4) Tasks

 You've generated your stats and chosen your skills – now it's time to put it all into practice by doing something. Whenever a character performs an action where the outcome is important, we treat it as a Task.

All tasks have a related Skill and Stat combination, a Difficulty rating and three classifications: Opposed or not, Skilled or Unskilled and Safe, Normal, Hazardous or Fatal. Some tasks will be listed in the rules, but others

Tasks are resolved by rolling 2D10 + skill level + relevant stat + situational modifiers, versus the Difficulty number, which is a multiple of five. The task difficulty numbers are listed below:

Task Difficulty Difficulty Number

Very Easy: 10

Easy: 15

Average: 20

Difficult: 25

Very Difficult: 30

Nearly Impossible: 35

Impossible: 40

The average skill level for someone who knows what they're doing is 3-4, and the average Stat score is 5-7. Therefore, an average person would succeed on an Easy task about 90 per cent of the time, an Average task about 50 per cent of the time, a Difficult task 10 or 15 per cent of the time and a Very Difficult task maybe one per cent of the time.

It may seem that either success or failure at some tasks will be impossible for some characters, but there are several factors which make this less certain.

Situational Modifiers

Situational Modifiers are positive or negative modifiers to the task roll, depending on circumstances. They can greatly change the odds of success or failure. Enterprising players can use these modifiers to make impossible tasks possible, while the GM can use them to make an easy task difficult, thus increasing the tension and drama of the situation.

All Situations

Situation Modifier

Character intoxicated: -1 to -6

Physical tasks

Situation Modifier

Blinding light:

Daylight or brightly lit: 0

Dim light: -2

Night-time: -5

Complete darkness: -10

Character intoxicated: -1 to -6

Manual and technical tasks

Situation Modifier

Blinding light: -4

Daylight or brightly lit: 0

Poor light: -2

Night-time: -4

Complete darkness: -6

Basic instructions: +2

Detailed instructions: +4

Mental tasks

Situation Modifier

Interpersonal and language tasks

Situation Modifier

Familiarity Bonus

The more you do something, the easier it gets. To reflect this, a character gains a permanent bonus for a specific task depending on the number of times they have successfully completed it, up to a maximum of +5 or half their skill level, whichever is lower, according to the table below:

Number of successes Bonus

1 +1

2 +2

5 +3

10 +4

20 +5

To qualify for the bonus, the task must be very specific (e.g. cracking a particular model of safe, or clearing a particular type of stoppage on a particular model of rifle*), it must be difficult enough that the character has to roll to succeed, and it must be in a Stress Situation (see below). You don't get a +1 familiarity bonus to your drive skill every time you putter round to the all-night garage for ten Benson and Hedges, a packet of Rizlas and some chocolate digestives.

GMs should be wary of allowing players too many familiarity bonuses, at the very least because keeping track of them takes up time during the gaming session. Don't bother giving them a familiarity bonus for a task they're never going to use again, and feel free to delete or reduce bonuses for tasks that haven't been performed in a long time (in-game time that is).

*Obviously M16 owners will gain Weaponsmith familiarity bonuses much faster than AK-47 owners.

Skilled and Unskilled tasks

All tasks are classified as either skilled or unskilled. For a skilled task (for example repairing a broken-down car) the character must have the required skill at at least level one, or suffer a -3 modifier to their skill roll. For an unskilled task (like climbing over a fence) no negative modifier is imposed for lacking the skill, although the character still suffers a disadvantage compared to someone with the right skill.

Opposed Tasks

Some tasks, such as hand-to-hand combat or a poker game, pit the skill of two rivals against one another. This is called an Opposed Task. For an Opposed Task, both opponents roll D10, adding their skill level and stat. The two scores are compared and the highest wins, with a draw indicating a stalemate.

Fumbles and exceptional successes

An unmodified roll of a 2 on a task indicates a Fumble – the character automatically fails at the task, and also has to make a D6 roll on the relevant mishap table to see how badly things went wrong.

An unmodified 2D10 roll of a 20 on a task is an Exceptional Success. The character immediately rolls another D10 and adds the result to their first roll. If the result is another 10, roll the die again and add the result. A roll of a one on any extra die rolls does not result in a fumble.

Mishap Tables (Roll D6):

Physical (Agility, Strength and Toughness) task mishaps:

1: You fail miserably and make yourself look stupid. Other characters may laugh.

2: You drop whatever you are holding, carrying or trying to lift. This can include a backpack or a holstered or slung weapon if there is nothing in your hands. It takes one action to pick it up again, unless you dropped it in a river, off a building, out of a moving vehicle or some similar situation.

