Skills in Unlucky 13

Over a year ago I talked about talents in Crowfield. As I’ve mentioned before Unlucky 13 (U13) is pretty much Crowfield with all the D&D bits stripped out.

U13 will not have the six basic ability scores of D&D. It won’t have the 4 basic ability scores of GURPS. It won’t even have the 3 basic ability scores of Big Eyes, Small Mouth. It will have skills that aren’t linked to any attribute. I originally got the idea from Steffan O'Sullivan’s Fudge, but Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor campaign did the same thing back in the early 1970’s.

We’ll return to the FAQ format, and some of this may seem familiar.

What are skills?

Skills allow characters to do something better than they could if they didn’t have the skills. An example might be walking across a narrow ledge. Anyone can try it, but a person with the Balance skill has a better chance to succeed.

So U13’s skills will have levels?

Yes.

How do the skill levels work?

In theory skill levels range from -∞ to +∞.

In practice I envision that skill levels will range from -1 to +3.

What do the skill levels represent?

The baseline is skill level 0. It represents the ability of the average adventurer without any special training or aptitude in the skill.

Example: A fast flowing river might be too dangerous for the average town dweller to swim across, but a for an adventurer it’s just a normal challenge.

Skill level -1 means that, for whatever reason, the character is particularly inept in that particular skill.

Positive skill levels represent increasing levels of ability.

The following table summarizes the above:

Skill Level	Description
-1	Inept
0	Average Adventurer
+1	Apprentice Professional
+2	Journeyman Professional
+3	Master Professional

As mentioned in the previous question, the range extends in both directions. If the strength of a dragon was important to the story, it might be considered to be +100. On the other hand, a squirrel might be -20.

The scale is centered on the player characters. In a campaign where all the player characters are squirrel adventurers, that is the new baseline. A squirrel adventurer would have a strength of 0, and a human might be considered 50.

NOTE: Despite using it for this example, there is no skill called “strength.” Strength is considered a specialty of the Athletics skill.

How do you use a skill?

It’s easy!

Just roll 2d12.

You never, ever modify the the roll.

If the result is 14 or better, you succeed.

If it’s 12 or less you fail.

Wait—if 14+ is a success, and 12- is a failure, what about 13?

We call that “Unlucky 13.”

If your roll is exactly 13, the GM will offer you a choice:

• The player can choose to accept the failure, or
• The player can choose to succeed, but they have to accept a Bad Thing. The Bad Thing will often, but not always, be related to the task that was attempted. The players may or may not know what the Bad Thing is when it happens.

Wow! That is Easy! Is that really the whole system?

Ok, it’s not quite that easy. Read on.

How does the skill level affect the result?

If your skill level is equal to the opponent’s, this it’s exactly as above: roll 2d12; 14+ or better is a success and 12- is a failure.

If your skill level is less than your opponent’s then instead of rolling 2d12, you’ll roll 3d12 and sum the lowest two dice. If your skill level is much less then your opponent’s, then you roll 4 dice and sum the lowest two.

Likewise if your skill level is higher (or much higher) than your opponent’s, you’ll roll 3d12 (or 4d12) and sum the highest two.

If you ever think about rolling 5 dice, you probably shouldn’t. At that point the GM should just rule that the task succeeded or failed without requiring a die roll.

We can sum all that up in a nice table:

Your skill level vs opponent’s	Roll	Sum
Much greater	4d12	highest two
Greater	3d12	highest two
Equal	2d12	the two
Less	3d12	lowest two
Much less	4d12	lowest two

What if there’s no opponent?

There’s always an opponent, otherwise you wouldn’t be rolling. If you’re trying to cross a narrow ledge that spans a pit of lava, then the “narrowness” of the ledge is the opponent to your Agility skill. If the ledge has Narrowness(1) and you have Agility(0), then your skill is less than the opponents.

How does the GM determine the opponent’s skill level?

