A Game of Skills, part 3

We are still discussing the example of play in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy in the Exploits book on pages 103-104.

So, the Observation skill for spotting dangerous things from afar and the Search skill to search through the room's contents are all we need, right?

The example continues with the GM asking a player if they can read the Ancient language and then reading what the runes on the wall say (keep out!). Your rooms should be filled with little fun chances to use skills, and some of these should reward the players with valuable information, warnings, clues, and other benefits if the players apply a little logic.

Let's say the players find a trapdoor with orc writing next to it. If they know orc, they will read, "Climb down to the second tunnel; do not go all the way down!" Instant clue and possibly how to avoid dying in a trap down there, or being fed to hungry alligators. They don't know orc? Well, next time someone will think about buying it and catch these things, don't give them the answer! Nobody will spend character points on these fantastic skills if you tell them what it means anyway!

There are many skills you could put these "Easter eggs" in your rooms, room contents, doors, and hallways. Here are a few:

• Connoisseur - To appraise items.
• Current Affairs - To make sense of scouting and news reports.
• Forgery - To recognize forged works.
• Heraldry - To identify groups, bad guys, and enemy forces.
• Herb Lore - To identify special herbs.
• Naturalist - Wilderness lore for outside.
• Occultism - To identify the supernatural.
• Thaumatology - To identify magic and spells.
• Poetry - Hey, there may be poems in here.
• Physiology - Find a dead monster? Want to know why?
• Poisons - To detect and identify poisons.
• Prospecting - What is that mineral in the wall?
• Theology - The study of gods and the divine.
• Traps - These places are often trapped.

Hidden Lore needs to be called out as a special one since your campaign will typically have quite a lot of this, and it will have specializations - such as the Ancient Lothanian Empire, the Cult of the Serpent Eye, or the Mystic Seers of Kalaman-Du. Nobody knows these extraordinary things, but your character may have some knowledge. Before the game, you need to have a rough outline of these and allow characters to take Hidden Lore in these areas if interested.

When a character identifies an eye staff of a Cult of the Serpent Eye priest, they will feel special, and the points spent on that skill will have paid off - especially if that staff turns out to be valuable or essential to the story later. If characters spend the points on skills, give them chances to use them and shine! Make those discoveries crucial to survival and the plot.

Religious Ritual is another you may not see a use for, but characters with Clerical Investment will be able to bless or purify a shrine. If you find a corrupted shrine giving power to evil, then doing this should impact the grand scheme of things, cut off a power source for a villain, and generally be regarded as a 'good thing' by the character's religion.

5E clerics are like, oh, corrupted shrine, who cares? Is there treasure under it? Or bash it with a hammer! Most will walk right by and take a short rest.

The rules of a game can limit your thinking. Once you go outside the box, your mind expands.

As a GM, you must make your rooms rich with plenty of skill opportunities and pay attention to apparent uses. If a player makes a suggestion that seems appropriate, such as asking if an orc chieftain's room has a cache of maps, notes, and other essential documents - let them try and find it and make sense of them! Refrain from settling for bland, empty, 20x20' room descriptions as a player. Ask questions! Does this look like a storage or guard room? Was this a shrine? What did they do here?

Push to use those skills!

GMs, give them plenty of chances to use them, and places where skills they don't have may have been helpful!

People hate GURPS because it has a lot of skills. This is one of the system's strengths, and this skill system puts 5E to shame. The 5E game is too simple and basic to do specialties and low-level, specific, and granular skill checks and masteries. GURPS gives you the tools to create a mage who is an expert at that ancient serpent cult, and that specialist has motivation and usefulness far beyond just being the party's 'magic user.'

We got three articles from the first column of the example of play, and there is a lot to pull out and think about here. This example is great since it illustrates many essential points about the game, but it is so dense that pulling it apart slowly teaches you much more than you would think.