ACADEMICS
This skill covers a variety of learned topics such as history, sciences, literature and philosophy. The categorie can be as broad or narrow as desired, with narrower topics offering more in-depth knowledge of the field. The samples listed below offer some broad topics characters might have skill with; of course, there are many more potential Academic Subskills, as well as numerous narrower versions of these subskills. For example, characters rarely study such a broad topic as "History", but would focus their knowledge on subskills such as "Star League History" or "History of New Avalon".
Sample Academic Subskills : Philosophy, Psychology, Theology, History, Antropology, Archeology, Law, Literature, Agriculture, Biology, Astronomy, Geography, Linguistics, Mythology, Political Science, Sociology, Statistics.

ACROBATICS
This skill allows a character to move his body quickly and gracefully through complicated maneuvers. Acrobatics gives a character a better chance of accomplishing any action requiring physical agility, such as jumping from moving vehicle, leaping between rooftops and the like.
Acrobatics increases the character's target number to be hit while making an Evade action, adding his skill bonus to the +1 TN modifier for Evading. A successful Acrobatics Action Check will also help the character break his fall, reducing the damage taken by one wound level with a successful Skill Check (see Falling, p. 120).

ACTING
Among their repertoire of abilities, skilled actors can imitate particular people, summon emotional responses at will and convince their audience they are telling the truth when they are in fact lying. Obviously, this is numerous applications in game play. The difficulty modifier for an Acting Check is based on the condition of target audience. If they are receptive to the "show", they will be an easier target then a suspicious or hostile audience.

ADMINISTRATION
This is the skill of running a business, including the skills needed to manage a large military unit.
Characters with the Administration Skill may be allowed to operate a business on the side with the gamemaster's approval. Such enterprises can provide the character with a steady source of income, as well as numerous roleplaying opportunities. The exact operation of the business should be worked out between the player and the gamemaster. At the simplest level, the gamemaster can have the character make a quarterly Action Check to determine the enterprise's earnings and losses. Multiply the Margin of Success or Failure by 1000 to determine how many C-Bills the business earned or lost. Alternatively, the player and gamemaster can devise as complicated a system of finances as the wish. The level of detail is a master of taste.

ANIMAL HANDLING
This skill covers all facets of animal care, from feeding and grooming to breeding and training. Characters are most likely to want to use this skill to train animals to help them on adventures. While this can add an interesting element to the game, in practice animal training is a long and difficult process. It is also hardly an exact science; years of training and can still result in an uncooperative animal.
For the most effective training, an appropriate species of animal must be started on training at a very young age. At the end of every month in which the animal is trained for at least an hour and a day, make an Animal Handling Check, with difficulty modifiers based on the kind of animal being trained ( cats are notoriously hard to train, while dogs are well-known for their obedience ). Success means the animal is taking to the training. Failure means the animal is not, and another Check must be made in the following month.
After a successful Animal Handling Check, a second Check can be made to see if the animal learns a new command, with the difficulty based on the complexity of the command. Success means the animal has learned the command; failure means nothing new was learned. An animal can learn a limited number of tricks depending on its intelligence, at the gamemaster's discretion.

APPRAISAL
The Appraisal Skill enables characters to appraise the value of items. Since some items are more easily appraised than others, modifiers should be applied to Appraisal Checks based on how common or rare the item is. To determine the value of common items or raw materials such as metals and gems, apply a -2 Modifier to the roll. For appraisals of uncommon materials or items, apply a -1 Modifier. Action Checks made to appraise very rare items, such as Star League technology or seventeenth-century furniture, receive modifiers ranging from +1 to +3, depending on the rarity of the item.
If the Action Check fails, it means that the character either identified the item incorrectly or misjudged its value. The extent of the error depends on the Margin of Failure and the gamemaster's discretion. A rule of thumb is plus or minus 5 percent per point by which the roll fails.
Knowing commodity's value does not mean the character will get full value for it when he tries to sell it or that he will be able to purchase it at its true worth. Negotiation Skill is used to determine the actual selling or purchase price.

ARCHERY
This is the weapons skill used for making attacks with all kinds of bows, from short and long bows to crossbows.
Additionally, Archery Skill enables characters to jury-rig a badly damaged bow or build a simple bow from scratch. Jury-rigging or building a bow requires basic tools and takes about 30 minutes. Make an Archery Check at the end of this period: success means the bow is functional, though attacks made with it suffer a target number modifier equal to 8 minus the Margin of Success of the Check ( to a minimum of +1 ). Failure means the bow looks fine but will break the first time it is used.