Re: (TFT) Intro (Was: Re: Death Test)

[raito@raito.com]

Quoting Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>:
> Mark, Human, M
>
> ST 10
> DX 11
> IQ 17

It's a fun game to do this, but points out some weaknesses in the system. 
I guess my dividing level for have/do not have a Talent is whether 
someone would consider one's skill good enough that they'd pay you to 
do it. A professional level, if you will. 

So how does it go for me? Let's see. 

Talents first:

Ax/Mace, Knife, Pole Weapons, Sword. 32 years of SCA and WMA and other 
weapons training. I won't claim Shield (I can use one, but I wouldn't 
hire me for the shield wall), or Crossbow or Bow (I'm a passable shot, 
but again, no one would pay me.) That's 6 IQ just there... 

I will take Boating. I like to sail small craft. Literacy, of course. 
And enough French to get by. My Japanese is OK, but I don't think good 
enough to get. And Swimming (used to have life guard certs, but I let 
it lapse). That 4 more IQ spent. 

I will claim Warrior and Veteran. All that experience makes rolling 
with the blows pretty natural. And I've trained for full-contact stuff 
pretty havily. That's 5 points there. 

I'm afraid I'll have to take Fencing, too. Besides the SCA armoured, I 
fence as well, and did epee all the way through high school. (I've only 
fought 1 actual SCA fencing tourney though. Took the guy generally 
designated as the best we have, and won 4 of 4.)(Besides, I see the 
Fencing talent as nothing more than a high degree of skill). And UC1. 
I've been punching, kicking, and grappling since before it was 
fasionable. And Armourer (but not Master). That's 7 more points. 

Tactics, yes (won't claim Strategist, though). And Two Weapons (because 
that what I fight with the most.) That's 4 more points. 

I'll also claim UC2, and Mathematician, and UC 3 and 4 (I don't think 
I'm quite up to 5). That's another 8 points. 

So I guess I have to have an IQ of 34. I don't think I'm that smart. 
Minimum ST would have to be 16, but I'm not as strong now as I used to 
be (at 47...) and a DX of at least 15. 

That would make me hell on wheels when the fighting starts, at least. 

The odd thing with Talents is that I regard what would be an acceptable 
'medieval' level of fighting talents to be a lot higher than we have 
now, while the modern level of thinking/making Talents to be way, way 
above what would be just acceptable at a 'medieval' level. 

So I think that any of us claiming to have fighting Talents are 
probably overstating our case, while claiming to have thinking Talents 
probably understate it. 

For example, my engineering knowleege (I went electrical, but still 
know a fair bit of mechanica) probably ought to translate to a couple 
Talents. After all, not only do I know the simple machines down cold, I 
can calculate them. And the statics and dynamics courses ought to give 
me a big leg up. Not to mention my modern knowlege of machines and 
processes. (Heck, I have a machine shop in my garage, and I could 
probably have a decent go at making one from scratch.)

And having had some access to medieval fighting manuals, I find that 
those guys really, really knew what they were doing. Now, I can do most 
of it, but I don't spend all day, every day training to beat people up 
(well, not any more...)

Anyway, an interesting exercise. Not unlike one of the old Scandanavian 
practices of listing one's skills, usually done in the context of 
dowrys and suiability for marraige in general. 

In any case, if I had to pick the single thing that I like the most 
about TFT, it's that the characters aren't cookie cutters. 

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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