As a general rule of thumb, follow this chart:

Difficulty	Skill Level	Explanation
Easy	-1	A skill level 0 character succeeds 70-80% of the time
Moderate	0	A skill level 0 character succeeds 45-55% of the time
Hard	+1	A skill level 0 character succeeds 20-30% of the time

Which skill do I use?

In most cases, it should be obvious. If it’s a toss up, the GM should pick the one that favors the player.

The GM will normally pick the most obvious choice. You, as a player, should offer logical substitutes. The GM should consider your suggestion in a positive light as long as you’re respecting your character’s concept.

Example: “Swimming” is primarily an Athletics skill, but Wilderness Survival could be a fitting skill to use in its place is you’re trying to cross a dangerous river. So if a character has Athletics(0) and Wilderness Survival(1), I would allow it. On the other hand, if the character had Athletics(-1) and Wilderness Survival(0) I wouldn’t allow the substitution because the low Athletics score is a more fundamental aspect of the character than the default Wilderness Survival score.

Can I attempt a task if I don’t have the skill?

There’s no such thing as not having a skill. If the skill wasn’t taken during character creation, it defaults to level 0.

How many skills do I get?

You start with three skills at level 1, and two skills at level -1. You don’t even have to pick them before you start to play!

How do I improve my character?

Skill levels can be increased by spending XP:

• To improve a new skill, the cost is equal to the sum of all your existing positive skill levels plus the new level. Example: you have Fighting(2), Agility(2), and Burglary(1). It will cost you 7 XP to raise the Burglary to level 2.
• To add a new skill, the cost is equal to twice the sum of all your existing positive skill levels. Example: you have Fighting(2), Agility(2), Burglary(1), and Will-Power(-1). It will cost you 10 XP to add Medic(1).

Can I see a list of the skills?

Of course! These might change, though:

Agility

Useful for keeping your balance or quickly moving out of the way. Perhaps the most rewarding use of this skill is to make yourself harder to hit while being attacked, but also useful for tightrope walking, narrow ledges, log-rolling, etc. Can also be used to allow you to "catch yourself" from falling into a pit or other such hazard.

Aim

This is the general skill of being able to hit someone over there without going there to do it. Each type of aimed weapon is its own specialty.

Animal handling

This is the skill used to work with animals of all sorts. Each type of animal (horse, dog, cattle, etc.) is its own specialty, as are things like training, riding, etc.

Artist

The ability to make decorative or recognizable items. Specialties would include sculpture, painting, and drawing.

Athletics

This is the catchall skill that includes the physical skills not covered by other, more specific, skills. It includes things like running, jumping, and swimming.

Burglary

This is broad group of the skills used by ne'er-do-wells. Use it to bypassing security precautions in order to gain access to a building or container. You can also use it to move your hands quicker than the eye, maybe to pilfer small objects or pick pockets.

Carousing

This is a social skill, but differs from diplomacy in that carousing is mainly the skill of vices. It includes such dubious talents as drinking, seduction, and gambling.

Craftsman

The basic skill for converting raw materials into finished goods or for repairing broken items. Woodworkers, leather-workers, blacksmiths, silversmiths, and potters are all craftsmen. So are the members of the Hyperspace Engineering branch. This skill is specialized in making and repairing sound, functional items. For decorative items, you also need the Artist skill.

Diplomacy

This is the primary social skill of interacting with other people. Remember that not all diplomats are highbrow society; it can be argued that the most diplomatic are those who have to walk the mean streets every day.

Driving

All vehicles need their drivers, be they chariots, wagons, automobiles, tanks, or starships. Each vehicle type is a specialty.

Entertain

This is the ability to hold the attention of others. It includes things like acting, joke telling, singing, dancing, etc.

Fighting

This is the skill of hand-to-hand combat, be it with open fists or mighty swords. Each fighting *style* is its own specialty, thus "sword" is different from "sword and shield."

