Thursday, August 30, 2012

Progress Is Made...

Been doing some work on the skill list for Dicebag tonight. Just started working on minimal definitions, and have spent the last few nights refining the skill list, trying to trim it down to what I consider the bare essentials for the system.

Anything that is "genre-specific" like "spellcasting", "psionics", or "computer hacking" will be included in the setting documents meant to add to and/or modify the base rules for campaigns that use those elements.

The generic, master skill list..? Here ya go...
  • Animal Handling
  • Art/Craft (Specify)
  • Barter/Trade
  • Carousing
  • Climbing
  • Combat, Armed
  • Combat, Ranged
  • Combat, Unarmed
  • Deception (Specify; Fast Talk, Disguise, Mimicry, Acting, Forgery)
  • Deduction
  • Demolitions
  • Dodge
  • Escape Artist
  • Gambling
  • Healing
  • Interrogation
  • Intimidation
  • Knowledge (Specify)
  • Leadership
  • Lip Reading
  • Public Speaking
  • Repair
  • Research
  • Security
  • Seduction
  • Shield
  • Sleight-of-Hand
  • Stealth
  • Survival (Specify; Urban, Outdoor, Social)
  • Swimming
  • Throwing
  • Tracking
Looking at the list, a couple more may get trimmed, but I think it is pretty solid as it stands.

-- GopherDave

8 comments:

  1. What about some sort of search skill for going through rooms, etc. and finding hidden items?

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought about that, Tom, but I figured the bulk of that could be covered by the base Perception (one of the seven basic attributes of the system) check.

    There was at one time a "Concealment" skill, but I am folding that into "Stealth", and in some cases the reverse could be used.

    ----------

    EXAMPLE

    Player: "Okay, we have to find the well-hidden macguffin. If I were trying to hide something in this room, where would I do it?"

    GM: "Good question. Make me a Stealth + Intelligence skill check. You made it? Cool. Well, if it were you hiding it, you'd probably stuff it into either place A, B, or C."

    Player: "I look in those places."

    GM: "You find it in the second place you look."

    Player: "Okay, we have the macguffin, people. Time to move on and find the herring."

    ----------

    Or something like that... =P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That example seems like an ideal place for the "Deduction" skill you listed.

      Delete
  3. I've never like art/craft being one lump (or even broken out as specific).

    Create Art - as in visually pleasing to the eye seems to be a good general skill. People who can make art, can usually do so in whatever medium they are presented with. People who can't, well, can't.

    Create Device (or simply Build) - people who can make something that works, can usually make the leap from one medium to another as well (whether it is carpentry, metalcraft, leathercraft, etc.) This tends to be the hands-on-engineering type of skill.

    Also it seems like you need a category like:

    Entertain - the ability to get the attention of an audience and keep it, whether one is dancing, singing, orating, puppeting (is that a word?).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maybe Perform, with Public speaking rolled into it?

    ReplyDelete
  5. There was orginally an "Entertain" skill in the list, but I trimmed it due to the fact that, outside of characters of a "bardish"-nature, who really uses that skill.

    Rolling Public Speaking into it, though... Hmmmm... food for thought...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Looks good, Dave. Glad to see you're plugging away. I have a a couple questions.
    What is the Barter/Trade skill for? Is it used when PCs purchase or sell equipment, or is it for large quantity trade for mercantile characters?
    Why is Carousing a skill?
    Lip Reading could be used for some cool turns of events, but is it worth making it a skill? It might be worth simplifying into "You can or you can't" with a Feat/Merit/Edge.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah, the Barter/Trade skill is used mostly for haggling, be it for merchandise, information, or exchanging social favors...

    Carousing is a skill... Thinking about it, I'm not certain why. I had reasons, I'm certain, but those reasons are not coming to me currently.

    Yeah, I was looking at Lip Reading as well, and realizing that it may work better as a Gift (what Feats/Edges are called in the system) than it does as a skill.

    Good points, all...

    ReplyDelete