[Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Research is the IQ/A TL skill of finding information in (semi-)organised collections, such as libraries and filing systems. The defaults are IQ-5 or Writing-3, and there are prerequisites of literacy in at least one language, and of Computer Operation at TL8+. Current Affairs and Typing have defaults to Research. Several Expert Skills can also substitute for Research within their fields, and at the GM's option, any mainly book-learned skill can be used at -2 for Research into that skill. Optional specialisation would work for this skill, but doesn't seem to be commonly taken.

With a successful roll, you can find information that exists to be found. Some GMs give you more information on a large margin of success. This is easy to rationalise as following clues and putting information together from several sources. The skill takes language modifiers, and could plausibly take cultural unfamiliarity modifiers. Modifiers for Time Spent are clearly applicable, as are bonuses and penalties for the size and organisation of the material available, and the searching or index tools available. The skull appeared at GURPS 1e, and seems to have been influenced by the Library Use skill in Call of Cthulhu.

Research is an extremely common skill on templates for characters who use information, from academics, detectives and demolitions experts to spies. Action has rules and modifiers for the present day, and Bio-Tech for finding genetic information. DF uses it for getting hints about dungeons in advance, finding the names of things to summon, and checking up on a sponsor's information, while Fantasy has library size modifiers and searches for historical omens. High-Tech has comprehensive library rules and computer-based Research, and Infinite Worlds gives Infinity portable computers with databases that give large skill bonuses -- with a successful Research roll. LTC1 has low-tech library rules and several useful things to research. Monster Hunters makes Research an important skill in preparation for combat, and Mysteries has guidance on its use in criminal investigations. Power-Ups volumes 3, 6 and 7 have examples for this skill, and Powers uses it for Oracle (Digital).

Social Engineering points out the usefulness of Contacts with Research, the need for the skill in verifying foreign credentials, its use as a complementary skill, in finding archives to search, the advantages of finding someone who has already done the research, and in guiding political campaigns. Thaumatology emphasises the importance of Research in summoning, and offers the research-centred campaign structure. Alchemical Baroque reminds us that efficient library catalogues are a fairly modern invention, Ritual Path Magic makes Research important for finding grimoires and sacred sites, and Urban Magics uses it in gem-based magic. THS: Changing Times has uses for the skill in memetics and computer security, and it can help you find out how to fight Zombies.

A question tangentially related to this skill: in GURPS, what skill do you use for doing research work in an experimental or observational science? Not looking stuff up, but trying to extend scientific knowledge? There's a bit of a gap between Research skill, and the invention rules. Some GMs rule that you use Research, but the alternative seems to be the science skill, probably at some kind of penalty.

What have you dug up in a library that changed the game?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

One important modern application I keep wavering back and forth on being Research, Intelligence Analysis, or an entirely separate skill is dossier building. The art of combing through public records, credit reports, home town newspaper morgues, high school yearbooks, usenet posts, facebook pages and the like to construct a capsule biography of somebody. In a way this is the thing that Zeroed opposes, only all at once instead of to answer a specific question.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I'm pretty sure that's Research, possibly with an optional specialisation.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

To actually extend scientific knowledge I would think is a straight out Science roll, or better yet, one for theory and one for Lab work which would keep it in line with prototype rules from BS. The bonuses and modifiers from 473 seem pretty legit.

Research Techniques
I might let someone buy off as techniques the penalties associated with arcane info storage. Frex, does any one still use a card catalog or dewy decimal system anymore? Microfiche? Microfilm?
How about SQL as a technique in either this/comp ops/ or Comp Programing?
Google Fu?

Nymdok

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I think I would rate each search engine as a familiarity.
Probably the older methods of finding the data too.
So mr. 2020 guy walks into the Newspaper to get some information and when he is pointed to the basement filing system can still use Research but is penalized for an unfamiliar (tech penalty too) system but would get used to it in a reasonable time.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Surprisingly, Research has come up quite a bit in my DF game. There's a library / temple of the God of Knowledge in town, and both the Cleric (who gets in free on scholarship, after passing a difficult Theology test) and the Wizard (who failed his test and has to pay in books or cash every time he visits) just love the place.

