First post here and all, still reading through the DW book...and this may be a VERY stupid question so I'm sorry if it is.

In regards to PC generation I know you receive 1000XP to buy up/add on Skills and Talents etc...but when starting I see skills on the Sheet like Ciphers where the Basic and Advanced boxes are blank, yet the Chapter Runes subcategory has Advanced filled in. What is the difference between these boxes? Do they simply denote "This is a Basic Skill/Advanced Skill/Both Basic and Advanced Skill" or does it affect the player's roll for said Skill?

Also if do these boxes affect buying up the Skill? Such as a Skill with the Basic box already filled in, does this mean I cannot buy a Simple increase and have to go for the second level cost?

Again I'm sorry for what is most likely a stupid grouping of questions but after having read through the Skills Chapter twice...I did not see the answers I was looking for and the sheet is confusing me. Thanks for any help you guys can give.

The main difference between basic, and advanced:

Basic: if untrained, you may make this test, but at half the attribute (so if untrained in awareness, roll half perception, of course, all marines are trained in awareness, p36).

Advanced: If untrained, you may not roll a test on this skill

When you spend XP to gain a skill training, you check it off as trained, and therefore may test the skill at full attribute (whether trained or untrained).

Do note that p36 states all the skills you are trained in by default. The character sheet does have errors on it, double check the skills. Also, the training tables do denote some skills that marines already start with, this is on purpose. You don't spend xp on them, don't buy them. They are there for technical purposes, for later supplements.

Now, eventually, you gain access to skill +10 or skill +20, these obviously give you a bonus equal to the number (and they don't stack, they override).

Thank you very very much Kommisar K. I somehow totally missed that area on page 36 twice so thank you for pointing it out.

It is easy to miss, compounded by the practice of marking which skills are "Basic" in the same way that you mark which skills you have Trained in, compounded even more by the errors on the Character Sheet.

Most of us have been confused by it at some point.

just to be total clear on this:

every marine starts with 'dodge' as a basic skill, which means you can test at 1/2. if you then pay 300 for dodge, it becomes trained and you test at your full characteristic.

sorry for the extra need for clarification, but the rulebook seems to be deliberately confusing/unclear in quite a few places.

katsura1982 said:

No every marine starts with dodge as Trained as per page 36. The character sheet is incorrect wrt dodge and intimidate.

Other than that you have got it right.

Alex