covering fire while the rest of the guys rush the doors." GM: You want to convey that in a one-second turn? Okay, you roll Leadership." Player: Success by 3! GM: Okay, each of the soldiers in your squad gets a Soldier+3 roll to understand what you meant...
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Is love like the bittersweet taste of marmalade on burnt toast? |
08-01-2018, 11:49 PM | #58 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Soldier
I think the basic idea here is fine, but rather than rolling each person's Soldier skill individually (which for anything larger than a squad, is a lot of rolls!), I'd roll just once against the average Soldier skill of the whole group, and let margin of failure/success determine how well the group understood and carried out the orders.
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Tags |
basic, skill of the week, soldier |
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