New Everyman skill

[JmOz]

I want some feedback on something I have been doing that works for me very well

 

I have a additional KS: Common Knowledge (Int Roll) as part of my everyman skills, characters can buy it higher. THis skill is used when something would qualify as common knowledge, but not something everyone would know.

 

An example might be who was the queen of england's husband or the name of the second lady. Things that someone could reasonable be expected to know but is not guaranteed to know.

 

If someone wants to be just VERY knowledgable about things they can buy it at higher levels as well

 

THis was created when I had a player wanting to be a bit of a know it all, not about specific topics, just very well educated/informed (he bought it to 20-)

[Ndreare]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

Looks great to me.

 

I have been using KS: Everything with huge penalties, but it is clunky. I think your skill it better and will introduce it. It makes sense as you have described it and would not need huge clunky penalties. I would rule it does not apply to specific information as I am sure it is not your intent for a guy with a KS: Common Knowledge -20 to be rolling to remember the Ambassador to China's second daughters birthday. But used contextually it fits very well with some of the people I know who just seam to be very well informed on the news and current times.

[psyber624]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

Nothing wrong with that, but I would usually just use a base INT roll for "common knowledge" types of questions (in the event it is something the CHARACTER might know even if the player doesn't). Allowing it as an everyman skill (especially if its everyman INT roll and not the standard everyman 8-) is basically the same thing. The only difference is the cost of becoming really good at Common Knowledge (i.e. Trivia Man). In the INT roll system you have to buy a KS at standard prices (either calling it Trivia, Common Knowledge, or whatever) then buying your +1's, with yours you simply buy the +1's. Of course that is a difference of a whopping 2 CP so yeah, either way is about equal

[dmjalund]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

my only coment is I think it should be called General Knowledge rather than Common Knowledge

[Bolon]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

Would Common Knowledge be only for knowledge that a character would know but the player doesn't since it is not a world of his reality? Or would it be a skill used for knowing things that the character could know that really doesn't fit into a knowledge skill category?

 

I thought that would be called Area of Knowledge - with a place, Professional Skill with a job category or Knowledge Skill with a group of people. Why shouldn't you be rolling on their AK- Campaign area? That has been the skill we have used for the last 20 years as an everyman skill.

[psyber624]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

The reason for something like that is that there is a lot of information that most people know (at a certain intelligence level) that is just general knowledge. For instance, even tho I am in the US, i know that England has a Royal Family. Now I shouldn't have to take a KS to know that sort of info, most people here across the pond are aware of that much. I can't remember the Queen's name, although I know Princess Di and Prince Charles figure in there somewhere. Yet in game that would require a KS: England to know if you want to be technical about it. Smart people (especially when you start talking about people with INT over 15-20) just KNOW a lot of stuff about a plethora of different subjects (like knowing what words like plethora mean, do i need KS: Vocabulary for that?) That is what general knowledge, or common knowledge rolls are about.

 

In the game there will be some information that the Character might know, but the Player doesn't (as the character lives in a fictitious world and not the real one.) Or the character might be FAR smarter than the player and would have a larger pool of general knowledge to pull from. (I know a good bit about biology from my high school days, but not enough to take a KS to represent that. I would rate my personal, real world INT at around 15 (i have a relatively high IQ and am known for my intellect). There will be things that i can remember from science class, but that someone else may not. And a character with INT around 25-30 would probably remember every detail from every textbook they read (at least the key points.)

 

That is what common knowledge rolls represent.

[Bolon]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

I would argue that the AK-Campaign City would give you the knowledge of the world but with more penalties as you get farther from that city or region. Using your example, I am from Canada and the royal family are our royal family in England too whereas it is something you know about due to recent events in the U.S. If you go back 30 years, you might not have such a knowledge of the royals since it was recent events like Diana's death, the Elton John song and the recent marriage of one of her sons that have made them more recently known. You might need a skill like common knowledge or general knowledge if your GM is very literal. Running a Canadian or just a commonwealth character, I would assume some knowledge. A basic INT roll would be used for things outside of the other Everyman skills but is it really necessary to mess with the players and the characters by being so much of a prick or dick about things if needed to further the plot? It might need to be depending on your GM.

[Sean Waters]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

The problem with a general knowledge skill is determining what it actually applies to (what is general/what is specific) and what penalties to apply to a particular question. You also want to make sure that it is not used in place of specific knowledge skills. You can argue that all areas of knowledge are interlinked so that if you know enough about one thing, you actually know everything. I mean, you deserve a slap if you actually DO argue that, but you could.

[Laundry Knight]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

The concept is good, but common knowledge can be subjective. What counts as common knowledge to African bushmen probably isn't what would count as common knowledge among ivy league professors. I would just use an intelligence roll modified by the character's background or simply declare the character just knows it.

[griffinman01]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

What I've done in my latest campaign was give people two KS as everyman skills that are relevant to their background, one at 11- and one at 8-. So if someone has a background that they worked as a mechanic I would allow them to have a KS: Cars (11-) (being able to identify make/model/etc at a glance as well as random facts such as any defects that a specific year of car might have) as well as maybe an KS: Motorcycles (8-) for the same thing. Or if someone lived abroad for a year in Japan I'd allow any combination of: CuK: Japanese Culture, AK: Tokyo (or whatever city they lived in), KS: Japanese Video Games/anime, KS: Japanese Government, etc. This limits how broad you're willing to be on 'general knowledge' at any given time (which is something I see people about what fits in there) but gives them some of the general knowledge aspect, just more tailored to the character.

 

Also, general knowledge can vary widely from person to person depending on where and how they grew up, as Laundry Knight pointed out. Someone who grew up in an isolated town may not be as knowledgeable about the world but they might be more adept at knowing things about local wild-life or lore. It's kind of a murky area and unless you put up guidelines I'm sure you'll see people trying to use that at any point possible.

[Sean Waters]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

The problem with such skills is adjudication. I would probably allow someone to have a WikiKnowledge skill. If someone made the skill roll I would let them look it up on Wikipedia and spend no more than 30 seconds scanning the entry. That is how much they know.

[griffinman01]

Re: New Everyman skill

 

The problem with such skills is adjudication. I would probably allow someone to have a WikiKnowledge skill. If someone made the skill roll I would let them look it up on Wikipedia and spend no more than 30 seconds scanning the entry. That is how much they know.

 

That's another thing to consider: how readily available are sources to find the info? If you're talking about a real-world campaign, even kids have smartphones that can access the internet and pull up data just like this on basic facts. In this case, do it as an everyman skill KS: Wikipedia and then put it as an OAF focus (smartphone).