GM character shorthand based on WaRP?

[Mojomoe]

So - forgive me if this is old hat - but I just learned about the WaRP system (Wanton Roleplaying System), and ran across an interesting concept.

In this very rules light system (which focuses on roleplay over dice), you define your character with what basically amounts to a set of class-like characteristics. Han Solo might be a "roguish smuggler," and"Rebel commander." These would be his two (or so) skills: for anything rogue smuggler-ish, he would roll that skill (flying, shooting, gunning, gambling). For anything commander-ish, he would roll the commander skill. For everything else (taking damage, running, sneaking) he rolls an average human skill.

I don't know about you, but I find this really interesting as a GM. The idea that I could boil a minor NPC like a rival smuggler down to "Lying Smuggler 6D+1," "Shrewd Tactician 4D," and "Average Twi'Lek 2D," makes things wacky easy to roll for, in an already rules-loght system. I just find that a really neat idea - not to replace the rules, but also not to have to keep tons of NPC stats around. It's efffectively the same as "all attributes 2D, Blaster 4D+2" that we have on common NPCs. But the ability to quickly encapsulate even heroes with this is neat.

Thoughts?

[DougRed4]

As I get older (and hopefully wiser), I appreciate more and more games that take less prep work and that are easy to just 'grab stuff and play'.

Like you said, this is close to what we do already. If I have the characters run into a gambler in a cantina, I just make the guy Gambling 5D (or whatever), and don't bother to stat him all the way out anyway.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Raven Redstar]

An interesting concept which I might borrow for quick adventure write-ups. I've been writing some test modules for another D6 game I've been working on, and I've been doing stat blocks as (4D in all appropriate skills).

It might be a cool GM tool to create a list of Type Names, then the skills associated with each.

The one caveat, is that some of the more interesting stat blocks are of characters with some high, some mid, and some low skills.
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RR
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