Default skills for homeworlds
- Thread starter Hemdian
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curmudgeon
SOC-12
I asked about this on G+, and Don said that it counts twice.
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
Why would it count twice?
I'm guessing, without having the book, that Ic = Ice World? Va = Vacuum World?
So, we're saying that people from Vacuum Ice Worlds (or whatever those codes mean) are generally better at using Vac Suits than people from non-ice vacuum worlds?
That makes no sense.
It should be Vac Suit-1 if you meet the condition, but not +1 per condition.
Why would someone be twice as trained in Vacc suit just because the world has Ice over a vacuum world that doesn't?
No, it's the realm of "does Marc's way make sense?" Marc can dictate anything he likes, but he can't change the laws of logic.
Hans
I've always thought that since we've already had to suspend some points of logic (along with science, economics, human psychology, and what-have-you) in order to play a space opera at all, that it's "angels on the head of a pin" territory to go too far down that road.
Whereas I've always thought that a game setting that strived for self-consistency and only suspended it for specific game purposes of which both players and referee were aware was a wonderful asset to help players suspend their disbelief in those unavoidable belief-suspender-straining discrepancies.
In other words, any suspension of the laws of logic makes it so much more important to avoid other suspensions if at all possible. For the anything goes roleplaying experience I prefer TOON.
Hans
Hmmm, maybe it's time to put down my Monolith and go dig out my old copy of TOON. Idea-mining is fun, thanks for the suggestion.
Drakon
SOC-14 1K
Ice vacuum world
Because ices melt, and/or sublimate. Sometimes at unexpected or unpredicable moments. What ices sublimate to what gases and how does that affects the suit? Why is it different from either heat or dust of a normal vacuum rock? Are there times you can use ices to aid you in a time of need? How does thermal insulation and heat transfer work under icy conditions?
There is a difference between flying for a thousand hours and flying the same hour, a thousand times. Some people scuba dive in Aruba, and some folks dive oil rigs in the Gulf. Heat, cold, dust and rocks, all suits have to deal with. Potentially sublimating caustic ices are an additional layer of complexity.
Because ices melt, and/or sublimate. Sometimes at unexpected or unpredicable moments. What ices sublimate to what gases and how does that affects the suit? Why is it different from either heat or dust of a normal vacuum rock? Are there times you can use ices to aid you in a time of need? How does thermal insulation and heat transfer work under icy conditions?
There is a difference between flying for a thousand hours and flying the same hour, a thousand times. Some people scuba dive in Aruba, and some folks dive oil rigs in the Gulf. Heat, cold, dust and rocks, all suits have to deal with. Potentially sublimating caustic ices are an additional layer of complexity.
This
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I was just thinking that Don may have answered incorrectly. It's a big book. No matter how intimate you are with the subject matter, you can't memorize everything.
Maybe we can get Don to help us out here.
Don, did you mis-remember the rule? Is it just a +1 skill that does not stack with other conditions that produce like results?
If not, maybe you've got some logic to why a person from a vacuum world would get Vac Suit-1 while a person from an ice-capped vacuum world would get Vac Suit-2?
Maybe we can get Don to help us out here.
Don, did you mis-remember the rule? Is it just a +1 skill that does not stack with other conditions that produce like results?
If not, maybe you've got some logic to why a person from a vacuum world would get Vac Suit-1 while a person from an ice-capped vacuum world would get Vac Suit-2?
If it is possible to get 2 homeworld skills, then I suppose it ought to be possible to get a level 2 in one homeworld skill.
Still I agree that it is not logical for an "Ice-Vacuum homeworlder" to be better at vac-suit than a "vacuum homeworlder". Where is the logic in that?
Sounds like a glitch to me.
Still I agree that it is not logical for an "Ice-Vacuum homeworlder" to be better at vac-suit than a "vacuum homeworlder". Where is the logic in that?
Sounds like a glitch to me.
I don't have T5 but my 2 cents are:
Aren't background skills initially 0, in this case Vacc-0
so two receipts of this skill would be Vacc-1
Now if T5 has changed background skills to be a 1 instead of a 0, I would like a further clarification of this issue also.
Those 2 cents were a good 2 cents - I think you're right!
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I don't have T5 but my 2 cents are:
Aren't background skills initially 0, in this case Vacc-0
so two receipts of this skill would be Vacc-1
Those are two good cents, but, either way, the principle is the same. If you are from a vacuum world, you get Vac Suit-0, but if you are from an ice capped vacuum world, you get Vac Suit-1. That still makes no sense.
That sounds more like Hostile Environ. Whether that should exist as a skill that is separate from Vacc Suit is a different, and worthwhile, question.
I have yet to see any mention of 0 level skills in T5.
Now this might be another thread discussion but, 
I have have always used a 0 level skill as just enough knowledge to prevent negative DMs. In the case of a Vacc Suit you can get in and out, basic safety and basic emergency procedures. As a background skill this would be enough for emergencies.
Level 1 skills would be the whys or preferences for a pice of equipment. With the Vacc Suit this person might have some parts that have been personalized or custom; gloves, body glove/sleeve or maybe a helmut. This level as a background skill would show familiarity that went beyond emergency situations this would be use of a Vacc suit between once a week to once a month for a period of years. Why that would be for the GM & Player to decide. :devil:
I have have always used a 0 level skill as just enough knowledge to prevent negative DMs. In the case of a Vacc Suit you can get in and out, basic safety and basic emergency procedures. As a background skill this would be enough for emergencies.
Level 1 skills would be the whys or preferences for a pice of equipment. With the Vacc Suit this person might have some parts that have been personalized or custom; gloves, body glove/sleeve or maybe a helmut. This level as a background skill would show familiarity that went beyond emergency situations this would be use of a Vacc suit between once a week to once a month for a period of years. Why that would be for the GM & Player to decide. :devil:
That's sort of how I've done it in the past too. The house rule I use with MT character generation is the first skill point you get in a skill buys you level 0. You need a second skill point to get to level 1. In other words, level 0 doesn't just apply to homeworld default skills.
But that was MT, this is T5. And as Bloo said, I haven't found a reference to level 0 skills in T5 yet.
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