3: You slip and are thrown off-balance. It takes one round to recover, during which you suffer a -3 modifier to all actions.

4: You fall over, or off your motorbike or horse, or out of the driving seat of your car (this may have serious consequences). If already prone, you end up flailing around on your back. It takes one Round get back to a favourable position, during which time you cannot act.

5: You accidentally run into, hit or kick the closest person to you, causing one DC ½ non-lethal hit (to a random location) to both them and yourself.

6: You fall badly, run into a solid object or drop something, hurting yourself. Take a DC 2 non-lethal hit to a random location.

Interpersonal (Geniality and Nerve) task mishaps:

1-2: You say or do something stupid and people laugh at you. How you react to that is up to you...

3: You bore, annoy or mildly offend your audience. Apply a -3 modifier to your next interpersonal task with the same people.

4: You really turn off whoever you are talking to. Any further attempts at that specific task will automatically fail.

5: You lose your cool and shout or say something you may regret.

6: You offend whoever you're talking to so badly that you start a fight!

Mental (Intelligence) task mishaps:

1-3: You haven't got a clue about it, and it's obvious to everyone around you.

4: You go off down a blind alley (intellectually speaking), and confuse yourself. Take a -3 modifier to your next attempt at that particular task.

5: You are completely baffled and confused. Any further attempts at the task will automatically fail.

6: Not only do you get the wrong idea, but in fact what you come up with will have the opposite effect to that intended. This will probably with harmful consequences, unless you were actually trying to harm someone.

Manual and Technical (Coordination and Know-How) task mishaps:

1-3: You fail utterly. You may curse yourself.

4: You drop the device or a tool you are using. Make a Reliability roll to see if it is damaged or broken. The GM may rule that you lose the item, depending on the situation.

5: You damage the object you are using or working on: a difficult Mechanic/Technician task is needed to fix it.

6: You break whatever tool or machine beyond repair. If working with explosives, they blow up in your face.

Mishap tables for vehicle and combat tasks are found under the relevant sections of the rules.

Safe Tasks

Some tasks have no unforeseen consequences for failure, no matter how abject. A safety razor is so-called because not even the world's greatest idiot can do themselves serious harm while shaving with one. Even if you fail miserably at a Research task, you won't injure yourself. For these Safe Tasks, an unmodified 2D10 roll of a two is still an automatic failure, but without the consequences of a fumble.

Hazardous Tasks

For some Tasks failure always has unfortunate consequences. An example might be a Driving skill Task to pull a handbrake turn in a car at high speed – failure will probably mean losing control of the car, colliding with something or flipping it over. This is classed as a Hazardous Task. Failure at a Hazardous Task, even on a roll greater than two, means an automatic roll on the mishap table. The GM can rule that a task is Hazardous at their discretion, although they should be prepared to justify their decision.

Fatal Tasks

There are also Tasks for which failure can only have one, usually disastrous, outcome. For example, failing an Acrobatics Task to walk a tightrope means that the character falls off, full stop. The GM might allow an Agility or Reflexes check to catch the wire, but again failure means that they fall. These are called Fatal Tasks. There is no need to roll on the mishap table on any failure at such a Task – the outcome is clear.

Stress and No-Stress situations

Normal task difficulties assume that the task is being performed under pressure, with a something at stake. Generally it is much harder to get things done when there is something important (like a pile of money or your life) riding on the outcome. Imagine a steel girder with an eight inch 20 cm) wide top surface placed on the ground. It wouldn't be very difficult to walk along it without falling off, would it? But imagine trying to walk along the same girder one hundred feet up in the skeleton of a half-built skyscraper, like some of the old silent film stars who did their own stunts. Not so easy now, is it?

To reflect this, the difficulty of a task reduces by one level in No-Stress situations. Thus the 2D10 roll needed to hit a target while practising on a firing range will be five points less than it would be in combat (or at a high-stakes marksmanship contest), and an accountancy task will be less difficult when routinely doing a company's books than when checking for embezzlement or tax fraud.

Also, accidents are much less common in stress-free situations, so an unmodified 2D10 roll of a two on a task does not automatically mean a Fumble. Roll another D10 – a fumble only occurs if the result of the second roll is a one.

The golden rule is this: If it matters to the plot of the game (or the character's survival, which is the same), it is a stress situation.