PCs have questions; libraries have answers. Unfortunately, the kinds of questions they usually have (How do I cast Lightning? Who is the dude on the statue I saw in the dungeon? What does this weird magical ring do?) usually don't have easy answers. But, hey, worth a shot.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Are there such rules in High-Tech? Oh, computer-based Research, no doubt, but I don't remember library rules, whereas I definitely wrote some detailed ones for Low-Tech itself—effects of colophons, tables of contents, indexes, card catalogs, and so on on Research rolls. I think I at least significantly extended whatever rules were in High-Tech and the Basic Set.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

My home nonfiction library is in Library of Congress order (Dewey Decimal, pfah!), with the numbers written inside the back covers. I've used university libraries for so many years that I have an intuitive sense for where most subjects fall in LoC. And it's very helpful when I want to cruise the shelves and see what's been written on an arcane topic like animal visual senses or grammaticalization in linguistic evolution.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

High-Tech P18, first column. Definitely less complete than your rules in Low-Tech, but an upgrade on the Basic Set.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I'm sure that's Research. It's certainly finding data, and collating found data into a continually usable form is an important part of any Research above default - otherwise you just have a heap of notes that you have to shuffle all the time. What you do with that data might be Intelligence Analysis (or Psychology, or Leadership, or Brainwashing...).

I rather like the way that this skill became absolutely critical for every Ally AI assistant in Transhuman Space. Much of the point of having those things is being able to subvocalise "What's this about?" whenever you run into something unfamiliar.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

This is one of the big ones for me - I very rarely run a campaign in which it isn't of at least some importance.

(As a friend recently commented on Cthulhu Invictus… "What's the first thing you do when you suspect there's a monster? Go to the library. But in ancient Rome there aren't any libraries!)

For experimental work: absolutely, the Science skill, possibly with the Invention rules.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

And of course, it's part of the modern intellectual trio, with Teaching and Writing, as the things you need to use any intellectual skill to full effect, and pass it on.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Well, actually, there were libraries; we even have floor plans for some of them. See http://eduscapes.com/history/ancient/100.htm for a sample. Lionel Casson wrote a book-length study of libraries in the ancient world.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

And even if a particular city doesn't have a public library, there are private libraries and probably temple libraries.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I have that. It's a fairly small book though.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

How good is it? I haven't actually read it; I just saw it mentioned, and I know Casson's work on ships and seamanship and find it helpful.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Do you need any skills besides Research to work as a librarian?

If you're in charge of a sizable library, Administration, certainly, but is there a Professional Skill (Librarian) that exists separately from Research?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I would not call it necessary but certainly seems a practical option.
Librarians may not even need or use Research beyond defaults.
Librarians need to know where the books go, requiring familiarity with the filing system. Usually, Dewey in modern USA, how to politely and effectively enforce the rules.
Familiarity with whats in their library, and possibly how to get books from another branch, basic computer operation

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Honestly, most librarians have what's functionally "Area Knowledge (The library I work in)." The transferable skill might be Research, but the one that impresses people is that AK skill, because even the best cataloguing and classification systems don't fully account for the limits of architecture and the habits of patrons.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

When I talk with an actual librarian (not a clerk), often what they are doing for me is figuring out what search terms to use to find information on a topic I want to know about, and steering me to the right sections of the shelves. I think that's almost surely Research.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Ok, so a PC can legitimately call herself an assistant librarian without any other skills than Research at IQ+1 (and four levels of Occultist Talent)?

The 'library' she works in is very small, in terms of square footage (it's on a yacht), but extremely well funded and focused on occult subjects. It's got number of Grimoires, in the RPM sense, and a good overview of the things that go into Thaumatology skill, and as for books that don't fit aboard, they'll be on microfilm.

There is also the possibility of using computers for research and storage, but the occult sections are all kept on TL6 microfilm rather than TL8 digital storage.*

*For Dresden-file -esque reasons, where magic and technology don't play nicely together.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I would agree, but suspect that much more likely at a University library than a public or middle school library.

