I’ve been wanting to work on the Monster Commute RPG, but I’ve had a difficult time doing anything extra after the dayjob, making a daily comic, blogging, and designing stuff for conventions.
It occurred to me that I could use my daily blogging time to develop certain parts of the game. AND, it’ll allow me a chance to share progress as well.
Right now, I’m going to work on writing the descriptions of the skills.
Some other things that you should know:
- All skills belong to one Potential (category) of Mind, Body or Spirit.
- All skills have a level: Poor, Mediocre, Fair, Good, Great or Superb. (These levels define how good you are at each individual skill.)
- Your Potential limits how high a skill can raise. (A Good Means that all Mind skills can raise to “Good” level, but not beyond.)
- If you do not have a skill, one can often attempt success at a Poor level. (Some skills default to below Poor, such as Surgery or Authority Law.)
- I’m aiming for more general skills than thousands of very, very specific ones. GMs are welcome to devise their own skills as needed.
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Authority Law (Mind) – You have studied and understand the labyrinthine legal system of the Authority. You are able to quote specific laws, and you might even be able to defend yourself in a court of law. You’ll also have an idea when a CrowBot is lying about the law.
CorpTalk (Mind) – You know how to speak the basic language of business, making you less likely to be questioned in business environments and allowing you to understand business briefs.
Drive Rig (Mind) – You have extensive experience driving a steamcar. You know how to drive fast without causing damage to the furnace, how to come to a complete stop, and how to avoid hitting road mines.
Evaluate Goods (Mind) – You can quickly assess the value of goods, where they might have come from, and where they could have been bound for. You may not estimate the value to the dime, but chances are you’ll be close.
Farming (Mind) – You have the knowledge of how to raise crops on land, and can direct laborers to tend to them properly.
Library Use (Mind) – Based on your skill, you’re able to locate specific tomes based in the Monstru Public Library, based upon the complex Authority Cataloging System. (As long as the book is not currently checked out). Those without this skill will have a difficult time finding any information of worth.
Majik Lore (Mind) – You understand the principles and rules of the forbidden art of Majik. This knowledge does not offer any ability to cast spells mind you, just the principles of casting them.
Map Use (Mind) – You’re able to read and provide accurate directions based upon the information printed on maps.
Mechanics (Mind) – You’re a grease monkey, skilled at fixing complicated mechanical devices, clockworks and engines. You are often able to provide first aid services to Mechans.
Monstru History, General (Mind) – You have studied and understand the basic history of Monstru. Other, more specific and in depth Histories are also possible, such as Troll History or Manling History.
Navigate (Mind) – By utilizing signs, local landmarks, and maps, you are able to find locations within your realm of experience. (You’ve been there before.)
Plant Lore (Mind) – You can identify plants and know their common uses. Also useful in determining the condition of specific plants, and their regional environments.
Read/Write Barondook (Mind) – You know how to read and write the ancient tongue of Manlings, Barondook.
Surgery (Mind) – You understand how to provide complicated medical care to a beast. Surgery usually requires very specialized equipment found only in Hospitals and well-stocked Sanitarium Trucks.
Streetwise (Mind) – Life in the big city isn’t quite as dangerous for those with this skill. A Streetwise beast knows how to blend in and find food, shelter, and safety in urban environments.
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Whew! Not bad!
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Feel free to contribute your own MIND skills in a comment. I’ll take my favorite, and add them to the rules.*
- Daniel
*By submitting your ideas, you’re agreeing to allow me to add them to the rules. Please!
Related posts:
How about…
“Cryptography” – The ability to encrypt and decipher codes and hidden messages.
and related…
“Riddling” – the ability to devise and decipher riddles.
“SalesTalk” – the ability to sell garbage to others and convincingly overstate the worth of an object. I would think your ‘honesty factor’ would determine if you are effective in sales through charisma or flat out fraud. Just guessing on mechanics since I don’t know much about the nuts and bolts of the game.
“Bossiness” – You know how to give orders and demand respect. Useful for getting the most out of your furnace goblins.
Here is one for humor…
“Verb Comes Last” – In an obnoxious and perplexing way, you will speak. (Yoda like).
Sorry, not a lot coming to mind tonight, it’s almost bed time…
Exactly what I was looking for. I’d totally blanked the Clockwork/Vendomat skills.
I was thinking that FastTalk would probably work for a general SalesTalk skill. (Slightly more general, which is goodly if I’m ever to finish/publish this thing.) But I think I forgot that one too…
Thanks Wes!
How about Cooking? I’m sure with all the antique canned hams around, you’ll need someone to make it taste better than slops.
Yep, “Cook” is a Crew job that is important and common. So there’d best be a cooking skill, huh?
Thanks!
Camp Out: When in a dungeon or just outside your car, this determines how well you’ll be able to find a place to rest, out of the sun/wind/snow/rain/crowbot patrol area, find a little forage to eat and knock up a shelter for the night. The better the skill, the safer/ warmer/ happier you are
How about Dungeon Camping?
Basically, everyone is camping in their cars… but we’re not really talking about that.
Good one!
just a thought here, but couldn’t ‘Mechanics’ be subdivided? I mean, just because someone knows about rigs doesn’t mean they can understand how a clockwork operates (since they’re very complex). I don’t know, maybe it could be divided into skills about Autos, Mechans or other machinery. Maybe shutting down a parking meter without springing its trap could be it’s own serperate (and valuable) skill.
That’s certainly plausible. And you very well may be right.
I’m attempting to build a fairly light system, which is why I’m aiming for some rather general skills. (At least right now in the development stages.)
Believe me, it can become a pretty slippery slope once you add Mechan Mechanics, ClockWork Mechanics, Auto Mechanics, CrowBot Mechanics, Trap Mechanics, etc. I’ll never be done defining skills once you applied this to everything.
It’s a balance between simplicity and complexity; I’m aiming for simplicity right now.
Individual GMs are encouraged to define the number of skills that they want to utilize. If you want more granularity, go for it. Adding skills later isn’t hard.
Instead of adding lots of Mechanics skills, I’d be more likely to break it down to Basic Mechanics (autos, furnaces, engines) and Advanced Mechanics (working on Clockworks, Mechan, complicated autos, etc.)
And yeah, I may expand the Mechanics list, once we see how this whole thing plays out.
Your art on this episode is super SWEET! Keep it up!