Tell me about Scavenging skill, I’m not really grokking it from the entry. In a urban setting it seems to bypass Circles and perhaps even Resources (or would it just link into a Resources test, much as Rare Books-wise would?). Instead of finding someone who sells books, you just go straight to the books.
In a wilderness setting, it seems to overlap somewhat with Foraging and Survival.
Can someone tell me a bedtime story about Scavenging?
Sure…but unless you’re some place where books are going to be common, expect a difficult test there. Also, it’s going to turn up some random book, not the specific book you’re looking for. And in the wilderness, it would just turn up plants, not “an edible plant I can eat to survive”–it doesn’t impart any kind of knowledge. For a plant that will be healthy, you’d need Foraging or Survival.
In your urban setting, saying “I want to scavenge for a book” is going to just help you look around for a book sitting out. Success is likely to find some random discarded book sitting in the gutter. It’s not going to be the Tome of Necromancy you’re questing for.
After routing our monster foes in THAC0 we would often scavenge through their lairs looking for useful things (like money, because we were murder hobos).
That’s interesting - in that context, it’s a bit like a Searching skill mixed with the player-authorship aspect of wises. “Surely there’s a bone needle in this Ogre’s cave, no?” That’s a helpful way to look at it.
I used my last arrow in that fight. Can I find any usable arrows on the bodies of those goblins or recover some of the arrows I used?
We need bandages as tools for Field Dressing and our traveling gear is tapped. We tear some strips from our cloaks to make bandages.
Did those bandits have any loot on them?
We’re down to our last torch and I don’t think we’re going to find the exit to the catacombs before it’s spent, can I find anything with which to make another torch?
I look for a stout branch I can use as a club.
We scavenged for tools and armor a lot, too. And materials/supplies for expended toolkits too.
We’d rifle kitchens for herbs, battlefields for armor and treasure hordes for rare Elven artifacts.
As a GM, failed scavenging tests are DELICIOUS.
Rot grubs?
Open license to inject some of your Big Picture or just Ye Olde Adventure Hooke.
Ah yes, I see. Success = You find your stupid arrow. Failure = You find a clue!
it was not a stupid arrow. It was the only arrow i had.
laf