[Basic] Skill of the week: Geography, Geology and Prospecting

[johndallman]

"One false move, and you're geology."
"Err, don't you mean history?"
"No."

Geography is the IQ/H TL scientific skill that studies planetary surface environments and subdivisions. Specialisation is required, and the specialisations have different defaults, but all default to each other at -5, and to IQ-6. Physical Geography requires specialisation by planet type and defaults to Geology or Meteorology, for the same planet type, at -4. Political Geography defaults to Economics -4, and Regional Geography combines the previous specialisations, but only for a limited area and defaults to Area Knowledge for the same area at -6. It uses the same detail-vs-area progression as Area Knowledge. Surprisingly, Geography wasn't introduced until GURPS 4e. Area Knowledge and Cartography can default to Geography, and many Expert Skills cover it. There are no listed modifiers, but the quality of the available information obviously matters a lot.

Geology is the IQ/H TL scientific skill that deals with the structures and materials that make up planets. It requires specialisation by planet type and gives an "eye for country" for use with Survival skill. The defaults are Geology (Physical) -4 for the same planet type, Prospecting -5 and IQ-6. Engineer (Mining) and Prospecting can default to Geology. GURPS has had the skill since 1e, but it was significantly revised at 4e for planet types. Again, no modifiers are listed, but the quality of information is critical.

Prospecting is the IQ/A TL skill of finding minerals worth mining in the field, introduced at 3e. It's like a Mechanic skill, for Geology, and prospecting via maps and instruments uses Geology rather than Prospecting. Prospecting defaults to Geology-4 or IQ-5; it takes equipment modifiers, and familiarity modifiers for the terrain. It gives an "eye for country" and you can also use it with the Tunnelling power to create tunnels that won't collapse.

These skills aren't especially common on published templates, but they have some definite niches, usually for explorers and miners. Bio-Tech makes Geography significant for ecological engineers and saboteurs; Geology and Prospecting are important in Dragons and DF, and Geography in DF16. High-Tech provides tool kits for Prospecting and portable labs for Geology. Horror's Explorers can have all of these skills, and Infinite Worlds points out that parallel worlds can have very different political geography, but near-identical physical geography and geology. LTC3 has applications for Prospecting. As usual, PU3 and PU7 have examples for all of these skills. Powers: Enhanced Senses has abilities that boost Geology and Prospecting. Space is where planet types become important, and Spaceships 5 has a lot of material on planetary surveys. Thaumatology has more uses for these skills; Chinese Elemental Powers has abilities that boost them; Magical Styles can apply them to the College of Earth; Ritual Path Magic applies Geology to enchantment work, and Urban Magics has uses for Geography. And Underground Adventures has uses for all of them.

I haven't made much use of these skills, as player or GM. There has been the odd character with a point of Geology as part of a suite of science skills, but I can't remember using it. What information have you dug out with them?

[Mailanka]

I've been doing a lot of work on a space opera game, so I've been using SS5 for the planetary survey rules, and thus geology and geography makes it into my game... but they feel perfunctory. They exist because, well, you need to do surveys, I guess. Ho hum. It provides some insights, broadly speaking, into what the away team might expect (especially Geography), and it'll help you find the resource value of the planet, and thus determine whether or not it's a good colony, and that's nice... I guess.

But when I run a game, I want it as punchy and tight as I can make it. I tend to focus on skills that encourage some interesting choices or provide some interesting tactics, skills people would want to dump a bunch of points into. If they don't, I might pick a few skills "for flavor," but beyond that I tend to want to be rid of skills.

The problem with Geology is that it's boring. You go to a planet, you make a few rolls, some hours (days really) and then the GM says "Welp, it's got Resources +0." And you say "Great! I guess we go to the next planet." And that's literally all the impact Geology will make.

I've been trying to think of a way to make it more interesting. If you have unobtanium somewhere on the planet, Prospecting might find it, but Geology certainly would. And prospecting might be fun in a mining-heavy game, sort of GURPS: Minecraft in spaaaace. Perhaps I should investigate Underground Adventures more for ideas regarding that. Because otherwise, I'm tempted to just ditch them. My game won't be enough about planetary surveys for that skill to really matter. The point of the planetary survey is to get the crew to someplace interesting.

(There was a Star Trek episode where the crew investigated a world that seemed too young. They made a point of including a geologist. He was the first of the away team to die. Because the point of the mission was, of course, the cool alien mystery, and not the geology of the planet)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The problem with Geology is that it's boring. You go to a planet, you make a few rolls, some hours (days really) and then the GM says "Welp, it's got Resources +0." And you say "Great! I guess we go to the next planet." And that's literally all the impact Geology will make.

Well, if it's the 151st planetary survey done by the Survey Service, it probably is fairly boring. But if it's the first, or the 8th, there's more potential.

Most of the accessible heavy elements of Earth probably weren't part of it originally. After it formed, it melted due to radioactive heating and its small surface area:volume ratio, as compared to the much smaller bodies it accreted from. So all the heavy elements sank to the core, unless they formed low-density minerals. Much of Earth's surface appears to have been deposited later, in the Late Heavy Bombardment.

