Area Knowledge

This skill requires specialization

I know every engineer on every train
All of the children and all of their names
Every handout in every town
Every lock that ain't locked when no one's around
-- Roger Miller, "King of the Road", 1964

• Default: IQ-4 or Geography (Regional)-3
• IQ/Easy
• Requires Specialization (see below)

Area Knowledge is a skill representing familiarity with the people, places, and politics of a given region. Unless you're playing a recently-unfrozen caveman, your PC is guaranteed to have (and need) Area Knowledge in some form.

Higher Levels

People with extensive experience in an area will tend to have Area Knowledge in abundance. Modern London cab drivers, senior scribes who mark the harvests and draw borders,

Saving Your Life

Area Knowledge can save a character's life during a distaster, as it can tell them the best place to take cover from a blizzard, or what buildings would best survive an earthquake.

Niche Uses and Mentions

• A person who's knowledgeable in a region and has Magery 0+ will easily be able to point out if certain areas of that region have higher or lower mana levels.
• An investigator will get a lot out of Area Knowledge, knowing where all the usual hangouts are for possible suspects—or knowing a key piece of data that tears apart an alibi, like what time the shops close.

GURPS Mysteries, p. 110, on its usefulness to investigators.

Extradimensional Area Knowledge has different rules

Kromm Quotes

Sean Punch has commented on Area Knowledge in the following posts to the SJG GURPS Forums:

• On improving it from default level [1]
• As an Everyman skill [2], [3]

See Also

• Streetwise
• Geography
• List of Skills

References

• Basic Set p. 176-177