Cosmos #4; A continuation of Cosmos Trav derived house rules
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Skill Usage in COSMOS
The skill based system and the simplicity of the dice rolling
conventions are features that attracted me to TRAV. The distance
between the skills (or what is called the cascade effect) in the
network determines its difficulty depending on the PCs background.
There are several paradigms implied in Cosmos skill system. The
first is what you could call a 'tree' structure. In this case a
generalized skill becomes a specialized skill in the next node 'down'.
A specialized skill has the header SUBSKILL in the skill descriptions.
The second paradigm is what you could call a 'network' structure. In
this case skills are related (in either physical, Tech Level or
Cultural terms) to other kills. In the skill descriptions SKILL
ASSOCIATIONS makes reference to the network attribute of a skill.
Many of these associations are cultural instead of technological.
Notice that there is an associative function of combining of two
or more skills to make a generalized skill and a dissasociative
function of reducing skills to two or more atomic skills. Also notice
that some skill combinations form skills that are obscure or
nonsensical. These skills could be a tool for the GM to generate
attributes for alien cultures. If a player wants a Character with
ASSASSIN-1 (a new skill to this list) they would first learn
ASSASSIN-0 (not very useful) and then learn ASSASSIN-1 and gain
ACTING-0, BRIBERY-0, CLIMBING-0, FORGERY-0, HIDE ITEM-0, etc. Before
the Character could learn ASSASSIN-2 they would have to learn
ACTING-1, BRIBERY-1, and so on. Can anybody out there guess what
associations to use for PHILOSOPHER (*snicker*)-1? A very old
Character could have BEING-n where BEING is the total generalized set
of skills knowable by the given society. MAGIC and PSIONICS are
treated differently because of their causal agents (they are effect
based *and* skill based). MAGIC and PSIONICS are more common in a
continuum of existence where the transformation of energy into matter
takes place in a short amount of "time". In Cosmos continuum the
transformation of matter into energy is commonplace (in a short amount
of "time") so MAGIC and PSIONICS are associated to BEING (and
NOTHINGNESS?). Once learned (as you might guess) MAGIC is associated
to other skills to form "schools": MAGIC+PSYCHOLOGY, MAGIC+PHYSICS,
MAGIC+BIOLOGY, MAGIC+WRITING, so on. Maybe JEDI KNIGHT-2 = MAGIC-1 +
PSIONICS-1 + BEING-1 ? At extremely high tech levels the
transformations of energy and matter over a period of time is common
place so technological and magical skills are indistinguishable ( a
corollary of Clarks Law?).
Some skills lend themselves to a large number of subskills. The
obvious examples are skills like VEHICLE, GUN CBT, etc. The distance
between the generalized skill ("root" node) and the specialized skill
("branch" node) is still 1, however it is easier for a Character to
learn a SUBSKILL than an ASSOCIATED skill.
The makeup of a semantic network for any given species are
objective factors (the physics of the time-space-matter-energy
continuum... presumably the same for all species), subjective factors
(the species natural history and collective learned behavior), and the
tech level of the species, a combination of the first two. Therefore,
the network implied for League Cosmos skills is different for higher
and lower tech levels and different for an alien species. (for
example, the ANASI would never have MATH-2 without LAW-2 and SOCIAL
SCIENCE-1; Note the Anasi are an alien species at about tech level 24
that consider all activity subject to legal contracts).
As an option we use negative skill levels for Characters that
attempt improvement of their skills and fail with a fumble. They are
considered to have a psychological block against learning and using
the skill. Their success roll goes to 12+. Thus such a character with
GUN-CBT(-1) has a psychological fear of guns.
Cosmos Skill Usage Dice Rolling Conventions
Saves vrs. EDU:
Common knowledge skills such as knowing how to operate the
local Media Comm Network, how to turn on a tech unit, recognizing a
grav driven LEV, knowing a particular video magazine name etc.,
typically is a save vrs. EDU on 3D. Positive and negative DMs are
applied according to the difficulty of the roll. The difficulty level
of EDU saves at 3D+2 is equivalent to STREETWISE-0, SOCIAL SIENCE-0,
MATH-0, HISTORY-0, etc.
Saves vrs STR, END, and DEX:
Common physical skills have similar mechanics to those that
are knowledge based. The difficulty level at 3D+2 is equivalent to
ATHLETICS-0, JUMP-0, etc.
Skills before Tech Level Zero
Pre intelligent or animal skills are possible and numerous.
BITE-2, RUNNING-6, JUMP-5, FLY-2 are examples.
Skills with EDU as component
Skills that have EDU as a modifier are subject to tech level
limitations. This usually means that trying to get a skill greater than:
(Tech Level)/2
is research. Thus the character would be trying to temporarily or
permanently increase the tech level.