MGT Only: What skill would you use to Appraise something?

[Spinward Scout]

What skill in MgT2e would you use to Appraise something?

Is this part of Broker?

Would you use Investigate?

Do you have to have skill in Art to Appraise artwork?

This is a bit confusing.

 

[chipla]

How I would rule it:

Depends on what you are appraising. Broker is always a good fallback and is particularly useful for the appraisal of items in bulk (I.e for speculative trade) based on sales patterns and the like.

If you’re appraising a single item I’d use the various skills, art for specific art pieces, maybe also relevant profession or science skills (history for particularly famous art pieces or gems, belter/miner for standard gems and raw precious metals etc, weaponsmith for individual firearms etc etc). You could also use relevant ‘usage’ skills people who use guns know roughly how much a firearm or laser should cost and how much they should spend on various qualities of ammo. Guys who handle explosives, animals, and computers also know the various qualities and relative worth’s of the materials they handle.

 

[kilemall]

What skill in MgT2e would you use to Appraise something?

Is this part of Broker?

Would you use Investigate?

Do you have to have skill in Art to Appraise artwork?

This is a bit confusing.

Yes to all.

 

[MongooseMatt]

You can tie it to specific skills and apply the INT or EDU DM, as appropriate. For example, the Travellers find a tricked out sniper rifle and want to know whether it is actually worth something or whether it is just a wannabe gun bunny's idea of what a cool sniper rifle should look like. So, a Gun Combat check with INT applied would be appropriate. If they take it to a hunting event for nobles, will they get laughed at? Gun Combat with SOC.

You can have a lot of fun marrying skill checks with characteristics in this way However, it also makes things very, very flexible.

 

[Condottiere]

I'd get a car mechanic to check out a second hand car I would want to purchase.

 

[Enoki]

I'd say you could do it one of two ways:

You have skills / expertise in the area of the item being appraised, like you have firearm skills with the type of weapon being appraised, or skills in art and you are appraising a painting. Such appraisals might suffer like a -1 in level as the person doing it knows what they're looking at but might not know the market value.

The other method would be using the broker skill. Again, unless the person with the skill also has expertise in the area of what's being appraised, they suffer a -1 in level as it's outside their area of expertise. Here, they know the market but not so much about what they're looking at.

You get the full appraisal if you have both skills with the higher one applied as the modifier. So, if you have broker 1 and art 2 and you are appraising a painting, then the modifier is 2.

If you are a mechanic 1 and checking out a car, then the appraised value modifier would be 0. That is, you know about the vehicle but have little knowledge of the sales market.

 

[kilemall]

I'd say you could do it one of two ways:

You have skills / expertise in the area of the item being appraised, like you have firearm skills with the type of weapon being appraised, or skills in art and you are appraising a painting. Such appraisals might suffer like a -1 in level as the person doing it knows what they're looking at but might not know the market value.

The other method would be using the broker skill. Again, unless the person with the skill also has expertise in the area of what's being appraised, they suffer a -1 in level as it's outside their area of expertise. Here, they know the market but not so much about what they're looking at.

You get the full appraisal if you have both skills with the higher one applied as the modifier. So, if you have broker 1 and art 2 and you are appraising a painting, then the modifier is 2.

If you are a mechanic 1 and checking out a car, then the appraised value modifier would be 0. That is, you know about the vehicle but have little knowledge of the sales market.

This seems eminently sensible although I would probably make it -2 DM and possible to collaborate with separate broker and item skill. A true expert or expert team with Broker-2 and Skill-2 would get a +2 roll.

 

[Enoki]

This seems eminently sensible although I would probably make it -2 DM and possible to collaborate with separate broker and item skill. A true expert or expert team with Broker-2 and Skill-2 would get a +2 roll.

I would say -1 is more fair. After all, most characters aren't going to have 3+ levels in most skills, at least the way they would be rolled up. It'd be more common to see them have level 1 or 2 in a skill, and to get the full value requiring two different, specific, skills is pretty steep on its own.

 

[Condottiere]

The difference between broker and expert would be the expert can identify the item and assess it's usability, while the broker can superficially quote the current market price, assuming the item is functional.

 

[kilemall]

I would say -1 is more fair. After all, most characters aren't going to have 3+ levels in most skills, at least the way they would be rolled up. It'd be more common to see them have level 1 or 2 in a skill, and to get the full value requiring two different, specific, skills is pretty steep on its own.

