<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MT++:
The other problem with I chose systems is the preponderance of combat skills.
I want characters to have "useless" skills like physics, admin or steward
I REALLY hate gun bunnies
Random skills, within the focus of their career ensures that you will have intersting PC's. I have seen too many "Gun Combat 6, Tactics 3 and nada else" types
If you are going to have points based, make all the "useless" (read: non-combat) skills cheaper. Admin 1 per level, Gun Combat 4 per level sort of thing<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
"Gun bunnies"? Is that derived from Bunnies & Burrows?
Anyway, about combat skills: Most people don't learn any kind of combat except guns (actually, this seems to be a rarely rolled skill in CT).
Three points here, though:
1. I'd wager that most universal systems were designed with fantasy or scifi in mind.
2. Most viable campaign settings are filled with combat. Think about it (can't remember everything off-hand, though):
1900s: World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, constant warfare in the Balkans, Kosovo, Desert Storm, Spanish Civil War, etc.
1800s: Wild West, French Revolution, Napoleanic Era, The Boer War, the Russian pograms, etc.
1500s-1800s: Spanish Conquistadors, American Revolution, wars between England and France, pirates, wars with Islam, etc.
Middle Ages: All-around chaos, fighting and feudalism, etc.
Roman Era: Roman conquests, barbarians, etc.
Pre-Roman Era: Greeks vs. Persians, Greeks vs. Greeks, Babylonian conquests, etc.
And that's jsut the Western World!
Now, these are by not _all_ of the viable campaign settings. There are some non-violent ones, but mostly it remains true that the history of the world is the history of war.
(Surprising myself here that I'm not finished...)
3. There are so many combat skills to put points in! Think aobut the ones in GURPS: Knife, Knife Throwing, Axe, Club, Sling, Black-powdered Weapons, Beam Weapons, Pistols, Rifles, and more!
A good solutions is probably to include few weapons skills. Generalize them. Make three categories of skills: Combat, Physical, and Mental. Make Combat cost more than Physical, which costs more than Mental. Say, x4/x2/x1 spread.
Or limit points spent for all skills, and make it lower for combat.
Or do both.
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Of course, you only need to do this in "sophisticated" roleplaying. In D&D, characters aren't meant to be well-rounded in all manner of crud. "See monster, kill it." And that's still fun to me. Some people believe that this is a better method of temporary escape, which is what roleplaying's really about.
It's a game, after all.
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-J. Jensen