Information Gathering
From Curious Pastimes Wiki
Three skills in the Renewal campaign allow the player to appeal to referees for answers to questions on any topic: Intuition, Scholar and Oracle.
All of these skills have limitations of some sort; each is most useful in different circumstances. All of them offer some risk of misleading or even dangerous results!
- Intuition: This skill most useful if you have some idea of the answer already. Use once you’ve pieced the clues together and reasoned through them – the answer may confirm your guess, or steer you if you’re off-course. The answer is only as good as your information; if your premises are wrong, your answer may lead you astray.
- Scholar: This skill is as good as the library you’re using; the larger and better-stocked the library, the better the information. And it’s important to find the right library for the question – a library in a faction dedicated to the destruction of all undead may give skewed information on the subject of vampires!
- Oracle: This skill tends to be the go-to when you don’t have a clue. It’s a roll of the dice, an undirected appeal for insight. But beware: the information depends on what the spirits know. Sometimes they’ll be as misinformed as any mortal – and sometimes they may even lie. And opening yourself up to the spirit world can carry other risks besides…
Insight Skills
Battlefield Insight, Creator’s Insight, Demonic Insight, Diplomat’s Insight, Hunter’s Insight, Pathfinder and Strategic Insight all reflect a high level of expertise in a narrow field of endeavour. They’re more reliable than the skills above, mostly allowing the player to just the referee ask a direct question, but they’re also much more specific.