What are Occupations? Its pretty simple. If the referee so chooses, he or she can allow players to select (or randomly determine) an Occupation for their character. The Occupation tacks directly onto the character class and may or may not overlap with it somewhat. For instance, a player may create an Antiquarian character, then choose the "Professor" occupation for a very focused skill set. Another player may also make an Antiquarian, but choose the "Criminal" occupation, creating a character who specializes in stealing or fencing antiquities. This "mixing and matching" allows players a great amount of character customization in a very simple format and provides a little "background flavor" for the character.
Occupations may grant small benefits, such as additional starting money, additional contacts, or free equipment, but primarily Occupations grant "Occupational Specialties." Specialties are a set of skills connected to the Occupation and these may overlap with the Class Skills granted by character classes. When a character performs a task related to an Occupational Specialty (and the referee feels a rolls is needed) the player rolls two six-sided diced and takes the better result.
Lets consider our Antiquarian Professor, Reginald Palsgrave. He has the Class Skills: history, literature, general sciences and world mythologies; he gains a +1 bonus to tasks involving these topics. As a Professor of the Social Sciences, Palsgrave gains the Specialties: History, Geography, Anthropology, and Archeology. If he attempts a task related to History, he would roll two dice, take the better result and add 1 to it. If he were trying to determine the type of anthropoid skull found in a tomb, an Anthropology task, he would roll two dice and take the better result. The referee MAY allow him to add his Class Skill bonus from "general sciences" if he felt it was sufficiently linked. The referee determines when a die roll is needed and what bonuses/penalties might apply.
That's it for this week!
