Devlog #1 - The one about skills

This post was originally posted in a devlog of another game, but it is also important here.

Returning to writing, I'm revisiting everything I've created before, so once again I'm tackling the topic of skills. I like the 18 skills from Fate Core, but in my system, I've opted for 6 abilities instead. There were two reasons behind this:

Argument 1: Risks

I really wanted to utilize the Risk system, created by Rob Donoghue, which was designed for Fate Accelerated. I'm not a fan of FA because the approaches instead of skills don't quite suit me, so I devised something that combines the characteristics of skills and approaches — abilities. On the one hand, they have a specific scope, but on the other, they are flexible enough to stretch into various in-game situations. Later, I found out that Fred Hicks had a similar idea when he created Shadow of the Sith.

Argument 2: Skill Development

From the perspective of a Fate GM for the past ten years, I can say that the skill advancement system is a source of endless frustration because every time I have to explain to my players how it works. Meaning, repeating the phrase: “you can't have more skills at a higher level than at a lower one”. Reducing the number of skills allows for abandoning the pyramid or column rule altogether. With fewer abilities, the specific numbers assigned to them become less significant.

System Tests

Tests of this system revealed one significant drawback. When we group skills according to similar actions (e.g., Fighting and Shooting as “Combat”), it greatly reduces the diversity of characters. Previously, a character could be good at athletics but weaker at piloting vehicles, but when Mobility encompasses both, a character with a high Mobility is simultaneously an athlete and a master driver.

So, why does Fate Accelerated work? Because approaches can signify different actions. You can cautiously sneak, but you can also cautiously attack or negotiate. It's about the approach, not specific skills.

Then why does Shadow of the Sith work? It's simple; this system doesn't lump several skills into one but reduces their number to those that best fit the convention. At first glance, we might think that Fight is a combination of Combat and Shooting, but Pilot is actually a narrower version of Driving!

What's next?

Initially, I wanted to increase the number of abilities from 6 to 9, but they would still face the same issue. Perhaps it's even better when there are fewer abilities because it reduces the number of those at level 0.

Below is a comparison table of different skill and ability models:

What conclusions can be drawn from this?

Skills at +0

It's evident that in systems with fewer skills, most of them must have values above zero. In classic Fate Core, we have 8 unused skills, but the division is so fine that players can easily discard those they truly don't need or choose stunts that enable them to use selected skills instead of rejected ones.

Shadow of the Sith

This system seems much more potent than others because although it has far fewer skills, it provides significantly more of them (proportionally) at the start. Perhaps that's why the author decided that invoking an aspect in this system doesn't grant a +2 bonus to the roll but only allows for a reroll, and stunts instead of +2 provide a +1 bonus. This may balance out the power characters have at the start.

Which path will the Power of Fate take?

I don't know. The system from “Shadow of the Sith” seems more enticing, but it's somewhat too invasive for the mechanics. I'm considering whether to create a system with two types of skills: one could be the approaches from Fate Accelerated, and the other could be some thematically divided abilities. For a skill test, players would choose one from each category, offering many possible combinations.