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Message no. 1
From: MikeE@******.dragonsys.com
Subject: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 13:18:46 -0500
Here's another question I have about etiquette
skill. With most concentrations, you fall back to
the generic skill, or to the skill web. What about
etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need
corporate etiquette but you have street
etiquette(6), do you really just roll your charisma
dice or do you get some benefit from the
etiquette you know?

Double-Domed Mike
Message no. 2
From: dbuehrer@****.org (David Buehrer)
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 12:34:01 -0700 (MST)
MikeE@******.dragonsys.com wrote:
|
|Here's another question I have about etiquette
|skill. With most concentrations, you fall back to
|the generic skill, or to the skill web. What about
|etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need
|corporate etiquette but you have street
|etiquette(6), do you really just roll your charisma
|dice or do you get some benefit from the
|etiquette you know?

My *house rule* is: If your character needs one form of etiquette and has
another (needs corporate, has street), then I let them default through the
skill web from charisma, or default from the other form of etiquette with a
+2 to the target number.

-David

/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\ dbuehrer@****.org /^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\/^\
"Wanted: All Kathey Lee Gifford albums. Including her "Greatest
Hits" album and her Christmas album. Contact the Possum Lodge Skeet
Shooting Club."
~~~~~~~~~~www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.html~~~~~~~~~
Message no. 3
From: Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 15:12:57 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 28 Mar 1996 MikeE@******.dragonsys.com wrote:

> Here's another question I have about etiquette
> skill. With most concentrations, you fall back to
> the generic skill, or to the skill web. What about
> etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need
> corporate etiquette but you have street
> etiquette(6), do you really just roll your charisma
> dice or do you get some benefit from the
> etiquette you know?

Okay, realize that this answer is purely my own interpretation of
how Etiquette skills work. I do *not* purport to be the final word on
this rule. With that out of the way, I'll tell you how I do it in my
campaign.
Etiquette skills are concentrations, meaning that they are raised
with karma by paying 1.5 times the next incremental step. Other than
that, they are totally unrelated. If you need Corporate Etiquette and
have only Street, you default to your Charisma.
Why? Because posturing and posing for your fellow gang members
is not precisely appropriate in the board-room. In fact, street
etiquette types of behavior may be counter-productive in other settings,
and vice versa. The perfect sarariman bow makes you look like a total
dork to those Rust Stilettos.
Also (and keep in mind that this is just in my campaign),
Etiquette skills have a knowledge component to them as well. Whenever
players need to check to see if they've heard of so-and-so or know
anything about said person's reputation, they roll the character's
appropriate Etiquette skill. This way, players can do their own legwork,
"put word out on the street" as it were, purchase their own gear through
legal or illegal channels, set up fences and other deals, etc. without
having to rely solely on contacts. Etiquette skills reflect the kind of
skills necessary to function within a given context, to "get around
effectively" if you will. Most of these kind of applications of the
Etiquette skills are covered in the sections on "Legwork", "Fencing the
Loot," and elsewhere within the rules, but often times they are ignored.

Marc
Message no. 4
From: Damon Wilson <damontw@****.com>
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 96 17:11 MST
In my campaign, I just do this: John Q. Runner needs to make a Corp.
Etiquette check on Ares (Base Target Number of 4). He only has Street
Etiquette of 6. I simply have the player jump from Street Etiquette to Corp.
Etiquette at a +2 modifier as if the two skills were one one "dot" apart. So
John Q. makes his Street Etiquette roll at a Target Number of 6. Hope this
helps...

Damon Wilson

At 01:18 PM 3/28/96 -0500, Double-Domed Mike wrote:
>Here's another question I have about etiquette
>skill. With most concentrations, you fall back to
>the generic skill, or to the skill web. What about
>etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need
>corporate etiquette but you have street
>etiquette(6), do you really just roll your charisma
>dice or do you get some benefit from the
>etiquette you know?
Message no. 5
From: dherr@********.net (David Herr)
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 96 20:29:06 EST
On Thu, 28 Mar 96 17:11 MST you wrote:

>
>At 01:18 PM 3/28/96 -0500, Double-Domed Mike wrote:
>>Here's another question I have about etiquette
>>skill. With most concentrations, you fall back to
>>the generic skill, or to the skill web. What about
>>etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need
>>corporate etiquette but you have street
>>etiquette(6), do you really just roll your charisma