Non-Task actions

Most of the actions that a character performs are so easy, routine, mundane or unimportant to the plot of the game that it is a waste of time rolling to see if the player succeeds or fails. Similarly, some tasks are so obviously impossible (“my character flaps his arms and flies off like a bird!”) that the GM should simply rule that failure is automatic. These are Non-Task Actions, and it is the GM's call as to whether they succeed or not.

Role-playing Task resolution

Lead and Chrome is a role-playing game, not a tabletop war game, and the point of RPGs is the role-playing, not roll-playing. Interpersonal Tasks like important negotiations or trying to pry information out of a tight-lipped customer should be role-played as often as possible.

Of course, there are skills to cover these actions and some players or GMs won't feel confident or comfortable about role-playing certain situations, but they should be encouraged to do so often, at least once per session.

Interpersonal Tasks between players should always be role-played rather than settled by a dice roll. The GM should never let one player's character seduce or swindle another's against their will.

3) Skills

Skill levels

Skill levels range from 1 to 10. Level 1 is a very basic knowledge of the skill, while 10 is absolute mastery.

Skill Level: Level of expertise

1-2 Basic

3-4 Proficient

5-7 Highly Skilled

8-9 Expert

10 Best of the Best

For many skills, especially technical, professional and academic skills, the higher the level, the greater the degree of specialisation. No-one knows everything about a subject.

Only a handful if people in the world will have even one skill at level 10. Leonardo da Vinci or Michaelangelo Buonarroti may have had a Draw/Paint skill of 10. Albert Einstein had Physics skill at level 10, specialising in relativistic mechanics (which he invented). GMs should not allow player characters to start with any skill at 10, unless they are running a truly super-heroic campaign.

Skill groups

Some related skills are clustered together in groups. One skill can be used as a substitute for another skill within the same group at half the original skill level, rounded down. Thus a character with a Handgun skill of 4, but no Rifle skill, can use a rifle at skill level 2.

Setting-appropriate skills

Some skills, like Climbing or Swimming, are relevant to any historical or fictional setting. Others are not. Powered Armour Use or Starship Navigation do not fit in a Wild West setting. No-one could possibly have those skills, and even if they did they would be useless. The skill list has to be tailored to the genre or setting. Common sense will tell you which skills are appropriate and which are not.

Adding new skills

The skills list is neither universal nor exhaustive. Many real-world skills are not included because they are not likely to come into play. For example, while Pilot, Navigate, Communications and Aviation Technician are on the list, Air Traffic Control (which would be a Know-How based skill) isn't. The author has assumed that while a pilot may be a popular character role, it is unlikely that anyone will play an air-traffic controller.

Of course, a skill not included in the list may become important in your campaign, in which case you should feel free to add it. Just decide which Stat the skill is based on, make sure there isn't another skill that does the same job, and give it an appropriate name.

Reduced skill groups

In many cases a whole skill group can be reduced to a single skill. In a 17^th- or 18^th- century setting, for instance, firearms are less important than in a Wild West or Cyberpunk game, and the differences between the different types (flintlock muskets and pistols) are small. Therefore the Firearms skill can be reduced to one skill.

Language skill groups should never be reduced to a single skill, although individual languages may be added or removed.

The skills list

Skills are listed alphabetically according to which character Stat they are based on: Strength, Coordination, Intelligence etc.

Skills List

Agility skills

Athletics

Acrobatics

Climbing

Cycling

Dancing

Dodge

Martial Arts: Aikido, Boxing, Brawling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Capoeira, Judo, Jujutsu, Karate, Kick-boxing, Kung-Fu, Military Styles, Tae Kwon-Do, Wrestling, etc.

Melee: Flail, Hafted Weapon, Spear, Small Blade, Sword

Parachuting

Riding: Bull (Rodeo), Camel, Carriage/Coach/Wagon, Elephant, Equestrian, Ostrich

Skating: Ice-Skating, Roller-Skating, Skateboarding

Skiing: Alpine, Nordic, Sledding, Snowboarding

Sneak

Sport: Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Football, Rugby, Tennis etc.

