Rules Cyclopedia General Skills d6 conversion
by Seosamh PlowmanI noticed this interesting blog post by Bruce Heard in which he reworks the RC’s general skills so that a character can buy ‘packages’.
It’s clearly more detail than many would likely want in their OSE game. But out of interest I tried to convert his idea to a d6. Please ignore if it’s not your cup of tea.
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Heard-inspired d6 conversion:
Skill packages: each package should have a name or profession, such as gladiator, or merchant, or similar theme for the professional aptitudes. (See Heard’s examples in the blog. Note: I have renamed the packgage sizes in a way that seems more intuitive to me.)
To buy:
Individual skill: 1 slot for one skill at full base value governed by the attribute. (So, muscle is Str, etc. This base value is determined by the OSE strengths modifier table to Open Doors. You can use your own preferred table. See image below for clarity. An individual skill bought will have this full value here, as Heard would give the full ability check value.)
Narrow skill package: 1 slot for 4 skills at -1 in 6.
= 2 slots to get 4 at no penalty. (Heard indicates that you can purchase off the penalties in a package. So 1 to buy, 1 to offset ALL the -1 penalties.)
Medium skill package: 1 slot for 6 skills at -2 in 6.
= 3 slots to get 6 at no penalty.
Broad skill package: 1 slot for 8 skills at -3 in 6.
= 4 slots to get 8 at no penalty.
The difference between two narrow packages and one broad - although costing the same - is that the broad is naturally going to be one theme/profession. Narrow enables two unrelated packages. So it depends on background etc.
A character can only include a skill in a package if the level in the skill will end up at least 1 in 6 in the package. This means a player will need to offset the penalty if a skill is at 0 in 6 (due to their attribute minus penalties) or less. The broader the packages, the more likely penalties will need to be offset.
Unskilled checks will either fail, as Heard indicates, or be 1 in 6 (d6 does not have an easy 50% reduction, as per Heard, but 1 in 6 seems reasonable) if the DM permits it, but even then (imo) with relatively weaker outcomes compared to a comparable 1 in 6 skill user.
Progression will be up to you. Perhaps gain one individual skill slot per level, but it costs 2 to raise over the governing attribute potential as defined by the strengths modifier table. So this effectively would be +1 in 6 every 2 levels, to a max of 5. (You may do a 5+1, or 5+2, etc, where the +1 can turn a fail to a success on a 1. Someone suggested that here, and I like it. It gives more scope to expertise.) So if your starting attribute derived potential is 3 in 6, it takes 2 skill slots to go to 4 in 6. I probably wouldn’t allow further skill packages with level progression without narrative reasons. Instead, I’d use them for background mainly, followed by individual skill slots after.
So that’s a rough translation of Heard’s mechanic into a d6. Out of interest.