Current Affairs
#skill
Must specialize; IQ/Easy; Defaults: IQ-4 or Research-4.
This is the ability to assimilate quickly whatever qualifies as “news” in your world, and to recall it as needed. You must specialize in one of the following areas:
- Business: Exchange rates, investment performance, etc.
- Headline News: Usually bad news, such as assassinations, plagues, and wars.
- High Culture: Information on galleries, operas, symphonies, and so forth.
- People: The names of and gossip on celebrities, heads of state, and the like.
- Politics: Election results, international treaties, etc.
- Popular Culture: Hit songs, cool fashions, and hot products, among other things.
- Regional: News of all kinds for a specific region (pick one). This is the definitive “town crier” skill at low TLs.
- Science & Technology: New discoveries and inventions.
- Sports: Scores for recent matches, names of star athletes, etc.
- Travel: Where the “beautiful people” are going this year, and how much it all costs.
These specialties default to one another at -4. It is hard to bone up on one kind of news without learning about all the others!
On a successful Current Affairs roll, the GM will inform you of any news within your specialty that pertains to the current adventure (possibly including clues, on a good roll) or give you a small skill bonus (e.g., a success on Current Affairs (Sports) might give +1 to Gambling skill when betting on a boxing match).
Modifiers: -1 per day that you have been unable to access news media; -3 if you only have one source; +1 or more for “inside” access to the news (a subscription to an ordinary wire service is worth +1, while a job at an intelligence agency might give +3 or more).