[Disasters: Hurricane] Skill of the Week: Search and Rescue

[johndallman]

Search and Rescue is the Per/Hard TL skill of finding people who are trapped and/or injured and getting them to safety. It appeared in GURPS Disasters: Hurricane; before that supplement was published, GMs would probably have used a Professional Skill to represent the specialised knowledge of ambulance staff, lifeboatmen, cave and mountain rescue teams, and so on.

There are many specialties, which default to each other at -2: Cave, Combat, K9 (using trained dogs to find people), Maritime, Mountain, and Urban. Professionals usually concentrate on one or two of these specialisations. The Natural Disaster technique, also from Hurricane, is not relevant: this skill is about handling emergencies.

Vehicle-operation skills are often important – a lifeboatman won't usually be trained to fly a helicopter, even if that would be a good way of doing a rescue at sea – along with medical skills. Equipment is also important, and tends to be more specific to situations than the skill. Trained rescuers learn how to improvise equipment (roll an appropriate Engineer at skill -2), but rescues can become impossible it vital gear isn’t available and can’t be improvised.

As a brand-new skill, this doesn’t appear on any published templates. It’s likely to be learned by all first-responders in areas especially prone to a particular kind of disaster (Earthquakes in Japan, hurricanes in Florida, etc.), and should probably be an option for all paramedics (Bio-Tech) and firefighters (Mysteries). The staff of the NKKC in THS: Wings of the Rising Sun would definitely have it.

Overall, this seems like a worthwhile addition to the GURPS skill list.

[Donny Brook]

I don't like it.

It harks back to the bad old days of 3e where genre-specific skills were made-up higgledy-piggledy instead of working within the established generic framework.

I don't see what this 'new' skill covers that is not either within the envelop of existing skills or an appropriate Professional skill..

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I don't see what this 'new' skill covers that is not either within the envelop of existing skills or an appropriate Professional skill..

Basically my thoughts as well.

Also, S&R being a Hard skill when Professional skills are Average feels off to me.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Overall, this seems like a worthwhile addition to the GURPS skill list.

I'm joining the other two in my disagreement. I'd have preferred rules on using existing skills to fulfill this niche role of finding people or things and then rescuing them (note, two different things for which we already have skills).


And having trained in SAR (at one time a million years ago), I'm not seeing it being a skill of it's own*, aside from a Professional/Crew† type skill that assists in other skill uses (and covers the few things those skills do not directly impact, such as SOP gear handling, team engagement, etc).


* I get the desire to make it a singular skill, to reduce skill clutter and cost as the skill realistically incorporates at least 3 other skills: Search Observation, First Aid, and Survival, and then a few optional treatments such as Climbing, Animal Handling (Canine), Driving/Piloting/Boating, etc.

† I say Crew in that... and maybe the training has shifted, but it was less about being able to do a job (Job Rolls) and more about knowing how to do the job, and work on a team properly. Team engagement was an important part of the job, knowing where team members are, knowing their strengths, knowing how to call them in to assist, knowing how to assist when called over to them, etc. Also, equipment caring was critical, which is a strong element of Crew skills (Soldier especially). So I can see making SAR a Professional skill on the level of Soldier and letting it boost other skills as needed.

[EDIT]
Sorry, I keep forgetting I threw Observation away and merged its uses with Search in my DF games.
[/EDIT]

Originally Posted by WingedKagouti

Also, S&R being a Hard skill when Professional skills are Average feels off to me.

Honestly, I get why the Author did it, it's subbing in for other skills to reduce skill bloat on the sheet... but at the end of the day I think doing it this way actually increases skill bloat as any Character made to fulfill this role will have those other skills as well.



And the -5 to Per? Woof, that's ... okay, again I can see why, but the immediate response my Players will give is "Is it really harder to spot an unconscious person under a bush than someone deliberately hiding from you?"

[vicky_molokh]

See, cases like this are why people joke about GURPS having underwater basketweaving as a separate skill.

[namada]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

I'd have preferred rules on using existing skills to fulfill this niche role of finding people or things and then rescuing them (note, two different things for which we already have skills).

Which are those skills?

[tbone]

Over in the main thread on the book, I was going to register the same dissatisfaction - sort of. That is, my initial reaction was negative - "What? A whole new skill for this?" - but I expect that the author and reviewers put a lot of thought into whether this should be a new skill, and I expect that they could make a good argument for why the skill is warranted.

More specifically: Yes, it seems to me that the topic at hand is addressed by a bunch of existing skills. Observation is an obvious one for searching. Tracking will also be absolutely vital for locating people (if less so in the waterlogged case of hurricanes). Survival may be important for staying safe and alert in extended outdoor operations. Navigation should be critical outdoors to map out and follow an efficient search plan (without double-searching one area while entirely missing another, or just plain getting lost). Efficiently covering the search route may mean Hiking or vehicle skills. Then there's Climbing, Swimming, medical skills, Forced Entry, Scuba, Hazardous Materials, Leadership (to coordinate a search party), on and on and on.

Which doesn't mean there isn't room for a Search and Rescue skill. My small dissatisfaction would be that I'd rather see the book describe how existing skills like the above are used in operations, and then detail more concretely what those skills don't cover that Search and Rescue addresses. As it is, the skill feels a bit vague. (In fairness to the author, though, the book is intended only as an overview of a specific disaster, not a GURPS Search and Rescue Operations tome. So maybe what I discuss here is fodder for its own future book.)

For now, I'm imagining Search and Rescue as the overarching skill that assesses the disaster, defines the mission, determines what skills and what resources are needed for the mission, and ties it all together into a plan. The Strategy and/or Tactics of searching and rescuing, as it were. How to use that top-level skill in conjunction with the actual on-the-ground skills (Observation, Tracking, Swimming, etc.) remains vague, just as the uses of (battlefield) Strategy and Tactics in actual play are far less clear than, say, the use of the Guns and Broadsword skills that perform the job. But I think there's room to view Search and Rescue in this way.

Those are thoughts after a quick read, anyway. Arguments that crush those thoughts like ants are welcome –

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by namada

Which are those skills?

Search Observation and First Aid.



[EDIT]
Sorry, I keep forgetting I threw Observation away and merged its uses with Search in my DF games.
[/EDIT]

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

See, cases like this are why people joke about GURPS having underwater basketweaving as a separate skill.

What part of Fiber Crafts (Underwater) is a joke to you sir!



(Fiber Crafts is a skill from Bunnies & Burrows... yes, my copy is still in nearish-mint-adjacent condition)

[Alden Loveshade]

I was in the playtest, but I'm not looking at my notes right now and my memory is largely what I have written down. But off the top of my head, I remember there being a little discussion on this.

First, as for Observation, by my understanding that is primarily using Perception without being noticed. There's generally no reason to hide the fact you're looking in a rescue operation.

Second, as for my personal experience, I have done very little in search and rescue (as a journalist I was once getting ready to get on a helicopter with the team when we got a call the missing hiker reported in. I was glad he was safe, but admit I selfishly thought, "Why couldn't he have waited another 10 minutes, then I'd be on the chopper!") I have been there during a few search and rescues on the ground, but my involvement was minimal and I don't think that came up in the playtest.

Third, for the skill, by my admittedly limited experience, you could combine several skills to come up with this, just as you could with a number of GURPS skills. But this way you have one skill with optional specialties that covers the whole field. In real life, I would say it's definitely its own skill, especially as it does combine elements of a variety of skills.