Tales from the Rocket House
One of the strong suits of this system is its ability to specialize to an almost infinite level. A character could have Prowess: Very Good (15), Swords: Very Good (16), Fencing Blades: Very Good (17), Rapiers: Outstanding (18), and The Rapier His Father Was Murdered With: Outstanding (19) (Hello, my name is...). However, looking back, the six Traits aren’t very intuitive. A new player who’s not familiar with the Traits will have to have them explained. A player trying to make an effective hand-to-hand fighter would need to know that not only is Prowess important, but Strength is as well. Likewise, “Rogue” isn’t a great name for anything. Like “Prowess,” the word “Rogue” is evocative in a fantasy setting, but they both just seemed awkward in modern settings.
So I had the idea to try to “chunk up” to the next level, taking a cue from Tri-Stat and from Leverage (not so much the RPG as the TV show’s clearly divided roles). So I’m trying to go with three universal Traits: Physical, Social, and Wits. The needle-fine specializations are still available, so anyone who wants to can customize the character as before.
The Physical Trait now includes everything from Prowess [now called Fighting] (hand to hand combat, including Initiative), Strength (Toughness, Dealing Damage, Lifting/Carrying, and Grappling), and Athleticism (Dodging, Pursuit, Climbing, Swimming, and pretty much everything not covered elsewhere). The Social Trait now includes everything from Rogue [now called Deception] (lying, read people/human perception/detecting lies, acting, negotiating) as well as Presence, which has come and gone over the course of playing the game (leadership, inspiring, intimidation in social circumstances, asserting authority whether real or not, etc).
The Wits Trait now includes Awareness (Perception, Sneak/Hide, Memory), and Willpower (Resisting all sorts of effects, magical and otherwise). Additionally, it includes Subterfuge, which was formerly a skill (sleight of hand, picking pockets, concealing items, picking basic locks, and a basic Streetwise skill). If you were a Leverage fan, you could call them “Hitter,” “Grifter,” and “Thief,” although the Thief would need a high Athletics specialization to pull of the things Parker does.
Skills would be similarly “chunked up.”
The Mechanical Skill would allow the character to drive or repair anything within her tech level. Simple, but effective. And you can always specialize down, if the character is meant to be a great mechanic but not a particularly exceptional driver (or vice-versa). You can also specialize by type of vehicle (or whatever).
The Technology Skill deals with the setting’s high-tech issues: security systems, computers (if they exist), communications, etc. In a medieval setting, this could make the character a siege engineer who understands the use of pigeons to carry messages. In a cyberpunk setting, this could make the character a “decker” or “netrunner.” Note that someone with high Wits may need the help of someone with a high Technology skill to break a sophisticated safe or other system. I kind of consider that a feature, not a bug. Survival includes more than wilderness survival. It includes navigation, first aid, scavenging, tracking, counter-tracking (moving without leaving a trail), building traps, and general knowledge of animals and plants (useful and poisonous) in the area. It can be used instead of Sneak/Hide in a wild, overgrown area).
Education is a catch-all that includes things like Humanities, Science, Math, Languages, Medicine, and Engineering. Granted, almost no character will have all of these at a high level, though a lower level is probably pretty common. In theory, everyone with a Bachelor’s degree should have this at Average: 10, but the truth is, Bad: 7 is more common, even among college graduates. Very Bad: 4 or no rating at all is more common among those without college education, unless they use part of this skill in their job or have had non-college based training. When will this come up in the game? I don’t know: I’m not your GM. But it is the hallmark of a “Brains” character.
Shooting is the skill of the gunslinger and the sniper. It includes pretty much every missile weapon around, from spear-throwers to plasma rifles. Sailing is the skill of crewing a sailing vessel. It includes navigation, rigging the ropes, dealing with the sails, and manning any cannons the ship may possess. In high-tech settings, you may have a Starship skill that does much the same thing ... in spaaaaace!
Some characters will also have Professions, skills that usually don’t have specializations, and usually don’t have much applicability. Accountant: Very Good (16) will rarely come up in-game, but if it does, go for it. They’re narrower in scale than the major skills, but they can be. That’s the beauty of subjective character creation: you don’t have to obsess about whether the points balance, even for an accountant.
I haven’t come up with the Templates and Character Point costs for this, but let’s face it: those systems were always an afterthought, a bone thrown to those who wouldn’t try the subjective character creation system. But subjective character creation is my big contribution, honestly, and I’m not going to spend any more of my time and energy undermining it.
Final Thoughts
I like this system better. It’s simpler, and it would be easy enough to add new skills (setting-specific ones, presumably, like magical spells). I think it makes a lot more sense for a beginner. Though I’m fond of such terms as “Prowess” and “Rogue,” I think sometimes it’s better to go with something simpler, something that will work better, that will be less off-putting to a new player. What do you think?
