Tuesday, 14 January 2014

Star Trek Hack: Skill list

Okay, the first thing I want to look at in my attempt to create a Star Trek hack is the skill list; in Fate Core the skill list is at the centre of the game, it is your skills that affect your stress boxes (the amount of damage that you can take in combat) and determine how likely (or unlikely) you are to succeed at a task.

This is the default Fate Core skill list:

  • Athletics
  • Burglary
  • Contacts
  • Crafts
  • Deceive
  • Drive
  • Empathy
  • Fight
  • Investigate
  • Lore
  • Notice
  • Physique
  • Provoke
  • Rapport
  • Resources
  • Shoot
  • Stealth
  • Will
When I asked Simon (who i'm writing the hack for) how specific he wanted the skill list to be in the trek hack his response was:

Vehicles will be done I think best by general type Star ship, Shuttle, Aircraft, Ground vehicle & I would use an edge to reflect greater skill in a particular vehicle of a given type.

With this in mind i've looked at how I can add a few skills onto the list to make it more appropriate for a science-fiction setting without adding too many additional skills; this has mainly come down to splitting some skills like drive, shoot and lore into specific skills.

Then it occurred to me that it would probably be easier (rather than starting from scratch) to look for an existing science-fiction skill list online and then trim it down/expand it to meet the needs of the trek hack; with this in mind I turned to the Disapora SRD skill list (which I had already used as a basis for my 40K hack some time ago).

  • Athletics - physical agility.
  • Brawling (combat) - bare fist fighting.
  • Deceive - convincing people that a lie is the truth.
  • Intimidation
  • Investigate - examining clues and searching for solutions to problems.
  • Notice - spotting things, general alertness.
  • Profession: <choice> - choose a profession to use for this skill; some appropriate professions are listed below:
    • Command officer
    • Communications officer
    • Engineering officer
    • Pilot
    • Science officer
  • Rapport - relating to others socially.
  • Stamina - how tough the character is (affects physical stress track).
  • Stealth - sneaking, thievery, etc
  • Survival - surviving in the wilderness, roughing it.
  • Vehicle - driving (non-space) vehicles.
  • Weaponry (guns) - knowledge of how to use and maintain weaponry of the appropriate type.
  • Weaponry (melee) - knowledge of how to use and maintain weaponry of the appropriate type.
  • Will - how strong of will the character is (affects the mental stress track).




2 comments :

  1. I admit to being a little bit disappointed that Technobabble isn't a skill. :-)

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    Replies
    1. LOL it would certainly be applicable - although in Fate i'd make it a Stunt that gave you a bonus to a roll if you could justify it using pseudo-science/technobabble ;)

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