Cosmos #5 in a series of house rules for a Trav based variant.
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SKILL IMPROVEMENT for Cosmos.
1. The player elects a skill that each character is studying. During the
study period (usually determined by the tech level and invironment) the
character has the new skill at LEVEL-0. To learn a skill the PC must have
the means at hand. These could be LIBRARY programs, SIMULATOR programs,
carefully designated practice steps or direct guidence with another
character with INSTRUCTION and the skill being studied.
Common sense comes into play here. You can't study GUNNER stranded
on an low tech level planet but you certainly could study
STREETWISE or SURVIVAL. MAGIC and PSI are virtually impossible
to learn without a defacto instructor (real, ancient ritual or
otherwise). NOTHINGNESS also has a special learning technique
(see its skill description).
2. The player can elect to improve an existing skill level INSTEAD
of learning a new one.
3. Normally the character only studies ONE skill at a time (as mentioned in
1.), however MAGIC, PSI and NOTHINGNESS can be studied while
another mundane skill is being studied due to their unusual
properties.
4. Normally the tech level will determine the study period:
Tech level 0-2 180 days
Tech level 3-10 90 days
Tech level 11-18 45 days
Tech level 19-26 30 days
Tech level 27-31 15 days
The dice roll to determine if the character increases the skill:
7[+(new skill level)-(number times attempted and failed)-
(skill use dice modifier)-(instructors level dice modifier)-(INT
dice modifier)-(EDU dice modifier)]+
on 2Dice
The greater "new skill level" the more difficult the roll is. The other
dice modifiers make the roll easier.
The skill level is a number between 1 and n. In theory n is
infinite but in practice is limited by the tech level and EDU
level of the society in question. The number of times attempted
is recorded on the character sheet for each character by the player for
each failure at a skill. Thus the chance to increase a skill
level decreases each study period. The skill use dice modifier is the
number of time the character used the skill DURING the study period.
It is limited to THREE. Usages above 3 are not counted as dice modifiers.
The instructors level dice modifier counts if the character was studying
with an instructor with INSTRUCT skill AND the skill the character is
studying. The instructors level dice modifier is applied only if the
INSTRUCT skill roll is made. The normal difficulty procedure applies to
the instructor rolling their skill. The INT dice modifier is based on
the characters INT:
2-5 = -1; 6-9 = 0; A-D = +1; E-(E+3) = +2; for each 3 pts >
(E+3) = +1
The EDU dice modifier is based on the characters EDU:
2-5 = -1; 6-B = 0; C-E = +1; F-(F+3) = +2; for each 3 pts >
(F+3) = +1
5. Skill levels run: ...-2,-1,<null>,0,1,2,3,4,5,6...
6. If the player rolls a 2 when trying to increase the characters skill level
it is ALWAYS a failure. The player subsequently tries to roll the
current skill level. If that fails then the character goes DOWN a level.
If the current skill level is zero then the character has the skill at
a negative level and has a psychological block against learning
that particular skill. If the character is successfully 'cured' by
another with PSYCH (or possibly SOC SCI) then the level returns
to zero NOT <null>. A character with a negative skill cannot substitute
a save vrs. one the characters characteristics for zero level.
7. For failures to count for increasing a skill level the studying
of that skill does not have to be consecutive. This means that
ORATORY-2 can be studied then GROUND CAR-1 and then ORATORY-2 again
and have the failures count.
8. Successful usages of the skill ONLY count while the character is studying
it.
9. Skills can also be learned while trying to increase EDU (see
increasing character characteristics).
Discussion: The ability to learn, how fast one can learn, how much
information is available to a given society and how fast one can get
to it all determines the TECH LEVEL for that society.
In addition to these components the INT of species may have been
increased via bioengineering and their may be a symbiotic relationship
between the species and its machine systems. The common existence
of PSI would have an enormous impact on learning. All these components
are taken into account when designing the semantic network for the
species skills and HOW FAST they can learn them. Notice here that
League Cosmos must know a lot more about the learning process ITSELF
In League Cosmos without a human instructor
assuming you had a small computer with a library program and a few
subconscious programming tapes if you knew little about MATH you
could learn the basics of algebra and calculus in as little as 45
days. Tech level 11 is as a normalization point for obvious
reasons. In tech level 10 not only would the semantic network of
skills for the same species change somewhat but it would take you
longer to learn skills.
CHARACTER CHARACTERISTIC IMPROVEMENT for Cosmos
1. Instead of a skill the character can elect to improve STR, DEX or END.
This comes about through rigidly controlled diet, programs for body
building and graceful movement, computer aided learning and an
expected minimum amount of medical supervision. The time required
is the same as skills. At the end of the training period a character
characteristic improvement roll is made:
(3Dice - current character characteristic) (+ (number of fails) +
instructor skill))-
on 3Dice.
2. Unlike the skills, for the number of fails to apply to the character
characteristic increase, the training periods MUST be consecutive.
3. Alternatively the player can choose to improve STR, DEX or END
by direct intervention of another character with MEDICAL skill. The
difficulty of the roll is commensurate with new character characteristics:
8 (+ new character characteristic - character medical skill level)+
The greater the characteristic the more difficult the roll. The greater
the skill of the medical system the easier the roll.
4. A player can elect to try to increase a characters INT. When this
attempt is made NOTHING ELSE can be done while the MEDICAL type
works on the character. Increasing the brain power is dangerous and
should not be taken lightly. Failures can cause unpredictable
results and fumbles are disastrous, usually removing the character from
play. The MEDICAL difficulty roll:is:
10 (+ new character INT - character medical skill level)+
The greater the INT the more difficult the roll. The greater
the skill of the medical system the easier the roll.
The minimum time envolved is 45 days at a tech level 12 medical center.
5. A player can elect to increase the characters EDU. To do this the
character must enroll in one of many League or planet run schools. The
total amount of actual time in school must be a 180 actual day
period (at tech level 12). Going half time would double the amount of real
time.
The character must be in routine contact with the instructors so normally
EDU CANNOT be increased on a starship. While in school the character
is allowed (tech level - 4) skill increase rolls in addition to the EDU
increase roll:
8 (+ new character EDU - character instructor skill level - number fails)+
on 3Dice
The greater the EDU the more difficult the roll. The greater
the skill of the instructor system the easier the roll. The number of fails
in this case DO NOT have to be consecutive and each failure makes the roll
easier.
Also cultural, economic and environmental factors can effect the basis for
EDU.
6. Increasing or decreasing a characters SOC depends on what the character
does in the game (and on the subjectivity of the game master).
7. Increasing or decreasing APP is trivial. The medical cost is payed.
8. Increasing PSI in a character is a mystery.
9. Increasing FOR is described in Cosmos magic (force science).