Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

TDMs are RAW, but it doesn't say you're supposed to give different people different modifiers. It's a measure of how difficult a task is, not how good the character is at it. We use skills for that.

I don't see a problem with giving a TDM to represent being very familiar with a task or two, but if someone is just better at all aspects of skill use, he's got higher skill, as far as I'm concerned.

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

It doesn't take that long to acquired a familiarity.

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

Many driver's training courses I've seen are far less than 200 hours and so probably aren't with even 1 point in Driving. OTOH, its a good start toward it, and arguably routine driving is no less (though also no more) stressing skills than routine use of skills in a job, so you should probably be able to count each hour of normal driving as 1/4 of a study hour toward improving the skill. So most people who have been driving regularly for years should probably have a point or two in driving.

Extending the analogy with jobs, which, like routine commuting, don't generally stress skills that much, most short trips shouldn't require a roll at all, but a regular commuter might make a monthly (perhaps weekly for a long commute) roll against Driving, with a failure resulting in a minor incident (trivial accident or ticket for a minor infraction) and a critical failure resulting in a major incident of some kind. A Driving roll might be required for a long trip, though.

Also, knowing how to control the vehicle isn't all that's needed for driving: there's also knowing the local rules of the road. This should probably be treated as a per-jurisdiction familiarity that imposes a penalty of up to -4 (depending on how different the jurisdiction's rules are) for unfamiliar jurisdictions, but only applies to tasks involving on-road travel where interactions with other drivers are involved (this would include "routine" driving rolls of the types described above, but generally not most specific rolls in stressful situations, which are mostly about controlling the vehicle, not following the law and expectations of other drivers.)

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

I don't like this interpretation because it doesn't mesh well with any of the rest of GURPS. Familiarity is assumed in basic skill use; unfamiliarity is a penalty. But I would agree that there are a multiple axes of unfamiliarity (vehicle, driving area, and jurisdictional "rules of the road") at least that apply to driving, so its possible to get quite a lot of penalties from unfamiliarity (and entirely inexperienced drivers are likely to face all of them).

Most people in many settings (like, say, the modern suburban US) shouldn't be driving by default; they do it enough in a low-stress but not stress-free use that they should be gradually building up points in skill, as in jobs -- if you assume the same 1/4 rate as applies to on-the-job skills, 4 hours of driving a week should give you 1 skill point every 4 years (and if you had any specific training that would provide the full "study" rate of skill acquisition, the first point should come much sooner.)

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

I'm not sure, barring a specific character trait that makes the character perform poorly in novel circumstances, that "thrilling new experience" is justified as a separate modifier on top of specific familiarity penalties.


No, he'll just get the absence of an unfamiliarity penalty.

Usually, a "routine conditions" TDM would apply to anyone driving under those conditions, so it would apply either to both the adult and the teen or neither.

More like 0 and +4.

Where does this idea come from? You seem to be going beyond your double counting of familiarity as a penalty to the teen and a bonus to the adult to now giving the adult another familiarity bonus, this one doubly unjustified.

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

Normal commute driving is at +10, it being GMs' choice whether or not to have the character roll for success.

How that +10 breaks down is up to you, but I'm good with the +10 coming from 3 parts, the driving his own car +4, the under routine conditions +4, and on the routine route +2, for a base +10 for a normal commute.

You can shift those TDMs around if you wish, but you still have to have it add up to a +10 base for a normal commute.

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

That makes little sense to me. A person who drives regularly is in a MUCH different situation than a character who has merely seen driving on TV. Since the latter is using a default, the former must be in a better position, i.e. has the skill.

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

I can't agree with that either. You get a -2 for unfamiliarity, period. A penalty for unfamiliarity of the route is like giving a surgeon an unfamiliarity penalty for not knowing her patient. And the 'thrilling new experience' penalty is gratuitous -- why would it not equally be a bonus?

I think there is a conceptual problem there ... an UNSKILLED person doesn't have familiarity modifiers.

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

Where does this come from?

If I was regular commute driving had to be a +10, I would have +10 be the TDM for routine commuting, since unfamiliarity being a penalty would be more consistent with the rest of GURPS. But again, reading the description of the Driving skill, the section on Vehicles, the section on task difficulty, and other parts of the Basic Set that would seem applicable, I'm not sure where your +10 comes from.

Again, why, exactly, do I have to do that?

Re: old theme - What exactly is default?
 

Any person using a skill who doesn't have familiarity with the equipment takes the appropriate familiarity penalty. Driving would be an especially odd set of skills, otherwise, since the interspecialty defaults are in some cases smaller than the familiarity penalties possible for unfamiliar equipment in the same specialty. If familiarity penalties didn't apply to default use, then if one character had Driving (Heavy Wheeled) and another Driving (Automobile) at the same level, but the latter wasn't familiar with race cars as a type of Automobile, the character using Driving (Automobile) defaulting from Driving (Heavy Wheeled) [at -2] would be better off than the character that actually had Driving (Automobile) [with a -4 unfamiliarity penalty].