Skills in Popmundo

This page contains most of the information you need to know about skills in the game. Please take a moment to read the general information on skills shown when you first come to this page. After that feel free to look up any particular skill you're interested in learning more about by using the drop down box below.

Learning Skills

Learning skills is one of the best ways to improve your character. If you haven't begun to learn some new skills by now, you should do so right now! It will pay off, we promise.

Skills can be awarded to players, or more commonly, purchased at your local book store. Buy the book on the subject or skill that you think might help you and read it. To read the book go to your items inventory and click on "Use" next to the title. When you've read the book it will magically vanish into thin air. Just like in real life.

Different stores have different prices and different books. If you can't find what you're looking for or the price ain't right... shop around till you find the deal that's right for you. Knowledge doesn't usually come cheap though, so be prepared to spend some cash.

Once you've read a book of your choice, make sure to view your character's "Focus" page. Focus on "Improve Skills" as a career focus and select the skill you wish to improve. If you don't do this, your character won't learn anything - so pay attention!! Over time, your skill level will increase and you'll see more stars appear next to your skills.

Good Skills to Learn First

If you're interested in playing the core music game here, and you're confused about which skills to learn first you should seriously consider: Basic Composing, Basic Lyrics, Basic Showmanship, Dancing and Sex Appeal. Any of the basic instrument skills and music genre skills that suit your needs is also recommended.

Instrument Skills

In addition to these special character skills, we have all the skills tied to musical instruments. It's not a requirement to know how to play an instrument in order to put on a good show, but it is HIGHLY recommended.

To learn how to play a musical instrument, you should first learn the basics of the instrument you want to play. For example: if you want to learn how to play the guitar, you should first learn the skill Basic String Instruments.

As soon as you've gotten at least two stars in the basic skill, you can proceed to learn to Play the Guitar.

Music Genre Skills

Genre Skills are skills that determine how well schooled you are in the history and trends of the different music genres in the game. All characters should invest in genre skills as they will determine how high you can jam the songs in your repertoire.

Characters with no skills in their selected genres will only be able to jam songs to 50%, which will hurt the ratings of their shows. The percentage increases with each additional star, so those with five stars will be able to jam their songs to 100%. Band members' genre skills are averaged, so a two person band that has one member with five stars and one with no stars will only be able to jam their songs to 75%.

Prerequisite Skills

In order to learn some of the more advanced skills, you might need to have mastered some other skills first. These required skills are referred to prerequisite skills. When looking at a skill description here on this page, any prerequisite skills needed will be clearly listed.

Secret Skills

There are some skills that are very uncommon and have special effects. These are not mentioned on this page - you will have to find out about them on your own. If you have any of these skills, other characters cannot see them. But beware of who may be reading your diary...