Quote from: talysman;786268Well, don't have a thousand different skills, then.

Then Gubba only hits it with his axe, and can't pilot a starship. Having only one skill seems a terrible design.

Quote from: talysman;786268Well, don't have a thousand different skills, then.

Quote from: dragoner;786271Then Gubba only hits it with his axe, and can't pilot a starship. Having only one skill seems a terrible design.

Because that's the only two options? A book with a thousand skills to look up, vs. everyone gets exactly one skill and can't do anything else? If you seriously believed that, and you don't like Option 2, then why are you complaining about Option 1?

Answer: Because you don't believe that.

Let's look at the suggestion in my post that you cut out when you replied: using ability scores, d20 roll under for trained skills, d% roll under for untrained. Use best relevant ability: Strength for bending bars, dislodging boulders, etc. Intelligence for most scholarly situations, Wisdom for gut feelings, Dexterity for deft manipulations. Gubba, assuming he's an ax-wielding barbarian, rolls a normal attack roll when hitting things with his axe. He rolls d20 under Strength when busting out of ropes, percentile dice under Strength when busting out of chains. Since he's not trained in piloting a starship, he rolls percentile dice under his Intelligence when attempting that -- or can't pilot it at all, assuming the campaign isn't supposed to be cinematic.

Slim the Sly, on the other hand, could substitute Dexterity for Strength when trying to get out of ropes and chains. If sly sorts of character are supposed to be  cleverer with machines, maybe Slim gets to add level to Intelligence when trying to pilot a starship. It's not really a one-skill system at all, but it dispenses with looking up things in a book.All you need is to list the names of skills you are trained in, with everything else being hard (percentile roll) or impossible (no roll.) There's traces of this approach in AD&D (which they mucked up with non-weapon proficiencies) and in the Judges Guild Ready Reference sheets... so older versions actually *did* have a more elegant system than the unified mechanic approach that showed up later.

Or use the unified task system like the one found in Mongoose Traveller; 8+, DM's for difficulty, modified by skill level and stat mod's. It's one and done, no disrupting the flow of the game, and it is infinitely expandable.

Quote from: dragoner;786271Then Gubba only hits it with his axe, and can't pilot a starship. Having only one skill seems a terrible design.

As an aside 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars does really well with just 2 values for combat and not combat.

Quote from: Certified;786280As an aside 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars does really well with just 2 values for combat and not combat.

Which is cool if that's all you want from the game, but seems overly simplistic to me.

Quote from: dragoner;786271Then Gubba only hits it with his axe, and can't pilot a starship. Having only one skill seems a terrible design.

The middle, curled up under the dining room table, weeps, hugs itself, and drinks bleach.

Also, many great games have no skills at all.  OD&D doesn't and we did all kinds of stuff.  Because hey!  We had imagination!

Needing a fucking rule and a fucking skill name for every fucking thing you want to do is dated.

USE ROPE
CLIMB
RUN
WALK
CHEW GUM
EAT FOOD
TAKE SHIT

I'm so glad my spirit of engaging and trying to come up with cogent, calm arguments to defend my position was met with fair-minded responses.

Quote from: Old Geezer;786293The middle, curled up under the dining room table, weeps, hugs itself, and drinks bleach.

Good, the middle sucked anyways.

QuoteAlso, many great games have no skills at all.  OD&D doesn't and we did all kinds of stuff.  Because hey!  We had imagination!

Needing a fucking rule and a fucking skill name for every fucking thing you want to do is dated.

USE ROPE
CLIMB
RUN
WALK
CHEW GUM
EAT FOOD
TAKE SHIT

Ok, so no skills and not skills, this middle you were speaking of ...

Also a great many games don't have levels and xp, like Traveller; I mean, uh, alignment? Lame.

Quote from: dragoner;786282Which is cool if that's all you want from the game, but seems overly simplistic to me.

The simple combat mechanic are their as a foil for the flashbacks and narrative aspects of the game. I didn't expect much from 3:16 but the psychology of play is devious.

Quote from: Certified;786302The simple combat mechanic are their as a foil for the flashbacks and narrative aspects of the game. I didn't expect much from 3:16 but the psychology of play is devious.

I haven't played it, but afaik it is a combat oriented game in it's original iteration. Expansion changed that some from what I have heard. But it is cool if that is what you are after, but at the same time, doesn't it have a unified task mechanic?

Quote from: dragoner;786282Which is cool if that's all you want from the game, but seems overly simplistic to me.

It reads more like the back story/justification for a war game.....

Quote from: Nexus;786307It reads more like the back story/justification for a war game.....

Simplicity can be key in a beer and pretzels style wargame, others, not so much. I used to play Squad Leader also.

Quote from: Old Geezer;786293USE ROPE
CLIMB
RUN
WALK
CHEW GUM
EAT FOOD
TAKE SHIT

Huh. Maybe you did need a skill for one of those things. Me and my friends, we never took a shit. That sounds really messy. We simply left our shit. If you are that attached to your shits that you take them when you go, you might consider more fiber or something.

Quote from: dragoner;786306I haven't played it, but afaik it is a combat oriented game in it's original iteration. Expansion changed that some from what I have heard. But it is cool if that is what you are after, but at the same time, doesn't it have a unified task mechanic?

The combat is only a pretense in the game. The real game is the struggle to deal with endless combat and the weight of your memorizes. There are 3 core mechanics, 4 if you count advancement. Central to this is the escalating bureaucracy placed on you by command.  I would really suggest checking out the game as I can't really do it justice.

Quote from: Certified;786313Central to this is the escalating bureaucracy placed on you by command.

Sounds a lot like what usually happens to the character I play in the real world.