Swimming

Throw

Toughness skills

Endurance

Strength skills

Strongman/Weightlifting

Nerve skills

Interrogation

Intimidation

Public Speaking

Streetwise

Coordination skills

Archery: Bow, Crossbow, Slingshot

Drive: Car/Van, Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV), Motorcycle, Snowmobile, Tracked Vehicle, Train

Firearms: Energy Weapon (EW), Grenade Launcher/RPG (GL/RPG), Handgun, Machine Gun (MG), Rifle (RIF), Shotgun (SHG), Sub Machine Gun (SMG)

Pick Pocket/Sleight of Hand

Pilot: Ekranoplan, Fixed-Wing, Lighter-Than-Air, Rotary-Wing, Vectored-Thrust

Quick-draw

Stage Magic: Cardsharp, Illusion

Surgery

Geniality skills

Acting

Credibility/Swindle

Etiquette

Fortune-telling

Insight

Interview

Leadership

Poker face

Seduction

Intelligence skills

Accounting

Architecture

Awareness

Commerce/Trade

Compose Music

Computer Programming

Concealment/Evasion

Engineer: Aeronautical, Atomic, Computer, Electrical, Maritime, Mechanical, Structural

Expert (choose field)

Gambling

General Education

Journalism/Writing

Languages: (See list of language families below)

Law

Local Knowledge

Medical: Dentistry, Medicine, Psychiatry, Veterinary

Navigation/Map-Reading

Pursuit: Tail, Track

Research

Science, physical: Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Meteorology, Pharmacy, Physics, Zoology

Science, social: Anthropology, Geography, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Theology

Survival

Teaching

Wit

Know-how skills

Agriculture

Carpentry

Communications/Signals

Counterfeiting/Forgery

Demolitions

Diving: Deep-Sea, Free/Snorkel, SCUBA

Disguise/Make-up

Draw/Paint

Electronic Security

First Aid

Forensics

Herding

Hovercraft Pilot

Masonry/Bricklaying

Mechanic/Technician: Auto, Aviation, Cybernetics, Electrical, Electronics, Lighting, Maritime, Sound, Steam

Photography and Film

Pick Lock

Play Instrument

Plumbing

Sculpture

Seamanship: Hydrofoil, Small Motorcraft (boat), Large Motorcraft (ship), Rowing, Personal Watercraft (Jet Ski), Sailing, Submarine

Weaponsmith

Weapon Systems: Guided Missiles, Gunnery,

List of Language Families

Central American:

Chibchan: Arhuaco, Bribri, Cabécar, Guaymí (Ngäbere), Kogi, Kuna

Mayan: Ch'ol, Jakaltek (Popti'), Kaqchikel, K’iche’ (Quiche), Mam, Poqomchi', Q’eqchi’, Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Wastek, Yukatec

Misumalpan: Miskito, Sumo

Mixe–Zoque: Mixe, Popoluca, Zoque

Oto-Manguean: Chinatec, Mazahua, Mazatec, Mixtec, Otomi, Tlapanec, Zapotec

Totonacan: Tepehua, Totonac

Uto-Aztecan: Cora, Hopi, Huichol, Nahuatl, Mayo, O'odham (Pima), Tarahumara (Rarámuri), Tepehuán (O'otham), Ute, Yaqui, [Comanche]

Isolate: Huave, Purépecha

North American:

Algic (Algonquian): Blackfoot, Cree, Mi'kmaq, Ojibwe, [Arapaho, Cheyenne, Mohegan, Shawnee]

Eskimo-Aleut: Aleut, Greenlandic (Kalaallisut), Inuktitut, Inupiaq, Yup'ik

Iroquoian: Cherokee, Mohawk, [Huron, Seneca]

Muskogean: Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek/Seminole) [Chickasaw]

Na-Dené: Western Apache, Chipewyan, Navajo

Pueblo: Keresan, Zuni [Kiowa]

Siouan: Crow, Sioux

Uto-Aztecan: see Central American languages above.

Also: Pawnee (Caddoan family)

South American:

Arawakan: Asháninka, Ashéninka, Baniwa, Garifuna, Machiguenga, Moxos, Terêna, Wapishana, Wayuu, Yanesha'

Barbacoan: Awa-Pit, Cayapa, Guambiano

Cahuapanan: Chayahuita

Cariban: Kapong, Macushi

Choco: Catío, Cholo

Guaicuruan: Toba Qom

Guajiboan: Guahibo

Jê: Kaingang, Xavante

Jivaroan: Aguaruna, Huambisa, Shuar

Mascoian: Enxet

Matacoan: Güisnay, Vejoz

Pano-Tacanan: Shipibo

Piaroa–Saliban: Piaroa

Quechumaran: Aymaran, Quechuan

Tupian: Guarani, Kaiwá, Munduruku

Yanomaman: Waiká, Yanomamö

Isolate: Mapuche (Mapudungun), Paez, Ticuna, Warao

Australian: Alyawarr, Anmatyerr, Aranda, Dhuwal, Enindhilyagwa, Kunwinjku, Murrinh-Patha, Pitjantjatjara, Tiwi, Torres Strait Creole, Kriol, Warlpiri

