Morrow Project Skill List


back to Character Generation page 3, or the Index

 

     Besides this long list of skills, many characters with academic degrees have a sort of "skill" based on their EDU rating. There aren't a bunch of (for example) engineering-related skills -- instead, the player describes the project and the referee sets a difficulty level for an EDU-related roll. So for example a character with a civil engineering B.S. will have a skill "Civil Engineering" at somewhere between 65% to 75%, even if they spend no points there. "Personal interest" skill points may be used to increase academic skills during character generation.

     The campaign will often have two "break points" on skills; the lower one (sometimes called proficiency) is usually 40% -- generically, you can earn a living with most skills at the 40% level. Some skills have a second set of nice effects, at 60%. Don't fret too much about these.

     Remember to use the "MP %" value for base skill, if your character is part of the Project. The base skills shown are for non-Project 20th Century North Americans ... we have a separate sheet for 22nd Century persons.

 

skill

base %

notes

MP %

Accounting

10

   

Anthropology

0

   

Archaeology

0

   

Art

5

choose fields and note in your background; examples are singing, painting, dancing - it's all one skill, though. Some fields of art may require Woodworking, Masonry, Metalworking, etc. Note this is for the creation of art; art lore, criticism, etc. may be related but will usually fall under a general EDU-related roll.

 

Astronomy

0

   

Bargain

5

   

Biology

0

   

Boat/Row

10

covers canoes, kayaks, rafts. Proficiency occurs at 25% level.

 

Botany

0

   

Cartography

0

   

Chemistry

0

   

Climb

40

   

Computer Use

0

 

10

Conceal

15

   

Craft

5

choose fields and note in your background; examples are cabinetmaking, wheelwright, musical instrument maker, boatbuilding; it's all one skill however. Some crafts may require you to also have Woodworking, Masonry, Metalworking, etc.  

 

Credit Rating

15

social connections in pre-war America; also affects starting funds

 

Cryptography

0

   

Demolitions

0

 

10

Disguise

5

   

Diving

0

includes SCUBA and hard-hat diving, knowledge of medical issues, dive tables, equipment maintenance. A character with Dive skill should have Swim at 40% or more. Skill levels are:  

  • 0-35 % : Novice

  • 40 - 55 % : Proficient ("open water diver")

  • 60 - 70 % : Advanced (includes rescue diver certification)

  • 75 % or more : Expert (dive master, dive guide, etc.)

5

Dodge

DEXx2%

note that a dodging character cannot (usually) attack that same round

 

Drive Auto

20

   

Drive Bike

10

includes motorcycles and bicycles

 

Drive Truck

10

includes armored cars and other large wheeled vehicles (specifically, trucks that would require a Commercial Driver's License in the US)

25

Drive Overland Train

0

the base skill for Project teams assigned one of these vehicles is 40%

0/40

Electrical Repair

10

creating, understanding, and repairing such devices as electric motors, engine ignition systems, burglar alarms, simple radios, household wiring, etc. 

 

Electronics

0

 

 

Fast Talk

5

   

Fieldcraft

10

replaces Hunting, Natural History, Navigation (Land), Orienteering, Survival and Tracking. This includes wilderness survival, traditional rural knowledge, fishing for food, following footprints in the dirt, identification of birds, plants and animals ("It's a yucca ... lizard?"), stuff like that. Especially the wilderness survival part; this is very much an "Eagle Scout". Note that if you're hunting for game, you may still need to make some kind of trap/archery/rifle/knife/whatever attack on your prey ... but good Fieldcraft will get you closer, faster, to the kind of prey you prefer. You may also use Fieldcraft as a substitute for either Sneak or Hide in an outdoorsy, wilderness setting. The referee may apply modifiers based on the character background ("No, Nanook doesn't seem to know much about desert survival.").

15

First Aid

30

an EMT is at the 40% level, a paramedic is at the 60% level. Paramedics were little-known in the US before 1972

40

Forensics

0

 

 

Forgery

0

   

Geology

0

   

Hide

10

characters may substitute Fieldcraft for Hide in wilderness settings

 

History

20

   

Hypnosis

0

   

Jump

25

   

Law

5

   

Library Use

25

   

Listen

25

   

Lockpicking

0

and safecracking at higher levels. At 40% skill level, you can pretty much automatically open ordinary door locks (5 pin tumbler locks).

 

Martial Arts

0

choose types with which the character is experienced, and note in your background; it's all one skill though

 

Masonry

5

cutting stones, laying bricks or tile, building arches, tunneling through solid rock, etc. Specialized uses of this skill may call for an appropriate Art or Craft skill.

 

Mathematics

10

   

Mechanical Repair

20

creating, understanding, and repairing mechanical stuff.  This skill covers plumbing, fixing engines, welding up a steel frame, etc. ... there's not a clear line between Craft, Metalworking and Mechanical Repair

 

Medicine

5

 

10

Metalworking

10

casting, forging, welding, shaping, heat-treating, machining, and generally creating functional metal stuff. Specialized uses of this skill may call for an appropriate Art or Craft skill.

