Zero means trained. Blank means trouble.

What a level is worth on a check, from 0 upward.

A skill level is worth exactly its number as a positive modifier on a check. Whenever you attempt something that could fail, you roll 2D6, add your levels in the skill the task calls for, add the modifier for the relevant characteristic, add the difficulty modifier, and try to reach 8.

Skill check

2D6 + skill level + characteristic modifier + difficulty DM

The level and the characteristic modifier are separate contributions and both apply. Your levels are what training bought you; the characteristic is the body or mind doing the work. A gifted amateur and a trained mediocrity can reach the same total by different routes.

The penalty for attempting a skill you do not have.

If you have no level in a skill at all, you are untrained in it and take -3 on any check that calls for it. You may still usually try — raw talent gets some things done, and it is only when your referee says outright that you cannot that a task is closed to you.

Untrained check

2D6 - 3 + characteristic modifier + difficulty DM

Untrained is not the same as level 0, and the difference between them is three points. A blank on your sheet is a penalty; a zero is a trained beginner with no penalty and no bonus. Skilled characters do tend to be better at these things, and the -3 is what measures it.

One skill exists purely to soften this. Jack-of-All-Trades reduces the unskilled penalty by one for every level you hold, so a level 1 generalist attempts unfamiliar work at -2 and a level 3 generalist at 0. It stops there: it never becomes a bonus at higher levels, and it does nothing for a skill you actually have.

It is also the one skill nobody can study for. Every other skill can be trained up over weeks of work; this one cannot be learned at all, so whatever level you left character creation with is the level you keep.

Trained but unskilled — why a blank and a zero are not the same.

Holding a skill at level 0 means you are competent with it but have little experience. You get no bonus from your training — and you avoid the untrained penalty entirely, which is the whole point of having it.

Level 0 check

2D6 + 0 + characteristic modifier + difficulty DM

Level 0 is worth three points against being untrained and nothing at all against level 1. That makes the first level of any skill the cheapest three points in the game, and it makes a sheet full of zeroes genuinely valuable even though not one of them adds anything to a roll.

Every skill, in the three columns the source prints.

These are the skills the core rules use, printed in three columns — basic, weapon and transport. Indented names are specialities of the cascade skill above them, and your referee may add other skills to suit the setting they have built.

The dashes mark depth and are not part of any name: one dash is a speciality of the skill above it, and two dashes is a speciality of a speciality. The transport column is the only one that goes two deep.

A skill that resolves into a chosen speciality.

A cascade skill is a category rather than a skill, and you never hold one. The moment you receive a cascade skill you choose one of its specialities immediately, and that speciality is what goes on your sheet.

This is as true of a level 0 grant as of a level 1 grant. Being granted Vehicle at level 0 does not put Vehicle-0 on your sheet: you choose down through it until you reach a real skill, and hold that at 0. You never hold a category at any level.

Advancing a cascade skill later is another such choice, not an increment. There is no parent skill sitting underneath your speciality to raise — a second grant sends you down the tree again, and you may land on the skill you already have or on a different one.

The one column that nests two deep, and how it resolves.

One cascade contains two more, and you may have to choose twice. Vehicle’s specialities include Aircraft and Watercraft, and both of those are cascade skills in their own right — so resolving a grant of Vehicle can take two choices rather than one.

Reading the skill list flat gets this wrong. Vehicle has five specialities, not ten and not twelve — Aircraft and Watercraft are two of the five, and their own children are reachable only through them.

Three of Vehicle’s specialities resolve in a single choice, because Mole, Tracked Vehicle and Wheeled Vehicle are ordinary skills. The other two send you down a second time.

The sum of every skill level you hold, and what it makes further training cost.

Your Skill Total is the sum of your levels across every skill you hold, with level 0 skills counting as zero. It measures how much training you carry, and it is what sets the price of learning more.

Skill Total

sum of every skill level you hold

Breadth is free against this number and depth is not. A character with twenty skills at level 0 has a Skill Total of zero; a character with one skill at level 4 has a Skill Total of four. Since the total is what makes further training slower, those zeroes cost you nothing on either side of the ledger.

Reference rule — not active yet

Gaining and raising a skill outside a career table.

To raise a skill outside a career, you train for a number of weeks equal to your current Skill Total plus the level you are reaching for. You may only train one skill in a given week.

