Not quite a rules question so much as a question on formatting - why aren't the skills that ARE basic skills pre-printed with marks on the character sheet? Is there any rules-related reason they shouldn't be?

Perhaps just in case a background choice comes up that makes a skill that is normally basic not basic any longer. That or it's just a formating error.

Graver said:

*bzzzt* Nope - just double-checked. All the background notes that basically say that you suck at a particular skill (like Hivebound for a Hive Worlder) say that you get a straight -10 to the test. It never says "treat this basic skill as an untrained advanced skill".

Graver said:

I believe this is correct, barring some kind of supplement down the line that puts a basic skill at advanced for a character type. And honestly, I think they'd be better off just noting the difference in the paragraph on the background and putting the useful info of what skills are advanced right there on the character sheet. I'll be doing that for my homebrews I use for the demo I'm running. *sigh*

Yes, I have gone and ticked all the "Basic" boxes for my players' basic skills. I'm not sure why FFG didn't do this, but should a good reason come up, I'm sure I can reverse the change.