Re: What does a n% skill really mean?

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From: Henk Langeveld - Sun Nederland (Henk.Langeveld@Holland.Sun.COM)
Date: Fri 02 Jul 1993 - 12:55:49 EEST

In the playtest list you write:

>DC finally sneaks in a reply. I'm reading everything; there's just no
>time to fully speak my mind...

Know the feeling.

>Paul Reilly suggests for craft skills that certain levels (30%/60%/90%)
>impart given benefits.

>The idea that a certain level in a skill "guarantees" a certain result
>has been kicked around here before. I remember Loren Miller having
>a system I particularly liked. (Come to think of it, I believe the
>discussion happened on r.g.f.misc, not this mailer...)

>Personally, I think the idea has a lot going for it. What holds
>me back from wholeheartedly embracing it is pure fear of the
>unknown: "It's just so different from the way we do it now..."

I think the idea of different skill levels for craft will appeal to
a lot of people, and a precedent exists: language skills.

The whole issue is: Is this suggestion really different from the
standard GM option of adding or subbing percentages to the skill
for any particular tasks?

You can look at the issue from two sides: skills vs tasks.
Using the (30/60/90) model is using a skill based approach.

The task based approach is defining "hard/medium/simple" task
levels, combined with skill bonuses or penalties.

This is one of the traditional ways of resolving skill tests in the case
of trivial or simple tasks: Modify the die roll or skill.

Take the example of a simple task: repairing a bronze brooch by
unbending a pin. Almost anyone can do that. So a crafter with 30%
will succeed easily. So, add 70% to skill for a "simple" task.

In general:

Add xx% to skill for a task of level n, where xx% starts
from +70% going rapidly down to +40%, 0, -40%, -70% ...

If the modified skill is (substantially) greater than 100, the GM has
the option of omitting the die roll. If there is a possibility that
the possible effect of failure could be drastic, just use the die roll
to test for fumble. 

-- 
Henk	|	Henk.Langeveld@Sun.COM - Disclaimer: I don't speak for Sun.
oK[]	|	RuneQuest-Request@Glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM

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