I'm going to guess many people on this forum have also play the Hollow Earth Expedition RPG. Given both games use the Ubiquity System, I thought this mechanic from the second book, Secrets of the Surface World, might help to expand upon and make the future sessions of Desolation more fun.

Disclaimer:
Now, before I go any further, I would like to state in the plainest terms that I DO NOT claim this game mechanic as being my own original idea. The people at Exile Game Studio came up with it for their Hollow Earth Expedition RPG. If I am asked to take it down, I will. Now please do not sue me over this. Thank you.

Right, the thinking behind this rule states that some skills are simple enough that they can be done by most people without formal training (No -2 penalty for untrained). They are basic enough that most people have at least a minor understanding of them (Athletics, Brawl, Empathy, Ride, and Stealth). <Once again, Exile's idea> Most people at this time could likely run, throw a punch, know if someone was lying, travel on a docile animal, or duck behind a corner or tree; even if they were not be the best. An additional skill could be Survival (for rural characters) or Scavenge (for urban characters) given that someone living in the country would likely know a little about the wilderness or someone living in the city would be able to hazard a guess to its orginal layout when combing through rubble, thus making them more likely to find what they are looking for.

Once again, Exile Games Studio came up with the idea for automatic skills (or zero-level skills as they called them).

Hey, did you come up with that? Kidding!

Yeah, the Zero-Level concept is now a welcome addition to the Ubiquity System. Thanks for letting folks know about it here!

Not cool man, not cool at all...

Just kidding lol

But seriously, I'm just keeping my butt covered, for this is America, the land where you can win a court case over the fact coffee is hot...so yeah, look both ways and all that jazz.

Heh. I deserved that.

One of the nice things about using Ubiquity as the system for Desolation is the cross-pollination of rules mechanics, providing more options for all.

For example, another player in these very forums expressed interest in the Continuous Combat rules from HEX even though they've fallen out of favor due to some glitches in the details. But even though they're not officially part of the Desolation RPG, they're still available for those interested who may want to experiment.

Personally, I like the fact that this game provides nifty mechanics for doing magic and fantasy combat in Ubiquity, above and beyond the very cool setting.