Ah, so we now get an explanation for the skills that have
been rolled up. Oh, and there’s a proper nomenclature for writing the skills.
And yes, I get to double-up on skills rolled. So, it’s Rifle-2, Forward
Observer-2, Blade-1, Mechanical-1, ATV-1, Electronics-1, & Brawling-1. Got
it.
Characteristic alterations are self-explanatory and
permanent. Good enough. Weapon Expertise is next, divided up into Brawling,
Blade, Gun, and Gunnery. Interestingly, all PCs get weapon expertise of ½ when
created. Not sure what that means, except that I’m curious: Do all PCs have
basic knowledge of how to us shipboard artillery, then? Must be one heck of a
training course for the Merchants… “Okay, you’re going to be flying cargo from
star system to star system. Piece of cake. Oh, and not that you need to worry
or anything, but we’re going to show you how to operate this laser cannon. Just
a formality.”
Brawling is pretty easy to figure out, but it comes with
several weapon skills when taken. So Major Rollinson actually has HTH combat-1,
Club-1, Bottle-1, Pool Cue-1, Chair-1, Barstool-1, Plate Glass Window-1…quite
the catch-all. I guess the Marines and Army (and Other) teach the fine arts of
beating the crap out of someone with whatever is available. But the others get
nicer things, so…
And then there’s Blade Combat. Unlike Brawling, Blade Combat
requires the choice of a weapon right away, and you only learn the one. There’s
a handy list, which includes…halberd? Pike? In a far-future sci-fi game? Well,
I guess there are primitive cultures out there to exploit—I mean, discover and
interact with. But what the heck is Cudgel doing on this list? Isn’t a cudgel a
synonym for a club? Which was already covered in Brawling? More importantly,
cudgels are blunt objects, not bladed instruments. Maybe ‘Blade Combat’ refers
to ‘hand-to-hand weapon fighting,’ but that still doesn’t jive with Brawling
covering all those improvised weapons. I’ll have to think about that a bit
more, or maybe someone with more experience with these rules can spell it out
for me.
Blade Weapons can be taken multiple times, either increasing
skill with one weapon, or spreading it out over several different ones (or
both, if you get the skill 3 times). More to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment