What skill do I use ...

[CosmicGamer]

y'all seem to be forgetting that MGT has three elements not present in other editions: Events, Packages and Connections

Event 4 includes mechanic

If the package includes mechanic, your thief can get it

No matter what, every skill except Ironman and Jack is available via connections.

Not forgotten. It's just that I think skills "common" to a career should come from the skill tables and not an outside source. See my post just before yours.

 

[Samvail1]

This is probably just a moot question anyway as it all depends on the tech level your playing in. Frankly, how many mechanical locks are there going to be in a Sci-Fi universe?

Thanks to everybody who joined the debate.

Sam

 

[Klaus Kipling]

T20 didn't have a special lockpicking skill either. It was T/Mechanical or T/Electronics. For that matter neither did CT, though CT was missing a lot of skills necessary for a sci-fi game IMO (like a Science skill!). Not that this is justification, per se, just that former version didn't feel it was required.

Picking locks, like a specific skill for forging documents, are just hangovers from the fantasy origins of rpgs. Doesn't really have any place in a sci-fi setting, especially one with very generalist skills.

My rogue character would use Streetwise to find a specialist to purchase (using Persuasion and/or Broker) a gizmo that opens all those card locks in a jiffy, until it finds one it can't...

 

[CosmicGamer]

This is probably just a moot question anyway as it all depends on the tech level your playing in. Frankly, how many mechanical locks are there going to be in a Sci-Fi universe?

Thanks to everybody who joined the debate. Sam

Answer: Lots.

1) Unless a door is a force field it is a "mechanical" device with moving parts and even an electronic access mechanism activates a physical lock bolt unless it is a magnetic "lock" (see #2 re: power). A big wad of bubble gum stuffed into the right location when the door is open can still bypass many sophisticated, high tech locks.

2) Often High tech still has to have a low tech backup. For example most electronic locks will be disabled when power is removed so that you are not trapped inside in an emergency. Optionally there can be a mechanical override. So maybe all you have to do is activate the mechanical override?

3) High tech often mean low versatility. What I mean by this is that the lock has to be built into the device being locked. No walking up to a locker and slapping on your own lock. All lockers have the same lock. Much easier for a criminal to discover ways of disabling the lock when it is common and hard to change out.

4) Advanced tech just means advanced tools for getting around it. In my earlier post I discuss radio scanners and indicate the use of computer aided "hacking" of electronic locks.

5) Often the latest, greatest, more expensive technology is not utilized except in the most secure of locals.

With all the tech available, what level of tech is on your front door protecting your most valuable items: you and your loved ones. In many cases a simple TL0 rock can gain access through a window.

So I don't think that higher tech makes things moot - only if the tech is higher than that available to the criminal.

 

[aspqrz]

Personally I'm not fond of what I see as an overuse of the "-punk" meme for genre naming but that's just me. If you're actually making it punk, fine.

Not really "punk" ... just using the meme as a shorthand.

More "pulp", actually ...

Phil