I would say Research at IQ+1 qualifies for any Librarian, though maybe you could expect better at a Major university or some Research Foundations.
And that Occult Talent is akin to Kromms AK suggestion for a specialty library. Its certainly would help with the author or other search terms.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

What I would say is that the actual iibrarian at a public library has a significantly lower skill than the one at a university library, and can find information on the less arcane questions that a public library patron would probably ask.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

You can legitimately call yourself a librarian if somebody who owns a library says you are. It's not a heavily regulated trade, particularly if you don't work for a government owned library.

Research is the primary skill you'd get out of a Library Science curriculum, so it is probably the most important skill you'd need to be hired by a *serious* library (well other than Literacy in the language most of the materials are in) - but I suspect a lot of librarians actually have a point of Teaching or Connossieur (Books) instead. Other skills you'd probably get out of that Library Science curriculum would be that aforementioned Teaching, Computer Operation, Electronics Operation (Media), broken Literacy in a couple other common languages (it helps if you can read the titles of the foreign language collection after all), Administration, and maybe a point in Accounting, Photography, Craft (Bookbinding) or Archaeology (which is the skill I use for conserving museum materials and the like)

In your example I'd recommend investing a point in Electronics Operation (Media)/TL7 for the microfilm/fiche systems. Yeah it feels a little odd, but that does seem to be the skill you'd use, and you just know the things are going to go wonky at a critical moment, *especially* if magic doesn't play nice with technology.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I would instead make it Machine Operation (Optical Devices) or (Microfilm Viewers). Yes, there are electric circuits, but they're not there to process information or signals, are they? They're there to power effectors and control them. Working on them may involve Electrician, but the main mechanism is an optical device, right?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Is there any skill called Machine Operation?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

No.

And really? There is no need for a skill to operate a microfiche reader, they are dead simple to use. That's like requiring Elect Op (Media) to use an overhead projector.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Yes, there is. I wrote it up myself, and Kromm approved my using it in GURPS Powers: The Weird. It's essentially the same as Electronics Operation, but with nonelectrical devices, and the associated repair skill in Mechanic in some form. It's on p. 5 if you want to look it up.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

On one hand, that's been my experience, and I might allow it for anyone with an appropriate personal TL. On the other hand, it might be a familiarity within, say, Research. On the gripping hand, though, it can be surprising what people will find hard. I once gave a staff member at Comic-Con the job of preparing name placards, which required her to copy first and last names from a database to Word, and then print the resulting page; she could not figure out how to do Copy, Paste, Print, and I had to assign the job to someone else. Even if you call that Incompetence, it requires a skill to be incompetent at. So I'm wondering if some people are similarly unable to figure out microfilm viewers.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Should Research default to Machine Operation (Optical Devices), and vice versa, considering that at late TL6 until mid-TL8, a lot of the more involved uses of Research require extensive use of microfilm?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

No more than it should default to Reading.
And I have had similar experiances to Bill with people who could not use basic equipment, including overhead projectors.
But as you can learn how to use a Microfiche in a few minutes training I think a skill or even Technique for it is overkill.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Obviously, basic use of it is covered by Research at the appropriate TL.

On the other hand, presumably two people who are both technically able to use microfiche viewers might nevertheless not be equally deft in its use, quick to manipulate the microfilms, able to cover equal amounts of material in the same time or equally able to correct the viewer when minor problems occurred or mistakes were made.

This may be different levels of Research, of course. But it's clearly some skill. After all, everyone with Literacy can read a book, but only heroes with high skill levels can find the correct passage in an unindexed book quickly enough to banish the demon, while their comrades bar the door to the library.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

When I was a supervisor at a bookstore, I worked with an actual librarian. She had a masters degree in library science ans was between "real jobs."