Austro-Asiatic: Bahnar, Bru, Ho, Hrê, Juray, Kharia, Khasi, Khmer, Khmu, Koho, Korku, Kuy, Mon, Mnong, Mundari, Mường, Palaung (De'ang), Santali, Sedang, Sora, Ta’Oi, Turi, Vietnamese, Wa

Baltic: Latvian, Lithuanian

Bantu: Bemba, Beti, Chaga, Chewa, Ganda, Gikuyu, Gogo, Haya, Kamba, Kituba, Kongo, Lingala, Luba-Kasai, Luhya, Mafa, Makhuwa, Mbundu, Ndebele, Nkore-Kiga, Pedi, Shona, Sotho, Sukuma, Swahili, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu

Berber: Central Atlas Tamazight, Kabylian (Taqbaylit), Rifian (Tarifit), Shawiya (Tachawit), Tashelhit (Shilha), Tuareg (Tamasheq)

Caucasian: Abkhaz, Adyghe, Avar, Chechen, Ingush, Kabardian, Dargwa, Georgian, Lak, Lezgian, Mingrelian, Tabasaran

Celtic: Breton, Cornish (Kernowek), Irish, Manx, Scots Gaelic, Welsh

Chadic: Angas (Ngas), Azumeina, Bade, Bata, Bole, Bura, Cibak, Gera, Goemai, Hausa, Huba, Kamwe, Karekare, Kofyar, Margi, Massa, Musey, Mwaghavul, Ron, Tangale, Tera

Cushitic: Afar, Alaba-K’abeena, Awngi, Beja, Gedeo, Hadiyya–Libido, Iraqw, Konso, Kambaata, Oromo, Saho, Sidamo, Somali, Xamtanga

Dravidian: Badaga, Brahui, Chenchu, Duruwa, Gondi, Kannada, Kodava, Kolami, Konda, Koraga, Kota, Koya, Kui, Kurukh, Kurumba, Kuvi, Malayalam, Malto/Paharia, Manda, Maria, Muria, Nagarchal, Naiki, Ollari, Pardhan, Pengo, Savara, Tamil, Telugu, Toda, Tulu

Germanic: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch (including Flemish), English*, Faroese, Frisian, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Scots, Swedish, Yiddish

*English is quite distinct from the other Germanic languages, having a significant French lexical influence and differences in grammar and sentence structure.

Indo-Aryan: Adivasi Oriya, Ahirani, Assamese, Bagri, Bengali, Bhili, Bhojpuri, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Chakma, Chhattisgarhi, Chittagonian, Dakhini, Dhanwar Rai, Dhivehi, Dogri, Domari, Fijian Hindi, Gamit, Garhwali, Goaria, Gujarati, Gujari, Hajong, Halbi, Harauti, Hindi*, Hindko, Jadgali, Kachchi, Kandeshi, Kangri, Kashmiri, Kharia Thar, Khowar, Koli, Konkani, Kosli, Kumauni, Lahnda, Lambadi, Loarki, Magahi, Mahasu Pahari, Maithili, Malvi, Marathi, Marwari, Nepali, Nimadi, Oriya, Pashayi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Rajbangsi, Rohingya, Romani, Sanskrit, Saraiki, Shina, Sindhi, Sinhala, Sourashtra, Sylheti, Tanchangya, Tharu, Tippera, Urdu*, Vasavi, Vedda

*Spoken Hindi and spoken Urdu are mutually intelligible, but they are written in different scripts.

Iranian: Balochi, Farsi (Persian), Gilaki, Kurdish, Lori, Mazandarani, Ossetic (Ossetian), Pashto, Zazaki

Japonic: Amamai, Japanese, Kunigami, Miyako, Okinawan, Yaeyama, Yonaguni

Khoisan: !Kung (!Xun/Ju), !Xoon, Gǁana–Gǀwi, Kxoe, Khoekhoe (Nàmá), Naro, Shua, Tsoa

Malayo-Polynesian: Acehnese, Balinese, Banjar, Bengkulu, Betawi, Bikol, Albay Bikol, Buginese, Cebuano, Fijian, Gilbertese (Kiribati), Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Indonesian, Javanese, Kapampangan, Kedahan, Lampung, Madurese, Maguindanao, Malagasy, Malay, Mandailing, Māori, Makassarese, Minangkabau, Musi, Pakpak (Dairi), Pangasinan, Rejang, Samoan, Sasak, Simalungun, Sundanese, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tausug, Toba, Tongan, Waray-Waray

