Currently running a pulp game set in the 1930s. So far I've just been creating skills as needed, but it would be nice to have a master list of candidate skills.

Any help brainstorming this -- or pointing me in the right direction -- will be greatly appreciated.


The skills will be grouped under the following traits:

BRAWN
VALOR
SAVVY
SPEED
KARMA
CHARM


The skill values are:

0 Novice
1 Skilled
2 Expert
3 Master
4 Elite
5 Unearthly


Thanks!

Have you checked out Amazing Adventures from Troll Lord Games?
I thought it did pulp quite well, oddly without skills.

Are you thinking of very 1930's flavorful skill names? AKA something like custom skill names in FATE?
AKA, "shooting tommyguns from a sidecar"?

Quote from: Spinachcat;925617Are you thinking of very 1930's flavorful skill names? AKA something like custom skill names in FATE?
AKA, "shooting tommyguns from a sidecar"?

Good question!

No, I prefer succinct, one or two-word names. My design philosophy is to keep the system dry and grounded in some abstract kind of realism; I'm not wild about "enforced zaniness."

The tommy gun-wielding character would have something like "Machine Gun" under Valor, and "G-Man" (or "Gangster," etc.) under Savvy.

Quote from: Spinachcat;925617Have you checked out Amazing Adventures from Troll Lord Games?

No, but I will.

Thanks!

Alright, getting started with these:


BRAWN

Brute Force
Fitness
High Pain Threshold
Lifting
Toughness


VALOR

Archery
Boxing
Brawling
Bullfighting
Combat Reflexes
Command
Fast-Draw
Fencing
Handgun
Knife
Machine Gun
Martial Arts
Nerve
Rifle
Sword
Thrown Weapon
Wrestling

Huge list for Savvy:

SAVVY

Alchemy
Alien Lore
Animal Handling
Anthropology
Arcane Lore
Archaeology
Architecture
Art
Astronomy
Astrology
Aviation
Bartender
Botany
Burglary
Carpentry
Cartography
Chemistry
Chess
Common Sense
Cooking
Criminal
Criminology
Cryptography
Danger Sense
Demolition
Eidetic Memory
Electronics
Falconry
Fast-Talk
First Aid
Fishing
Forensics
Forgery
Fortune Telling
Gardening
Hairdressing
Herbalist
History
Interrogation
Intimidation
Investigation
Jeweler
Language
Law
Law Enforcement
Linguistics
Lip Reading
Literature
Lockpicking
Make-Up
Mastermind
Mathematics
Merchant
Military
Navigation
Needlecraft
Observation
Occultism
Origami
Paleontology
Pharmacy
Philosophy
Photography
Physician
Physics
Poetry
Poisons
Politics
Pottery
Pressure Points
Prospecting
Psychology
Research
Sailing
Savoir-Faire
Scrounging
Scuba
Sign Language
Sociology
Speed Reading
Strategy
Streetwise
Surgery
Survival
Tactics
Teaching
Telegraphy
Theology
Tracking
Traps
Underworld
Ventriloquism
Veterinary
Weird Science
Woodworking
Writing
Zoology

SPEED


Acrobatics
Ambidexterity
Calligraphy
Climbing
Dancing
Driving
Escape
Hiking
Juggling
Jumping
Knife Throwing
Lockpicking
Motorcycle
Musical Instrument
Parachuting
Pickpocket
Pilot
Riding
Running
Shadowing
Skating
Skiing
Sports
Stealth
Surfing
Swimming
Tattooing

KARMA


Divination
Exorcism
Gambling
Hypnotism
Imperturbable
Intuition
Iron Will
Lucky
Meditation
Magick
Nine Lives

I pretty much rejected skill lists and went with careers, similar to those from Barbarians of Lemuria.

If you have a Career of Bootlegger, then you can "shoot tommyguns from a (moving) sidecar" without penalty, otherwise there is a penalty since it isn't the easiest thing to do.

Quote from: Tod13;925713I pretty much rejected skill lists and went with careers, similar to those from Barbarians of Lemuria.

Yeah, I might arrange the skills into CoC-like occupations. And, for some reason, I really want to write up a little lifepath chargen system. We'll see.

I think Pulp heroes are usually pretty competent across-the-board, which I guess suggests to me a relatively short list of broad skills, if you want that. Depending also on how good skill defaults are untrained (as in, if a skill rank provides only a weak boost to competency, a long list isn't that disabling).
Generic careers a la Tod13's suggestion where a career rank applies to various functions would also do that (e.g. you use your Bootlegger skill to both make whisky, do a Bootlegger Reverse in your car, do drive-by shootings, etc.).

Other things to consider would be how you balance your skills against each other, and whether your mechanic means certain skills have to be included (e.g. if raw attribute checks wouldn't work for whatever reason).

Quote from: Harg of the City Afar;925791Yeah, I might arrange the skills into CoC-like occupations. And, for some reason, I really want to write up a little lifepath chargen system. We'll see.

Call of Cthulhu uses occupations? Cool. I never knew that. I like Lovecraft's writing (OK, about 70% of his writing) but never got interested in the games.

I'm getting there. Boldened skills will have specialty sub-lists.



[table=width: 500]
[tr]
   [td]BRAWN

Fitness      
Power
Resilience[/td]
   [td].....[/td]
   [td]VALOR

Archery      
Brawling
Command
Discipline
Gunplay
Melee
Nerve
Reflexes
Thrown.Weapons[/td]
[td].[/td]
[td]SAVVY

Academics        
Art
Bureaucracy
Games
Globetrotting
Investigation
Language
Lore
Mastermind
Medicine
Military
Science
Survival
Underworld
[/td]
[td].....[/td]
   [td]SPEED

Acrobatics      
Driving
Evasion
Larceny
Piloting
Riding
Sport
Stealth[/td]
[td].....[/td]
[td]KARMA

Divination      
Empathy
Exorcism
Hypnotism
Intuition
Luck
Magick
Serenity
Willpower[/td]
[td].....[/td]
   [td]CHARM

Animal.Handling
Deception
Disguise
Etiquette
Intimidation
Leadership
Performance
Persuasion
Seduction
Streetwise[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

[table=width: 500]
[tr]
   [td]DISCIPLINE

Boxing
Fencing
Martial.Arts
Wrestling
[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]ART

Cuisine
Music
Painting
Photography
Sculpture
Writing
[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]LANGUAGE

Any Specific Language

Linguistics
[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]LORE

Alien Worlds
Esoteric.Knowledge
Lost Civilizations
Occultism
Secret Societies
The Supernatural[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]SCIENCE

Archaeology
Astronomy
Biology
Chemistry
Engineering
Fringe
Geology
Physics[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]PILOTING

Aircraft
Watercraft[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]SPORT

Any Specific Sport[/td]
[td]...[/td]
   [td]PERFORMANCE

Any Musical Instrument

Acting
Dancing
Oratory
Singing[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

One thing to watch may be that a very long skill list for a given attribute may tend to encourage buying up that attribute (since it would add to the default for all of those skills). Though other factors also affected by an attribute also have an influence on their importance (like hit points, damage, etc).

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;927173One thing to watch may be that a very long skill list for a given attribute may tend to encourage buying up that attribute (since it would add to the default for all of those skills). Though other factors also affected by an attribute also have an influence on their importance (like hit points, damage, etc).

Yes, good point. Though it is hard to downplay the importance of mental skills in a 20th century setting.

You can reflect how long it takes to learn them, though, by rationally limiting them via Occupations or Archetypes. That's what I'm pondering now.