Teach me about the career tags system

[Whymme]

Let me say up front that I don’t play third edition, and have no intention of doing so.
Instead, I am working on a document with all the 250 careers of second edition, with some extra attributes, and I ran into problems when trying to streamline the entries and exits for those careers (see thread viewtopic.php?t=768)

In that thread, Karkared suggested that I have a look at the career tag system of third edition. He explained the basics, and in the ensuing discussion I began to understand that the system has some subtleties that I would easily miss in a short explanation.
So I would appreciate it if you could point out the subtleties and possibilities of the tag system to me, and perhaps some ideas of how you would customize the system, if you had the chance.

My intention with this thread is to learn and to get ideas of how to implement a variation of the system for second edition. If you want to help me with that, I’d appreciate it.

[Jackdays]

I may not be the best person to answer to this, as I don't really play WFRP3, but I still want to Even Karanthir did have pretty comprehensive answer already...

So, your thinking how you could use WFRP3 career "tagging" (WFRP3 calls it Traits) which you mean four categories that each and every career has on WFRP3 to replace WFRP2 entries and exits?

That is actually something I was thinking long time ago when I was still playing WFRP2. My idea was maybe three tags/traits. One would be tier/level, other general category (Warrior, Ranger...) of the career, and then one more specific category (wilderness, water, urban...).

The main good reason to use that type of system is the freedom to create new careers easily. You don't need to update all the careers connected to that new career. Just choose right tags. Idea is, that transition from career to another costs lesser if they are more compatible (same tags).

One problem is that you want to keep the tier system also. So, If non-Wizard wants to become Wizard that person needs to start from the beginning, meaning apprentice Wizard and move forward step by step, or Basic Soldier can't just jump to become Champion. Advanced WFRP3 cards had "Special" text on them, that gives like requirements for advanced careers. Well, this not difficult task. Advanced careers could have that requirement, that could be the tier/level and/or previous career that NEEDS to be taken before.

(bytheway - I don't know was Zweihänder RPG mentioned before, but it has kind of same system also. Requirement was certain level on certain skills)

[Whymme]

That is actually something I was thinking long time ago when I was still playing WFRP2. My idea was maybe three tags/traits. One would be tier/level, other general category (Warrior, Ranger...) of the career, and then one more specific category (wilderness, water, urban...).

The main good reason to use that type of system is the freedom to create new careers easily. You don't need to update all the careers connected to that new career. Just choose right tags. Idea is, that transition from career to another costs lesser if they are more compatible (same tags).

Exactly. If you would map all the career entries and exits in WFRP2 now, it would be quite a mess. In the Compendium, there are a few instances where career A has an exit to career B, but that career A is not listed in career B's entries. And all the careers in supplements can never refer to careers in other supplements, only to those in the base book. Add to that all the fan careers ...

I'm not sure about WFRP3's idea that everyone should be able to enter every career; I'll likely try to restrict that. As I said in the other thread, a prospector who has lived all his life in the World's Edge Mountains should not be able to suddenly become a sea captain.

One problem is that you want to keep the tier system also. So, If non-Wizard wants to become Wizard that person needs to start from the beginning, meaning apprentice Wizard and move forward step by step, or Basic Soldier can't just jump to become Champion. Advanced WFRP3 cards had "Special" text on them, that gives like requirements for advanced careers. Well, this not difficult task. Advanced careers could have that requirement, that could be the tier/level and/or previous career that NEEDS to be taken before.

And that. One simple rule could be that you can only get into an 'advanced' career if you have completed an 'intermediate' one, and only go to an 'intermediate' career after having completed a 'basic' one.
For specific, restricted, career paths like the wizards, priests, slayers, and so on, I'm thinking of having keywords like 'Priest 1', 'Priest 2', and so on. They all count as a 'priest' keyword, but you can only get to a career with 'Priest 3' if you have the specific 'Priest 2' keyword.

[Hyarion]

One change I would like to see in the Career Tag system is "typed tags". For example, the priest career would have the Religion<<any>> tag. If a PC becomes a Priest of Morr, it would be filled in with Religion<<Morr>> this would help facilitate a move into Knight of the Raven or Temple Guard (of a Morrian Temple) but would probably require a step back to Acolyte if his service shifted from Morr to another deity.

Similarly we could say that that the Captain career has the Military<<Empire>> or Military <<Mercenary(Band of the Red Hand)>> tag to help show their authority of command over a certain group, but that their authority may not be recognized by other groups, for instance Ironbreakers with Military<<Karak Norn>>.

My intention with this thread is to learn and to get ideas of how to implement a variation of the system for second edition. If you want to help me with that, I’d appreciate it.

Anything I can do to help, please let me know.

Your idea about Priest1/Priest2/etc seems to be a very good one.

Hy