Occasionally, players will find themselves in a situation where they aren't sure whether an action will succeed or fail. This happens when a character attempts something that they might be unsuccessful at, when a character comes into conflict with another character or the problem at hand, or when a player's character tries to do something to another's. The general rule is that whenever both success and failure are interesting or move the story forward, that is when we are in conflict. For example, cooking dinner does not put a character in conflict, but cooking a dinner that will impress a council member and make them more likely to side with you might, as long as failure doesn't completely halt the story. To resolve conflict, we turn to a very simple dice mechanic to determine success or failure.
Success or Failure
Roll a ten-sided die. If you get above a 5, you succeed. If you don't, you fail. Some people are better at certain things than others. In this case, we modify the roll just a bit to help the character along. If there's no chance that the character would fail or succeed, then do not bother rolling. This is a case where their background clearly shows mastery over a skill. Otherwise, if the character is likely to succeed, then add one to your roll. If the character is very likely to succeed, add two to the roll instead. A character is likely to succeed if it shows up in their background, have skill in the task, or their one unique thing contributes to the action. A character is very likely to succeed when all three of these are true.
Some people are just not very good at certain tasks. If they are unlikely to succeed, then subtract one from the roll. If they are very unlikely, subtract two instead. A character is unlikely to succeed if failure in similar tasks shows up in their background, circumstances for the task are unfavorable, or the character is untrained or unskilled in the task. A character is very unlikely to succeed if two or more of these conditions exist. Generally, knowing when the character is likely or is unlikely is something that a player guesses at, but these guidelines can help.
In the case where two players' characters are in conflict, we use opposed rolls. In this case, we simply have the player for each character, apply the roll modifier for the action being done or resisted, and whoever gets the higher roll is successful. This is generally only used in cases where two characters are each doing something and those things conflict. This can slow down the game, so it might be best to simply resolve it outside of a post (through messages and such) and then post the result. When a character is trying to do something to another character, this might be called for, if the players don't know what the other would do. If it plays out over a pair of posts, then the best way to deal with this is to use the private line function of posts to let the other player know what your roll was and then they can make their opposed roll on their own. Be respectful of others' characters. If you're unsure how a character would respond, ask the person who created that character.
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What should I post?
What if I want to add to the world?
What are characters like?
What happens when there's conflict or uncertainty involved?
How do I know when it is my turn?
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Last edited by incobalt, July 20 2015 19:22:57. Open game article. You can edit it once you log in.