[Sci-Fi] Managing the player that can have any skill

[weevis]

Originally Posted by trooper6

I don't know if you read the rest of my post, but the entire rest of my post was about adventure design assuming you included the advantage.

Yes, this was certainly helpful. I think you and Mailanka have it right that this fear/problem has do to with my approach to adventure design. I do find myself doing a lot of niche protection, for example. I don't know if this is bad -- maybe it is just my style. But it sounds like I can use this chance to take some other GM moves out for a spin.

[weevis]

Originally Posted by weby

(High tech puts this at $350 so maybe just use *10 previous so $100-$1000)

Thanks for this. Making the reference materials expensive is something I was thinking about too. However, there is a sense when you read the rules that in the future you'd kind of expects this stuff to get really cheap.

For example: I've always thought the "Software Cost Table" on Ultra-Tech p. 25 was remarkably cheap. And if it costs, say, $5 for a software package that actually performs the skill in a robot brain it seems weird that buying some e-books/databases on the skill (that you read quickly) will cost thousands of dollars.

So the challenge is allowing access to both the reference materials (the "information-rich setting") and Super-Memorization. I'm wondering what that does to my adventure plots.

As a side note it also seems like it makes Research an absolutely critical skill for this character. Can't find it, can't use it, right? An ally that is an expert librarian almost becomes a viable combat aid.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by weevis

...
This combination makes me realize that this advantage kind of breaks the way I write adventures. I use specific skill needs a lot to manage the plot ("Since your party doesn't have a computer hacker, you'll need to try something else..." "You'd better find a fusion engineer before it's too late!" etc.). But if this player realizes his power, he can say "We need a Xenobiologist? No problem. Give me 1 second per skill point to read up on it on my phone... done."
...

Sounds fine to me. The players are creating the types of characters they want to run - I've always considered it a major part of the GM's job to make those characters relevant to the game, so that everybody has fun.

[Ternas]

Originally Posted by weevis

So the challenge is allowing access to both the reference materials (the "information-rich setting") and Super-Memorization. I'm wondering what that does to my adventure plots.

As a side note it also seems like it makes Research an absolutely critical skill for this character. Can't find it, can't use it, right? An ally that is an expert librarian almost becomes a viable combat aid.

Gonna be tossing my two copper in here. First off, as others have mentioned about how he got the Modular Abilities, you could/should require another advantage to be able to use Super-Memorization, such as Eidetic or Photographic Memory as a pre-req.

Beyond that, you could also require that if he does want to memorize certain skills, that he also has to obtain the pre-reqs for those skills at the same or better level, such as needing to have Mathematics (Cryptology) before he is able to use Cryptography or otherwise, at best, he'd have an Expert Skill (Crypyography) where he knows what Cryptography is comprised of and can answer questions about the subject, but can't actually use it in a meaningful manner to (de)crypt any ciphers or codes.

Another way to deal with things is, as been mentioned, restrict the material but in a different manner than how classified it is. Take a note from Dungeon Fantasy 4: Sages where certain books/resources can only offer so many points in a skill and he'll be forced to consult multiple resources requiring a Research skill roll of some kind to get a high point total in them. After all, a quick scroll of Wikipedia on a smartphone probably isn't gonna help him learn something new, but going through all the works cited at the bottom might get him a couple points.

[weby]

Originally Posted by weevis

Thanks for this. Making the reference materials expensive is something I was thinking about too. However, there is a sense when you read the rules that in the future you'd kind of expects this stuff to get really cheap.

For example: I've always thought the "Software Cost Table" on Ultra-Tech p. 25 was remarkably cheap. And if it costs, say, $5 for a software package that actually performs the skill in a robot brain it seems weird that buying some e-books/databases on the skill (that you read quickly) will cost thousands of dollars.

