Just for Fun: Boy or Girl Scout Character

[jason taylor]

Or maybe not just for fun as if it is a That Darn Kid character, that could reinforce it. If it is meant to be a Polish child soldier in WW2 it could have a dramatic and tragic element.


Possible ideas:

CoH Scouts

any merit badge would count as a skill as well as adding Reputation.

Any more thoughts?

[whswhs]

Do scouts have a form of Rank? It would probably be Courtesy Rank, but it would be a good way to represent added respect.

In some eras, being a scout would be good for Reputation, probably at the +1 level. Though there might also be a -1 Reputation, "naive, idealistic, and morally rigid" in other eras. Or more recently, "homophobic." Though these would all be organizational Reputations that descended to the members.

You might look at Boardroom and Curia for ways to write up the Scouts.

[Phantasm]

I'm not so sure the merit badges would represent a point in a skill. If anything, I'd just say that each merit badge is part of the Dabbler perk, giving a better default.

The Scouts do indeed have "ranks", though the only one that matters to folks outside the org is "Eagle Scout" (or whatever the equivalent is outside the US) for the Boy Scouts, which is perhaps best represented as a Minor Reputation Perk (it's something that gets noted on a resume when starting out, and sometimes gets noted when enlisting or entering politics); not sure if the Girl Scouts' top rank gets the same treatment. I'd probably use Social Engineering to work Boy/Girl Scout Rank to something akin to 2/level for games with the Scouts figuring prominently. Outside those games, just being a Scout should be a Courtesy Title.

This of course matters if the Scouts are a positive force in the game world. If you have something akin to Cindy and the Girl Scout Mafia (from GURPS Casey and Andy), then it's likely to be a negative Reputation. :) ("Buy our cookies or else!")

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I'm not so sure the merit badges would represent a point in a skill. If anything, I'd just say that each merit badge is part of the Dabbler perk, giving a better default.

Gold&Appel, Inc. made Eagle Scout, and he says the same thing. Merit badges don't teach enough to qualify as a skill point in anything, and the Dabbler perk describes them best, he says. Some scouts may develop enough interest that they go on and learn more about one or two topics, and as such may acquire a point in it that way, but what it takes to earn the badges, themselves, isn't enough.

Originally Posted by Phantasm

The Scouts do indeed have "ranks", though the only one that matters to folks outside the org is "Eagle Scout" (or whatever the equivalent is outside the US) for the Boy Scouts, which is perhaps best represented as a Minor Reputation Perk (it's something that gets noted on a resume when starting out, and sometimes gets noted when enlisting or entering politics); not sure if the Girl Scouts' top rank gets the same treatment. I'd probably use Social Engineering to work Boy/Girl Scout Rank to something akin to 2/level for games with the Scouts figuring prominently. Outside those games, just being a Scout should be a Courtesy Title.

(SNIP)

I think that, while Eagle Scout counts as a courtesy rank, it arguably justifies as +1 Reputation in many parts of the world.

And, no I don't think the Girl Scout Gold Award quite carries the same clout, although I do note that women who earned one as Girl Scouts frequently get bumped an enlisted rank upon completion of basic training, if they join a branch of the U.S. military.

Apparently, Eagle Scouts get the same thing, and it also helps young men earn appointments to U.S. military academies. Eagle Scouts also qualify for more scholarship money than do Girl Scout Gold Award earners.

So, maybe a +1 Reputation for both Eagle Scouts and Gold Award winners, with additional Reputation bonuses for at least Eagle Scouts, from members of certain militaries, including the U.S. military?

[Nostri]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Gold&Appel, Inc. made Eagle Scout, and he says the same thing. Merit badges don't teach enough to qualify as a skill point in anything, and the Dabbler perk describes them best, he says. Some scouts may develop enough interest that they go on and learn more about one or two topics, and as such may acquire a point in it that way, but what it takes to earn the badges, themselves, isn't enough.

As a former Boy Scout myself I'll second or third that merit badges don't cover enough that you'd get a skill point. Some may just because the nature of merit badge requires you to learn enough, say the First Aide merit badge would probably be enough for a point in the First Aide skill just because the actual skill in broad enough and the badge itself is rigorous enough that the overlap would be sufficient.

[dcarson]

They can also justify defaults in skills that might not usually have a default. So a city kid with a default in Survival(Woodlands).

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

We also had ranks in Air Cadets as a kid. This would seem a similar issue where rank should be less than 5/level since their ranks mean a lot less than a real military.

Here, I highly recommend looking at the rules for adjusting the cost of Rank based on the granting organization in Social Engineering (sorry, I don't have page numbers; IDHMBWM). Social Engineering goes into detail about how Rank was constructed and gives various types of Ranks (including a Criminal Organization Rank at 2/level) explaining how they calculated the Rank costs.

Originally Posted by Hellboy

Come to think of it... Shouldn't military ranks vary from 5/level depending on the strength of the army you serve?

This I don't think so. Some militaries won't have Rank 8 (General, Admiral) or even Rank 7 (Brigadier, Commodore), but the Rank distribution and price for a US Army or Marine Corps Mechanized Infantry company and an Afghan warlord militia would effectively be the same. The Afghan warlord militia probably wouldn't get above Rank 3 or 4, but the mechanized infantry company also wouldn't get above that same Rank (effectively an O-3 Captain or equivalent authority).

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Here, I highly recommend looking at the rules for adjusting the cost of Rank based on the granting organization in Social Engineering (sorry, I don't have page numbers; IDHMBWM). Social Engineering goes into detail about how Rank was constructed and gives various types of Ranks (including a Criminal Organization Rank at 2/level) explaining how they calculated the Rank costs.


This I don't think so. Some militaries won't have Rank 8 (General, Admiral) or even Rank 7 (Brigadier, Commodore), but the Rank distribution and price for a US Army or Marine Corps Mechanized Infantry company and an Afghan warlord militia would effectively be the same. The Afghan warlord militia probably wouldn't get above Rank 3 or 4, but the mechanized infantry company also wouldn't get above that same Rank (effectively an O-3 Captain or equivalent authority).

Except Afghan warlords are effectively sovereign.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Except Afghan warlords are effectively sovereign.

While true, I was looking mostly at their subordinate militias rather than the warlords themselves. The warlord's militia chief would be the one with Military Rank 4, not the warlord himself. If the warlord heads the militia himself, he'd have Status or Feudal Rank on top of the Military Rank.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Except Afghan warlords are effectively sovereign.

Kind of. On a small scale. Working through the Social Engineering rules on p14-15, his force probably has:

1. Hierarchical Positions [1]
2. Chain of Commnd [1]
3. Tyoical resources, at best [0 or 1]

It probably lacks:

1. Special Assets, so [0]
2. Dominance or uniqueness, so [-1]
3. Widespread legitimacy, so [0]

So Rank in that structure costs a basic 1/level, +1/level if they have good resources, +2/level if they're widely accepted as legitimate, +1/level if they're getting high-tech intelligence from a patron. To reach 5/level, they need to have Dominance, by being the largest force in the area.