Re: (TFT) long talent/skill lists

[raito@raito.com]

> In TFT though they "use up" six IQ points, meaning if someone knows how to
> do a bunch of things, they must necessarily have a fairly high IQ, and
> therefore apparently "be real smart" too. So, how do I create, for
> example, a capable character in terms of skills, who isn't terribly smart?

You don't. I really haven't found those people in nature, either.

> As for GURPS, its skill list is huge compared to TFT's talent list, and a
> character (especially a PC who is played for a long time in a campaign
> that gives him an opportunity to learn some skill in a lot of different
> things) can end up with a very long list of skills.

And that's one reason GURPS games are very different that TFT games.

> Most of these are numbers details, where it's specified exactly how good
> the character is at different skills, or different aspects of the same
> weapon (e.g. knife, knife throwing, fast-draw knife being three skills) or
> aspects of a range of abilities that would just be one "has it or not"
> Talent in TFT (e.g. one healer has not just "Physicker" but different
> levels in First Aid, Physician, Physiology, Diagnosis, Poisions, Surgery).

And does that actually add to the gameplay itself, or just to the
complexity? It is true that TFT tends to aggregate smaller skills (as you
mention with Physicker) together. It's a different level of abstraction.

> What's that? something over 30 IQ points worth of talents? And, it leaves
> out many significant non-trivial abilities that were earned during play
> but maybe don't quite merit a TFT talent, or are at least less trained
> than his better skills, even though he could still beat many people at
> things like using a bow, sling, broadsword, fishing, escaping being tied
> up, dancing, teaching, knowledge of religions, boating...

In TFT, you can be better than someone at a lot of things just by having a
high enough stat. Many things that Talents are good for aren't forbidden
to other characters, it just makes them without penalty. Look at weapons.
You can use a sword without the sword Talent effectively, if you have a
high enough DX.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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