Weeks of training

current Skill Total + the level you are training toward

Both halves of that sum grow as you do, so training gets slower the more you know. Your Skill Total rises every time you finish, and the level you are reaching for is higher each time you come back to the same skill.

Jack-of-All-Trades is the exception, and it cannot be learned this way or any other way. Whatever level you finished character creation with is permanent.

What each skill covers in play.

What follows is every skill in the game and what it covers. The uses given are the common ones rather than the only ones — you may well be able to use a skill for something not described here, and your referee sets the difficulty and decides the result in every case.

Cascade skills are marked as such. You never hold one, so those entries are there to tell you what your choices are when one is granted to you; the speciality you pick has an entry of its own.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You know your way around bureaucratic agencies and what they want from you. Avoiding police harassment, getting a licence issued promptly, having an application approved, keeping your papers from close inspection — a successful Admin check turns any of these your way, at a difficulty read off the local law level.

Dealing with administrators and bureaucrats is always slow and tedious, and somehow always comes up. No special skill is needed to do it, but with Admin — or Advocate — you know their ways, and the whole thing goes far more smoothly.

You can also offer a bribe instead, and make a Bribery check in place of a characteristic, Admin or Advocate check.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are familiar with the general laws and regulations governing interstellar travel, commerce and relations. It does not give you the myriad laws of any individual world, and it does not let you act as an attorney.

Ship inspections are where it earns its keep. Port authorities check an arriving ship for compliance with applicable law, and patrol ships stop and board merchant and other ships in deep space often enough. When they do, an Advocate check at a difficulty read off the local law level gets you found compliant and passed. If there is anything illegal aboard, take -2 on it.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the different aspects of animal handling. You never hold Animals itself — when you receive it, choose Farming, Riding, Survival or Veterinary Medicine at once.

There is no Animals check, because there is no Animals level to check with. Anything you do with an animal is checked against the speciality that covers it — Riding to stay on one, Veterinary Medicine to treat one — at the level you hold in that speciality.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can grow and harvest crops and raise animals. At sufficiently high tech levels this also covers hydroponic farming and clone harvesting for food production.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly handle horses and other living creatures trained to bear a rider, and give them basic routine care.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at staying alive in the wild: hunting or trapping animals, avoiding exposure, locating food and fresh water where there is any, producing fire where that is possible, finding shelter, avoiding dangerous flora and fauna, avoiding getting lost, and handling hazardous climates from arctic to desert.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You have training and skill in the medical care and treatment of animals — emergency care, short-term care, long-term care and specialised treatment for diseases, poisons and debilitating injuries.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are physically fit and trained the way an athlete is. It covers acts of physical coordination such as climbing, juggling or throwing; acts of endurance such as long-distance running or hiking; and acts of strength such as weight-lifting or bodybuilding.

For an alien species with wings, this is also the skill that reflects their ability to fly.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can operate battle armour — a powered form of combat armour that enhances what the wearer can do in various ways. Ground-based military forces and numerous mercenaries are trained in the basics of it. The same skill covers operating vehicles designed as mechanical exoskeletons.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You have experience bribing petty and not-so-petty officials, to circumvent a regulation or have a cumbersome law overlooked. What a bribe has to be worth is usually based on the level of the offence you are asking them to ignore.

The minimum is a gate rather than a modifier: offer less than it and the attempt fails automatically, whatever you roll. Offer more and you gain +1 for each multiple of the minimum you put up.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are skilled at locating suppliers and buyers, and at facilitating the purchase and resale of commercial goods, under the trade and commerce rules.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

The interpersonal art of interacting and socialising with others. You are skilled at small talk and at making people feel at ease in your presence in almost any social situation — a party, a ball, an inauguration, a night working the bars.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are trained in the use, repair and maintenance of communications and sensor devices. Anyone can press a button and make a communicator work; this skill is what tells you why it does not work, and how to use it for something other than open transmission.

On sensors it lets you interpret the long-range data from a ship’s sensors and scanners. You can boost an incoming or outgoing signal, create or break a secure channel, detect signals and anomalies, hide or piggyback on another signal, jam local communications, locate and assess potential threats, and analyse complex sensor data.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are skilled in the programming and operation of electronic and fibre-optic computers, both ground and shipboard. Computers can be found on any world at TL 8 or higher, and become exponentially more common further up the scale.

