 March 17, 2009 - 11:13am | My regular D&D 3.5 group has one member who cant show up till 1.5 hours after the rest of us and we end up sitting there doing nothing much for that time. So I've recommended to the GM that I could run a old school rules light game for an hour and a half and if we use the card counters instead of miniatures "gasp!" (to think I'd suggest not using miniatures!) as it'd be easy enough to pick up quick. So if the other player is down with that I'll be running everything old school under AD rules and just run Crash on Volturnus as the whole adventure is set up as quick little scenes that a TV series director would squeeze between commercials. Anyhow knowing that it will be 2 PCs plus an NPC (most likely the medic) and 2 robots I plan to throw in to beef up the party. I was thinking about skills that may not get represented and their impact on the adventure. I'm leaning toward having some default skills operate communication devices (chronocoms 100%, radio phone 90%, subspace radio 90% -5%/light year & -10% penalty if doing it from a planetary surface) operate cars (ground or hover) and hover cycles (I'm guessing that the 3 hover fan configuration is more stable than a ground cycle) in a city enviroment at non excessive speeds and normal non combat maneuvering 100% operate ground cycle subtract your speed from 100 then add your RS and thats your skill check after every maneuver (continuing to go straight no check) operate explorer subtract speed from 100 add 1/2 RS and thats your skill check after every manuever -20% to all driving defaults if in combat First aid subtract the total wounds (lost STA) from 100% add 1/2 INT or LOG for the % chance of an unskilled character using first aid, includes the use of Biocort during first aid. Manually detonate explosives: 100% (must be touching the explosive to be detonated)  Operate computers: LOG - 10%/level of computer Display information: (LOG-10) -(10%/level of computer) Operate and use airlocks and other emergency equipment 100% The above really represents basic stuff that people living in a sci-fi genre really ought to be able to do. None of these are really a total freebe and its certain that a PC will want to use the actuall skills over the defaults. However allowing the above should facilitate the game moving along. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 17, 2009 - 1:22pm | I personally think all PC's in this genre should be able to access a computer and display information (public) of the areas they have access to. No check. Masaging the data or accessing private areas would require a skill and a roll. I really don't know what is takes to turn on a supspace radion and use it, maybe you need a skill. If your on a planet perhaps you need Astrogation. |
March 17, 2009 - 9:18pm | I personally think all PC's in this genre should be able to access a computer and display information (public) of the areas they have access to. No check. Masaging the data or accessing private areas would require a skill and a roll. I really don't know what is takes to turn on a supspace radion and use it, maybe you need a skill. If your on a planet perhaps you need Astrogation. I would be inclined to agree with you but if its not in the party's skill set then it creates a kink. I figure that someone at some time would idot proof the subspace radio as they would prove too crucial to long distance communication. The answer might be that the std. subspace radio requires astrogation skill to align but a full bells and whistles model (that real astrogator's snear at even if they use it anyway) that has an expensive astro program that with a prompts to the user will align itself and eventually (enforce a time penalty) and allow for communication. it opens the possibility to spoil the PC with having the upscale model radio available then throw a curve ball in an adventure where the std model is all that is available and no NPC astrogators are around or the one that is happens to be a drunk on a bender. Though if an astro program could align a subspace radio why couldn't it align a star ship for void jump? So that might be a can of worms. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 March 18, 2009 - 10:49pm | Using the standard "any two skills" ruling for starting players, it really isn't an issue at all. Operate and dispaly info is covered in the computer subskills. As far as what Woot says, I hold that to be true for a public access terminal but never for a private computer. Ditto for explosives and first aid, those are skills that anyone can pick up as one of their two. As for the subspace radio, remember that a pilot needs a LVL:6 tech prerequisite so he already has that skill to operate the radio prior to becoming a pilot (ditto for an engineer). And anyone can pick up that LVL:1 Technician skill along the way to use the radio over time as well. |
 March 19, 2009 - 5:07am | Another way to look at it: the skill checks are for out of the ordinary or stressful situations. In my SFU it is not unreasonable to state that pcs are capable & experienced drivers of the more common vehicles. They might not have put points in the actual skill, but the only time a vehicle skill check will be necessary is for vehicle combat and fancy maneuvers. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
March 19, 2009 - 8:02pm | I can subscribe to RumRogue's vehicle comments. Sure, anyone could operate a ground car in normal/commuting conditions, but I would probably mandate the tech skill for the hovercraft as it is a bit more intricate. |
