Maybe it's because my game is currently set against an urban backdrop, or maybe because a few of the PCs lend themselves to such things, but I find my game in need of a Streetwise skill. The inspiration has come from the PCs shadowing various NPCs through the city. I've been using Stealth (Intuition) to cover it, but its been done enough that it deserves a skill of its own. I wanted to put it up here for comment and critique – with a close eye for overlap and duplication.

Streetwise
(Intuition, Professional) (New Skill)
Skill Foci: Scrounging, Shadowing, Underworld

Scrounging
The Streetwise character is well acquainted with life in the city. You know where to shop for the best deals, where potentially useful trash is thrown, and what path to take when fleeing from the city guard in the middle of the night. A successful scrounging roll can help you avoid getting lost or finding yourself cornered in a dead end. While it is unlikely for you to scrounge up a diamond or a zweihander, you can also find food, a change of clothes, or even a makeshift weapon. The GM determines the feasibility and difficulty of finding the object, modified by your familiarity with the location. The more foreign or alien the city, the more difficult it is for you to navigate. While a European witch hunter would have a tough time navigating through a Byzantium city, a Native American would find such an environment completely alien to him.

A Streetwise roll for scrounging takes 1 hour. Failure and Complications do not prohibit success so much as draw the attention of authorities or hostile factions while working the streets, or mislead you into an area of the city you had hoped to avoid.

Streetwise Table
Location is...................Modifier
Familiar........................+1d
Unfamiliar but typical....0
Foreign/Hostile .............–2d
Alien.............................–4d

Shadowing
You have been trained to blend in with crowds and unobtrusively follow your target(s) in a city or other urban setting. Done properly, your mark will not be aware of your presence. Shadowing a target requires a contested roll, your Streetwise/Shadowing (Intuition) against their Notice (Intuition). If the target rolls more successes than you do, you’ve been discovered. Complications may not reveal your presence to your mark, but may attract the attention of other less desirable figures.

Target is cautious of pursuit –1d
Target is in a carriage or similar vehicle +2d

Underworld
In every city there are places the city guard fears to tread. These narrow streets are teaming with beggars, cutpurses, muggers, and worse. A successful Underworld Lore roll grants you contacts and connections within these unsavory places. The difficulty of the task is modified by your familiarity with the city and its people.

A Streetwise roll for making underworld connections takes 1 hour. Complications should be memorable.

...alright. Well maybe I am the only one then.

Anyhow, quick update. I finalized the Streetwise table. In addition to the familiarity modifiers listed, I added the following:

Seeking...Successes
Things that are usually easy to find...1–2
Things that require discretion or careful investigation...3
Risky services; finding illegal and well-regulated items...4
Services of unusual skills; finding dangerous or carefully controlled items...5
A specific criminal in hiding; finding items whose possession means immediate imprisonment...6+

(If you recognize these categories, yes I borrowed a bit.)

Tom