News: We are working on a new podcast called Night Clerk Radio, where we review vaporwave, dark ambient, and other haunted genres of music. Our website is live with a trailer. We plan to launch soon!

Synopsis: Skills in RPGs are an important element but many games don’t get them right. Many games have too many skills while others have no skills at all. Caleb and I talk about good and bad skill systems in RPGs and how it has changed over the years. Caleb also brings up real life skills, like rhetoric, versus their in-game equivalents.

Shout Outs

Red Thread: A book about mazes and labyrinths. Excellent if meandering.
The Testaments: A sequel to the Handmaid’s Tale
Pagan Autogeny: An indie video game about exploring a dead MMO.
Oblivion Song: A comic about rescuing people from alien hellscapes
Japanese Video Game Obscurities: A book about weird video games
How To: The XKCD creator explains how to do various tasks
Medical Police: A sequel series to Children’s Hospital. Very funny!

Song: Harps and Dreams by Indreba

Skills in RPGs – Episode 174