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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 6228005" data-attributes="member: 75787">What makes a difference?Interesting thread; and a polite discussion, to boot! Congrats to all.Here's a though experiment. You have a character in some game system who has a background of "sailor", a "good skill with archery" and is "very strong, but not very dextrous". Which of these statements make sense to you?<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be automatically able to sail a small boat without needing to roll dice</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would know how to tie common knots</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be better at tying knots than someone who is not a sailor</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be less good at tying knots than someone who has high dexterity</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be able to shoot and hit an unaware person at 50' with a bow without needing a roll</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would need to make a roll to shoot someone who was aware of me</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be more effective with my bow than a weaker person because I can pull more weight</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be less effective with my bow than a more dexterous person</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be better at shooting my bow on a ship than a non-sailor</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be better at shooting my bow on a ship in a storm than a weaker sailor</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be worse at shooting my bow than a "soldier" with "good skill at archery"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would be awesome at repairing bows because not only am I good at archery, but I know how to tie knots and handle rope</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would never need to roll to repair a basic bowstring, given the materials I need</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would always beat someone at archery if they were "bad at archery" without needing a roll</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I would always get a better rate of pay for sailing a boat as a "sailor" than someone who was "highly charismatic" but not a "sailor"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I will always beat someone in a tug-of-war game if they are less strong than me</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Since sailors are very used to playing tug-of-war, I'd expect to beat someone equally strong as me if they were not a "sailor"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I do not need to roll dice to tell if someone else is a sailor.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I do not need to roll dice to assess someone's skill as an archer</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I do not need to roll dice to assess how strong someone is</li> </ol>I'm guessing that if we did try and answer these, we'd not all have the same results; further, I'd not be surprised to find little correlation between predilection for OSR games and the results.</blockquote>

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