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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7907981" data-attributes="member: 4937">The problem with abstract skill systems is you will always run into situations where there is a disagreement between the player and the GM over whether the abstract skill applies to the situation.&nbsp; Since the player is motivated to get the GM to interpret the abstract skill as broadly as possible, game play quickly devolves to a meta-game where the process of play is about wheedling the GM into conceding your abstract skill applies.&nbsp; There is also no inherent balance between abstract skills, as one phrase may be narrow and another imply nigh universal skill.Taking your examples:&quot;Keeper of the Library at the ends of the Earth&quot; - As a GM I have no idea what this means and would be reliant most likely on the player to tell me through back story. It's also a very improbable background suited more likely to a greater spirit than a mortal being who presumably has most of his story before him.&quot;Street Thief&quot; - This could in one swoop imply all the skills available on a rogue class skill list. I'm rather unsure what wouldn't apply to this term, and I can see at least one conversation around pinning down that this actually covers so that I'm not defacto dealing with a master gutter rat, con-artist, face man, fence, and cat burgler rolled into one.&quot;Cobbler&quot; - On the opposite extreme, he's probably pretty good at making, appraising, and selling shoes. This is unlikely to be nearly as useful as either of the above concepts unless I really work at it.The idea here is rather old, and was explored in the concept of &quot;secondary skills&quot; way back in at least 1e AD&amp;D. It didn't work very well then, and I'm not sure giving it mechanical crunch would fix it.Further, none of the above tell me anything that a good backstory will tell me such as what makes the character tick, how to hook them, how they might relate to other PCs, and what they might be hinting at for a story arc.As for your example backstory, that's not really a backstory.&nbsp; That's setting exposition intended to catch a player up on the current state of the setting.&nbsp; As a setting exposition dump it is fine, but as backstory it wastes a ton of words telling me very little about the character.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7907981, member: 4937"] The problem with abstract skill systems is you will always run into situations where there is a disagreement between the player and the GM over whether the abstract skill applies to the situation. Since the player is motivated to get the GM to interpret the abstract skill as broadly as possible, game play quickly devolves to a meta-game where the process of play is about wheedling the GM into conceding your abstract skill applies. There is also no inherent balance between abstract skills, as one phrase may be narrow and another imply nigh universal skill. Taking your examples: "Keeper of the Library at the ends of the Earth" - As a GM I have no idea what this means and would be reliant most likely on the player to tell me through back story. It's also a very improbable background suited more likely to a greater spirit than a mortal being who presumably has most of his story before him. "Street Thief" - This could in one swoop imply all the skills available on a rogue class skill list. I'm rather unsure what wouldn't apply to this term, and I can see at least one conversation around pinning down that this actually covers so that I'm not defacto dealing with a master gutter rat, con-artist, face man, fence, and cat burgler rolled into one. "Cobbler" - On the opposite extreme, he's probably pretty good at making, appraising, and selling shoes. This is unlikely to be nearly as useful as either of the above concepts unless I really work at it. The idea here is rather old, and was explored in the concept of "secondary skills" way back in at least 1e AD&D. It didn't work very well then, and I'm not sure giving it mechanical crunch would fix it. Further, none of the above tell me anything that a good backstory will tell me such as what makes the character tick, how to hook them, how they might relate to other PCs, and what they might be hinting at for a story arc. As for your example backstory, that's not really a backstory. That's setting exposition intended to catch a player up on the current state of the setting. As a setting exposition dump it is fine, but as backstory it wastes a ton of words telling me very little about the character. [/QUOTE]

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