Kromm's 'everyman' skills

[kirbwarrior]

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php?p=369148

I love these and always recommend them (without ever requiring them). But, I was wondering how much it makes sense to 'streamline' things;

There are definitely too many skills compared to regular talents, but would it be fair for a 15pt talent to cover them? What side benefits would be added to the talent?

Same thing for Wildcard Skills, I think it does cover too much breadth, but the first half of the list could likely be fair as Adventurer!, I just don't know what side benefits would apply for it.

Would it be fair as a (kind of silly) style? Are there common perks and techniques that adventurers should take? Are there exotic skills that would be added for more cinematic campaigns?

Thank you ahead of time.

[Culture20]

While these are skills every person or adventurer should have, everyone can have differing levels. For example, Spiderman often gets razzed by other heroes for not know how to drive a car. I do agree that in some games like Black Ops where everyone has too many skills, an everyman wildcard can make sense to clean up character sheets.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Culture20

While these are skills every person or adventurer should have, everyone can have differing levels. For example, Spiderman often gets razzed by other heroes for not know how to drive a car.

I do agree, this was mostly for theory building and to see to what extent Talents, Styles, and Bang skills can reach. Part of the reason I haven't brought this idea up for a awhile since I came up with it is the similar situation skills where it makes sens to pick exactly one of, while the Wildcard skill would cover all of them.

[Anaraxes]

A Talent wouldn't cut down on the number of skills. It'd just make the skill levels higher, or save some points, depending on your point of view.

Much the same with Styles. Those are sort of a template just for skills, defining things you ought to have, and (maybe) letting characters qualify for a couple of Perks. Just as a form of guidance, the "Adventurer" style could be useful. It's pretty much the same as a simple list, though, unless you want to define a couple of Perks that are only available to "adventurers" but not the general populace. It's also unlikely (unlike most styles) that the style actually exists in the game world. Sufficiently DF dungeon-crawling / murder hobo games will have a recognized profession/hobby of "adventurer", as is, say, "karateka" or "fencer". It'd be really a meta-game thing like a template.

[kirbwarrior]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

A Talent wouldn't cut down on the number of skills. It'd just make the skill levels higher, or save some points, depending on your point of view.

True, but that can be the intent, especially for characters that might not have high DX or IQ for those skills but get a cheaper option to having 'adventurer' at a competent level.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Much the same with Styles. Those are sort of a template just for skills, defining things you ought to have, and (maybe) letting characters qualify for a couple of Perks. Just as a form of guidance, the "Adventurer" style could be useful. It's pretty much the same as a simple list, though, unless you want to define a couple of Perks that are only available to "adventurers" but not the general populace. It's also unlikely (unlike most styles) that the style actually exists in the game world. Sufficiently DF dungeon-crawling / murder hobo games will have a recognized profession/hobby of "adventurer", as is, say, "karateka" or "fencer". It'd be really a meta-game thing like a template.

While normally I'd agree with you, on the setting I'm working on right now I could see it being the 'mercenary' style based on what I'm seeing so far and how mercenaries word. Hmm.

[Pursuivant]

Something I noticed about Kromm's list is that while they're common "Everyman" adventurer skills, they're not so good as a list of actual "background skills" that ordinary people might have.

For example, your average early 21st century Western middle class person is likely to have trivial levels of skill with Area Knowledge (Local, State, or National Area), Bicycling, Computer Operations, Current Affairs (Headline News or Local Affairs), Driving (Automobile), Professional Skill (Student), Research, and Swimming.

Your average historical pre-modern character is likely to have trivial levels of skill with Area Knowledge (Local Area), Farming, Hiking, Riding (Camels or Equines), Teamster (Equines), and possibly Savoir-Faire (Servant or standard), Swimming, and Theology.

