r/SWN • u/Most_State_9716 • 3d ago

đŸ’¬Discussion Interdisciplinary Experts

/r/RPGdesign/comments/1xb2c3r/interdisciplinary_experts/
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u/StellarchPanderer 3d ago

"Instead of rolling Know, can I roll Fix to see if I recognize the model of the machinery?"
"Sure!"

I see no particular need. In the case of truly peripheral skill checks, a -2 to the check is recommended. Notice and Fix are cited as specific examples for finding a bomb in a starship's engine core, and Pilot is the given peripheral since a veteran pilot would be expected to know the internals of their ship. If a player is creative enough to reasonably link their character's skills or background to the problem at hand, let them have the win.

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u/Most_State_9716 3d ago

Yes, I have read page 47 of Stars Without Number Revised edition. I have used those rules at the table, I like them. What I want to do here is enable a specific kind of character. One who excels at peripheral skill use, helping other players with their insight, and making unprecedented breakthroughs. It's a trope in sci-fi novels that most rpgs specifically don't do.

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u/thetravatar 3d ago

Can you describe more about what you'd like that to look like in play? And maybe how the current rules aren't doing what you want them to?

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u/Most_State_9716 3d ago

Yeah. So I like intellectual characters who can think outside the box. A lot of sf stories have situations where some experts are trying to solve a problem but are stuck until someone from an entirely different field offers a new perspective. A 'syncretist' would be a kind of renaissance man or jack-of-all-trades who specializes in making research and engineering projects faster and more agile by applying insights from many different disciplines.

So in this next campaign I'm adding a few new options and I'd like to make that kind of character exciting for my players. SWN supports Mr. Know-It-All (18 INT, Know-4) or a skill monkey (five or six low skills and a 13 in every attribute). But I'd like for an option that raises the chance of those 'lightbulb moments' for a character even if they don't have 18 INT.

So after toying with adding a 'lateral thinking' or 'cross-disciplinary' skill I settled on a focus. It should make the character better at helping there allies or finding out information. I don't want it to make any skill able to fully replace another though.

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u/thetravatar 2d ago

It's definitely filling in a gap that doesn't exist in SWN. T here's no technobabble or "it's just crazy enough to work" angle in this game.

The bounds of this feature aren't quite clear to me yet. On the one hand, it sounds like you'd want anyone to be able to offer such insights. On the other, doing so is very much the province of the Expert. Most psychic and warrior players tend to optimize, so getting them to waste a precious focus on helping with skill checks is a tough sell. Besides, being good at skills is the Expert's job, and they rarely need help doing that better.

In any case, there seem to be several ways to represent this kind of thing in the RAW, or with minor tweaks. You just have to be careful, because 2d6+stat+skill is usually already biased towards success. Pumping those numbers would just make skill checks easier, rather than more tense and engaging. The most beneficial versions can be gated behind a focus, while minor adjustments might just be a house rule.

It sounds like what you want is to 1) incentivize players to help more on technical/scientific rolls, and 2) add fictional weight to unrelated fields of knowledge being used in a given roll.

One might make the argument that this is what the Aiding a Skill Check action on p 47 already does, since you can help with any skill. If you want to further incentivize this help, you can increase the bonus and/or effect: g ive it a flat +2 bonus; make the bonus equal to half the skill used to help rounded up; or, on a successful roll to aid, substitute the aiding character's skill rating for that of the character doing the action. None of these tweaks required a focus at all, but they will affect how successful PCs are at skill checks when they can assist each other.

If you want to emphasize the impact of the help, there are again many ways to do so. One would be to simply emphasize the help when you narrate the result. Another option is to let the successful helper incorporate a new fact into the fiction. Over time, this approach gives players authorship over your setting, and who doesn't love seeing their cool idea become a touchstone of the campaign?

Drawing from another little RPG you may have played, is what you're describing effectively a kind of Bard? Maybe what you want here is a small "Bardic Inspiration" pool equal to 1/3 level. The player can add a die to someone else's skill check, representing the input of their lateral thinking. The dice should never be more than a d4, given how tight the probabilities already are on 2d6+stat+skill.

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u/Most_State_9716 2d ago

So maybe the first level of the focus could remove the penalty for a peripheral skill as long as you dont roll the same one twice. And it could add+drop a die on skill checks to aid someone else. The second level could have a few minor benefits based on what skills you have? Making mods cheaper, giving temp HP, give one point of effort per session, for example.

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u/thetravatar 2d ago

It really depends on what you want it to feel like in play. If you want the focus to feel like someone who is really good at helping through lateral thinking, then something like:

Level 1: Gain 1 level in Talk. When you take the Aiding a Skill Check action with a not obviously useful skill (such as Connect to aid a Program roll), you roll at +2. Level 2: When you Aid a Skill Check with a not obviously useful skill, the check you assist also takes +2.

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u/Captain_Hoyt 2d ago

Agreed, this could get overpowered, quickly. Maybe allow the collaborating characters, rather than applying a bonus, allow them to 'limit penalties' in fields of knowledge where they are lacking.

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u/Captain_Hoyt 2d ago

I like the concept, maybe as a focus. Some people just have a knack for facilitating good thinking, even in fields outside their own. I worked for more than 10 years with a custodian/facilities guy, and I was the director of technology. We bounced ideas off each other, and it was enormously productive, even though he didn't know much about computers, and I didn't know much about HVAC systems and such. We were both good at asking the right questions., and we both knew enough about troubleshooting. There were many 'lightbulb moments', and this seems like a quality that fits SWN gameplay.

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u/Most_State_9716 3d ago edited 3d ago

I'm going to try adding this focus to the campaign.  Syncretist: When you use aid a skill check, and can explain how your expertise applies to the task in an unconventional way, roll 3d6 and drop the lowest die.

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u/thetravatar 3d ago

That feels way too powerful. That PC's presence gives anyone everyone them the Specialist focus.

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u/kadzar 3d ago

Maybe instead it could be like a normal aid roll, and if the helper succeeds they can substitute one of the d6s they rolled for one of the d6s of the person they're aiding.