Mongolic: Buryat, Dongxiang (Santa), Mongolian, Monguor (Tu), Oirat, Ordos

Niger-Congo: Akan, Anyin, Bambara, Baoulé, Dagaare, Dyula, Ebira, Edo, Ewe, Fon, Fula, Gwari, Ibibio-Efik, Igbo, Izon, Mandinka, Mende, Mossi (Mòoré), Nupe, Serer, Soninke, Soso, Temne, Tiv, Wolof, Yoruba

Nilo-Saharan: Bari, Dinka, Dongolawi, Fur, Kanuri, Lendu, Luo, Maasai, Mangbetu, Ngambay, Nobiin, Nuer, Teso-Turkana, Zarma

Papuan: Western Dani, Ekari, Enga, Makasae, Melpa, Naasioi, Terei, Ternate

Romantic: Catalan (including Valencian), French, Italian, Latin*, Portuguese (including Galician/Gallego), Romanian, Romansch (Swiss), Spanish

*Extinct but in use as a liturgical, scholastic and literary language until the end of the Renaissance.

Semitic: Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, Maltese, Neo-Aramaic, Tigrinya

Sinitic: Bai, Gan, Hakka, Huizhou, Mandarin (Standard Chinese), Min, Pinghua, Shaozhou Tuhua, Taishanese, Wenzhounese, Wu, Xiang, Yue (Cantonese)

Slavic: Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croat, Slovak, Slovenian, Sorbian, Ukrainian

Tai-Kadai: Bouyei (Haausqyaix), Isan, Kam, Lao, Tày, Central Thai (Siamese), Northern Thai (Lanna), Southern Thai (Dambro), Northern Zhuang, Southern Zhuang, Zuojiang Zhuang

Tibeto-Burman: Bodo, Dzongkha (Bhutanese), Hani, S'gaw Karen, Khams, Meitei, Myanmar (Burmese), Nepal Bhasa, Piyo, Pwo, Sunwar, Tamang, Tibetan, Yi (Nuosu)

Tungusic: Even, Evenki, Nanai (Gold, Goldi, Hezhen), Sibe (Xibe), Udege

Turkic: Afshar, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Chuvash, Kazakh, Khorasani, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkish, Turkmen, Uyghur, Uzbek

Uralic: Erzya, Estonian, Finnish (Suomi), Hungarian (Magyar), Karelian, Komi, Mari (Cheremis), Moksha, Sami (Lappish), Udmurt (Votyak)

Isolate: Albanian, Armenian, Basque, Burushaski, Greek, Korean, Mapuche (Mapudungun), Purépecha

Language isolates are those tongues which are not related to any other living language. Most are limited to a small population of speakers, but Albanian, Armenian, Greek and Korean are the majority first languages in their home countries, while Basque is an official regional language in Spain.

Skill Descriptions

Agility skills

Athletics: This skill indicates the character's training in athletic track sports. While walking and running speeds in combat are dictated by the Agility stat, the Athletics skill is used when one person is chasing another, to see if the fleeing character is caught or escapes.

Acrobatics: Similar to Athletics, Acrobatics deals with back-flips, somersaults, rolls, trapeze work and so on.

Climbing: This covers getting up and down ladders, ropes, trees, mountainsides etc. Task difficulty varies with the nature of the object or surface being scaled.

Cycling: The skill (and degree of fitness) of riding bicycles, tricycles, unicycles, penny-farthings and other pedal-powered vehicles.

Dancing: The Waltz, the Polka, the Foxtrot, the Salsa, the Twist, the Harlem Shuffle etc. Is the game set in the 1970s? If so, you need this skill.

Dodge: This measures how good the character is at ducking and diving, getting out of the way of punches, kicks, falling rocks and other potentially harmful objects. This is not a martial art, but it can be used in hand-to-hand combat to avoid being hit.

Martial Arts: The sweet science of fisticuffs and kicking people in the head. Divided into different styles, each with their own pros and cons.

Melee: How to fight with knives, swords, clubs, axes, spears and other close-combat weapons.

Parachuting: The art of jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane without getting killed.

Riding: Handling horses and other beasts of burden, including driving coaches and wagons.

Skating: Whether on ice or on wheels, depending on which sub-skill is taken

Skiing: This skill group covers the various different forms of skiing.

Sneak: This is the skill of moving around without being seen or heard.

Swimming: How to move around in the water, and not drown.

Throw: This is the skill for thrown weapons such as knives, javelins and hand grenades. It also covers the related class of field athletic sports, such as the discus and shot-put.

Toughness skills

Endurance: The ability to keep going after others get tired or worn out and give up.