Based on my conversations with her, I would absolutely give it a professional skill. While Research deals with finding information and is a part of the job, the professional skill is about identifying, cataloging, and preserving documents and literary artifacts. It would include knowing how to identify types of bindings and what proper preservation techniques are. It would also go well beyond books to include pictures, certificates, letters, etc. and the proper way to make each accessible. At higher tech levels, this should also include various digital media. Yes, you could roll Computer Operations at a penalty to convert various picture formats without loss of information, but a librarian will know how for even uncommon ones. Running the information desk would probably be research and/or area knowledge as mentioned above, but each library would probably have at least one genuine librarian in charge of curating the collection.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I was able to use a microfiche reader when I was 13 with only a couple minutes of instruction so I agree a separate skill is overkill.

I'd worry about a default from Machine Operation(Optical Devices) because TL 6-8 optical devices includes a number of things that have nothing to with research; such as bomb sights, telescopes, and endoscopes.

As far as other skills a librarian could/should have, I might give a librarian a point in Connoisseur (Literature) and/or Current Affairs (Literature) to represent a general familiarity with what books are available and what new books are coming out. Also, skill in Performance could be had for librarians who run story time for children. For specialized libraries, the relevant science or knowledge skill would be useful too; if you are going to run an astrophysics or occult library, having skill in astrophysics or occult would be helpful. But really, Research is the only skill that I'd say would be required for a librarian.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I'm going to say that at least part of those tasks can be viewed as an application of Administration.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Ah, that explains it, one of the two books I almost never crack open (that and Bio-Tech, just never find use in my games or games I'm in).



To be fair to your "Copy-Paste" story (yes, that's probably Incompetence (Computers)) there are a lot of non-intuitive steps in copying from one format and pasting to another and then printing.

For instance, my Mom (who uses her computer and internet all the time) has no idea how to copy-paste, doesn't understand that google autofills and suggests search parameters, and on and on and on... but she can click the link that opens facebook and the one for her email and muddle through a google search and use google maps (actually pretty intuitively on google maps). But ask her to copy-paste? Be prepared to step by step her through it, including "now click the right mouse button", every - single - time.

She uses it to watch a Netflix movie once or twice a month, and I have to set it up and explain how the movie player works every time*.



* I really don't want to get old. I know technology will rearrange itself whenever I'm not looking just to mess with me.



Yeah, I'd just treat it as Research with Speed-Reading as a Compliment.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

On the other hand, knowledge of preservation techniques for various forms of media, from scrolls, codices and books through microfilm to digital media, does not seem like a base part of either Administration or Research.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Indeed so, whereas if the banishment chant were to be found on microfiche, what would the analogue to Speed-Reading skill be?

I don't see anything obviously wrong for proposing that a Machine Operation (Optical Devices) skill defaults to Research TL6 to TL8 at -3 (those who learned in the latter half of TL8 will often be unfamiliar with microfiche technology, but for a solid half century, it was a foundational skill for Research).

Or that Professional Skill (Librarian) includes the use and basic maintenance of microfilm viewing devices, as well as preservation methods for the films, books and any other media stored in libraries at the TL.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

No, I agree. It's a little related to Connoisseur and a little to HazMat, but it can't be equated to either.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

OK, but basic use of a microfiche reader is a very easy task, for both Research and Machine Operation (Optical Devices), with a substantial bonus. Some people will still fail, of course, and some of those will become convinced that it's hard.

I remember learning to use a microfiche reader, and realising it was just like a slide projector. I'd argue that MO (OD) has a default from Photography (TL6-7), but possibly not from (TL8).

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

I'm not sure what's wrong with Machine Operation (Media). Most Electronics Operation skills have Machine Operation analogs, and this seems to be ideal for microfilm readers, film projectors, phonographs, and just about all other machines where the object is to access information stored on a medium that functions not by electronic demodulation but by the precise physical alignment of the reader. (You can "read" film with the naked eye, and there are people who've learned to read phonograph records with a fingernail, so no electronics are needed at all.)

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Fair enough, then Alice Talbot's player will be informed that the way to Research wizardry with the antiquated equipment aboard Penemue lies through Machine Operation (Media).

