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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 6182202" data-attributes="member: 3400">I know Traveller better than Runequest but a knowledgeable player can definitely make more effective choices on their skill roll tables in Traveller than a less knowledgeable one and probably has a better idea what skills are useful for the style of game they want to play. For example, a player wanting to make a lot of money via speculative trade will want to roll on the tables with skills like broker on them, probably wants to play a merchant to get a better shot at mustering out with a free trader (but will probably take the far trader option if the GM allows it because he can then jump-2 even if he has less cargo), and will be willing to suffer a bit of loss of his physical stats to get a better shot at rolling it because of advanced rank (depending on how low his stats are to begin with). The use of dice for these matters reduces the certainty of his control, but he certainly can use his system mastery to channel his character.In RuneQuest, the player gets to choose his background profession which determines many of his skill bonuses but he still gets to distribute more points on top of that, giving him an opportunity to optimize along certain lines he expects to be valuable as an adventurer. The knowledgeable player who knows the GM likes to include a lot of combat and forest quests can pick a background that puts its 50 points worth of skill bonuses into skills likely to be useful rather than playing a salty dog of a sailor whose 50 points are less likely to be useful.Whenever you've got player choices of any real significance, you've got some degree of system mastery. There may be less than a system like D&D, which has less, in turn, than games like Champions, GURPS, and Mutants and Masterminds, but I think it's a rare case that I'd ever say there is basically none.</blockquote>

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