>>dice or do you get some benefit from the
>>etiquette you know?
>

Who says there isn't a generic skill, I;m not advicating this, but
just hold on, even I don't use this. Lets say that there is a generic
skill, ettiquette, you just can't aquire it. the reason behind this
is most likely *shudder* the holy game balance. Fasa decided that for
game balance purposes you needed to specialize, but you still have a
lower level of the generic ettiquette skill. for instance street sam
bob has ettiquette(street) and a skill of 2(4) I.E. he purchased a 3
in ettiquette, but because you have to specialize he choose street as
his specialazation. This means that he isn't completly helpless when
not on the street, he is just more in his element there.
Message no. 6
From: Jonas Gabrielson <m94jga@*******.tdb.uu.se>
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 11:41:41 +0100 (MET)
On Thu, 28 Mar 1996, Marc A Renouf wrote:

> On Thu, 28 Mar 1996 MikeE@******.dragonsys.com wrote:
>
> > Here's another question I have about etiquette
> > skill. With most concentrations, you fall back to
> > the generic skill, or to the skill web. What about
> > etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need
> > corporate etiquette but you have street
> > etiquette(6), do you really just roll your charisma
> > dice or do you get some benefit from the
> > etiquette you know?
>
> Okay, realize that this answer is purely my own interpretation of
> how Etiquette skills work. I do *not* purport to be the final word on
> this rule. With that out of the way, I'll tell you how I do it in my
> campaign.
> [Snipped text on how it's not possible to default from one
> Etiquette skill to another]

Exactly my sentiments. We are right and they are wrong!

-Jonas Gabrielson, without holy righteousness
Message no. 7
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 11:53:22 +0100
MikeE@******.dragonsys.com said on 28 Mar 96...

> Here's another question I have about etiquette skill. With most
> concentrations, you fall back to the generic skill, or to the skill web.
> What about etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need corporate
> etiquette but you have street etiquette(6), do you really just roll your
> charisma dice or do you get some benefit from the etiquette you know?

I play this like any other concentration -- your char with Etiquette
(Street) 6 talking to a corper rolls 4 dice: 6 for the skill level, -2 for
using another concentration than the one he has.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Yes, somewhere in the world there is this *one* guy that's coming
up with all these .sigs, and cussing everytime he sees someone
else grab one of them. :) --Joe Cotton
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-

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Message no. 8
From: Jonas Gabrielson <m94jga@*******.tdb.uu.se>
Subject: Re: Etiquette Skill part II
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 14:08:32 +0100 (MET)
On Fri, 29 Mar 1996, Gurth wrote:

> MikeE@******.dragonsys.com said on 28 Mar 96...
>
> > Here's another question I have about etiquette skill. With most
> > concentrations, you fall back to the generic skill, or to the skill web.
> > What about etiquette? There is no generic skill. If you need corporate
> > etiquette but you have street etiquette(6), do you really just roll your
> > charisma dice or do you get some benefit from the etiquette you know?
>
> I play this like any other concentration -- your char with Etiquette
> (Street) 6 talking to a corper rolls 4 dice: 6 for the skill level, -2 for
> using another concentration than the one he has.

Let me give you my opinion once again:
(A) There is no general Etiquette skill. That is why you *have to*
concentrate when buying Etiquette. Etiquette concerns the body language,
tone of voice, vocabulary, etc. of a distinct community or subculture.
This is why there is no general skill - there is no way that you can use
your knowledge on one group on another, since there are always
differences, and the use of the wrong etiquette will convey the wrong
message, no matter how good you are with it. You do not know which spoon
to use at a royal banquet regardless of your proficiency at
Etiquette(Street). You do not know the proper phrases of introduction
among deckers in the Matrix if all you have is a good Etiquette(Tribal).
The closest thing to "general etiquette" is Charisma - the ability to be
pleasant or commanding or just good looking, which is why you default to
Charisma when trying to use an Etiquette skill you don't have.
(B) Since there is no general Etiquette skill, you can't buy it,
and you cannot use it as default to another Etiquette in the normal manner
of concentrations, since it doesn't exist. QED.
(C) You can use other Etiquette skills than the one you have by
defaulting to Charisma or another Social skill through the Skill Web.
However, using other Social skills will "flavour" the skill use (using
interrogation is *not* advised), IMHO.
There was something else I was going to say, but I don't remember
what it was right now. Maybe I'll get back after the weekend.

-Jonas Gabrielson, desperately needing that Mnemonic Enhancer

Further Reading

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