Couple of notes on the software prices:
-Note that programs that give +1 to +2 bonus to skills are complexity 4 to 7 $300 to $10 000 at TL 9 and divide by 10 for each further TL so it is not really cheap until TL 11-12.
-The progression from +1 to +2 tool is +2 complexity and that +2 cpx is the same *10 price as I suggested for each step in the chart in my previous post. So a theoretical +3 program would thus be CPX 8-9 at same progression, a +4 would be cpx 10-11 and so on.
-Note that many programs are more than base cost for their complexity. As example the tac programs are 2-10 times the cost.

So the challenge is allowing access to both the reference materials (the "information-rich setting") and Super-Memorization. I'm wondering what that does to my adventure plots.

If you do not place the plot around a missing skill, then nothing. The character in question will indeed be very flexible, but it requires giving up a lot other things and even then he can only fill in one slot.

I would never let a single skill roll resolve a plot.

As a side note it also seems like it makes Research an absolutely critical skill for this character. Can't find it, can't use it, right? An ally that is an expert librarian almost becomes a viable combat aid.

Yes, finding the right information is the key. And for extra fun you can have the net be full of scammers too.. specially for the limited/forbidden skills.

"Buy this amazing book on computer hacking only $99.99" that when read does not give 4 points of computer hacking but instead 4 points on Hobby skill(amazing hacks in the past)

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Sounds fine to me. The players are creating the types of characters they want to run - I've always considered it a major part of the GM's job to make those characters relevant to the game, so that everybody has fun.

I don't completely agree with this. Because some players want to make a character that doesn't fit with the game (its premise, its theme, its tone, etc) or with the party (doesn't play well with others, wants to murder the paladin, etc). The player has the responsibility to make an appropriate character that is relevant to the game. Once that is done, then the GM has the job of making that character relevant in play.

[weevis]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Sounds fine to me.

Uh...? Thanks, I think. But I'm not sure what this means. It sounds fine to you that I'm thinking about how to manage this trait?

Or: The fact that the player wants to do this sounds find to you? If so, it sounds fine to me too. I wasn't asking about disallowing it, but how to manage it.

To clarify, I am asking about the consequences of super-memorization for adventure design and GMing. Maybe you're saying that there are none?

[weevis]

Originally Posted by Ternas

you could/should require another advantage to be able to use Super-Memorization, such as Eidetic or Photographic Memory as a pre-req.

This is an interesting idea, but I was just going to use Unusual Background because I followed this thought process: It looks like Super-Memorization is the super-ability to memorize what is in the skill "slot." It doesn't mean your overall memory is any better. Unusual Background balances the point total of a human with an exotic ability. But adding Photographic Memory doesn't balance anything, it just adds (and pays for) a new ability that is not necessarily related.

I actually like the fact that the Super-Memorization is so specific, as it makes it weirder for interesting roleplaying purposes. "Looks like that illegal military brain-scrambling nano-drug you ingested has some pretty strange side effects..."

But I could see Photographic Memory being useful if my player was going for more of a super-brilliant overall genius thing.

[Ternas]

Ahhh, with that explanation, I can definitely understand your position more and would move with that method of allowing the purchase of Modular Abilities.

I was merely suggesting, in a rather badly worded manner, that Eidetic Memory [5] could work in the same fashion that Magery 0 [5] does in that it works as an unusual background allowing for the purchase of spells. It doesn't mean you'll be casting spells with them, just that you'll be allowed to cast them as soon as you learn them. This as well as to give a reason as to why that person is able to read and memorize things so quickly, especially if the gentleman also takes the speed-reading skill.

But I'm going to concede that you're correct in that merely the purchase of Eidetic/Photographic Memory doesn't really balance out things with MA and that probably just an Unusual Background perk would be enough to warrant such a thing.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by weevis

Or: The fact that the player wants to do this sounds find to you? If so, it sounds fine to me too. I wasn't asking about disallowing it, but how to manage it.

This one.

Originally Posted by weevis

To clarify, I am asking about the consequences of super-memorization for adventure design and GMing. Maybe you're saying that there are none?

Without knowing more about the setting, that's a difficult question to answer. "cinematic space opera" covers everything from Battlestar Galactica (where this would be horridly out of place for a human character) to Lensman (where this sort of trait is admired).