Strength skills

Strongman/Weightlifting: This is the skill of bending bars, lifting gates and other fantasy-hero and circus stuff.

Nerve skills

Interrogation: The skill of getting information out of someone through threat

Intimidation: The art of scaring people into doing what you want them to.

Public Speaking: How to address a crowd, get your message across and influence people.

Streetwise: Knowing the language of the street and being able to tell what's going down.

Coordination skills

Archery: The skill of shooting bows, crossbows and other such weapons.

Drive: Handling vehicles of various types.

Firearms: How to make a gun go bang and actually hit something.

Pick Pocket: The art of larcenous prestidigitation and vulgar pilfering.

Pilot: The skill of controlling all manner of aerial contraptions.

Stage Magic: This group has two skills: Cardsharp covers card tricks and cheating at card games, while Illusion allows you to perform magic tricks (of the non-magical variety) such as making coins disappear and pulling rabbits out of hats.

Surgery: Surgery is the art of performing operations, as opposed to Medicine, which deals with diagnosis and prescribing the right treatment, and First Aid, which involves stabilising a sick or wounded person's condition in an emergency.

Reflex skills

Quick-draw: Fill your hands, you sons of bitches!

Geniality skills

Acting: How to tread the boards like a true Thespian.

Credibility/Swindle: The art of making people believe what you say.

Fortune-telling: Combining aspects of Credibility/Swindle and Insight, Fortune-telling involves subtly teasing personal information from a person (or making educated guesses) and using it to construct a credible but suitably vague prediction of their future. This skill does not make the character genuinely clairvoyant.

Etiquette: Knowing just what to do and say in a variety of formal social situations.

Insight: This is the talent of detecting other people's emotions and motives. It can tell you whether someone is lying.

Interview: Eliciting information from people in polite conversation.

Leadership: The talent of making decisions (although not necessarily being the one who comes up with the solution to problems) and inspiring confidence and loyalty in others.

Poker face: The ability to disguise your emotions and put on an inscrutable face to the world, down to controlling reflexive actions and nervous tics.

Seduction: The skill of Casanovas, Don Juans and general pick-up artists.

Intelligence skills

Accounting: Accounting may sound boring, but it is the skill you need for tax-dodging, embezzling company money and laundering the proceeds of crime – very useful in gangster games.

Architecture: The skill of designing and identifying the features, origin and age of buildings.

Awareness: The knack of noticing little details. Sherlock Holmes has Awareness 10.

Commerce/Trading: Bargaining, haggling, finding a market, buying low and selling high, these are all skills of the trader.

Compose Music: The art of writing tunes, songs and orchestral works.

Computer Programming: How to design programmes and write computer code.

Engineer: This skill group covers various sub-divisions of engineering, allowing the character to design and build systems and structures of these types.

Expert (choose field): This skill represents specialist knowledge of a subject (not technical skill). For example, an antique dealer might have the Commerce/Trading skill, plus Expert (antique furniture). The GM may rule that the more specialised the area of expertise, the more in-depth the knowledge.

Gambling: Knowledge of the rules and tactics of a variety of games of chance.

General Education: How well educated the character is. Level 1-2 is equal to primary education, 3-4 to secondary education, 5-6 a university degree or college diploma, 7-8 a masters' degree and 9 a Ph.D. Level 10 is reserved for eminent professors. Zero level in this skill means that the character has never received formal education and is illiterate.

Journalism/Writing: How to write reports, features, opinion pieces, history, biography and fiction.

Languages: This skill allows the character to speak a language. It is broken down into several skill groups corresponding to language families such as Germanic, Romantic, Japonic and Bantu.

Skill levels 1-6 indicate varying levels of skill as a second-language speaker, from basic to advanced. Level 7 is that of a native speaker of average education. Levels 8-9 mean the speaker is well-read and particularly eloquent. Level 10 is that of masters of their own language, such as Dr Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first comprehensive English dictionary.

Every character can speak their first language (mother tongue) at level 7 without having to spend any skill points on it. More points can be spent to raise their skill level in their first language.

Law: The study of statute and case law, drafting legal documents and arguing cases in court.

Local Knowledge: This skill gives the character the low-down on the place where they live, knowing local landmarks, roads, streets and paths, who's who and so on. Local Knowledge differs from Streetwise in that it doesn't help the character in social situations.

Medical: This skill group includes the various medical disciplines, allowing the character to diagnose conditions and ailments and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Navigation/Map-reading: How to find your way from one place to another with a map and/or compass without getting lost.

