W.O.I.N. Skill System: "Playing the Character Sheet"

[Gradine]

For as long as roleplaying games have had skill systems, GMs have struggled to break players out of a habit commonly known as “Player the Character Sheet”, as opposed to playing their character in a situation. The idea behind this is that when the GMs present a situation that calls for a skill challenge, the players look to their character sheet to see which skills they get the biggest bonuses with, and ask if they can use those skills in the challenge.

It plays out normally like this:
DM: You come across [some obstacle or scene which clearly calls for player interaction]
Player: (Takes a few moments scanning character sheet) Can I use (clearly unrelated skill).
DM: Umm… probably not. How would you use it?
Player: I’m not sure, I’m just checking. Oooh! What about (even more clearly unrelated skill)? I get a +4 when the moon is waxing.
And so forth.

Granted, you find this most commonly with newer players, especially those used to video or computer games where the options for interaction are limited and they’re used to picking them from a list. The Cons to players like this is that it can really slow down gameplay and it can break immersion for those who really care about it. The Pros are that they can occasionally lead to some clever and inventive problem solving if the player can actually come up with a good answer to the “How would you use it” problem.

Most of the advice I’ve read regarding this issue recommend insisting on players describing their actions and the letting the DM pick the appropriate skill to roll. This works fine with the limited skill lists of a game like D&D but with W.O.I.N.’s open-ended skill system such enforcement would border on impossible unless the GM keeps constantly up-to-date character sheets for all their players.

I was wondering if this issue came up at all during the planning or during any playtesting of W.O.I.N. The difference between direct and indirect applications of skills seems to be a nod to that (with the example in the O.L.D. playtest of the sneak in the garden using herbalism to pick the best plants to cover their scent being a great example of that inventive problem solving), but when even that +1d6 can make the difference I can imagine it leading to scanning your skill list and grinding the mental gears for something, anything, that might help, which I can see slowing play to a crawl. Has this come up for anyone GMing the playtest material, and how have you dealt with it if it has? Do you allow the player to slow play down until they’ve come up with something or give up? Do you use the Countdown/Ticking Clock system to get them in to get in gear?

 

[Morrus]

There's some weird formatting issues with your post.

Anyway.

Yep, I'm hyper-aware of that effect. That guided the system.

So the GM calls for an attribute check. He doesn't worry about skills.

If the player feels a skill would work, he asks if he can use it.

"I want to climb the wall."

"That's a difficult AGILITY check."

"OK, I have climbing. I'm can use that, right?"

It works. No slowdown. You only have a handful of skills.

 

[Gradine]

There's some weird formatting issues with your post.

Anyway.

Yep, I'm hyper-aware of that effect. That guided the system.

So the GM calls for an attribute check. He doesn't worry about skills.

If the player feels a skill would work, he asks if he can use it.

"I want to climb the walk."

"That's a difficult AGILITY check."

"OK, I have climbing. I'm can use that, right?"

It works. No slowdown. You only have a handful of skills.

Sorry for the formatting, my Kindle doesn't play nice with this forum, or Google Docs, or really anything. I tried to preview the post but it decided to post it while I was still trying to type the title. I think I've got everything fixed now.

Anywho, thanks for the quick reply! I had a feeling the issue consciously guided the system. It seems the indirect bonus encourages sane use of this trope; to borrow your climbing example, I don't have the climbing skill but I might have geology ("wind erosion has formed some natural hand holds!") or botany ("That shrub has sturdier roots, grab hold of it!) But I can still see some players struggling to justify their hobby or trivia skills by trying to apply them everywhere. Though that's more a player issue than a system issue.

I'm still curious if anyone running the playtest has run into it and how they've used the tools the system provides to correct it. I have a feeling Countdowns can be particularly effective at discouraging holding the game up.

 

[Morrus]

I suggest you try it! I think you'll find that having just a handful of skills and the dice pool cap combine to pretty much eliminate that issue. I feel you'll find it simply doesn't occur, but I'm open to feedback!