From the article archive
Expanding and Idea: Make Use of the Useless Skills
In Romanian, Mark brings up the topic of those unimportant skills that appear in our games from time to time. I've always felt that creative use of the seemingly useless skill can make for some of the best gaming experiences. But how do you bring a skill into play if there’s no obvious call for it? I mean, if no one around your PC speaks Romanian, how the heck does he get to use that skill?
As GMs we do our best to help PCs pull out their skills at the right time, providing them a moment in the spotlight, but we can only do so much. Even with a small group of 2 or 3 PCs there are a lot of skills to try and work with. Some skills provide much more obvious hooks for the GM than others. What’s a GM to do? Well, it's time to call on the players for help.
Players have a duty to help a GM out by asking to use their skills whenever they think they may come into play. The GM can’t be expected to remember all the skills every PC has - No matter how good your GM's notes are. Thus the players should help him out from time to time. Helpful players are much more fun to game with than those who complain they don't get to use their reptile anatomy skill enough.
If the players find some notes in a hidden bunker while investigating an occult disturbance in Europe, they can help the GM remember the skills they have. Instead of asking “What language is it written in?” or waiting for the GM to ask “What languages do you speak?” the players should take the initiative. Saying something like “I examine the papers, I speak Romanian, German, Greek and English – Can I read them or at least tell what language they are in?” will garner better results than just giving the GM your list of languages.
While the GM may have already determined that the language is something different, say Italian in this case, by the player taking the initiative you give the GM a reminder that you invested a lot of skill points in languages, and it’s something that you want to play out in the game. It never hurts to remind a GM what your PC is all about. Be it languages, guns, occult, cryptography, whatever. A good GM will appreciate a chance to help you enjoy your character.
One thing to remember is to do your best to bring about your reminders in game. My example above wouldn’t work as well if you complained to the GM out of game that your PC never has a chance to use all the cool language skills you bought during chargen. Complaining or pointing out what you see as a failings are not good ways to help a GM provide you with the situations to play to your PC strengths.
The other key is to remember that skills can be used in a lot of different ways so get creative with them. If your PC has firearms skills, chances are he knows how to clean a gun, what certain calibers sound like when fired out of a 18 inch carbine as opposed to a 26 inch rifle. You can use these small side-bar knowledge items from your “useless” skills as well to help you get even more mileage out of them.
In my example the payer asks “…Can I read them or at least tell what language they are in?” If he can’t read them, the player is telling the GM that he has a lot of language skills and while he isn’t fluent in all languages, he hopes he can tell some basic info on a written or spoken language. While the info the PC gains may not be 100% accurate, he had a chance to use a skill that may have appeared useless in a situation.
Even if you don’t have a specific skill that you can use side-bar knowledge from, you can use your character type as a stepping off point. Almost all PCs are based on a certain type, theory, idea, etc. You may be a mechanic with a penchant for Spinosa’s philosophy, or a wise mage who loves collecting teddy bears. No matter what your PC is, he’s got some character type skills he can use.
If you’re playing a fighter who is a veteran warrior from many a campaign across the land, and has extensive weapon skills, you’ve got a bunch of character type knowledge to use. Upon finding a strange arrow imbedded in a dead goblin you can ask the GM what your character might be able to know about the who fired the arrow. “Is this arrow commonly found in the area we’re in? There are elves in the area, could it be one of theirs?”
The main thing to remember is to try and use your PC’s skills the way you use your real life skills every day. Get into the character and try to think like he would. Practice using those useless skills, get some extra mileage out of the character type knowledge and soon you’ll be able to slip into character like your favorite T shirt.
As GMs we do our best to help PCs pull out their skills at the right time, providing them a moment in the spotlight, but we can only do so much. Even with a small group of 2 or 3 PCs there are a lot of skills to try and work with. Some skills provide much more obvious hooks for the GM than others. What’s a GM to do? Well, it's time to call on the players for help.
Players have a duty to help a GM out by asking to use their skills whenever they think they may come into play. The GM can’t be expected to remember all the skills every PC has - No matter how good your GM's notes are. Thus the players should help him out from time to time. Helpful players are much more fun to game with than those who complain they don't get to use their reptile anatomy skill enough.
If the players find some notes in a hidden bunker while investigating an occult disturbance in Europe, they can help the GM remember the skills they have. Instead of asking “What language is it written in?” or waiting for the GM to ask “What languages do you speak?” the players should take the initiative. Saying something like “I examine the papers, I speak Romanian, German, Greek and English – Can I read them or at least tell what language they are in?” will garner better results than just giving the GM your list of languages.
While the GM may have already determined that the language is something different, say Italian in this case, by the player taking the initiative you give the GM a reminder that you invested a lot of skill points in languages, and it’s something that you want to play out in the game. It never hurts to remind a GM what your PC is all about. Be it languages, guns, occult, cryptography, whatever. A good GM will appreciate a chance to help you enjoy your character.
One thing to remember is to do your best to bring about your reminders in game. My example above wouldn’t work as well if you complained to the GM out of game that your PC never has a chance to use all the cool language skills you bought during chargen. Complaining or pointing out what you see as a failings are not good ways to help a GM provide you with the situations to play to your PC strengths.
The other key is to remember that skills can be used in a lot of different ways so get creative with them. If your PC has firearms skills, chances are he knows how to clean a gun, what certain calibers sound like when fired out of a 18 inch carbine as opposed to a 26 inch rifle. You can use these small side-bar knowledge items from your “useless” skills as well to help you get even more mileage out of them.
In my example the payer asks “…Can I read them or at least tell what language they are in?” If he can’t read them, the player is telling the GM that he has a lot of language skills and while he isn’t fluent in all languages, he hopes he can tell some basic info on a written or spoken language. While the info the PC gains may not be 100% accurate, he had a chance to use a skill that may have appeared useless in a situation.
Even if you don’t have a specific skill that you can use side-bar knowledge from, you can use your character type as a stepping off point. Almost all PCs are based on a certain type, theory, idea, etc. You may be a mechanic with a penchant for Spinosa’s philosophy, or a wise mage who loves collecting teddy bears. No matter what your PC is, he’s got some character type skills he can use.
If you’re playing a fighter who is a veteran warrior from many a campaign across the land, and has extensive weapon skills, you’ve got a bunch of character type knowledge to use. Upon finding a strange arrow imbedded in a dead goblin you can ask the GM what your character might be able to know about the who fired the arrow. “Is this arrow commonly found in the area we’re in? There are elves in the area, could it be one of theirs?”
The main thing to remember is to try and use your PC’s skills the way you use your real life skills every day. Get into the character and try to think like he would. Practice using those useless skills, get some extra mileage out of the character type knowledge and soon you’ll be able to slip into character like your favorite T shirt.
Recovered from the Gaming Outpost database backup. Original wording is preserved; damaged punctuation and presentation markup have been repaired. Historical links without a local match point to the Internet Archive.