Rules Only: Rules for "primary skill" ?

[MCutter]

Dear Travellers.

Two weeks ago I took the opportunity to referee a nice convention game about freight theft in a backwater starport. I prepared a nice crew and every player got his character written into a form on index cards.

Preparing this form I stumbled over the TAS Form 2 "Personal Data and History".
There I found the labels "primary skill" and "secondary skill" in field no. 18a and no. 18b.

Now I search for some reference or explanation what it means to declare one skill as a "primary skill". First time for many years I opened my LBBs but did not find anything.

What does "primary skill" and "secondary skill" mean in game terms?

Best
MCutter

 

[mike wightman]

It could mean two things.

Highest skill and second highest skill.

More likely it is to do with crew position requirements on starships - your primary skill is your highest ship skill while your secondary would be the second highest ship skill (remember the rules for one crewmember having two jobs in LBB2).

 

[McPerth]

It could mean two things.

Highest skill and second highest skill.

More likely it is to do with crew position requirements on starships - your primary skill is your highest ship skill while your secondary would be the second highest ship skill (remember the rules for one crewmember having two jobs in LBB2).

I guess it could also mean your primary (and secondary) post relevant skill, regardless their relative levels.

So, if you have gunner 2 and steward 1, but your primary job is steward (even if because it's the most commonly used), while gunner being your combat post, your steward skill could be considered primary, and guner your secondary, even while gunnery is higher than steward.

 

[mike wightman]

Yup, that would work too.

 

[MCutter]

Hello and thank you very much for your answers.

I am thinking to broaden these interpretation of "primary skill" to cases outside the context of a starship crew. Declaring a pair of skills as the most important skills of a NPC (or PCs that are used only once in a convention game) gives the players an archetypical insight about the Character at once. And the name of a profession should give a pair of associated skills at once also. i.e Artillery instructor: HeavyWeapons (Launcher)-2 & Leadership-1, 0G-cab pilot: Flyer(Grav)-1, Mechanic-1.

Greetings
MCutter

 

[GypsyComet]

Think of that form as a resume' instead of a character sheet.

 

[BlackBat242]

Exactly - it is asking "what is your "most-employable" skill, and what is your "back-up" employable skill?".

These are usually (but not always) your two highest-level skills.

I mean - just how "employable" is a Forgery-2 skill rating?

Brawling-3 might get you on the card at the local fights, but not a permanent job (maybe bodyguard for a shady music star).