Journalist
- Thread starter halberad
- Start date
Yah, most P/ skills aren't really detailed out. Just like in DnD or most other d20 games.
A cleric in the DnD game I run took Profesion: Priest, for example. He did that so that he would be competent at being a professional priest. He knows how to run a church, how to manage the finances, how to make a living as a Priest.
P/ don't need a whole lot of detailing, but it is nice to see write ups on the various professions folks might use. C/ certainly needs good details and a robust mechanical system behind it.
A cleric in the DnD game I run took Profesion: Priest, for example. He did that so that he would be competent at being a professional priest. He knows how to run a church, how to manage the finances, how to make a living as a Priest.
P/ don't need a whole lot of detailing, but it is nice to see write ups on the various professions folks might use. C/ certainly needs good details and a robust mechanical system behind it.
Halberad,
DGP introduced a Journalist career chargen in their MT work. It featured a nice selection of 'personal interaction' skills like interrogation, streetwise, liaison, and the like along with some 'light' combat skills like pistol and brawling. Other basic skiils like 'computer' or 'grav vehicle' were included too. The chargen was developed due to the fact that one of the 'Four Knights' DGP had tour the Imperium in a long running sereis of adventures was a freelance journalist.
A journalist PC could investigate events outside of official channels, unlike a policeman or paramilitary. Keeping things outside of official channels usually means far more adventure possibilities and far less oversight from superiors! A journalist NPC could hire the PCs or ask them for help in any number of things.
It's an interesting and sadly overlooked career in modern/sci-fi RPG games, much like sailors or caravan merchants in fantasy RPG games.
When you do come up with something, please let us know.
Have fun,
Bill
DGP introduced a Journalist career chargen in their MT work. It featured a nice selection of 'personal interaction' skills like interrogation, streetwise, liaison, and the like along with some 'light' combat skills like pistol and brawling. Other basic skiils like 'computer' or 'grav vehicle' were included too. The chargen was developed due to the fact that one of the 'Four Knights' DGP had tour the Imperium in a long running sereis of adventures was a freelance journalist.
A journalist PC could investigate events outside of official channels, unlike a policeman or paramilitary. Keeping things outside of official channels usually means far more adventure possibilities and far less oversight from superiors! A journalist NPC could hire the PCs or ask them for help in any number of things.
It's an interesting and sadly overlooked career in modern/sci-fi RPG games, much like sailors or caravan merchants in fantasy RPG games.
When you do come up with something, please let us know.
Have fun,
Bill
I´d say that P/Journalism is the skill needed to write good articles, and to sell these articles if the character is a freelance journalist.
The investigation part is covered through Liaison, Gather Information and T/Computer skills.
I agree with Bill about journalist characters; I think it was a good idea to include the TAS Field Reporter prestige class in T20.
I´ve noticed that a few useful d20 skills are missing in T20 - or at least I am too dumb to find them: Escape Artist, Sleight-of-Hand, Use Rope. I also think that d20/T20 could use a Seduction skill.
The investigation part is covered through Liaison, Gather Information and T/Computer skills.
I agree with Bill about journalist characters; I think it was a good idea to include the TAS Field Reporter prestige class in T20.
I´ve noticed that a few useful d20 skills are missing in T20 - or at least I am too dumb to find them: Escape Artist, Sleight-of-Hand, Use Rope. I also think that d20/T20 could use a Seduction skill.
BrennanHawkwood
SOC-12
To build on Chaos, I'd say P/Journalism would handle anythiong skill-wise that a journalist does/knows that isn't included in another skill. This could include a number of things...
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- how to pull together a journalistic story (Not how to interview per say, but figuring out what needs to be done to pull a story together, at which point other skills may handle the actual collection of that information.)</font>
- writing skills (oriented toward writing journalistic material)</font>
- familliarity with the business end of journalism</font>
- a feel for what will and won't make a good story and if a story will be sellable</font>
- familiarity with the theory, rules and ethics of journalism</font>
To build on Brennan Hawkwood, I think the employment checks should be different from the other professions, at least for a freelancer.
Whenever they have a week´s time that is not occupied otherwise, for example, a week during jump, they can spend that week writing a story - that is, if they have anything worth writing a story about, like their latest adventure.
Whenver they meet someone who might buy their stories - news companies, the TAS - they make an employment check, not for a week´s employment, but to sell a story.
Besides that, P/Journalism should give synergy bonuses for Gather Information, writing skills for other purposes, and research.
Whenever they have a week´s time that is not occupied otherwise, for example, a week during jump, they can spend that week writing a story - that is, if they have anything worth writing a story about, like their latest adventure.
Whenver they meet someone who might buy their stories - news companies, the TAS - they make an employment check, not for a week´s employment, but to sell a story.
