Skills in Cursed Land represent the individual gifts and abilites that set your character apart. Skills are rated according to the same Fudge scale as most other things in the game - although a Skill can never exceed Superb without Fudge dice providing a bonus. For example, a Very Good skill with a 4dF roll result of +4 could be described as 'Superb+' or Superb plus one, etc.
Every Skill at Good or above gains new aspects when it is advanced. Aspects for invented skills can be suggested by the Player with GM discretion. Here is an example of a Very Good skill with its aspects listed. Skills should be presented in this way on the character sheet, or index cards if preferred:
Very Good Assassin
Very Good: "I am proficient at killing with improvised weapons."Good: "I have access to contracts from 'The Assassin's Guild"Any Skill not trained by a Player Character can be rolled at
Poor. There are obvious exceptions, such as skills that are the product of specialised training. Such skills usually require other specific foundational skills. GMs should only allow such skill improvisation if it seems reasonable for the character.
Certain items, such as magical tomes or enchanted vessels may activate or be imbued with Skills. These types of Skills are called 'Linked Skills'.
Using Linked Skills is of course a great convenience in certain situations - but they often have a risk or cost associated with them, or demand a sacrifice of some kind.
Any non-Linked skills at Mediocre level or above require an Influence point to be used. A character can have up to four skills at any time, although skills which are 'upgraded' in level gain an Aspect for each rank. Thus, a Superb skill ('rank' 7) will have 6 aspects; a Great skill 4 aspects, etc.
Starting Skills are decided after the characters background, Origin and Doom paths have been established and should reflect other Aspects of a character directly. They can come from Oaths, Faults, or even be a Mediocre level skill that the PC aspires to master through the course of their development. On the Doom Path, 6/10 and 10/10s have a 50% chance (flip a coin) to have a starting Skill related to sorcery. It's important to leave a Skill slot free to accomodate this. You should decide on the starting Sorcery along with the GM.
Otherwise, simply choose from whichever Origin best suits what you're going for. They are designed to be balanced, but random origin rolls are encouraged to spice up an adventuring party; each have their own advantages and disadvantages to do with retainers, burial hoards and faction opinion.
It is generally advised for a 'normal' game of Cursed Land that each PC will start with one Skill at Fair and two at Mediocre at game start. Sorcerers should only be played with caution - it's extremely difficult to get by in Carcosa as a sorcerer, and the majority of sorceries cannot be mastered safely without endangering the PC.
As mentioned, discovering new skills and inventing skills that are unapparent is encouraged. It's at the GM's discretion to accept any new skills. It's highly encouraged to develop new skills based on resolution or complication from Motivations, Instincts, favoured Retainers and Knowledge you've gained. This allows the GM to easily create opportunities for story scenes based on your choices.
Here are suggestions for further skills based on occupation. Many, many more skills are 'hidden' from the player, embedded in Carcosa's denizens and locales.
Farmer: Animal Husbandry, Ecology (Carcosan Steppe), Wilderness & Survival, Improvised Weapon, Toughness, Mental Fortitude
Mercenary: Exotic Weapon (Finesse), Negotiation, Fondness for Lost Causes, Military Planning, Arithmetic, Flexible Morality, Duelling, Lore: Guild Martial
Apprentice Torchlighter: Cartography, Suppressed Fear, Urban Archaeology, Torch Fighting, Underworld Cant, Prospecting, Combat Healing, Lore: Guild of Torchlighters
Blacksmith: Smithing, Weaponry, Military History, Conniving, Hammer Proficiency, Writ of Delving, Secrecy, Lore: Guild Metallic
Heterodox Assassin: Poisons, Subterfuge, Lockpicking, Social Engineer, Dagger Combat, Information Broker, Lore: Aldebaran Heterodoxy, Lore: Guild Profane
When you use Effort to augment your skills during scenes, make a tally of successes and failures. If you fail during play, don't worry! Failure is a great way to learn, right? It's assumed that you're going to fail sometimes, and a failed roll in Cursed Land doesn't always mean you can't fulfil a simple action.
1 Influence at Poor;1 Influence and 1 Knowledge Die at Mediocre;Rite of Passage for Fair skills;1 Influence and Act of Distinction for Good skills;1 Influence and a Ritual of Dedication for Very Good skills;1 Influence, 1 Knowledge Die, and a Task of Proving for skills at Great or above.GMs: It's ok to not allow Skills above Great in your game. Level 6 can definitely be considered a reasonable 'cap' of expertise. The owner of a Great skill would find themselves in the top 1-2%, an undoubtable master.
A Rite of Passage means being inducted into a Guild, performing a successful cultural ritual, seeking out the instruction of a Master of your chosen skill.
An Act of Distinction
Ritual(s) of Dedication
Finally, the Task of Proving
Excellent (6/6) which unlocks increasingly powerful techniques or knowledge;Vertical progression also has its drawbacks - you will gain notoriety among the populace of Carcosa, attracting more attention to yourself and possibly drawing the ire of powerful enemies.
Horizontal progression, conversely, can be imagined as the pursuit and discovery of strategies or hidden knowledge that can help solve a character' motivations. A lot of the Lore in Cursed Land, while applicable to skills and situations, can be considered horizontal. No two campaigns will take the same path in uncovering the secrets of the Livid City. This can be used to your advantage!
When you advance skills horizontally, you're likely to gain pertinent information, meet possible retainers, gain knowledge (d20), and discover Lore (d30).
Examples being:
The number of Skills in Wurld are limited only by GM discretion and the PCs imagination. In totality, they represent the sum of any PCs lived experience. Once a skill is known at Great (5/6), it remains as a permanent part of that PCs repertoire and may be elected as a starting skill for Legacy Retainers when you die. A skill trained up to Excellent no longer requires an Influence point 'slot'.
Seeking out rarer skills, combining masteries, seeking out better or more refined Skills, and synergising with other players is the focus - rather than, say, being a level 100 Warlock instead of a level 4 one. Indeed, it was extremely bad manners for two magi to compare their mastery on such terms.
Any conceivable action should be able to be determined by some sort of opposed or unopposed Skill check between the PC and the world. Even though a PC's skills might be all about swordfighting, if their Physical die is a d12 they should consider themselves able to perform any reasonable physical action at Good. If a player wants to lift an unwieldy boulder (a challenge of Fair) they wouldn't even need to roll a physical skill or attribute. The difficulty for these types of unopposed challenges are always the same for each specific test, and are only known by the GM. This means that unopposed rolls might typically go like this: