Stuff Your Character Knows

My old D&D group could be pretty crunch heavy. We liked rules and numbers that expressed knowledge that our characters had. We wanted a way to express that our characters had knowledge that didn’t have skill points attached. For example if a character was learning how to play the piano, and only knew one piece of music does it really worth giving them the skill Perform (Piano), or could it be expressed some other way that they were proficent in that one piece of music on one instrument?

The Article System

And thus our system was born. In short we would give a +2 for a hyper specific skill or piece of knowledge. Using my piano example it would be expressed by giving a +2 to the perform check when playing Mary had a Little Lamb on the piano. Now the character would normally only roll their stat check when playing but as they had studied this one particular piece it gave them a little helping hand. This could be expressed in any number of ways for any skill type, for example if a character knew the statistics on divorce in the state of Wisconsin they would get a +2 to any relevant skill using that knowledge.

How it was acquired

The beautiful thing about the system was how these articles were acquired. We dropped these rules into a modern game which is full of information sources; wikipedia, blogs, and newspapers. Characters were a fountain of resources to know little bits about everything. Our system just provided a crunchy way of expressing it. We began to horde them like gold pieces, articles were placed with loving care to round out characters and proved useful tool for remembering things we were told. It was quite a little success in our group.

Why I bring this up

Savage Worlds is a rules light system, and trust me, I have no desire to change that. However, the rules tweaker in me can’t help but wonder how I might change a few dice rolls here or there. My thought immediately rushes to just porting the old system over and making it a +2 roll like we used to, but I balk at such a callus change. What should I do?

So I turn to you my dear readers; how would you make the change? I want to respect the fast, furious, fun aspects of Savage Worlds but want an elegant way to express these little areas of study. Expanding common knowledge just seems a bit broad, but a straight die roll change seems to grating against the philosophy of Savage Worlds. So let us participate in a thought experiment, how would you express such an idea?

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http://singularmoments.blogspot.com/ Cole

Maybe a person could purchase those articles like a magical item.

After the purchase, they would give the base attribute (smarts for a pianist) plus the modifier. I would start at a +1, and make a +2 really expensive since the TN is 4.
77IM

For articles that are little bits of info that don't really matter, I'd expand Common Knowledge such that:
– Articles only give a +1 instead of +2 (since +2 is a huge bonus in SW, equivalent to +5 or better in d20; a d20+2 is more like SW+1)
– The bonus applies to any sort of Trait check, but not opposed rolls or attack rolls (because that would just be too powerful — “I know about the Mafia so I get a +1 to shoot all these guys, right?”)

For more substantial specialized skills, I'd use my Talent Edge:
http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24138#268743
http://www.ApathyGames.com Jeff Carlsen

In truth, Common Knowledge does cover this, without any modification. In fact, it's the very purpose of Common Knowledge. But that doesn't erase the value of tracking articles.

Instead, when you read a book, or attend a lecture, or do something that would gain you an article, you simply write that down. You now get the Common Knowledge bonus for it if it comes up.

I could see the +1 concept 77IM mentioned (I'm happy to see you commenting here, by the way. I've always enjoyed your presence on the PEGInc forums), but I think that's a different take than what we used articles for.

Articles usually represent one small thing that a character learns well. The system with the +1 bonus seems to be something more broad that the character has merely dabbled in.
http://www.ApathyGames.com Jeff Carlsen

I like that Talent Edge. Specialized skills was another house rule we'd used a lot, but the level of detail that created is very not FFF, and most ideas of how to implement it would dramatically overpower characters in Savage Worlds.

While your Talent Edge doesn't do precisely the same thing, it's a clean way to add a little more complexity to a character, without too much risk.
http://www.ApathyGames.com Jeff Carlsen

Of course, this only applies to Knowledge Stuff. Perhaps if a character has an article that might help another skill, a successful common knowledge roll might add a +1.
77IM

I see — if articles represent super-specialization then I might increase the bonus even past +2.

For example, a character in my Zombie Run game wanted to have Knowledge (Matzah Ball Soup) d12. I told her we'd just use Common Knowledge at +4 if the issue ever came up. (It turned out to be useful in boosting post-war morale.)

You guys have a pretty fun and interesting blog. I've liked reading Tyson's insane take-all-challenges posts. Now make more games!!!
http://www.ApathyGames.com Jeff Carlsen

Thank you. We're working feverishly on real games. But it's always worth taking the time once a day to entertain you.
77IM

I see — if articles represent super-specialization then I might increase the bonus even past +2.

For example, a character in my Zombie Run game wanted to have Knowledge (Matzah Ball Soup) d12. I told her we'd just use Common Knowledge at +4 if the issue ever came up. (It turned out to be useful in boosting post-war morale.)

You guys have a pretty fun and interesting blog. I've liked reading Tyson's insane take-all-challenges posts. Now make more games!!!
http://www.ApathyGames.com Jeff Carlsen

Thank you. We're working feverishly on real games. But it's always worth taking the time once a day to entertain you.