Besides that, P/Journalism should give synergy bonuses for Gather Information, writing skills for other purposes, and research.
Shadowdancer
SOC-14 1K
In later d20 supplements beyond the core WotC D&D rulebooks, Seduction was added to the function of the Bluff vs. Sense Motive check. But many people weren't completely happy with that.
The best working mechanic I've seen -- short of using the Seduction skill from the Book of Erotic Fantasy
-- is to use either Bluff or Diplomacy (substitute Liaison in T20) as dictated by the situation.Bluff is used if the intention is to seduce an NPC for deception and/or a non-truthful situation, i.e., picking up someone in a bar for the sole purpose of having sex with them (a one-night stand). Diplomacy/Liaison is used if the intention is to initiate a more honest and/or longer-lasting relationship, i.e., you meet someone at a party who you want to ask out on a date, with the possibility that it will turn into a romantic relationship.
Shadowdancer
SOC-14 1K
As a working journalist of 20+ years, this is a subject near and dear to my heart.
Back when WotC introduced its new Eberron campaign setting, I became involved in several "enthusiastic" discussions on the WotC and EN World boards about playing journalists using the d20 system. Among other things, the Eberron setting has regularly published newspapers, and one of the viable PC and NPC professions is that of journalist and/or reporter.
I and some others who are currently journalists or who have worked as journalists in the past were not in complete agreement as to what skills, feats and mechanics best modeled the journalist career. The best compromise we came up with was a combination of the Craft and Profession skills. Craft/Newsstory is used to actually write a news story while Profession/Journalist is used for handling the business aspects of being a journalist. Brennan Hawkwood's list is a pretty good breakdown of P/Journalist, except IMO the actual writing skill should be handled by C/Newsstory, with maybe synergy bonuses back and forth for 5+ ranks.
In journalism, you can be a good writer and be a lousy reporter. Or you can be a good reporter (know how to work your beat, develop your sources, do research, meet deadlines, sell your work if a freelancer, etc.) and not be a good writer. A top-notch journalist, of course, is good at both.
Some of the P/Journalist activities can be handled/helped using other skills, such as Liaison, Gather Information, Bluff, Bribery, Sense Motive, Intimidate (really need an Interrogation or Interview skill for conducting interviews), etc. So there might be a synergistic situation going on if any of these have 5+ ranks. But there are still plenty of journalist activities that are not covered by seperate skills, and that do not involve the actual writing of a story, that make P/Journalist necessary and useful.
Traveller does have another option that D&D/d20 medieval-esque fantasy games do not, and that is the Entertainment cascade skill. In the skill description, poetry and storytelling are included with Entertainment, so it is possible to have that skill cover some writing activities -- novels, short stories, biographies, etc. -- rather than a C/Newsstory or some other Craft skill. However, I don't feel this works well for news stories since the main purpose of a news story is (or should be) to inform the reader, and not entertain. Unless we're talking the sensationalistic Star/Inquirer-type tabloids. Certainly a news story can entertain the reader, and a novel can inform the reader. But those are not their respective primary function.
So for Traveller, I would recommend using a C/Newsstory check to see how good an individual story is, or how much that one story could be sold for, and a P/Journalist check to see how well a journalist does his job overall, and how much money he can make doing that job as a continuing effort. With possible overlapping synergy bonuses. And while Bluff, Gather Information, Liaison, Sense Motive, etc., checks can all help a journalist do the job, P/Journalist is what determines how much money he or she makes doing that job in the long run.
Back when WotC introduced its new Eberron campaign setting, I became involved in several "enthusiastic" discussions on the WotC and EN World boards about playing journalists using the d20 system. Among other things, the Eberron setting has regularly published newspapers, and one of the viable PC and NPC professions is that of journalist and/or reporter.
I and some others who are currently journalists or who have worked as journalists in the past were not in complete agreement as to what skills, feats and mechanics best modeled the journalist career. The best compromise we came up with was a combination of the Craft and Profession skills. Craft/Newsstory is used to actually write a news story while Profession/Journalist is used for handling the business aspects of being a journalist. Brennan Hawkwood's list is a pretty good breakdown of P/Journalist, except IMO the actual writing skill should be handled by C/Newsstory, with maybe synergy bonuses back and forth for 5+ ranks.
In journalism, you can be a good writer and be a lousy reporter. Or you can be a good reporter (know how to work your beat, develop your sources, do research, meet deadlines, sell your work if a freelancer, etc.) and not be a good writer. A top-notch journalist, of course, is good at both.
Some of the P/Journalist activities can be handled/helped using other skills, such as Liaison, Gather Information, Bluff, Bribery, Sense Motive, Intimidate (really need an Interrogation or Interview skill for conducting interviews), etc. So there might be a synergistic situation going on if any of these have 5+ ranks. But there are still plenty of journalist activities that are not covered by seperate skills, and that do not involve the actual writing of a story, that make P/Journalist necessary and useful.
