Okay, that is going to go into a future book...b] I'm kinda chuckling to myself thinking of having to be a dentist on a battleship with Aslan and Vargr aboard... Yeah, that'd be 'a thing'
Scholar career ranks/paths kind of messed up
- Thread starter MonsterX
- Start date
ottarrus
Emperor Mongoose
Just spell my name right
Limpin Legin
Emperor Mongoose
Many Post Graduates also go into industry or government, without pursuing further scholastic achievements, other than upskilling and maintaining their present skills.
Yes. Okay. Still academic by profession. In UK, some job titles have "principle" in them, eg: Principal Data Scientist.
Fair enough. Academics in "governance", perhaps?
Structure in Industry varies from company to company. Could use some more generic terms, such as driver, integrator, pioneer and guardian (See Pioneers, driver, integrator, guardians of industry) Similarly, government could do Integration Officer, Policy Tzar (or Policy Guardian), Mentor Agent, Executive Officer, Chancellor or Commissioner. But really, ranks in government are, like, Officer grade L1, L2 and L3) and Executive Officer (grade E1, E2, and E3). That bland.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
In fantasy it's pretty easy, most priests end up as combat medics, not that many players choose to stick their characters in monasteries.
Finding a balance may be beyond most rule books.
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
See, you are overlooking the potential of the environment for drama. Most people think that academia isn't full of Machiavellian drama. But it is. Just because the aggression is passive doesn't mean it isn't aggression. People say very mean things sometimes. Turn you back and someone will steal your lab space. Or defund your grad student. The laser pointer is mightier than the laser pistol.
“The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small”
― Henry Kissinger
You should get XPs for defunding another scholar's grad student.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
wintertraveller
Banded Mongoose
Speaking of scholars, I'm wondering how you all might construct a PC with a background as an academic focused on Pyschohistory.
Would you use the skill science (social sciences/psychohistory) or handle this as a collection of separate skills such as science (psychology) + science (history) in an 1105 Trojan Reaches campaign?
Thank you
Would you use the skill science (social sciences/psychohistory) or handle this as a collection of separate skills such as science (psychology) + science (history) in an 1105 Trojan Reaches campaign?
Thank you
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
Considering the absolute failure of the psycho-historical projection we see in Pirates of Drinax, maybe Science(pseudo)...
I think I would tend to make it Science(psycho-history) and require a task-chain involving mathematics and other supporting skills.
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
If there is a discipline of Psychohistory, then I would just use that as the skill. It would give a background in history and psychology, but for finding answers to questions not specifically Psychohistorical, the difficulty would be increased. Since Psychohistory doesn't tell me anything, I'll use Biochemistry as an example. It is its own thing, so questions to do with chemical interactions in living organisms, like what chemicals can this kind of weird animal gain nutrition from, the roll would be normal: 8+ or whatever depending on how hard the thing is. For pure chemistry questions, like what chemical do I add to this mix to make it react violently, I'd raise it by usually one, maybe two difficulty levels over a regular chemist. I also might say it is too far away from biochemistry, so you need a regular chemist. Same in reverse for a chemist trying to do biochemistry. Reasonable for a Psychohistorian to also study the related fields, but it wouldn't necessarily happen.. Might not be the best use of skill points, with the way I do it.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Prediction depends on known factors, and this appears to rely on Newton's Laws of Motion.
It's an art, not a science.
It's an art, not a science.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
Science as a religious cult.
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
IMTU, I treat Theology as a science, which is the knowledge of that person's religion as a scholarly pursuit. A highly skilled Theologian will be able to have a cutting-edge debate about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, discuss the wisdom within ancient scrolls and so on. There is a bit of history, philosophy, literature, etc. in it, but from a very specific perspective, and probably rejecting those things proven in other sciences that don't fit with doctrine (so, not really a science because it is fundamentally unscientific, but we can treat it like a science since it works that way skill-wise). It is quite academic, in the most useless way possible, but don't say it to their faces: that would be rude. It can, however, potentially be a way to influence religious people, by knowing how to justify what you want in terms that make it sound like religious necessity.
The Profession of religion is the ability to lead a flock in prayer, give moral advice, officiate at a funeral, give emotional support to the grieving and so on. Of course, these things depend on which religion; some might have different sets of things they do.
Religion may or may not be a cult: your religion is a religion: other people's religions are cults
The Profession of religion is the ability to lead a flock in prayer, give moral advice, officiate at a funeral, give emotional support to the grieving and so on. Of course, these things depend on which religion; some might have different sets of things they do.
Religion may or may not be a cult: your religion is a religion: other people's religions are cults
MonsterX
Emperor Mongoose
IMTU, there is an important NPC on the DNR who is exactly that.
He's got a potentially important artifact and enough science skills to do real science - but an attitude that the actual scientists are covering up the real truth - which they aren't - and trying to marginalize him - which they are. Should produce some interesting interactions with the actual scientists to provide headaches for the players.
And gravity IS trying to kill you. Everybody knows that.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
It's also keeping you grounded.
Where there's air.
Where there's air.
Arkathan
Emperor Mongoose
And that is included in the EVENTS for Scholar.
In my current campaign, the ship's doctor rolled three enemies. Two of them were for stolen research.
The third, (flee the planet result) we ruled as animosity due to him being a cyberneticist in the Sword Worlds.
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
Wait -- he was a cyberneticist in the Sword Worlds? And there were two other scientists, in the same field, that he could steal research from, on the same planet? That is drama right there! "Did I ever tell you about the time I was murdered at a medical conference? No? Buy me another drink..."