Without at least some computer training you are at a disadvantage in a highly technical universe. Anyone with Computer-0 or better can log on to a datanet, send and receive messages, search for non-classified information and retrieve data and files without a check. More skilled users create or break data encryption, mine data effectively, create or break data and network security protocols, and handle other general programming tasks.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can use demolition charges and other explosive devices, including assembling and disarming bombs.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are practised in installing, using, maintaining, repairing and creating electronic devices and equipment. You can practise it as a trade and make a decent living, earning a paycheck for every week of dedicated work — you know how to use the tools, how to perform routine tasks, how to supervise untrained helpers and how to handle common problems.

It also covers disabling devices: alarm systems, electronic locks, a malfunctioning robot, and similar tasks involving electronics.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can operate and maintain starship manoeuvre drives, jump drives and power plants. You can practise it as a trade and make a decent living, earning a paycheck for every week of dedicated work — the tools, the routine tasks, the untrained helpers and the common problems are all familiar.

It matters most at the jump: diverting power to the jump drives for a successful transition into jump space is Engineering’s work.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are well informed about games of chance and wise in their play, with a real advantage over non-experts and a general ability to win when you are engaged in them. It should not be confused with risk-taking in general.

Non-competitive games — slots, roulette, blackjack, keno — are played strictly against the house, at odds and payoffs that stay pretty much constant. In Nowhere Yet, the available house table uses only the five honest odds rows below. You choose the odds and a named stake before the server rolls your Gambling check; on a success you receive the payoff on your initial bet. The house always wins on a natural 2.

The server prices three stakes at one tenth, one half and all of the row’s maximum. A character may resolve one wager per world per in-fiction day, only at an occupied class A–D starport. Effect adds ten percent of the base profit per point through Effect +4; a loss spends the stake, and the balance never becomes debt.

Competitive games work differently. Everyone at the table makes a Gambling check and the highest roll takes the pot. You may attempt to cheat at any time by stating that you are doing so and making an extra Gambling check — if any other player makes a successful opposing check against your attempt you are caught red-handed, and otherwise you have cheated successfully and take the pot. If more than one person cheats in the same round of play, the highest roll wins it.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are practised in installing, using, maintaining, repairing and creating gravitic devices and equipment — air/raft lift modules, grav belts, grav sleds, grav tanks. It deals with the technical details of such vehicles; Grav Vehicle is the skill you need to actually pilot or drive one.

You can practise it as a trade and make a decent living, earning a paycheck for every week of dedicated work, with the tools, the routine tasks, the untrained helpers and the common problems all familiar.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

Jack-of-All-Trades — abbreviated Jack o’ Trades, or JoT — works differently from every other skill. It reduces the unskilled penalty you take for not having the appropriate skill, by one for every level of it you hold, and it cannot grant a skill bonus at higher levels, however high it goes.

It is also the one skill that cannot be learned. No amount of training will add a level to it, so whatever you left character creation with is what you have.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can rally, inspire, organise and direct team efforts to get the best cooperation and productivity out of the people with you.

Coordinating effort is the main use. Whenever a task requires one or more characters to combine their efforts, each of them makes a skill or characteristic check toward the common goal, and you gain a pool of points equal to the Effect of your Leadership check, minimum 1. You distribute that pool as +1 DM per point on their checks toward the goal.

It also improves initiative. Make a Leadership check and the target character’s Initiative increases by the Effect of it. Making the check is a significant action.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can read and write one further language for every level of Linguistics you hold. Everyone can speak and read their native language without it, and automated computer translator programs mean it is not always needed on other worlds.

Linguistics-0 means a smattering of simple phrases in many languages. At any level it can also be used to attempt to decipher the general meaning of a preserved specimen of language — an inscription, a recorded message.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are trained in the art of dealing with others: proper protocols, manners of address, codes of conduct and the rest of what you need when dealing with a wide range of societal types. It is what gets a particularly edgy deal negotiated, convinces a duke’s secretary to admit you, or helps settle a dispute between two opposing groups.

