Purely Natural Defaults

[Sindri]

Defaults require that a character be from a society where the skill in question is known. In most cases that's reasonable.

However there are some things where someone without the right cultural background could attempt the skill and also would perform worse than someone who actually has been exposed to it enough to normally warrant a default.

If, for example, a PC with very high attributes encounters some children playing a physical sport with which he has had absolutely no exposure until now wants to give it a try how well should he perform? He shouldn't simply be unable to perform. It is, after all, just a variation on the pattern of hit [object A] with [object B] to get it into [object c] so [result A] happens. Naturally he won't perform as well as someone with the same attributes who had enough exposure to get a default but it's also not impossible for him to be able to play along after a few seconds of observation just quite difficult.

So what should be the absolute minimum default for cases like these?

[Nymdok]

Originally Posted by Sindri

Defaults require that a character be from a society where the skill in question is known. In most cases that's reasonable.

However there are some things where someone without the right cultural background could attempt the skill and also would perform worse than someone who actually has been exposed to it enough to normally warrant a default.

If, for example, a PC with very high attributes encounters some children playing a physical sport with which he has had absolutely no exposure until now wants to give it a try how well should he perform? He shouldn't simply be unable to perform. It is, after all, just a variation on the pattern of hit [object A] with [object B] to get it into [object c] so [result A] happens. Naturally he won't perform as well as someone with the same attributes who had enough exposure to get a default but it's also not impossible for him to be able to play along after a few seconds of observation just quite difficult.

So what should be the absolute minimum default for cases like these?

If its an absolutley simple game (playing tag comes to mind), then why roll at all? If its A given that something can happen then why the roll?

But if, for example, your looking for something that easily observed and understood but slightly more challenging to be done, Id say DX-6 to DX-4 sounds like a good place to start just on the basis of other defaults.

Note that, as always, it depends on your setting and players. Im pretty sure that If I had a good basic move and basic speed Id take the default versus a buncha 6 year olds playing tag :)

Nymdok

[Varyon]

Use what the default would be if he had been exposed to the game previously, then apply familiarity. Something that just has slightly different rules from what you're used to might be at -1 or no penalty, things that are more different would be higher.

[Sindri]

Originally Posted by Nymdok

If its an absolutley simple game (playing tag comes to mind), then why roll at all? If its A given that something can happen then why the roll?

If it's a given that something will happen then you don't roll. On the other hand while a game might be sufficiently simple for understanding to be automatic it could still be failed at and the stakes could at least theoretically be high enough to call for a roll. Even for games that are fundamentally very simple a complete novice might mess up following some of the rules. Tag is a difficult example to work with since it depends at least as heavily on physical capabilities as any actual skill.

Originally Posted by Nymdok

But if, for example, your looking for something that easily observed and understood but slightly more challenging to be done, Id say DX-6 to DX-4 sounds like a good place to start just on the basis of other defaults.

DX-4 seems generous, a hobby skill is already at -4. -6 seems better though there are skills with a default of -6 anyway. I could see someone figuring out how to shoot with a blowpipe without any prior experience but they should be worse at it than someone surrounded by blowpipes but with no actual experience. The default should probably be an adjustment of the existing default.

Originally Posted by Varyon

Use what the default would be if he had been exposed to the game previously, then apply familiarity. Something that just has slightly different rules from what you're used to might be at -1 or no penalty, things that are more different would be higher.

That seems like a good approach if you don't normally apply both defaults and familiarity. If you do normally apply both though it seems like someone who has a real default should still have a relative +1 or something in comparison to someone without any experience.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Sindri

That seems like a good approach if you don't normally apply both defaults and familiarity. If you do normally apply both though it seems like someone who has a real default should still have a relative +1 or something in comparison to someone without any experience.

Familiarity can get a good deal worse than -2 - I think down to something like -6. I'd say doing something physical when you have absolutely no experience with anything like it would be -6 Familiarity, rather than "can't do that at all."