The simple way to handle marginal levels of skill for such basic skills is to require characters to buy the appropriate version of the Dabbler perk:

For example:

Dabbler (TL8+ citizen: AK (Local or similar) - 1, Bicycling - 1, Computer Operations - 1, Current Affairs (Headline News) - 1, Driving (Automobile) - 1, PS (Student) - 1 , Research - 1, Swimming - 1)

Dabbler (TL6-7 citizen: AK (Local or similar) - 1, Bicycling - 1, Current Affairs (Headline News) - 1, Driving (Automobile) - 1, Hiking - 1, PS (Student) -1, Research - 1, Swimming - 1)

Dabbler (TL1-5 citizen: AK (Local) - 1, Farming - 1, Hiking - 1, Riding (Camels or Equines) - 1, Teamster (Equines) - 1, Savoir-Faire (Servant) - 1, Swimming - 1, Theology (Christian, Islamic, or similar) - 1)

People from economically-deprived areas can substitute skills like Scrounging, Survival, and Streetwise for skills which imply higher levels of wealth and leisure like Bicycling, Computer Operations, Current Affairs, and Driving. Women might substitute skills like Artist (Embroidery or Weaving), Housekeeping, PS (Brewing, Childcare, Spinning, Weaving, etc.), or Sewing for some or all of these skills.

For campaigns where certain skills are highly recommended, the GM can also create customized Dabbler perks to allow otherwise-untrained characters to function at better than default levels. For example:

Dabbler (Armory (Small Arms) - 1, Gunner (LAW) - 1, Gunner (MG) - 1, Guns (Pistol) - 2, Guns (Rifle) - 2, Guns (Shotgun) - 1).

Dabbler (Axe/Mace - 1, Broadsword - 2, Knife - 1, Flail - 1, Shortsword - 2, Spear - 1, Staff - 1)

[AlexanderHowl]

I do not think that there is Professional Skill (Student) outside of IOU. Now, Area Knowledge (College), Area Knowledge (College Town), Housekeeping, and Scrounging are probably adequate for most college students that I have known (myself included). Hiking is probably much more common than Bicycle, especially on large campuses, and the majority of students will only have Swimming if it is required (such as with schools like UNC Chapel Hill, where every graduating senior must have taken a swimming class or passed a swimming test).

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

For example, your average early 21st century Western middle class person is likely to have trivial levels of skill with Area Knowledge (Local, State, or National Area), Bicycling, Computer Operations, Current Affairs (Headline News or Local Affairs), Driving (Automobile), Professional Skill (Student), Research, and Swimming.

Your average historical pre-modern character is likely to have trivial levels of skill with Area Knowledge (Local Area), Farming, Hiking, Riding (Camels or Equines), Teamster (Equines), and possibly Savoir-Faire (Servant or standard), Swimming, and Theology.

Hiking would be more common than Riding for most pre-modern people.

For most people some of these skills would be at 1-point, and the rest would be at default. I don't think Dabbler is really necessary.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I do not think that there is Professional Skill (Student) outside of IOU. Now, Area Knowledge (College), Area Knowledge (College Town), Housekeeping, and Scrounging are probably adequate for most college students that I have known (myself included). Hiking is probably much more common than Bicycle, especially on large campuses, and the majority of students will only have Swimming if it is required (such as with schools like UNC Chapel Hill, where every graduating senior must have taken a swimming class or passed a swimming test).

I agree that PS:student probably doesn't exist (IOU excepted) although it may be fitting for some Medieval colleges.

For college students, scrounging seem a bit of a stretch, while a dabbler perk including swimming and bicycle is almost a given... cultural differences I guess. And carousing is more than likely too !

Originally Posted by Rupert

For most people some of these skills would be at 1-point, and the rest would be at default. I don't think Dabbler is really necessary.

Otoh, I insist that my players take a dabbler perk or two. It really flesh out a character.
But that depend a lot on the GM approach to default.

[dataweaver]

What Kromm was describing is a sort of generic Adventurer Template, complete with a handful of required customizations (e.g., pick one of Judo, Sumo Wrestling, or Wrestling).