Alice was born in 1994 and the campaign in set at the end of 2018. Alice learned her Research skill in a world where computers are firmly a part of it, but given that she studies folklore and has done extensive work with medieval manuscripts, it would be plausible for her to have acquired familiarity with all technology used with Research at a modern university library and specialized research libraries in general.

If the microfiche devices at Alice's new job are explicitly intended to use no complicated electronics (which tend to fail around magic), would she learn Machine Operation (Media) at TL6, TL7 or TL8?

And does her Research/TL8 skill give her any useful defaults to either Machine Operation (Media) at the appropriate TL or a hypothetical Professional Skill (Librarian) that covers preservation of books and other media?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Note that "basic use" of some bit of end user facing technology is almost never what Electronics (or Machine) Operation is about. You most likely need it for the Immediate Action equivalents. Can you replace the bulb in a microfiche reader? Get the fiche back out when the lever that lifts the glass when you pull the carrier all the way forward falls off? Tap it the right place to realign it when the motion of the ship jiggles the optical train a little out and one side of the page goes blurry when you focus the other? Untangle a microfilm strip without (further) damaging it when it slips off the sprockets and winds itself in the mechanism?

If you just care about one kind of system, there may still not be a lot there - this is what One Task Wonder is for I suppose. But if you care about doing this sort of thing with a lot of different sorts of projection systems, some of which might have been designed in the days before ergonomics engineering, pictorial manuals, or international standards, Machine Operation (Projectors) starts to look a lot more like a skill.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

This is the part I'd probably call for Archaeology to do. But I admit I treat it somewhat different from RAW, as a technical skill with none of that "know stuff about ancient times" stuff. Take History for that.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

As an actual librarian, with the degree and everything...

Librarians have the following technical functions: They collect information, organize and preserve information, and they connect people to the information they seek. Depending on the librarian, one of those functions takes precedence. In the libraries I've worked at (all academic), librarians were divided into three major departments: Circulation, Reference, and Technical Services (plus some oddballs like Government Documents and Special Collections, which will depend on the library in question).

Circulation and Reference are public-facing roles. Circulation (or Public Access, or whatever) manages the collection maintenance: checking materials in and out, handling loans to and from other libraries, keeping the collection in order (major task), and often catching all the other customer service tasks that aren't specific to Reference. Circulation is the department most likely to not have a librarian-with-a-degree in the department; if one is present, he or she will probably be the department head. Circ staff will probably have the highest level of Area Knowledge for the stacks, as they maintain them via shelf-reading. (How that changes in a mostly digital library, I don't know.)

Reference is what most people probably think of when they think of librarians. Reference librarians (in academic libraries) teach people the Research skill and academic ethics (e.g., how and why not to plagiarize), work with instructors to guide how the collection is built and managed (each academic department will usually have a librarian assigned to it who specializes in that subject and ideally cultivates a relationship with the faculty), and, of course, answer research questions. (BTW, in a major library, I strongly suspect the most common question is "Where's the bathroom?") Reference librarians of any stripe will have the highest Research skill, as a rule, since they exercise it daily.

Technical Services is where items come into the library. Their roles include preservation, cataloging, discarding, and acquisitions. They may also manage warehouses where items that don't fit in the main collection are stored. (You might also stick information technology in here; the more modern the library, the more that's likely to be it's own department.)

Special Collections are just that, and are usually too varied to generalize. A special collections librarian will usually be extremely familiar with their collection, including its organization and preservation, and what items are or are not suitable for it. Outside of academia, specialist libraries are this kind of thing writ large (or sometimes rather small). Alice Talbot would be considered a specialist librarian.

Government Documents are a rather ubiquitous sort of special collection. Many US academic libraries are required to be repositories (full or partial) of federal documents, and they have their own cataloging system (SuDocs) and requirements.

Outside of academia and specialists, you have two other major sorts of librarians: Public and Children's. The skills between all these overlap a bit - probably enough for GURPS' level of detail - but they are distinctly different career paths. (Also, ones in which I have no personal experience.)

