Skill: Quantifying Scrounging

Pigs are cool.

Scrounging is a kinda paradox to me. It is definitely an immensely helpful ability in several cases for all types of adventures, but it is really difficult to finger just how much one can dig up with scrounging. So today, I put some of my thoughts together on the problem and see if I manage to come up with something fair, if not a bit overwrought.

Fundamentals: Savoir-Faire

This is my first thought when I hear the
word.

I was browsing the official Steve Jackson Games Forum, and noticed a conversation about how many people have taken the Savoir Faire skill, and for what reason. The question struck me as inspirational, because I realize even though it is a skill that almost anyone is always recommended/required to have a point in at bare minimum, it almost always seems like a "waste" besides as a device for defining character. Today, I'd like to brainstorm some ways that I might make this skill more useful.

Reference: Scouting/Reconnaissance

Oi, Guvnah, wut's all this then?

I think, in one of those "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" moments I missed an important element by overstepping one piece of advice to the exclusion of an entire element of gameplay. That advice, "don't let the party get separated," has made it difficult for me to implement opportunities for the sneaky beaky types in my parties. So today, I'm doing a refresher for myself on ways that I can implement information gathering and explore how I might do that without breaking the flow as the "don't let the party get separated" advice is meant to help with. Let's take a look.

Skill: Heraldry

Some Important People, apparently.

I decided to start a series on "background skills" you see on Dungeon Fantasy templates that, interesting or not, can sometimes feel underutilized or can be hard to integrate a setup for, at least, in my opinion. Today, I'm going to be looking at Heraldry, the skill of discerning meaning from flags and logos and being able to impart the same when creating new ones.

Skill: Seamanship

Seamanship always seems to have
something to do with ropes and
knots.

One of my players recently asked what is the value of the Seamanship skill, and why he should spend points on it. For the most part, it feels like my research turns up, "because you should have it if you work on a boat." The reason why I don't think it is a big problem is because it only costs one point. In any case, not having an especially good reason for it bothers me, so I looked into it, and even though there are not a lot of reasons for it, I've compiled what I could find.