FASA-to-Coda Q

[Sea Tyger]

Yes, in my insanity I adapted the FASA-to-Icon and Icon-to-Coda conversion guides into a FASA-to-Coda guide (mainly because I didn't convert my FASA characters to Icon, and now I want to do it for Coda without the middle step ).

One skill doesn't seem to translate to anything, so I'm putting this out to the board:

What about the FASA skill Instruction (as in teaching). It doesn't convert to Indoctrinate, since that is a mind manipulation skill (brainwashing, etc.). Is there a skill or edge (I still want to say feat here... ) that anyone can think of for teaching others?

[Darth Sarcastic]

"Persuade" is the answer you seek. As with all things Decipher, there's an answer with no logic to it. Just trying to fit in.

[AllenS]

I don't have my books handy...is there are "Professional" skill? if so, maybe that would work....

Allen

[RaconteurX]

I would simply add an Instruction skill to the CODA canon, with specialities being the topic taught. An experienced teacher can teach anything, but always has a subject or two in which he or she excels. An Academy instructor, for example, can teach Unarmed Combat, but may have formerly been an Engineer and has a specialization in that.

[Doug Burke]

I supose one could add an Instruction skill to the game, possibly as an Enterprise skill. I could see the mechanic used to be an opposed roll (the teacher's Instruction + and modifiers for subject difficulty vs. the student's Int or maybe even Willpower...).

What do you think?

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by Doug Burke
An opposed roll (the teacher's Instruction + modifiers for subject difficulty vs. the student's Int or maybe even Willpower...).

I think Instruction might works best as a combined extended test with a TN set by subject difficulty. The teacher rolls an extended Instruction test vs. that TN, to explain the subject material, and the students roll Intellect tests at -5 TN in order to comprehend the teacher's explanation. "Meticulous", "Coordinator" and "Confident" aid a teacher, while "Exceptional Concentration" and "Curious" aid the students. "Dim-witted", "Dullard" and "Easily Distracted" hinder the students, while "Arrogant" and "Proud" hinder a teacher. Instruction should be in the Social category: the best teachers connect with their students.

[RaconteurX]

And what, you may ask, does any of the above accomplish in terms of skill advancement? I have no idea, but it might be of use in a Starfleet Academy campaign. Perhaps success at the test by the end of a semester (monthly rolls with a limit of four) means the teacher has imparted one skill level's worth of knowledge to his or her cadets? Works as a quick-and-dirty solution for me, although the TNs would have to be worked out to prevent characters advanced in such a campaign are not horrible over-powered than a bog-standard beginning Ensign.

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by RaconteurX
TNs would have to be worked out to prevent characters advanced in such a campaign are not horrible over-powered than a bog-standard beginning Ensign.

My bad... that should have read "TNs would have to be worked out to prevent characters advanced in such a campaign from becoming horribly over-powered compared to a bog-standard beginning Ensign created using the /Player's Guide/."

[Sea Tyger]

Instruction would certainly be a Social/Academic skill, and I would agree that the student and teacher should make a combined test to resolve it over the period of an academic semester or quarter. Of course, the result would be to raise the student's skill level by 1 (and only 1).

In that sense, the TN for the extended test would be based on the subject's difficulty and completely absurd (maybe even close to 100), since the test would be made following each class (or, to simplify, say 1/10 or 1/15 of the academic period).

Students wouldn't be able to increase more than one skill at a time this way simultaneously and continue their normal duties. If they were in an academic setting (where learning is their only "job"), then I'd say 2-3 skills could be increased simultaneously.

That said, though, I think I'll just ignore the skill. I don't want to tweak the system just to fit a single skill into it.

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by Sea Tyger
I think I'll just ignore the skill. I don't want to tweak the system just to fit a single skill into it.

And after all that off-the-cuff work I did! Bastard...

It does really showcase the versatility of the new system, though. Instruction is a very useful skill for a Starfleet Academy game, but little else. You want the players in such a campaign to bemoan the fact that their characters failed to pass Advanced Astrometrics and the like.

[Sea Tyger]

Originally posted by RaconteurX


And after all that off-the-cuff work I did! Bastard...

Well, you know, I'm fickle like that.

It does really showcase the versatility of the new system, though. Instruction is a very useful skill for a Starfleet Academy game, but little else. You want the players in such a campaign to bemoan the fact that their characters failed to pass Advanced Astrometrics and the like.

I was thinking the same thing. Instruction was useful in FASA because you could use it to raise a point or two at a time (I think the setup was a d10 increase in the subject skill for an academic period). Here, I think it could be too unbalancing in all instances except an academy game, where you could control how far they advance.

Thanks for everyone's help.