[Basic] Skill of the week: Administration

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by roguebfl

True but because they all using the same style they know their duties and how they interacted with others, The Guild will also make sure sure you have all the relevant berths are filled with people that have the right skills. So the only variable you need to deal with crew wise on the shakedown crew in interpersonal compatibility.

Well, also, you need to earn the confidence of the crew in your good handling of the ship and in your fair treatment. But yes, you are getting a somewhat known quantity. It will get more interesting when they start voyaging to the western continent; the guild doesn't provide crews for that.

Bill Stoddard

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Has anyone done anything more exciting with it?

In the thread Favourite Realm Management System, over in the Roleplaying subforum, I talked a bit about how GURPS defines Economics and perhaps also Finance as TL skills, opening up the possibility of simulating people and cultures with a more primitive and less sophisticated approach to such things, i.e. by, in GURPS jargon, to define some cultured as retarded (or advanced) in certain TL-based skills. Specifically I proposed that medieval Christiann Europe could be severely retarded in Economics, having Economics/TL1 since they were clearly less clued-in about such thing than the Romans were, and they were tL2.

I also talked a bit about labour/personel management, and wrote this:

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

And one could well posit that most people in the slave-owning societies of my Ärth setting, primarily the Norse and Keltic ones (slavery is common in the Moslem lands too, but they're no longer slave-based economies), are retarded in terms of labour management. Sagatafl doesn't have a skill for that, and I don't think GURPS does either, but it's still a thing that it can - probably - make sense for societies and cultures to be retarded or advanced in.

Forum user Sindri then suggested that GURPS' Administration skill could be relevant for that.

I'm not sure if he meant in the sense that cultures and individual characters could have different TLs in Administration (that's what I'd assume he meant), or if he just meant that lordly characters with higher Administration skill would be better able to manage their labour pool, e.g. treat slave better so that in the longer term they'd be more productive, less likely to rebel or run away, and so forth, and generally design the entire work process and the surrounding structure so as to achieve greater motivation for the workers. (Much of the thread was about long-term thinking, and how the medieval mindset usually wasn't inclined in that direction.)

I'm sceptical. But I thought I'd throw it in here, ask what you people think. Does that fall within the scope of Administration? And is it somewhat - or very - sensible to treat Administration as a TL-based skill for this purpose?

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by Peter Knutsen

I'm not sure if he meant in the sense that cultures and individual characters could have different TLs in Administration (that's what I'd assume he meant)

To clarify, I meant that labour management (depending on exactly what it refers to) could be Administration. Higher "labour management TL" might allow higher average skills in Administration or it might be better to simulate things by having some methods the skill might use depend on the TL even if the skill isn't /TL. Accounting isn't /TL but double entry bookkeeping is available as a tool to some accountants but not others.

[Captain Joy]

Originally Posted by Pyramid 4/2: Modern/Action 1, p. 21

Illuminati typically use Administration to make these requests [for assistance]; this represent their pawns unwittingly doing what’s desired.

Interesting, it never occurred to me that Administration was the go-to skill to get help and maintain plausible deniability.

(In that same article, Secret Masters by Rory Fansler, there is a Plausible Deniability technique which has “Prerequisites: Administration 12+ and an Influence skill”.)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Captain Joy

Interesting, it never occurred to me that Administration was the go-to skill to get help and maintain plausible deniability.

(In that same article, Secret Masters by Rory Fansler, there is a Plausible Deniability technique which has “Prerequisites: Administration 12+ and an Influence skill”.)

As a lawyer educated in Public Administration, I've always known this. For PCs to get away with all their law-breaking, they'll need excellent Administration, all the right Contacts and Savoir-Faire for the relevant organizations.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by Icelander

As a lawyer educated in Public Administration, I've always known this. For PCs to get away with all their law-breaking, they'll need excellent Administration, all the right Contacts and Savoir-Faire for the relevant organizations.

I am in no way trying to undermine anything Icelander just said, but... isn't that how it often works in popular media as well? I mean, for the stories that worry about such things? If major characters don't have such skills and connections, then someone they do know does.

At the same time, though... yeah, brainfart on my part about how useful Administration could be under these circumstances.