[Basic] Skill of the week: History

[Dalillama]

One of the PCs in my current game has several relevant specialties, although we're only on the second session and they haven't had time to be useful yet.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by dripton

They haven't found a Sage who's willing to go into the dungeon yet.

They just need offer more money. Seriously, that always solves that particular problem.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

They just need offer more money. Seriously, that always solves that particular problem.

... or a player who's willing to play a Sage (or at least take a Sage lens on another 'class').

[dripton]

There's no real need for a Sage when the IQ 15 Wizard could just put a point in History and suddenly have it at 13. (I would require some time in the library, either the one in town or the one in the dungeon that they haven't found yet, to justify this.) The players just haven't figured out that this is a good idea yet.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

... or a player who's willing to play a Sage (or at least take a Sage lens on another 'class').

That is almost always me... I adore the Sage class. Even though I've had a Swashbuckling Martial Artist on the brain for a while now.

Originally Posted by dripton

There's no real need for a Sage when the IQ 15 Wizard could just put a point in History and suddenly have it at 13.

This is also true.

The players just haven't figured out that this is a good idea yet.

Ah, now that's another matter entirely. Are you asking for History rolls at default fairly often?

That's always a clue to me and mine that there's a skill missing on someone's sheet.

[smurf]

I must admit this is one of the problem skills I see in the basic set.

RAW has 2 points:

Regional History

and

Single Era History

History can be: Black, Women's, Gay, Gender, Annals, Military, Economic, Social, Revolutions, Marxist (which acts like the borg of History), Liberal, Post Modernist (depends where you are, Europe has held out against this) etc.

Regional History sort of works as RAW.

British History is a history of Empire so one cannot discuss British history without looking at: Irish, India (Pakistan, Bangladesh), South Africa, US (pre independence), Australia, New Zealand and about another 150 countries plus.

Alternatively Regions cannot discuss their history without understanding the history of an occupier (Vietnam: US, French History)

History could:

Help with public debate (Fast Talk)
Be used to
Enthrallment
Captivate
Persuade (the obvious one, handling information and to argue points)
Suggest (I have done this when I saw the face of the other debater physically 'twitch' that my view was correct, his view was wrong, the contradiction of his value to the argument presented and my historical ability to notice the contradiction and the weakness of his stand point - may not have won the debate there and then but you could see the guy having problems to argue against my position because he came to see the weakness in his.)


'Black history' could also represent a degree of cultural familiarity.

Of course this is like opening up a can of worms but GMs could be a bit more creative with History.

Research based discipline
Modern Era is relatively easy.
Medieval is difficult with language barriers
Antiquity is difficult with language barriers and limited sources

Shifting nature of the discipline means Forensics, Archaeology and Genetics all get to play their role in the History discipline.

[Not]

Originally Posted by smurf

I must admit this is one of the problem skills I see in the basic set.

RAW has 2 points:

Regional History

and

Single Era History

History can be: Black, Women's, Gay, Gender, Annals, Military, Economic, Social, Revolutions, Marxist (which acts like the borg of History), Liberal, Post Modernist (depends where you are, Europe has held out against this) etc.

Regional History sort of works as RAW.

British History is a history of Empire so one cannot discuss British history without looking at: Irish, India (Pakistan, Bangladesh), South Africa, US (pre independence), Australia, New Zealand and about another 150 countries plus.

Alternatively Regions cannot discuss their history without understanding the history of an occupier (Vietnam: US, French History)

History could:

Help with public debate (Fast Talk)
Be used to
Enthrallment
Captivate
Persuade (the obvious one, handling information and to argue points)
Suggest (I have done this when I saw the face of the other debater physically 'twitch' that my view was correct, his view was wrong, the contradiction of his value to the argument presented and my historical ability to notice the contradiction and the weakness of his stand point - may not have won the debate there and then but you could see the guy having problems to argue against my position because he came to see the weakness in his.)


'Black history' could also represent a degree of cultural familiarity.

Of course this is like opening up a can of worms but GMs could be a bit more creative with History.

Research based discipline
Modern Era is relatively easy.
Medieval is difficult with language barriers
Antiquity is difficult with language barriers and limited sources

Shifting nature of the discipline means Forensics, Archaeology and Genetics all get to play their role in the History discipline.

You're making the case for History as an Expert Skill.

[dripton]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Ah, now that's another matter entirely. Are you asking for History rolls at default fairly often?

That's always a clue to me and mine that there's a skill missing on someone's sheet.

The GM makes rolls where the player won't know immediately if her character succeeded or failed. Which means the players don't always know when I roll against something like History. Which means I probably need to give more hints.

[jason taylor]

History has several uses.

A military officer can use it to add to his bag of tricks.

A diplomat can use it to understand the issues being discussed.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by dripton

The GM makes rolls where the player won't know immediately if her character succeeded or failed. Which means the players don't always know when I roll against something like History. Which means I probably need to give more hints.

Ah. I never do that. The Players always make their own rolls, however sometimes they don't know why (mostly perception tests, occasionally skill related tests).

In this case I'd make sure I asked at least once a session (or say every time it was a really important History check) if someone had History and then note what their default is and ask the best defaulter to roll...