Check
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Meaningful Checks Likewise, be prepared to follow through on either possibility if the check dictates it. If that sounds untenable or uninteresting then don't check, just narrate the success. Narrating an automatic failure is possible but much more frustrating. Any time you take this option you should highlight that the failure is due to circumstances outside the players control, and call out those circumstances so they have an avenue for changing them. Never cheat a check. When you get a result you don't want it introduces precisely the chaos and surprise that makes a dice driven game different from a story driven game. What you thought was the climactic victorious moment is actually a tragedy or a setback. Go with it, and see what's down that path. |
Checks resolve uncertainty when an outcome matters and there’s some doubt about the result.
Roll dice equal to your score in the most applicable attribute or skill. Each has examples of appropriate checks, but you can negotiate which one makes most sense for the situation based on your approach. The referee has final say on which score to use when there is any doubt.
For a basic check look at the highest value of any die rolled:
- Failure: The highest die is green (1, 2, or 3).
- Success: The highest die is blue or red (4, 5, or 6).
There are also two special cases for check results:
- Fumble: If more than half the dice rolled result in 1’s you gain interference, the check automatically fails, and you can’t spend focus to improve the result.
- Triumph: Every pair of 6’s in the roll gives you momentum.
Success Levels
For contests and complications you need relative levels of success, rather than just success or failure. Each extra result that matches a successful number (4, 5, or 6) grants an extra level of success. So 2 5’s would be 2 levels of success, 3 4’s would be 3 levels, and so on.
In a contest the roll with the highest level of success wins. The highest die result in the set breaks ties, and any further ties are resolved through reflex. For example, a set of 2 5’s would beat a set of 2 4’s, but a set of 3 4’s would beat a set of 2 5’s.
Focus
After the results are counted for a check you may spend 1 focus to add a success level to any set, just as if another die with that result was added. Adding to a 6 set doesn’t gain an explosion, but does count as a pair for triumphs. If there are no successful results at all spending focus adds a single 4 result.
You may only spend 1 focus per roll. In a contest you may wait to see the other result before spending. The character with the lower reflex must commit to spending focus first.
Modifiers
Circumstances affect your skills and attributes during a check. Modifiers are either a bonus or a penalty. Each bonus adds another die to the roll. Each penalty removes a die from your roll. If a penalty would remove your last die, add a 1 result without rolling instead. Bonuses and penalties negate one another before the check is rolled.
Failure
A failed check doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t accomplish what you attempted. You might still get the outcome if you can propose a sufficient consequence for that success. The referee is the final judge of whether your proposal is adequate, and may negotiate terms as well. Common costs include losing hits, wits, or items. A failure cost has to matter. Once the terms are agreed upon you decide whether to apply them or suffer the original failure consequence.
Cooperation
When allies pool their efforts they each roll a check. Applicable modifiers are applied to each check. A cooperating check doesn’t need to be rolled against the same attribute or skill.
The best success level is used for the group’s result. Each success level gained from other rolls adds to the total for the group, but every participant who fails subtracts one success level from the total. If any participant fumbles everyone cooperating on the check also gains interference.
Venture
You can take risks to get better results on a future check or damage roll. Before you make a check, you can declare a venture and set a level from –1 to –3, describing just what you’re doing to make your check harder and how it will benefit an upcoming roll.
After your roll, you take away the highest resulting die for each venture (after explosions). If you fail or lose the contest there is no further effect. If you still succeed, you gain two extra dice for each one removed to the upcoming specified roll. You may also say that your venture dice will go towards a comrade’s check instead of your own.
The bonus only lasts through your next action.
Momentum
Each triumph (pair of 6’s) grants you momentum. If you have a momentum stunt you may spend the momentum to immediately trigger it. Some encounters or zones have built in stunts that can be triggered when you gain a triumph.
If you don’t have a stunt to trigger you gain a bonus die for your next roll, or a friend’s next roll just as if you had committed to a venture. Just explain how the positive effect from the success spills over to the next roll. Bonus dice from momentum do stack with venture dice.
Interference
When the majority of your dice roll 1’s you You gain interference. Your current check fails, even if other dice from the roll would normally indicate success. Worse, any 6’s in the roll don’t explode in this check or your next roll.
After the next roll the interference effect ends, even if it didn’t have any 6’s. Some faults, keywords, or locations have effects that trigger on interference in place of the normal effect. If you have more than one fumble effect that can trigger you choose which one to suffer.
A common interference trigger occurs on ledges. When you are in an area with a ledge interference knocks you down, and you count as climbing. If you are already down or climbing interference knocks you off the ledge and you fall.
See Also
- For the 3d6 version see: Check (Old)
- Game Play
- Complication
- Encounter
- Modifier
Version 2.5.2
©2014 Frameworks Games
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