Traveller does have another option that D&D/d20 medieval-esque fantasy games do not, and that is the Entertainment cascade skill. In the skill description, poetry and storytelling are included with Entertainment, so it is possible to have that skill cover some writing activities -- novels, short stories, biographies, etc. -- rather than a C/Newsstory or some other Craft skill. However, I don't feel this works well for news stories since the main purpose of a news story is (or should be) to inform the reader, and not entertain. Unless we're talking the sensationalistic Star/Inquirer-type tabloids. Certainly a news story can entertain the reader, and a novel can inform the reader. But those are not their respective primary function.
So for Traveller, I would recommend using a C/Newsstory check to see how good an individual story is, or how much that one story could be sold for, and a P/Journalist check to see how well a journalist does his job overall, and how much money he can make doing that job as a continuing effort. With possible overlapping synergy bonuses. And while Bluff, Gather Information, Liaison, Sense Motive, etc., checks can all help a journalist do the job, P/Journalist is what determines how much money he or she makes doing that job in the long run.
@Paraquat Johnson:
Maybe writing can be handled by a C/Effective Writing skill - i.e. the skill to write a text that has a certain effect, like to inform, to entertain, and so on.
That skill would then be "combined" to another skill (a different one for every task), in the way that the skill bonus for C/Effective Writing that is applied to a check could never be higher than the skill bonus for the other.
So, for example, if you write a novel, you combine C/EW with E/Storytelling; if you write a newsstory, you combine it with P/Journalism; if you write a computer manual, you combine it with T/Computer - and so on.
Maybe writing can be handled by a C/Effective Writing skill - i.e. the skill to write a text that has a certain effect, like to inform, to entertain, and so on.
That skill would then be "combined" to another skill (a different one for every task), in the way that the skill bonus for C/Effective Writing that is applied to a check could never be higher than the skill bonus for the other.
So, for example, if you write a novel, you combine C/EW with E/Storytelling; if you write a newsstory, you combine it with P/Journalism; if you write a computer manual, you combine it with T/Computer - and so on.
BrennanHawkwood
SOC-12
Thank you...I guess that Journalism "minor" actually proved useful for once...
Now that you mention it, I agree with on the craft sub-skill being used for actually writing the story. I can see collapsing the writing of the stories into P/Journalist if a GM wanted to prevent skill bloat, especially given how comprehensive some of the other P skills are (IIRC), but having it as a seperate craft skill would more "realistically" model the way journalism works. Could even allow for someone who is a photojournalist by taking P/Journalism and C/Photography (would that be a craft skill?) rather than C/journalistic writing.
Chaos, I think that from the point of view that this is a game and needs a certain level of simplicity and abstraction, using a single Craft/Writing skill and allowing it to support various Professional endeavors is a solid idea. Personally, I probably wouldn't call it 'effective' writing simply because what is effective in one profession can be significantly different from that of another. YMMV.
Yah, you can get very detailed, but since putting skill points into p/whatever is supposed to supply your character with the skills and knowledge it takes to make a living at that profession then p/journalist would include the ability to write news copy, eh?
Synergy bonuses for C/write news copy or somesuch might be appropriate if you were really trying to max out the skill and were always running into the limit of skill ranks vs. level of character, but to me that seems a bit extreme.
Synergy bonuses for C/write news copy or somesuch might be appropriate if you were really trying to max out the skill and were always running into the limit of skill ranks vs. level of character, but to me that seems a bit extreme.
Shadowdancer
SOC-14 1K
If you want to keep skill bloat to a minimum, you could indeed just combine the writing portion of journalism into the P/Journalist skill.
I was also thinking that you could use a broader, C/Writing skill to include all sorts of writing -- fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whathaveyou. Then, if the character wanted to write a news story, they would make a P/Journalist check with a synergy bonus from C/Writing if appropriate (5+ ranks). And if the character wanted to try to write a novel or short story based on her experiences, rather than the exclusive first-person news account she is selling to TAS, she would make a C/Writing check.
Or if he got a job as a technical writer for a computer manufacturer, he could make a T/Computer check with a synergy bonus from C/Writing (or vice versa).
I was also thinking that you could use a broader, C/Writing skill to include all sorts of writing -- fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whathaveyou. Then, if the character wanted to write a news story, they would make a P/Journalist check with a synergy bonus from C/Writing if appropriate (5+ ranks). And if the character wanted to try to write a novel or short story based on her experiences, rather than the exclusive first-person news account she is selling to TAS, she would make a C/Writing check.
Or if he got a job as a technical writer for a computer manufacturer, he could make a T/Computer check with a synergy bonus from C/Writing (or vice versa).
