Like we did in practice: Rehearsing bonuses for skills

[oneofmanynameless]

It's basically my understanding that for most skills the default assumption of a skill use is unrehearsed. That is to say: for dancing or performance or singing or musical instrument you would roll unpenalized if you're asked out of the blue to give a performance and you do. Most real people, even decent performers, can't reliably bust out performances without preparation. A professional performer might have a 12 skill, but take a lot of time practicing one particular piece in preparation to give a performance. And once they move on to the next performance their ability to deliver on the first performance will fade a bit, or a lot.

That's my understanding of how skills in GURPS compare with real life skill levels. Thus a cheerleader might have a 11 dance skill, but rarely mess up a performance, as a result of having it carefully choreographed and extensively practiced ahead of time. While Itzhak Perlman probably has a much much higher skill, in the 18+ range, because he can bust out recording worthy masterful performances without preparation.

Anyways, in that context, how would you handle rehearsing giving skill bonuses? How much time for a bonus? How big can the bonus get for one particular task? Etc.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

It's basically my understanding that for most skills the default assumption of a skill use is unrehearsed. That is to say: for dancing or performance or singing or musical instrument you would roll unpenalized if you're asked out of the blue to give a performance and you do. Most real people, even decent performers, can't reliably bust out performances without preparation. A professional performer might have a 12 skill, but take a lot of time practicing one particular piece in preparation to give a performance. And once they move on to the next performance their ability to deliver on the first performance will fade a bit, or a lot.

That's my understanding of how skills in GURPS compare with real life skill levels. Thus a cheerleader might have a 11 dance skill, but rarely mess up a performance, as a result of having it carefully choreographed and extensively practiced ahead of time. While Itzhak Perlman probably has a much much higher skill, in the 18+ range, because he can bust out recording worthy masterful performances without preparation.

Anyways, in that context, how would you handle rehearsing giving skill bonuses? How much time for a bonus? How big can the bonus get for one particular task? Etc.

perhaps borrowing from time spent ?

No rehearsing at all give a -2 improvised penalty.

1 rehearsal session (or multiples sessions but in the past with another performance rehearsal in between) : no bonus/penalty.

2 rehearsal sessions gives +1,
4 rehearsal sessions gives +2,
8 rehearsal sessions gives +3,
15 rehearsal sessions gives +4,
and 30+ rehearsal sessions gives gives +5.

Don't forget to also make a complimentary Group Performance roll for the coach, that give +2 for critical success, +1 for success, -1 for failure, or -2 for critical failure.

[dcarson]

You might use the Visualization rules since you are actually rehearsing it not just imagining how it would go.

[Donny Brook]

I would consider rehearsing to be a process that turns a normal skill use into a routine one.

[Polkageist]

A rehearsal progression would also justify the task difficulty bonuses in Campaigns p345, giving a +2,3 or 4 (or more!) depending on the circumstances. Fits nicely alongside time spent if you don't or can't count rehearsals.

[oneofmanynameless]

Originally Posted by Celjabba

perhaps borrowing from time spent ?

No rehearsing at all give a -2 improvised penalty.

1 rehearsal session (or multiples sessions but in the past with another performance rehearsal in between) : no bonus/penalty.

2 rehearsal sessions gives +1,
4 rehearsal sessions gives +2,
8 rehearsal sessions gives +3,
15 rehearsal sessions gives +4,
and 30+ rehearsal sessions gives gives +5.

Don't forget to also make a complimentary Group Performance roll for the coach, that give +2 for critical success, +1 for success, -1 for failure, or -2 for critical failure.

I like that.

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I would consider rehearsing to be a process that turns a normal skill use into a routine one.

Yeah, I agree with that. Do you know rules anywhere for how large of a bonus something being "routine" actually is? And how many repetitions / practice sessions would help get there.)

[whswhs]

One approach I've used is to say that while casting spells during an adventure requires a skill roll for each casting, with a chance of critical failure, casting spells as a job (for wages or salary) requires a monthly job success roll, with problems ONLY on a critical failure. That's once in 4.5 years for most professionals, and once in 18 years for the real masters.

You could also borrow the idea that you don't actually fail to play the piece on a normal failure; rather, you do an uninspired performance, one that gets only polite applause, whereas a success gets you real applause and a critical success gets you a standing ovation.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by whswhs

One approach I've used is to say that while casting spells during an adventure requires a skill roll for each casting, with a chance of critical failure, casting spells as a job (for wages or salary) requires a monthly job success roll, with problems ONLY on a critical failure. That's once in 4.5 years for most professionals, and once in 18 years for the real masters.

That's the only way that "industrial enchantment" and similar widespread use of magic can work. Otherwise, mages would have to have teams of healers and demon hunters on hand to deal with with 4 in 216 chance (i.e., once every 54 days if you cast just one spell per day) of some sort of bad mojo going down, and the 1 in 46,656 chance of accidentally summoning a demon.

You could also have spells or enchantments which specifically turn critical magical failures into ordinary ones. The simplest way is alter the Pentagram spell so that it reduces the effects of a critical failure - on the caster or on the subject - to those of an ordinary failure. That means that as long as both the caster and subject are inside functional Pentagrams, they're immune to critical failures.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

That's the only way that "industrial enchantment" and similar widespread use of magic can work. Otherwise, mages would have to have teams of healers and demon hunters on hand to deal... once every 54 days if you cast just one spell per day) of some sort of bad mojo going down

Quite a lot of historical industry worked with an accident once every two months, as well as having medical and security staff along with the workers. (You've seen pictures of the "It's been X days since our last accident" boards.) In fact, mitigating that risk is easier in an industrial setting, where the support team can cover lots of mages, rather than each individual mage in their own lonely tower scattered around the lands each having their own dedicated team.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Quite a lot of historical industry worked with an accident once every two months, as well as having medical and security staff along with the workers. (You've seen pictures of the "It's been X days since our last accident" boards.)

True, but working mages are more likely to cast 1 spell ever 1-2 hours, depending on FP costs. That might mean an accident every few days. Multiply that risk by however many mages are on the assembly line and things get out of hand fast.

At some point, just as in real life, management or government decides that the economic or human(oid) cost of industrial accidents is just too high steps in to improve things.

In magical terms, that means things like strategically placed No Mana Zone barriers, depleted necronium alloy tool guards and safety shields, protective clothing with the Fortify and Resist Magic enchantments on it, and various enchantments built into the workplace itself (e.g., spells that boost DX or ST to prevent slips or strains, or spells that outright alter probability like Bless).