A Slight Tweak to the Skills List

Refinement and streamlining is often my favorite aspect of game design.  The process of writing something up, testing it out, getting feedback and making adjustments is a very rewarding experience for me.  As the game nears completion on some of the larger aspects of the rules, one of the things I like to do to avoid burnout is to revisit some of the smaller things on my "to do" list.  The Skills list is one of those "things".

The first step in coming up with the Skills list for Blood, Sweat & Steel was to determine exactly how they would work in the game, within the rules.  One of my initial primary design goals was to create a Skills-based RPG.  As this game is a Sword & Sorcery RPG, I drew upon the most popular fiction of the genre in order to capture the essence of it.  One common thread in most S&S tales is that the protagonist is, generally speaking, a badass.  It never matters whether he's wielding his favorite sword or a mug of ale, he was going to beat you senseless with it.  It's most often the skill of the person, not their weapons, armor, etc. that save their butt.  In order to reflect this concept in the game, it was important to make Skills an important character trait.

The next step was to identify which Skills would be the most commonly used Skills for this particular game.  In keeping aligned with the primary goal of crafting a Skills-based RPG, this would mean the Skills list would be fairly large, and fairly comprehensive.  I drew my initial inspiration from the Fudge 10th Anniversary hardcover, and began with their list of Skills divided into 8 categories.  In the traditional list, there were several Skills that overlapped into multiple Skill Categories, and there were also an uneven number of Skills in each Category.  My idea was to trim down the list to the shortest possible while still "covering all the bases" for the game.  Additionally, I wanted to have the same number of Skills in each category in order to facilitate character creation.  What I eventually came up with was a list of 48 Skills, evenly divided into 6 Skills for each of the 8 categories.

Once I had a good idea of which Skills I needed to quantify exactly how they would work in the game.  This definition would also help add flavor to the Skills, which would in turn help me determine the best names to use for the Skills that would fit with the rest of the game and the overall theme.  To me, game terminology is one of the best and easiest ways in which to inject flavor and reinforce the desired genre of the game.  Take Attributes, for example.  Since the game is a Sword & Sorcery game, I wanted to reflect a more base and gritty feel to it.  Intelligence is one of the most common Attributes found in most RPG's, but the term "Intelligence" felt a bit too sophisticated for the genre.  So, I went with "Brains" instead.  Brains matched up nicely with Brawn to indicate physical strength, and that formed the foundation for naming the rest of the Attributes.  I'm now taking the same approach to the Skill names.

This is what I currently have, after doing some minor tweaking to streamline and simplify some of the names:

Athletic/Dexterity

• Acrobatics
• Athletics
• Riding
• Running
• Sleight of Hand
• Swimming

Combat

• Melee
• Mounted
• Ranged
• Read Opponent
• Thrown
• Unarmed

Covert/Urban

• Investigation
• Observation
• Poisons
• Stealth (Urban)
• Survival (Urban)
• Thieving

Knowledge

• Civics
• Geography
• History
• Language
• Nature
• Supernatural

Magic

• Divination
• Hypnotism
• Preparation
• Rituals
• Sense Magic
• Spells

Professional

• Artisan
• Entertainer
• Farmer
• Hunter
• Merchant
• Metalsmith

Scouting/Outdoor

• Boating
• Mountaineering
• Navigation
• Stealth (Nature)
• Survival (Nature)
• Tracking

Social/Manipulative

• Carousing
• Diplomacy
• Haggle
• Intimidate
• Lie
• Seduce

One of the tricky things about Skills in most systems is that the often mean much more than the title of the Skill in regards to the game.  My main goal with the Skills is trying to cover as much ground as possible with the given Skills, and name them in a way that is intuitive, yet inherently flexible.  I think this list, though not perfect, is one step closer to achieving those goals. :)

The Benefits of Play Testing

One of the greatest experiences I've had on this journey called game design is the value of play testing your game as you develop it.  When I first decided to take a stab at creating a game from the ground up, I began by researching game design and trying to find as much information on the subject as possible.  That led me to a LOT of horror stories about games that appeared to have little to no play testing before being released.  Being new to the whole process, that scared me into a possible overreaction, as this game has been in play testing since its inception.

My last post was about a change in the Fudge Ladder.  At the time, it seemed to be the easiest way to give the game a little head room to allow for more character development and campaign-style play.  However, extensive play testing revealed that a simpler fix was to keep the standard Fudge Ladder and just adjust the default level for untrained Skills.

The only thing that frustrates me with almost daily play testing is that it can become very confusing to me and my players from time to time.  Thankfully, I've been lucky enough to attract some amazing and patient role players.

So, with all of that said........

.......the original Ladder is back! The change we're currently working with is to raise the default rank for untrained Skills from -4 (Abysmal) to -3 (Terrible).  The current allotment of Skill Group Points and Skill Points will remain the same..........for now. :)

"That by which we call a rose......."

While play testing usually ferrets out the mechanical discrepancies in an RPG, I've found that it can also be helpful in uncovering "fluff" issues as well.  Attempting to make a "gritty" game with headroom for character development using Fudge has definitely been a challenge, but I think I may have figured out one of the things that was making it a bit more difficult than it need be.

If I had to pick just one thing that originally drew me to Fudge more than any other, I would have to say that it was the Adjective Ladder.  For those who are unfamiliar with Fudge, the Adjective Ladder is a simple system that attaches an adjective to each possible outcome on standard Fudge dice roll.  Why would they do this, you ask?  I believe its primary purpose was to minimize "meta-speak" or "table talk", and encourage better "in character" dialogue at the gaming table.  First, here's the original Fudge Ladder:

+4 = Legendary
+3 = Superb
+2 = Great
+1 = Good
  0 = Fair
 -1 = Mediocre
 -2 = Poor
 -3 = Terrible
 -4 = Abysmal

Using this example, a player could say that their character is a "Great" swordsman, or is "Fair" at picking pockets, instead of using mechanical game terms to describe certain aspects of their character.  I have found that, while some players seem to really dislike this type of system, an overwhelming majority of my play testers, including many very seasoned veterans of gaming, seem to latch onto this system pretty seamlessly.

While this ladder works wonderfully for most games, I've found that it benefited from some tweaking to accommodate my game, which has a lower baseline for "normal" in order to allow for more character growth and "campaign-style" play.

After trying many different combinations, I found that all I really had to do was to shift the bottom of the traditional ladder up by one, and add a new adjective near the top in order to make a ladder that fits Blood, Sweat & Steel  better.  Here is the adjusted ladder:

+4 = Legendary
+3 = Superb
+2 = Exceptional
+1 = Great
  0 = Good
 -1 = Fair
 -2 = Mediocre
 -3 = Poor
 -4 = Terrible

It's not a massive change by any definition, but it is an important one, because it's a non-standard ladder.  On the upside, there are quite a few different ladders out there, especially when you throw Fate-based games into the mix.  But on the down side, new ladders take some time for players accustomed to the traditional ladder to learn.  I'm throwing the dice and making the gamble that in the long run, this will benefit the game more than it will hurt the game.  This ladder makes more sense for my game, and there are already many different ladders for many different games.  Still, it was a bit scary to take that step off the ledge.  I would never try to assert that the Fudge Ladder is a "sacred cow", since Fudge was designed with the specific intent of being a toolkit style game that was meant to be tweaked, poked, prodded and twisted to suit one's needs.  Still, being a bit of a traditionalist, it did feel a bit odd to make the switch.  A couple of months of play testing before we launch the Kickstarter for the game will give me plenty of time to change my mind, if it doesn't "take".  Time will tell! :)