Hi All!!

John introduced me to these forums and it was refreshing to see a V&V forum alive and kicking!!

As far as Skill systems has anyone tried implementing the Skill system Jeff Dee put out in the v & V rules update? It's based on character points but I'm sure it can be adapted for the revised rules.

STORMDANCE wrote on Sep 26^th, 2009 at 11:52pm:

HeY

Welcome to the boards!  I will call you Monday!

John wrote on Sep 26^th, 2009 at 9:16pm:


It's possible that a few of our characters (mine included) might actually need to use the Survival Skill, and I would imagine it would work similar to what you propose here (for us we'd use a d20 Survival Skill roll rather than an I roll).  The reason they might have to use it is that they were sucked through a doorway and ended up in the desert of ancient Egypt something like 3,000 years ago!!!   

When it comes to rules,  I like this adage, "Keep it simple, stupid."

That works for me.   With things like skills, we tend to overcomplicate things and cause to much accounting.   
   I like the simple die roll.  D20 if you possess the skill, D100 if you don't.    

Want to swim to shore?  Sd20 if you have the skill,  Sd100 if you don't.

Want to read that book,  Id20 if you know the language, Id100 if you don't.

Want to survive in the dessert, Id20 if you possess the skill,  Id100 if you don't...

Then we can move on the fun stuff like beating up villains.  After all this isn't D&D.

FWIW, I tended to view this the way you seem to, Chim, and our first stab at Skills was:

a) short and sweet (20 Skills total) and
b) based on percentile rolls

We used this for a few years, and it was alright, but I found there were too many things that didn't fit nicely enough into any of the 20 categories.  Basing things on d100 made things more complex than I wanted as well; the system was complex enough that it was tougher to "guesstimate" what any particular NPCs skill might be, without working out all of their Skills.

So now my newer system (which we have been using successfully for many years) is based on many Skills (over 100) and they're based on a d20 roll.  The system is quick and simple, and it's much easier to figure out what any one skill would be.  For example, a Doctor with an I of 18 would have a 3/16.  That means he has 3 Skill Ranks (1 is a novice, 2 is someone more experienced, and 3 would be a professional) and needs to roll a "16" or less on a d20 when using this Skill.  He obviously isn't going to use this for every mundane thing; it only gets used for significant and/or critical uses.