A public librarian (obviously) deals with the general public a lot. They are more likely to speak a second language than most academic librarians and (hopefully) will have good people skills. A lot of their reference questions will be reader guidance sort of questions; "if you like this, then you'll probably like this" kind of thing. (Connoisseur skill?) They'll also probably be more well-versed in local history and genealogy than you might expect. Of relevance to adventurers, they'll probably also have an idea of the local cranks and weirdos (... which probably includes the adventurers), because they are professionally obliged to help anyone who comes up to the desk. They also probably know a bit about local government, because they're always having to justify their existence as a budget item.

Children's librarians work in schools and public libraries, and they have a pretty particular mindset and set of skills. Their role is to teach children how to read, research, and love learning and reading. Of all librarians, they will probably have the lowest Research skill levels, but they'll have the highest Teaching. (Admittedly, that's probably only a difference of one or two levels in GURPS.) Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no Child Handling skill in GURPS, but they should have something like it. Performance (story-telling) is a good secondary skill.

Finally, as a profession, librarians have a code of ethics. In GURPS terms it's a 5-point Code of Honor at most, but items 2 and 3 could cause serious consequences in societies that are big on censorship and/or surveillance.

So, if I'm building a non-cinematic librarian, they'll have: Research, Writing, and Teaching at IQ, more or less; Computer Operation, Electronics Operation (media) and/or Machine Operation (media); Savoir-Faire or Diplomacy for customer service and reference interviews; Professional Skill (Librarian) to cover the basics of collection management, item preservation and acquisition, and Area Knowledge (my collection). They would also have a skill or two relevant to their specialty - Performance (storytelling), Computer Programming, Administration, Law, etc. (I might also let PS (Librarian) cover relevant Operation skills for the machines they specifically know, such as the quirks of their particular library's ancient microfilm and microcard readers.) Depending on how dedicated they are to the profession, they may have CoH (Librarian). At most, it'd be a 10-point skill package.

As usual, bear in mind that most library tasks get a hefty bonus from equipment (that's the point of a library) and from being safe, routine, and not under time pressure.

(Also, I think, many many reference librarians will have a quirk like "instinctively helpful in answering questions." They may have trouble resisting subtle interrogations.)

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

That last part is already addressed in the reaction tables. If you ask for information, you have a significant bonus when you ask a librarian or similar professional.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Absolutely nothing. My disagreement comes with requiring it to use a singular piece of simple machinery to facilitate another skill.

It would be like requiring a science* skill because someone is using a magnifying lens to look more closely at something as part of Traps (Per).

This use of a microfiche should be covered by Research, that's my only argument (though I'd happily give Machine Operation (Media) Complementary Skill status if the Character also had it).



* Or whatever skill you feel best covers using a magnifying lens... say Machine Operation? ;)

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Out of curiosity, where are we getting the Machine Operation skill (I'm not finding it in Basic)? Is it defined officially somewhere, or is it just an obvious enough generalization of Electronics Operation that it doesn't need explaining?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

As noted above its in GURPS Powers: The Wierd
Just as valid a skill I think as Electronics operation and maybe Operation skills should be part of the triad.
I just think that use of any device designed to be used by endusers is below skill level resolution. This groups a bunch though so makes sense.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

The triad is design/repair/use. Electronics Operation is a use skill; so is Machine Operation.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Right, I just think the triad could be better set up so its less confusing and fewer edge cases.
I think Im going to work out some lists and post a blog entry on it. Maybe use a house rule. I thought about starting a new thread but blogging will give me more time to hash it out.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Does Machine Operation also cover the operation of TL3+1 and TL4+1 clockworks, or would that be a separate Clockwork Operation skill?

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

It would be based on TL, same as Electronics Operation

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Um, that doesn't answer my question.

I know that Electonics Operation does not exist at less than TL6, at the earliest.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Yes, that's why I defined Machine Operation, to take its place at lower TLs, the way Esoteric Medicine subs for Physician or Weather Sense for Meteorology. You can use it in any society that constructs complex mechanisms, which is at least back to TL2.

Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Research
 

Awesome, thanks!