So the surface of the planet, its accessible geology, is forensic evidence of the history of the solar system. It's been messed up by weather and life, but there's evidence that we're just learning to read. The surfaces of the moons of the solar system are easier to read: we only started figuring this stuff out from the Apollo moon rocks, and there's still a long way to go.

So if you have a solar system that's weird in some way, Geology is one of the major skills for figuring out how it got that way. No, this kind of plot isn't very Star Trek. That's a major point in its favour.

[johndallman]

Something else with Geology, which is a weird habit I've developed for games set in the real world, but has some entertainment value.

If the party's going somewhere new, I like to look up the geology, especially the plate tectonics and the volcanoes. This is a player thing, rather than an in-character thing; I like having some idea of why the landscape, or the island chains, are the way they are, and it gives me a different sense of place.

Just occasionally, I find something that matters to the characters. When the Weird War II campaign went to the South Pacific, starting in the middle of the Battle of Guadalcanal, I looked the area up a little, and discovered there was a dangerous volcano on the island of Rabaul, where the Japanese had a major base. We had a fire elementalist in the party. That looked like a target, to a character with Strategy skill.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Well, if it's the 151st planetary survey done by the Survey Service, it probably is fairly boring. But if it's the first, or the 8th, there's more potential.

Most of the accessible heavy elements of Earth probably weren't part of it originally. After it formed, it melted due to radioactive heating and its small surface area:volume ratio, as compared to the much smaller bodies it accreted from. So all the heavy elements sank to the core, unless they formed low-density minerals. Much of Earth's surface appears to have been deposited later, in the Late Heavy Bombardment.

So the surface of the planet, its accessible geology, is forensic evidence of the history of the solar system. It's been messed up by weather and life, but there's evidence that we're just learning to read. The surfaces of the moons of the solar system are easier to read: we only started figuring this stuff out from the Apollo moon rocks, and there's still a long way to go.

So if you have a solar system that's weird in some way, Geology is one of the major skills for figuring out how it got that way. No, this kind of plot isn't very Star Trek. That's a major point in its favour.

The bolded is entirely a matter of taste, of course. Some people want Star Trek, some people don't.

But when I call Geology boring, I mean that the skill and its use is mechanically boring, not that discussing Geology is boring, though naturally that depends too.

There's a Gumshoe space opera game called Ashen Stars, where I'm pretty sure Geology is just one of the investigation skills. That is, you land on a planet, you say "I use Geology!" and the GM tells you all the cool geology stuff that's pertinent to the story. If you want to know even cooler stuff, you spend a couple of points off of your Geology skill. That's it, no muss or fuss, you have what you need to know.

The GURPS Geology skill doesn't seem to be much more than that. We have rigorously defined skill that amounts to a minor information skill and a job roll: Land on a planet, put in your hours, make your roll, learn what information you want to learn. The information is rarely going to be terribly important unless the GM contrives a specific Geological scenario ("The only way to save the ship is... GEOLOGY!"). Moreover, it's going to be one skill in a set of skills in a survey scenario. Other skills will come into play that are often more interesting or more immediate: You need to investigate the Meterology of the world, and it has some survival implications as well. You need to investigate the biosphere of the world with biology, and that involves hunting down and trapping potentially dangerous and potentially cool life. You need to investigate the ruins of the world with your Xenoarchaeology, and that involves learning totally great things about ancient races, possibly triggering some spooky traps or finding wild artifacts. If you as a party who wants to be the geologist, the biologist and the archeologist, I doubt you'll see a fight break out over who gets to be the one to investigate the subduction zones or the mineral content of the nearby mountain ranges.

So the knowledge you find it's particularly sexy, and there's no particular risk or gameplay element that forces interesting choices, and there's no real reason to push it up to 20, or to make it central to a game.

So how can we make it sizzle? How can we make people complain that the guy with Geology-20 is too cool?

It strikes me that perhaps the best way is the opposite of what you suggest, that you go ahead and have 150 surveys of worlds abstracted away quickly. If you're building an empire or a domain, understanding the mineral content of worlds, being particularly adept at finding rare minerals and having sufficient understanding of worlds to know how to reshape them to get what you want out of them might be fun. Geology might be "cool" on a vast scale. Prospecting, similarly, might be fun in a more commercial-oriented game with pretty detailed minerals and "dangerous" asteroid mining.

If you have 10 worlds to choose from, bad guys breathing down your neck, and a deep need for unobtanium, the guy with Geology who can point to one rock out of ten and say "That one, we should mine that one" would be pretty handy.

Not sure of any other ways to make it interesting, though.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

The information is rarely going to be terribly important unless the GM contrives a specific Geological scenario ("The only way to save the ship is... GEOLOGY!"). Moreover, it's going to be one skill in a set of skills in a survey scenario. Other skills will come into play that are often more interesting or more immediate: You need to investigate the Meterology of the world, and it has some survival implications as well.

