Alternate GURPS: Seeking a minimalistic (25-50) skill list . . .

Skarg · 08-17-2015, 01:02 PM

I'd tend to approach this by offering groups of related skills as a single thing that can be acquired and listed as one thing.

It could be anything group of skills, as long as it makes sense that a character would have learned them all to the same degree.

E.g.
Sword & Shield: Shortsword, Broadsword, Knife, Shield
Physicker: First Aid (TL3), Physician (TL3)
Farmer: Agronomy, Ax, Animal Handling, Polearm
Roman Legionnaire: Spear, Spear Throwing, Shortsword, Shield, Knife, Hiking

(It's sort of akin to the skill lists in Martial Arts styles, though of course those are used to potentially go hyper-detailed with maneuver sub-skills, rather than to simplify.)

If detail is wanted, there should probably be some relative +/- to certain skills or tasks, since some of the component skills are easier or might be more featured by a typlical person with that skill group.

And of course, each skill group would have a different cost per level of advancement. Which of course has the downside (for purposes of detail and of gratification/reward) that there are many points needed between each level of advancement of a skill group that includes many skills.

This could also be used not just to simplify character sheets & creation, but also to provide a mechanic to offer some realistic discounts to related skills. The default rules always seemed a bit inadequate to represent learning related skills. I'd imagine that most detailed characters would have both skill groups and skills, and some points improving their level in one or two skills that are also in a skill group.

For realism purposes perhaps more than for simplifying (or maybe not), maybe there would also be "Skill Fields" which would be all of the skills that are related to each other, and the total number of points in skills in such a field would result in some sort of default.
All medical skills, or all melee skills, or all ranged targeting skills, or all language skills, or all artistic skills, or all social skills. Maybe this is the skill-learning side of Talents? If Talents are your innate gift in a type of skill, then maybe Skill Field learning represents how much you've learned about that field, and results in increased defaults and a slight skill bonus across the board? Perhaps this could somehow be balanced so as to be a balanced alternative to increasing IQ or DX?

08-17-2015, 01:02 PM	#20
Skarg Join Date: May 2015	Re: Alternate GURPS: Seeking a minimalistic (25-50) skill list . . . I'd tend to approach this by offering groups of related skills as a single thing that can be acquired and listed as one thing. It could be anything group of skills, as long as it makes sense that a character would have learned them all to the same degree. E.g. Sword & Shield: Shortsword, Broadsword, Knife, Shield Physicker: First Aid (TL3), Physician (TL3) Farmer: Agronomy, Ax, Animal Handling, Polearm Roman Legionnaire: Spear, Spear Throwing, Shortsword, Shield, Knife, Hiking (It's sort of akin to the skill lists in Martial Arts styles, though of course those are used to potentially go hyper-detailed with maneuver sub-skills, rather than to simplify.) If detail is wanted, there should probably be some relative +/- to certain skills or tasks, since some of the component skills are easier or might be more featured by a typlical person with that skill group. And of course, each skill group would have a different cost per level of advancement. Which of course has the downside (for purposes of detail and of gratification/reward) that there are many points needed between each level of advancement of a skill group that includes many skills. This could also be used not just to simplify character sheets & creation, but also to provide a mechanic to offer some realistic discounts to related skills. The default rules always seemed a bit inadequate to represent learning related skills. I'd imagine that most detailed characters would have both skill groups and skills, and some points improving their level in one or two skills that are also in a skill group. For realism purposes perhaps more than for simplifying (or maybe not), maybe there would also be "Skill Fields" which would be all of the skills that are related to each other, and the total number of points in skills in such a field would result in some sort of default. All medical skills, or all melee skills, or all ranged targeting skills, or all language skills, or all artistic skills, or all social skills. Maybe this is the skill-learning side of Talents? If Talents are your innate gift in a type of skill, then maybe Skill Field learning represents how much you've learned about that field, and results in increased defaults and a slight skill bonus across the board? Perhaps this could somehow be balanced so as to be a balanced alternative to increasing IQ or DX?