> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2000 13:07:57 +0100
> From: philip.hibbs_at_...
> Subject: Re: Mastery = basic competence
>
> Mikko:
> >Herding 12 is quite enough for somebody you send out to watch over
> >the sheep. A skill of 12 means that he has experiense doing the
> >thing, and knows quite a bit about it (it's not that hard).
>
> So three days a week you fail to successfully herd your sheep, and about
> every three weeks you lose half the herd? I'm not hiring you!
Actually, no. The shepherd boys (Sheepherd 12) help out the Shepherd (Sheepherd 17 or 1w or 5w). And if things get nasty, they call in that wierd guy who is a Voriof Devotee (Shepherd 8w2) who lives with the clan who, you know, with sheep....
Its just like the magic rules -- you get a really competent person to do the nasty work like Bless Crops or do the high holy day ceremmonies. The rest of the folks *help*
> The rule about not needing to roll dice is only a game mechanical time
> saving device - there's no need to roll, it doesn't affect the plot, so
> let's not bog the game down with it. It is important not to confuse this
> with the rest of the game world - just because the referee says that a
> player with skill 12 doesn't have to roll their ability under ordinary
> circumstances, that doesn't mean that every character in the world with a
> skill of 12 always succeeds every day. They will fail 2 in 5 times. It's
> just that those 2 in 5 aren't important to the story.
>
My own experience has been to just run a simple abilty test or assume
its something that no competent adventurer will fail at and for that I
assume a bit of experience.
Shepherd 12 would let you herd sheep as long as they don't get spooked or startled. You'll have friends with you (usually) and probably an alynx (no debates on the alynx issue, please).
And anyone who's supposed to be a shepherd can get the stupid stinky fluff buckets out into the far meadow. Rounding them up might take you longer than the guy with the "Whistle Up Sheep" feat but you'll do it. Just don't expect to win any awards on speed or finese.
Jeff
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