Japanese Tea Ceremonies (and other artistic peculiarities)

[Mailanka]

I can't decide how one should represent a skilled practitioner of Chado. This is actually rather relevant for my up and coming campaign, which makes it troublesome.

Once upon a time, back in 3e, the Tea Ceremony had its own skill (a Mental/Hard one). Thus, I suppose one could represent it as an Expert Skill (also Mental/Hard), but 3e did all kinds of wonky things and I see no reason to take it as gospel. A tea ceremony could just as easily be a Professional Skill or a Hobby Skill (and the last seems most likely: While a tea ceremony is surely a complex affair, it doesn't seem particularly difficult to master. Perhaps I'm wrong). Or perhaps its covered under some other skill (it seems to be a performance, but Performance covers stage performances).

On the other hand, it seems the sort of thing already covered by Savoir-Faire or Carousing, perhaps as an optional specialization or a technique. After all, a well-raised samurai woman would know how to properly serve tea as a matter of course! I'm not sure it would even need its own skill.

There's actually quite a few Japanese arts that have a devout following, but I'm not entirely sure how to represent them, like grooming bonsai trees (gardening specialization?) and... doubtless others, but what they are has slipped my mind, as I'm very tired.

[roguebfl]

the update pdf list it as Meditation(Tea Ceremony)

[Anaraxes]

I could see it as a particular form of Dancing -- a prescribed sequence of specific motions carried out in time.

My favorite is probably just Hobby Skill.

[Rocket Man]

I would include it as part of Savoir-Faire (Japanese), possibly with the option to take Tea Ceremony as a Hard technique, for those who wish to be exceptionally skilled at the ritual.

[aesir23]

I would definitely say it's a hobby skill which defaults to Savoir Faire (High Society) -0 in a historical Japanese game.

[Ed the Coastie]

A couple of the PCs in one of my campaigns already had the Tea Ceremony skill when we made the change from 3e to 4e. I just followed the GURPS Update PDF and changed it to Meditation (Tea Ceremony).

[vicky_molokh]

The amount of dedication the activity requires (and the seriousness with which it is treated) seems to be worth at least an Average skill. Could be an ancient specialization of Savoir-Faire, though.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

I would include it as part of Savoir-Faire (Japanese), possibly with the option to take Tea Ceremony as a Hard technique, for those who wish to be exceptionally skilled at the ritual.

I'm not sure GURPS splits Savoir-Faire specializations by nation anymore. I mean, you can't learn Savoir-Faire (USA), you have to learn (High-Society), (Military), (Mafia) and (Servant) separately.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

On the other hand, it seems the sort of thing already covered by Savoir-Faire or Carousing, perhaps as an optional specialization or a technique. After all, a well-raised samurai woman would know how to properly serve tea as a matter of course! I'm not sure it would even need its own skill.

Though "serving tea" falls well short of the most elaborated form of the ceremonial art. Carousing might not be a bad choice if the skill were defined differently, but the GURPS version is basically structured as an unrealistic "soak alcohol" skill. For the tea ceremony I think Religious Ritual might be appropriate.

GURPS isn't great at characterizing performance arts like this, but I tend to go with required specializations of either Performance or Dancing. It's not like it matters a great deal what you call a skill though.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

A couple of the PCs in one of my campaigns already had the Tea Ceremony skill when we made the change from 3e to 4e. I just followed the GURPS Update PDF and changed it to Meditation (Tea Ceremony).

Well hey, lookit that. Why didn't I think to use the GURPS Update file?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by malloyd

Though "serving tea" falls well short of the most elaborated form of the ceremonial art. Carousing might not be a bad choice if the skill were defined differently, but the GURPS version is basically structured as an unrealistic "soak alcohol" skill. For the tea ceremony I think Religious Ritual might be appropriate.

GURPS isn't great at characterizing performance arts like this, but I tend to go with required specializations of either Performance or Dancing. It's not like it matters a great deal what you call a skill though.

Carousing's weird. On the one hand, it certainly seems to be exactly as you describe (why else would it use HT?) but on the other hand, it seems to show up in an awful lot of templates as a "socializing" skill, ie the sort of skill one would use to gossip at snooty parties as well as party hard at a frat.