Health

It's not really a skill, but in game terms the distinction is moot. This "skill" is an overall measurement of your body's attempt to resist poisoning, to heal itself, etc. It can be improved through good diet and regular exercise rather than through study, but in games terms the advancement mechanic is identical.

Knowledge

A general skill that represents everything you know. Specialties could be any subject, such as chemistry, history, or geography.

Medic

This is the art of treating injuries, and diagnosing and treating illnesses. Its effectiveness is largely dependent on the technology employed.

Merchant

The skill of buying low and selling high. It is used for commercial transactions. Haggling, appraising, and marketing fall under this skill.

Observation

A measurement of a your general awareness of your surroundings. Each sense is its own specialty.

Sneaking

This is your ability to avoid being noticed. All sneaking rolls are resisted by the would-be observers' Observation skill. The sneaking character gets a bonus die if the would-be observer is not specifically looking (or listening, etc.) for a sneaky character.

Stamina

The ability to endure long periods of physical labor without stopping. The mental form of stamina is covered under Will Power.

Wilderness Survival

This is the skill of living in wilderness areas. It covers the basics of food, water, heat, and shelter. Each biome is a specialty

Will Power

Will power is the ability to sacrifice your short-term interest in favor of your long-term interest. This includes such things as enduring torture to protect your comrades, turning down a bribe, resisting seduction, and staying awake on guard duty. Unlike most skills, there are no specialties.

What about skills that aren’t on the list?

The list above represent broad categories of skill, so most skills should fit under one of the categories listed. There will be exceptions, though.

The way your GM should handle this depends on the “real world” situation. Let’s consider a skill called “Disguise.” You’ll notice that there’s not a disguise skill on the list. So how would we handle this?

• Situation 1: The Skill is a core component of the game’s genre. If you were playing in a campaign where the characters are all secret undercover agents for the government, then “Disguise” could very well belong in the game. In this case, the GM should add it to the list for that campaign.
• Situation 2: You want the skill the add depth or color to your character. Disguise isn’t part of a typical dungeon crawling fantasy, but it’s not a foreign concept either. If you think it would be cool to play a character with a disguise skill, you might just take #Master of Disguise as a label (called “Tags” in Clout).
• Situation 3: The need unexpectedly comes up during play. If you’ve been playing a campaign for a few months and your character decides to disguise himself, the GM could handle it in a couple of ways. The default way is simply to figure out which of the existing skills it would fall under; there could be arguments to place it under Artist, Burglary, Entertain, or Sneaking depending on the specifics of the situation. The second way is simply to declare that Disguise is its own skill and your character has it at level 0 (after all, you didn’t take it higher or lower during character creation).

What is a skill specialty?

The skills are rather broad categories of skills. People, however, tend to study small subsets of the broader skills. Such a “subset” is called a “specialty.” We denote a task’s specialty in braces after the skill name, such as Craftsman{Blacksmith}.

When a character takes a skill at level 1, he has no specialty. So if you take Craftsman(1), you have level 1 for Blacksmith and for Woodworking. Not very realistic, but it works for a game.

Once you raise a skill to level 2, you must choose a specialty. You only perform at your full capacity if the task at hand falls within this specialty. Other areas within that skill are at 1 level lower.

Example: You have the skill Craftsman{Blacksmith}(3). This means that you have an effective skill level of 3 when performing a blacksmithing task. If you were to attempt a Woodworking task, your effective skill would only be 2.

That’s it!

That’s it for now.

Let me know what you think.

I would particularly like some help with the skill list:

• Are their any glaring omissions?
• Do you see any skills that could be combined? I’m considering merging Burglary and Sneaking. Stamina and health seem similar as well.
• How about skills that could be removed? I’m thinking Artist (could easily be taken as a label). I’m on the fence with Craftsman—it’s marginal in fantasy, but needed in space opera type games.

One last question I have: Do I need to show the math for the XP costs to improve a skill?