Assigning Skills–Any Alternatives to the Pyramid?
I have never been a fan of the pyramid scheme used in most Fudge games to assign skills with. You get one skill at Superb, two skills at Great, three skills at Good, etcetera, etcetera. There are variations on this basic concept where there are broad skills, and focused skills, but in the end they are still just pyramids that restrict characters from having many skills at high ranks without having a great deal more skills at lower ranks.
I know that these systems are meant to enable players to create the characters that they want to see in their stories, but these systems have always seemed highly artificial to me. They seem to force a player to choose a character concept like “lawyer”, “soldier”, or “doctor”. I’ve never felt like I created the character that I really wanted to play with such systems.
Yet I have not discovered a method for assigning skills that I like yet for the Fudge system. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I do not like how skills are assigned in most RPGs. The one exception is Top Secret/S.I. from TSR.
Top Secret/S.I. used points and pre-requisite skills to control character advancement. Skills were fairly low in cost to acquire with skill points at the lower levels of the skill, but to truly master a task required a significant investment of skill points. Furthermore you could not acquire some skills unless you had certain pre-requisite skills. The system could be a pyramid if the player wanted it to be, or it could be relatively flat. Player choice was all that mattered.
I want to try and create a Fudge skill system that has the same feel as the Top Secret/S.I. system. I also want to hear about the systems that others use in their Fudge games, or any other RPG for that matter. Is there a system that has really stood out for you and your games? If so, share it in the comments section below.
It’s odd that you say that, because I always felt the opposite, you couldn’t create a lawyer or a soldier, you end up with a big pile of unconnected skills. In my Lost Heroes system I’m drafting, I’m using the idea of a trait between Attributes and Skills, a Profession trait to avoid the big pile of Skills problem.
The pyramid is a useful tool, but it’s not the best one for everything (cf. hammering nails with a screwdriver and other similar metaphors).
In my current-in-process semi-universal build (3dF+bonus/penalty dice), I’m going with a lifepath system wrapped around 3 core stats. Those are what you roll on: the attributes, aspects, skills, gifts, faults etc. simply add modifier dice to that basic roll on the stat. So far, what’s been tricky has been getting some of the math to work – there are some buffs that I’d like to be more expensive than others, but still available. In the simulations and tests so far, it’s working… but it’s a bit slow on the chargen. As I said, it’s still in process.
What I might do for an initial session is to be a bit freeform and on-the-fly: create those 3 stats and assign traits. As we play, create the buffs as needed using a resource bank (poker chips?) that will also be augmented through pursuing PC goals (XP)…
The older cliche-based assignment of 1 core attribute at Great, 2 side attributes at Good, everything else at Fair and specialized stuff a Poor kind of works and is flexible enough to avoid the usual skillset pitfalls. Inappropriate cliche use such as in Risus just adds a layer of cheese/awesome that’s hard to beat. It makes a nice middle ground between objective and subjective Fudge…
I’d also look at the “Monster Garage” version of nWoD from Vampire Chronicler’s Guide: 3 stats (I keep saying this…), 7 Vices set up as sources of power, some matched/paired social/material resources. It’s severely broken as written, but definitely inspirational for the hackery.
But that’s just the power of Fudge – you can strip it down and make it your own.
@Mark Cunningham: That is a great point. I think it depends upon the depth of skills that the game has available for you to choose from. Would that account for the differences in perception?
@Keith: I have not checked out a White Wolf product in years. What about the “Monster Garage” makes it worth checking out?
@Patrick Benson: Sure. If you end up with lots of narrow Skills, you have a big pile of skills and no categorization. A few broad Skills might work but then if you got that path, why not drop skills altogether and use Aspects + Attributes to determine Skills? 🙂