Friday night and Saturday I refined the StarCluster 4 skill list down to 24 base skills, making sure that each Attribute had four skills, and each skill in the StarCluster 3 skill set (94 skills) could be expressed as a field of expertise within the StarCluster 4 skill set. In doing this, some surprising combinations have occurred - Baking and Demolitions are fields of Discipline, for example - but they all make sense, Baking and Demolitions both require precise measurement, the ability to follow directions perfectly, and self-discipline.
In StarCluster 4, base skills cannot progress above rank +2. if you raise the rank of a base skill to +3 or beyond, it becomes a narrower Field of Expertise within the skill. You can name the field yourself, or choose one of the example field names. Example: Science+2 becomes Science +2 (Biology+3).
StarCluster has always had a large, center defined, and overlapping skill set. Now it will have a small, center defined, and overlapping skill set.
I like what you've done here. I'm a big fan of skill systems, and I often struggle in my own game design when it comes to compiling and editing my often massive lists down to the essentials, It's always hard to find that fine line between "not enough" and "too many". It looks like you've found an excellent solution. I might give your methodology a spin with my one of the games I am working on and see if that solves the problem. Assuming you don't mind a little plagar.... er.... artistic appropriation? Yes, that sounds a little better than that first word.
ReplyDeleteGame design runs on plagar... artistic appropriation! Appropriate away, Adapt! :D
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