05-05-2011, 06:24 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
|
Good Handwriting: A Perk?
Now the ability to do fine calligraphy of any type is a skill. But simply having nice handwriting, or elegant handwriting, or a fine copperplate hand, seems more like a perk than a skill. What do the people on this board think?
To clearify, I understand the ability to use several different type of handwriting is more of a skill, I just want to see if I'm right and good handwriting is properly a perk. Thank-you for your attention.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
05-05-2011, 06:27 AM | #2 |
Ceci n'est pas une tag.
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Vancouver, WA (Portland Metro)
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
What minor benefit would it convey?
|
05-05-2011, 06:34 AM | #3 |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
Your handwriting is easily legible...you do not suffer (reasonable) penaltys for being rushed or less than perfect conditions...people who know the language can always read it.
Also should be a quirk.... Illegible Handwriting...If you handwrite something pretty much only you can read it (and sometimes even you can't)...for other people who share a language they get a Crypto Analysis role to figure out the message. If you print and make a successful DX check your printing is mostly legible (TDMs will apply here). I qualify for one of these...any guesses as to which...
__________________
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.-Foch America is not perfect, but I will hold her hand until she gets well.-unk Tuskegee Airman |
05-05-2011, 06:40 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
It might get a reaction bonus from anyone who had to read something you wrote. It might also make understanding something you wrote easier.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
05-05-2011, 06:41 AM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: West Virginia
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
Quote:
Thanks for the refinements on the theme.
__________________
Per Ardua Per Astra! Ancora Imparo |
|
05-05-2011, 06:42 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Yorkshire, UK
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
Good Handwriting as a Perk could eliminate up to -4 in TDM or Reduced Time penalties for any tasks which requires writing?
|
05-05-2011, 07:07 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
I would just handwave it as its legible unless the conditions were epically bad...then I would give them a bonus...
__________________
My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.-Foch America is not perfect, but I will hold her hand until she gets well.-unk Tuskegee Airman |
05-05-2011, 08:41 AM | #8 |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
I'd use Penetrating Voice as my model and say that others get +3 on any roll required to read your writing. For gamers using the rules on p. 34 of Low-Tech Companion 1, I'd change this up and say that you get +3 to the roll to write legibly: DX, or DX-based Artist (Calligraphy) or Professional Skill (Scribe) at +6, with success meaning a document that anyone literate can read. Thus, someone with just DX would use DX+3, and be halfway to a pro. And by analogy to the +1 to Intimidation that PV gets, I'd say that you get +1 to Diplomacy or Savoir-Faire (High Society) when you pen a polite document such as an invitation or a formal apology.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
05-05-2011, 08:56 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Apr 2011
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
I personally prefer the +1 reaction bonus to handwritten messages from the people reading them. The perk would be the equivalent of attractiveness or Voice for the (hand)written word. A professional calligrapher would take the artistic skill (and probably be justified in taking the Beautiful Handwriting perk as a result).
Similarly, unusually bad handwriting would be a quirk. You have a -1 reaction penalty, and others treat their own literacy level as "broken" when attempting to read your handwriting . In my experience, the mechanics wouldn't come into play very often, even in historical games, because the players are mobile rather than the messages. |
05-05-2011, 09:06 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
|
Re: Good Handwriting: A Perk?
"But judge, the contract I drew up said to kill ants, not to kill aunt."
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
Tags |
kromm answer, kromm explanation |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|