Fair enough, but there are plenty of other skills that will be even less interesting. Cartography to make the maps for follow-up expeditions: you still have to do it, although there may well not be such missions. Astronomy to chart the solar system. Expert Skill (Oceanography) to understand the life cycles of the seas, and so on.

Something that all these have in common is that they can reveal weirdness that needs hands-on investigation. "Captain, that volcanic crater is implausibly regular." "Sir, those mats of vegetation in the sea are moving against the current." "Far too many asteroids have orbits that coincide in the same place, thirty standard years ago." This can't be an every-episode kind of plotline, but unless you're deliberately limiting the scope of your stories, it's usable occasionally.

It strikes me that perhaps the best way is the opposite of what you suggest, that you go ahead and have 150 surveys of worlds abstracted away quickly. If you're building an empire or a domain, understanding the mineral content of worlds, being particularly adept at finding rare minerals and having sufficient understanding of worlds to know how to reshape them to get what you want out of them might be fun. Geology might be "cool" on a vast scale.

Yup, but is it Geology? If you have properly digested reports and statistics, it seems more like Administration or Economics.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Fair enough, but there are plenty of other skills that will be even less interesting. Cartography to make the maps for follow-up expeditions: you still have to do it, although there may well not be such missions. Astronomy to chart the solar system. Expert Skill (Oceanography) to understand the life cycles of the seas, and so on.

Cartography can arguably come up more often. It's more than just charting, it's also reading charts. So, if you need to justify its presence, it can serve as a complementary roll for Navigation, Survival, Strategy, or serve as a source of information if you have access to maps. It's still not a prime skill, but it's not ridiculously specific or narrow either (unless you rule maps are sufficiently easy to read that one doesn't need a skill to do so).

Astronomy can serve as the skill for understanding Swirly Space Energy Thingies, making it a prime problem-solving skill when your ship gets trapped in an interdimensional rift (though, personally, I think Physics is a better skill for this).

Expert Skill (Oceanography) is great for... uh... well, I think you got me there. Though it's an Expert skill, and those often cheat.

Something that all these have in common is that they can reveal weirdness that needs hands-on investigation. "Captain, that volcanic crater is implausibly regular." "Sir, those mats of vegetation in the sea are moving against the current." "Far too many asteroids have orbits that coincide in the same place, thirty standard years ago." This can't be an every-episode kind of plotline, but unless you're deliberately limiting the scope of your stories, it's usable occasionally.

It's doubtlessly useful as a way of funneling a bit of information towards the players, though there seem more interesting skills for that, and it's like we're trying to find a reason to justify its presence because we know we need it for boring reasons, but we want to make sure the players take it. I'm pondering ways to make it more inherently interesting, even for its "boring" reason, so that players would be excited to take it ("Wooo! Geology!")

Yup, but is it Geology? If you have properly digested reports and statistics, it seems more like Administration or Economics.

Digesting the reports, yes. Actually assessing the data to generate the reports would be geology. I'm talking about abstracting away the actual surveys into a few rolls and condensing a lot of time.

Though... I wonder about ridiculously cinematic geologists. We don't really have an equivalent science advantage for things like Quick Gadgeteer or Gunslinger or Intuitive Mathematician. For that matter, perhaps I'm being too harsh by pondering the skill at reasonable levels. At unreasonable levels, a Geologist could begin to dispense with the necessary tools or time ("There's xenotite in those hills. I can smell it."). That might seem silly, but no sillier than the reasoning given for the Action Medic to have this Surgery and Diagnosis at 20.

If your geologist is sufficiently quick, and minerals are sufficiently important (You build gameplay around it), he might start to become a touch more central to your plot. Or, for that matter, I seem to be thinking of worlds where geology isn't out to kill you... but what about the ubiquitous "Volcano world" full of constant earthquakes and magma rivers. The presence of a (slightly cinematic) geologist could be a matter of life and death.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Expert Skill (Oceanography) is great for... uh... well, I think you got me there. Though it's an Expert skill, and those often cheat.

Finding Atlantis.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

At unreasonable levels, a Geologist could begin to dispense with the necessary tools or time ("There's xenotite in those hills. I can smell it."). That might seem silly, but no sillier than the reasoning given for the Action Medic to have this Surgery and Diagnosis at 20.

Seems worth a shot. "The characteristic pattern of erosion, the colour of the sands in that stream - come on, guys, it's practically shouting 'come and mine me.'"

but what about the ubiquitous "Volcano world" full of constant earthquakes and magma rivers. The presence of a (slightly cinematic) geologist could be a matter of life and death.

One of the prototype Volcano World stories, and probably the funniest: The Railways Up on Cannis.

[RogerBW]

Prospecting could really have done with being renamed Mining, I think, given the Tunnelling power effect.

The only times these skills have shown up at significant levels on characters in my files is when they have been explorers of some sort (I have a horror scenario set on a Mars base, for example, so I need plausible astronauts for that).

On the other hand in last Wednesday's game Geography might well have been useful: "This alternate Earth will have a layout of hills and valleys and rivers much like the one we know, so where should we jump in if we want to find a small village?".