 

Military Science

0

includes small-unit tactics, procedures, history, and traditions. Can give info about weapon system effects and weaknesses.

 

Navigation

0

specifically, using technical methods such as celestial navigation

 

Occult

5

not the Cthulhu Mythos!

 

Operate Heavy Machinery

0

for driving and operating railway locomotives, cranes, steamshovels, paving machines, dam spillgates, steam engines, tracked military vehicles, bulldozers, and the use of dozer blades, backhoes, concrete pumpers, scrapers, graders, etc.

5

Other Language

0

each language is a separate skill. Some general notes on fluency:

  • 10%:  can order food/drink in restaurant, know numbers, tell cab driver what you want, speak very slowly

  • 20%:  can form sentences on simple topics; missing a lot of vocabulary

  • 40%:  a heavily-accented command of the language; have trouble understanding non-standard dialects

  • 60%:  can pass for a native speaker (some very perceptive native speakers or linguists may notice errors)

  • 90%:  can imitate dialects to fool the natives.

You make your skill roll to perform at the next better level ...of course, dialects, the skill level of listeners, complexity of conversation, will all come into play. Use of written language is based on background, EDU, and other imprecise things.

 

Own Language

EDUx5

almost always English for Morrow Project personnel

 

Parachute

0

you can justify a Parachute skill of anywhere from 5% to 15% if you attended the Army Airborne Course (and did nothing else involving parachutes for the remainder of your life).

 

Persuade

15

   

Pharmacy

0

 

5

Photography

10

understand and operate still or film cameras, and develop film

 

Physics

0

   

Pilot Airplane

0

includes gliders, jets, multi-engine, etc.; however the character's experience should be specified

 

Pilot Hovercraft

0

Project members sent to hovercraft training will have a base level of 25%

5

Pilot Rotary Wing

0

includes the use of helicopters in combat

 

Pilot Airship

0

balloons, blimps, zeppelins

 

Pilot Fighter

0

air combat maneuvering, air-to-ground attack, air-to-air weapons. Your effective level of Pilot Fighter is limited to your skill in Pilot Airplane.

 

Psychology

5

used for studying persons and forming an idea of their motives or character. Often used to detect deceit, but a skilled or insane person may not be so easily found out

 

Ride

5

specify animals covered by this skill; it's all one skill though. Wagon-driving can be covered by this also. Before the Second World War, the base for this skill would be 20%.

 

Sail

0

specify types familiar with; it's all one skill though

 

Signals

5

at 25% level, includes knowledge of Morse code. This is pretty much everything radio-related that might come up in the campaign.

10

Ski

5

 

10

Sneak

10

characters may substitute Fieldcraft for Sneak in wilderness settings

 

Spot Hidden

25

   

Surgery

0

   

Swim

25

   

Throw

25

   

Teach

0

   

Tradecraft

5

the procedures, techniques and devices used in clandestine operations. "When you're a spy ... "

 

Woodworking

20

all general forms of carpentry, carving, whittling, and so forth. Specialized uses of this skill may call for an appropriate Art or Craft skill.

 

Zoology

0

   

 

Combat Skills

skill

base %

notes

MP %

Unarmed Combat

50

replaces Fist, Grapple, Headbutt, and Kick. Those are now optional actions in combat, rather than skills.

 

Melee Weapons

25

replaces Knife, Sword, Club, Spear, etc.; this includes attack and parry skills.  Weapons you haven't trained with, or unwieldy weapons, will have a reduced chance to use effectively.

 

Bow

20

replaces Bow, Crossbow.

 

Throw

25

used for all manner of weapons:  grenades, thrown daggers, thrown axes, rocks, baseballs, darts, shuriken, bolas, javelins, chakra, quoits, boomerangs, hungamungas, etc. Remember, your damage bonus is halved for thrown weapons (if it even contributes at all). Unfamiliar thrown weapons may take a week or two for the character's full skill percentage to be available.

 

Handgun

20

includes tasers and other modern dart-firing weapons

 

Full Auto

15

automatic weapons (including shotguns), if handheld, bipod or tripod mounted; thus replaces the Machine Gun and SMG skills

 

Rifle

25

single-shot or 3-round burst fire; includes shotgun (though this may not model bird shooting or skeet very well)

 

Grenade Launcher

25

includes flare gun, HAFLA

 

Energy Weapon

30

includes MP lasers

 

Direct Fire Weapon

5

cannon and mounted autocannon, bazooka, LAW rocket, Armbrust

10

Indirect Fire Weapon

1

includes mortar, howitzer

10

Guided Missile

1

TOW missile, Dragon

 

Pepper Spray

DEXx5%

limited accuracy even with good skill

 

Flamethrower

DEXx5%

limited accuracy even with good skill

 

 

     As a guide to military rifle skill, you need to score at least "marksman" to exit Army and Marine basic enlisted training (though not everyone is that good later on!):

 

military rifle qualification

skill %

marksman badge

40%

sharpshooter badge

60%

expert badge (top 10% or less of military shooters)

75%

sniper course graduate

80%

competitive shooter at national level; or "distinguished shooter" in the US military

90%

Olympic-class shooter

99%