Influencing others is its direct use: a successful check changes someone’s attitude. In a negotiation both sides roll opposed Liaison checks to see who gains the advantage, and the same opposed check resolves matters between two diplomats.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are practised in installing, using, maintaining, repairing and creating mechanical devices and equipment. You can practise it as a trade and make a decent living, earning a paycheck for every week of dedicated work — the tools, the routine tasks, the untrained helpers and the common problems are all familiar.

It also covers disabling devices: mechanical alarm systems, mechanical locks, and similar tasks involving mechanical devices.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You have training and skill in the medical arts and sciences, from diagnosis and triage through to surgery and other corrective treatments. It covers emergency care, short-term care, long-term care, and specialised treatment for diseases, poisons and debilitating injuries.

Treating a patient of a race other than your own costs you -2 on the check.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are trained in the science of normal-space and jump-space navigation. The navigator on a starship plots the course and makes sure the astrogational information the pilot and the rest of the crew need is available when it is needed.

It covers determining a ship’s new location after a jump ends, plotting a standard course through normal space, and plotting a jump route through jump space. A starship cannot jump safely without a jump route.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You have training and experience in the operation of interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft. That expertise is what it takes to handle such a craft at all, though you usually only make a check when circumstances become challenging — rough atmospheric conditions, or hostile action.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can scout out dangers and spot threats, unusual objects or out-of-place people. Characters skilled in Recon are also adept at staying unseen and unheard.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the scientific disciplines. You never hold Sciences itself — when you receive it, choose Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences or Space Sciences at once.

All four specialities are theoretical and practical knowledge from a field of scientific study, and each has its own entry saying which fields it covers. As with any cascade, the level you were granted lands on the speciality you choose, and the ones you have no level in become level 0.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You hold theoretical and practical knowledge from the scientific study of living organisms. It covers a wide range of related fields — biochemistry, biology, botany, cybernetics, genetics, physiology and psionicology.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You hold theoretical and practical knowledge from the scientific study of the nature and properties of energy and non-living matter. It covers a wide range of related fields — chemistry, electronics, geology and physics.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You hold theoretical and practical knowledge from the scientific study of sophont society and social relationships. It covers a wide range of related fields — archaeology, economics, history, philosophy, psychology and sophontology.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You hold theoretical and practical knowledge from the disciplines that study phenomena in interplanetary and interstellar space, and the celestial bodies within it. It covers a wide range of related fields — astronomy, cosmology, planetology and xenology.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You can serve and care for nobles and high-class passengers. It includes concierge duties, housekeeping services, meal preparation and presentation, personal grooming assistance and valet service, and proper social etiquette.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You understand the urban environment and the power structures within a society. You know where to go for information, how to handle strangers without offending them, and who can handle activities bordering on the fringe of legality.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are skilled at tactical planning and decision making, from board games through squad-level combat up to fleet engagements.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

What the skill covers, and the checks it applies to.

You are acclimated to working and living in micro-gravity environments and freefall, and trained and familiar with the use of weapons and combat in those conditions. You are also trained in the wearing, care and maintenance of every type of vacuum suit and combat armour commonly used there.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the different types of ranged personal weapon. You never hold Gun Combat itself — when you receive it, choose Archery, Energy Pistol, Energy Rifle, Shotgun, Slug Pistol or Slug Rifle at once.

There is no Gun Combat check, because there is no Gun Combat level to check with. An attack is checked against the speciality covering the weapon in your hands, at the level you hold in that speciality — so a marksman with Slug Rifle-3 who picks up a laser pistol checks Energy Pistol, at whatever level they hold there and not at 3.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using bows and crossbows, for hunting or in combat.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using advanced pistol-style energy weapons, like laser pistols and stunners.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using advanced energy weapons, like laser rifles or plasma rifles.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using shotguns.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using projectile-based pistols, like the body pistol or the snub pistol.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using projectile-based rifle weapons, such as the autorifle or the gauss rifle.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the devastating weapons commonly used against vehicles, spaceships and ground installations. You never hold Gunnery itself — when you receive it, choose Bay Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Screens, Spinal Mounts or Turret Weapons at once.