Pursuit: Tail is the skill of following someone through an urban environment without being noticed, while Track deals with following both people and animals in a rural or wild setting, whether by sight and sound or by footprints and other signs.

Science, physical: The academic study of the physical and natural sciences.

Science, social: The academic study of the social or human sciences.

Research: The skill of finding information from sources such as libraries, public and private records and the internet.

Survival: Knowledge of the wild and how to find food, water and shelter there.

Teaching: The skill of imparting knowledge and skills to others.

Wit: The art of clever word-play, come-backs and put-downs.

Know-how skills

Agriculture: How to cultivate crops and make a living from the land.

Carpentry: Woodworking skills.

Counterfeiting/Forgery: The art of making fake documents, banknotes and other items.

Demolitions: The skill of handling explosives, including how to place blasting, demolition and breaching charges and bomb making. Explosives tasks are automatically Hazardous (see Tasks below) without this skill.

Diving: This skill group covers various techniques of underwater movement.

Disguise/Make-up: Make-up here means of the stage and screen variety, that you might use to make someone look 50 years older or like a zombie.

Draw/Paint: Talent in the visual arts.

Electronic Security: Knowledge of systems such as burglar and car alarms, and how to deactivate or circumvent them.

First Aid: This skill is used to stabilise an injured or critically ill person, including the use of tourniquets and pressure to stop bleeding, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and recovery positions.

Forensics: Gathering evidence from a crime scene, such as fingerprints, fibres and DNA samples.

Herding: How to care for farm animals and

Masonry/Bricklaying: The skill of building walls.

Mechanic/Technician: The maintenance and repair of various classes of vehicles and machines is covered by this skill group.

Photography and Film: The art of recording both still and moving images.

Pick Lock: The mechanical counterpart of Electronic Security, this skill allows the character to open locks without a key, using a variety of tools.

Play Instrument: The ability to play one musical instrument. The GM may rule that similar instruments can form a skill group.

Plumbing: How to fix pipes. A licence to print money.

Sculpture: The art of carving statues.

Seamanship: Handling various classes of watercraft.

Weaponsmith: How to fix, repair and modify firearms, as well as reload ammunition.

Gaining and Improving Skills

There are four ways to permanently gain and improve skills: Study and training, self tuition, exceptional success and the 'training montage'. Further more, skills can be gained temporarily at a 0-level under some circumstances.

Study and training

Characters can learn new skills from a sufficiently skilled teacher, up to a maximum skill level of six.

For each skill level gained, 25 hours of classroom study or training plus an equal amount of home study or practice is needed, for a total of 50 hours. This does not mean a four-day intensive course – the maximum practical rate of study or training and practice is eight hours per day, assuming a teacher is available and the student can afford to pay them.

The teacher must have a skill level 2 points higher than the student, and they must pass an Average Teaching task for each skill level to be gained (or each ten hours of tuition, at the GM's discretion) or the course of training has to be repeated.

If the student already has a skill in the same Skill Group as the skill that they are learning, progress is faster – up to a point. The study or training and practice times for the new skill are halved, but only up to half the skill level (rounded down) of the related skill. So, if a character with a Drive (Car/Van) skill of four is learning to drive a tracked vehicle, they only have to train and practice for 25 hours per skill level up to level two. From then on, advancement takes 50 hours per skill level.

Self tuition

Characters can also teach themselves how to do something, either with a how-to book or by trial and error, again up to maximum skill level of Six. This takes twice as long per skill level as study or training with a teacher, i.e. 100 hours per skill level. The 50 per cent reduction in training time for related skills still applies.

Exceptional success

When the character succeeds in a Task in a stress situation, where they need to roll more than a 20 (on 2D10) to succeed (i.e. where they need to roll a natural 20 followed by another number), the skill used immediately improves by one level. A stress situation is one where success of the task is critical. This may be in combat, or where success in the task is necessary to save the character's life or the life of another, or to achieve an important goal.

The training montage

Sometimes the GM may decide that the player characters need some skills that they don't have in order to complete the campaign. They can fix this through a training montage.

A training montage is a cinematic cliché, especially common in sport and martial arts films, where many days or weeks of hard training by the protagonist(s) for a competition or battle are compressed, via film montage, into a few minutes, almost always accompanied by music.

In game terms, the GM puts on some cheesy soft rock music (this part is optional) and describes how the characters spend the next few hours, days or weeks of in-game time learning the necessary skills for the job. At the end, they GM gifts the players a low level in those skills – no higher than level one or two is recommended, and only for one or two crucial skill per PC.