Entertainment
This broad skill represents a character’’s proficiency in the
performing arts. A character with this skill is competent enough to
perform amateur theater or play at the equivalent of a high school
dance, while the specialty skills allow a character to become a
first-rate performer—or even a star.
Technical knowledge and training are an important part of this skill,
but it also represents a character’’s stage or screen presence, his
magnetism in front of an audience, and his ability to play to that
audience and elicit an emotional response. Skill checks are modified
by the target’’s Will resistance modifier if the character tries to
fool or alter the emotions of his audience by entertaining them; or by
the target’’s Personality resistance modifier if he tries to impress or
otherwise alter attitudes toward him.
Many forms of performance entertainment exist, such as acting,
dancing, singing, and playing a musical instrument. Other specialty
skills that may be selected under this broad skill (with the
Gamemaster’’s permission) include stand-up comedy, juggling, and
ventriloquism.
The greater the level of success the character achieves, the more
powerful his performance (the better the improvement in the audience’’s
attitude). A Critical Failure indicates some bit of bad luck has
occurred—a microphone or speaker goes out, a set collapses, an
instrument breaks, and so forth.
As with other similar uses of encounter skills, the beginning attitude
of an audience toward a performer is either Hostile (inclined not to
like the act the entertainer does, or inclined not to like the
entertainer himself), Neutral (unfamiliar with the entertainer), or
Friendly (containing several members who are avid fans of the
entertainer). In addition to any modifier for the audience’’s attitude
(see TABLE P25: ENCOUNTER SKILL EFFECTS), other factors can affect
an Entertainment skill check. For instance:
- An entertainer who is simply trying to show his audience a good time
and not necessarily turn them into fans receives a -1 bonus.
- An entertainer who is out to make a name for himself, to impress the
audience at the risk of alienating some of its members, receives a +1
penalty.
- An entertainer who has an ulterior motive, who is trying to stun,
shock, or divert the attention of the audience from some other
occurrence, receives a +3 penalty.
Entertainment Skill Rank Benefit
⊗ Enhance Another Skill: Entertainment specialty skills can be combined with certain other skills for greater effect. The higher a character’’s skill rank in the Entertainment skill, the better his chance of succeeding at using another skill in combination: At rank 1, he receives a -1 bonus to the check for the other skill; at rank 4 the bonus is -2; at rank 8 the bonus is -3; and at rank 12 the bonus is -4.
Possible combinations of skills to which this benefit could apply
include act or dance with Interaction—seduce; dance with **Covert
Ops—pickpocket** or Acrobatics; sing with Interaction—taunt; and
musical instrument with Leadership—inspire. If you have other ideas
for how an Entertainment skill can be used in this way, talk them over
with your Gamemaster.
Musical instrument
Sing
Sing represents a talent for carrying a note and singing songs. A
character with this skill is a trained vocalist with a strong and
melodious voice. The greater a character’’s skill rank, the greater
the caliber and quality of the performance he can give.
Entertainment Skill Rank Benefit
⊗ Enhance Another Skill: Entertainment specialty skills can be combined with certain other skills for greater effect. The higher a character’’s skill rank in the Entertainment skill, the better his chance of succeeding at using another skill in combination: At rank 1, he receives a -1 bonus to the check for the other skill; at rank 4 the bonus is -2; at rank 8 the bonus is -3; and at rank 12 the bonus is -4.
Possible combinations of skills to which this benefit could apply
include act or dance with Interaction—seduce; dance with Covert
Ops—pickpocket or Acrobatics; sing with Interaction—taunt; and
musical instrument with Leadership—inspire. If you have other
ideas for how an Entertainment skill can be used in this way, talk
them over with your Gamemaster.
Act
This specialty skill represents a talent for playing a part or
assuming a dramatic role. It also covers impersonation and the
skills and techniques of the stage and screen.
The act skill is used to determine the results of a character’’s
dramatic performance or to determine his knowledge or skill with a
technical aspect of the stage or screen (such as directing,
makeup, or stunts). In most cases, act is used to entertain.
Penalties should be applied if an actor attempts a role that
requires him to perform outside the controlled conditions of a
sound stage.
▶ Disguise: When a character achieves rank 4 in the act skill, he becomes able to employ stage and film makeup and techniques to change his appearance or even to look like someone else.
Applying a disguise requires a complex skill check, with the
complexity of the check (Ordinary, Good, or Amazing) depending on
how effective the character wants his disguise to be. The
Gamemaster may assign a situation modifier to each segment of the
skill check to account for conditions such as the availability of
materials and whether the character is able to remain unobserved
while he’’s putting on the disguise.
If the disguise is applied successfully, other characters who
later observe the character receive a penalty to any
Awareness—perception skill checks specifically made to determine
if they can see through the disguise: a +1 penalty for an Ordinary
disguise, +2 for a Good disguise, and +3 for an Amazing disguise.
Entertainment Skill Rank Benefit
⊗ Enhance Another Skill: Entertainment specialty skills can be combined with certain other skills for greater effect. The higher a character’’s skill rank in the Entertainment skill, the better his chance of succeeding at using another skill in combination: At rank 1, he receives a -1 bonus to the check for the other skill; at rank 4 the bonus is -2; at rank 8 the bonus is -3; and at rank 12 the bonus is -4.
Possible combinations of skills to which this benefit could apply
include act or dance with Interaction—seduce; dance with **Covert
Ops—pickpocket** or Acrobatics; sing with Interaction—taunt; and
musical instrument with Leadership—inspire. If you have other
ideas for how an Entertainment skill can be used in this way, talk
them over with your Gamemaster.
Dance
The dance skill represents a talent for moving rhythmically to
music by following set steps and gestures or by improvisation. It
also covers the technical aspects of performance dance, such as
choreography and the knowledge of various popular and cultural
dance techniques.
Dance can be used to entertain, tell a story, or impress an
audience. The greater the level of success, the more impressive
and inspiring the dance performance—an Amazing result indicates
that the dancer is poetry in motion.
Entertainment Skill Rank Benefit
⊗ Enhance Another Skill: Entertainment specialty skills can be combined with certain other skills for greater effect. The higher a character’’s skill rank in the Entertainment skill, the better his chance of succeeding at using another skill in combination: At rank 1, he receives a -1 bonus to the check for the other skill; at rank 4 the bonus is -2; at rank 8 the bonus is -3; and at rank 12 the bonus is -4.
Possible combinations of skills to which this benefit could apply
include act or dance with Interaction—seduce; dance with **Covert
Ops—pickpocket** or Acrobatics; sing with Interaction—taunt; and
musical instrument with Leadership—inspire. If you have other
ideas for how an Entertainment skill can be used in this way, talk
them over with your Gamemaster.