There is no Gunnery check, because there is no Gunnery level to check with. Firing is checked against the speciality covering the mount you are sitting at, at the level you hold in that speciality — a turret gunner and a spinal mount gunner are two different skills on the same ship.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at operating bay weapons on board a ship.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled with man-portable and larger weapons that cause extreme property damage — rocket launchers, artillery and plasma weapons.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at activating and using a ship’s energy screens, like nuclear dampers and meson screens.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at operating bay or spinal mount weapons on board a ship. These weapons can be used against other ships, or for planetary bombardment and attacks on stationary targets.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at operating turret-mounted weapons on board a ship.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the different types of personal melee weapon. You never hold Melee Combat itself — when you receive it, choose Natural Weapons, Bludgeoning Weapons, Piercing Weapons or Slashing Weapons at once.

There is no Melee Combat check, because there is no Melee Combat level to check with. A blow is checked against the speciality covering what you are swinging — or against Natural Weapons when you are swinging nothing — at the level you hold in that speciality.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using bludgeoning weapons — clubs, staffs and really big wrenches — in personal combat.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using your natural weapons in personal combat. Among humans this includes brawling, martial arts and wrestling.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using piercing and thrusting weapons, such as spears and polearms, in personal combat.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You are skilled at using cutting and slashing weapons, such as swords and axes, in personal combat.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the different types of planetary transportation. You never hold Vehicle itself — when you receive it, choose Aircraft, Mole, Tracked Vehicle, Watercraft or Wheeled Vehicle at once.

Two of those five are cascades in their own right, so choosing Aircraft or Watercraft means choosing again before you have a skill on your sheet.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the different types of flying vehicle. You never hold Aircraft itself — when you receive it, choose Grav Vehicle, Rotor Aircraft or Winged Aircraft at once.

It is one of the two specialities that is itself a cascade, so a grant of Vehicle that lands here sends you down one more level before you have a skill.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre air/rafts and other vehicles that use gravitic technology, and perform basic routine maintenance on them. Grav vehicles have theoretically perfect manoeuvrability and can hover, though high-speed aerobatics may still call for a check.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre helicopters, hovercraft and other similar craft, and perform basic routine maintenance on them. Rotor aircraft can hover, but may require checks to keep steady in the face of adverse environmental conditions.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre jets and other aeroplanes that use a lifting body, and perform basic routine maintenance on them. Winged aircraft must keep moving forwards or they stall and fall out of the sky.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre vehicles that move through solid matter using drills or other earth-moving technologies — plasma torches, cavitation — and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre tanks and other vehicles that move on tracks, and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A cascade: choose a speciality when you gain it.

A cascade skill covering the different types of watercraft and ocean travel. You never hold Watercraft itself — when you receive it, choose Motorboats, Ocean Ships, Sailing Ships or Submarine at once.

It is one of the two specialities that is itself a cascade, so a grant of Vehicle that lands here sends you down one more level before you have a skill.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre small motorised watercraft and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre large motorised sea-going ships and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre wind-driven watercraft and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre vehicles that travel underwater and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

A speciality, trained and rolled in its own right.

You can properly manoeuvre automobiles and similar wheeled vehicles, and perform basic routine maintenance on them.

The source gives this skill no special case of its own — the scope above is the whole entry, and it is checked exactly as any other skill is.

Named by the career tables and described nowhere in the source.

You can find something worth extracting, and tell it apart from something that merely looks like it. Prospecting covers surveying a body for ore, ice or gas, reading a survey scan, assaying a sample by eye or by instrument, and judging whether a claim is worth working before you have sunk a season into it.

In the belt it is what separates a rock from a payday: locating a promising body, matching a spectrographic return to a mineral, estimating yield and depth, and knowing which of two claims to file. On a planetary surface it does the same work for lodes, seams and water.

It does not extract anything and it does not sell anything. Getting the ore out is Mechanics, Mole or plain labour, and getting a good price for it is Broker.

Named by the career tables and described nowhere in the source.

You notice what other people miss. Perception covers reading a room, catching the detail that does not fit, spotting the lie in an account, and registering the small change in someone’s manner that means the conversation has just turned.

It is the deskbound counterpart to Recon. Recon is scouting ground and staying unseen while you do it; Perception is attention paid to people, documents and rooms — an inconsistency in a manifest, a name that appears twice under two spellings, a clerk who is nervous for no stated reason.

It tells you that something is wrong. What to do about it is somebody else’s skill: Admin to make the paperwork behave, Advocate to know which regulation it breaks, Liaison or Streetwise to find out who arranged it.