<Shrug> those appraisers on Antique Roadshow seem to be pretty specialized even though they are all ‘brokers of old stuff’. Dealing in things as varied as vehicles or starships or robots suggests to me a broker skill alone should not easily get pluses.

Yes that is tough to get skill in those specific combos, but that is what makes them experts. But no fear, one can be the broker and one the subject matter expert. Kind of like those Pawn Stars bringing in an expert and then once they know what is, quoting a price.

Another example of the more stringent skill combos is the Instruction skill in CT. To teach a skill you must have both Instruction skill and the skill to be taught. And the limit is the lower of either skill, minus 1. So Instruction-4, Demolitions-5 and Recon-3 allows for that person to teach Demolitions-3 and Recon-2.

Very very hard therefore to get even instructors that can reliably take you to Skill-2 and higher skill ones are exceedingly rare, on the order of senseis that have to be persuaded to enlighten. I added Instruction-1 and Skill-1 can teach Skill-0, so pretty easy to at least become a competent amateur.

But this is all no wrong answers only preference and taste.

 

[Enoki]

The difference between broker and expert would be the expert can identify the item and assess it's usability, while the broker can superficially quote the current market price, assuming the item is functional.

An expert could also determine things like it is authentic, not a reproduction, its relative scarcity, or its condition. The broker knows how to look up and determine its worth based on those things.

 

[McPerth]

The difference between broker and expert would be the expert can identify the item and assess it's usability, while the broker can superficially quote the current market price, assuming the item is functional.

I mostly agree with you, but the broker will tell you its value even if not functional.

Let's imagine your team has found a derelict ship in an asteroid belt. An engineer will tell you if it is salvageable (and probably estimae what does it need to have repaired), then a broker will tell you how much money you can obtain for it, as a ship if the engineer has told you it's salvageable, and as scrap or spares if not.

So both are needed, as the broker appraisal will be based on the engineer's...

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Marcatlas]

What skill in MgT2e would you use to Appraise something?

Is this part of Broker?

Would you use Investigate?

Do you have to have skill in Art to Appraise artwork?

This is a bit confusing.

For my game it depends on what needs appraisal.

 

[mike wightman]

Wouldn't you just use an App?

Take a photo and ask GalactaWebs

 

[chipla]

Wouldn't you just use an App?

Take a photo and ask GalactaWebs

Surely GalactaWebs depends on the TL of your planet and/or the availability of the data and the infrastructure to access said data.

If you’re on some low TL backwater or your data access device doesn’t have a subscription to the local network (imagine the roaming data charges); or the data is illicit, arcane or just plain falsified (the internet in a company town isn’t going to tell everyone their product is shoddy, and if you’re the only data subscription provider in town you can edit the data people see) you are going to have issues getting a valuation for your item that you can trust.

 

[mike wightman]

How did you get to the planet without access to the GalactaWeb? If it's an Imperial world with an Imperial starport then the library data and commnet includes GalactaWeb.

 

[Marcatlas]

Surely GalactaWebs depends on the TL of your planet and/or the availability of the data and the infrastructure to access said data.

If you’re on some low TL backwater or your data access device doesn’t have a subscription to the local network (imagine the roaming data charges); or the data is illicit, arcane or just plain falsified (the internet in a company town isn’t going to tell everyone their product is shoddy, and if you’re the only data subscription provider in town you can edit the data people see) you are going to have issues getting a valuation for your item that you can trust.

Not to mention an app isn't going to do you any good if someone hands you a big pretty looking gem stone to trade for something. The "app" has no way of knowing exactly what you have.

 

[mike wightman]

If it is on an Imperial world then it knows...

 

[coliver988]

If it is on an Imperial world then it knows...

not necessarily: the infrastructure may not support that (there are a lot of low TL Imperial worlds, and really, technically, the Imperium is just the star port, the rest is all local government. Which may or may not even allow that. Guess if you can take a picture/holo and go to the port then perhaps, if that item is in the web somewhere).

and next issue, is that do ALL the worlds add data to the GalacticaWebs? My guess is no, and some cultures/worlds are probably not sharing everything with everyone (despite our current society model of oversharing everything on the web. As I type on the web. Dang).

IMTU while there is a lot of data in the handheld comps (essentially unlimited data storage at the molecular level), there is a lot more that has never been entered. Sure, you can get the history of various megacorps and all that, and depending on how often you update even the current board. But unless someone enters that "this is the front pincers of the rare and elusive crocomitheral beetle bug of Yanos 4, the moon of the gas giant Yimity that is rarely visited" the data is just not going to be there.