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 there's a question about the outcome and the result matters. Roll dice equal to your score in the most applicable facet. Each facet lists examples of appropriate checks. The referee has final say on which facet is most appropriate for a situation. You may add or subtract dice for any modifiers, but you never roll fewer than one die or more than five. 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).
Success Levels
Contests, complications, and some special checks more than just success or failure. The highest die you roll, assuming that's 4 or greater, is your best number. Each extra result that matches a successful number (4, 5, or 6) creates a set. Sets are worth more than a standard success, so your best switches to the biggest set, or the highest number if two sets have an equal number of results. In a contest, the roll with the largest set or highest best wins. 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 beats a set of 2 5’s.
Green-Jade Huang kicks Tenacious Chen, and he dodges. They roll a contest. She rolls 3d for her Combat score, he rolls 2d for his Agility. Huang's results are 2, 4, and 5, so a success, and her best is a 5. He rolls a 1 and a 6, bonus die comes up a 2. His best is 6, which beats her 5 and so Chen wins the contest and dodges her kick.
Focus
After results are rolled you may spend 1 focus to add another 2 dice to the roll. These dice may exceed the normal maximum of 5d for a check. 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 spend or not spend first, then the character with the higher reflex may spend after witnessing the result.
Modifiers
Circumstances affect your score during a check. Modifiers are either a bonus or a penalty. Each bonus adds another die to the roll, and each penalty removes one. If a penalty would remove your last die there's no longer doubt about the result, the check fails. Bonuses and penalties negate one another before the check is rolled.
Huang needs to dive out of a room before a heavy door slams down and traps her within. Agility is the most appropriate skill, and she has a 4 score. The door falls very quickly so the referee applies a penalty, -1 die, to the check check. Huang rolls 3d and gets 1, 4, and 5, a success! She slips under the door in the nick of time.
Failure
A failed check doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t accomplish what you attempted. You might still get the outcome you want if you negotiate a sufficient consequence for success. The referee is the final judge of whether a consequence is adequate. Common consequences include suffering damage, losing assets, and gaining lasting complications.
Tenacious Chen is attempting to build a barricade before enemies arrive. The referee rules that this is a strength check, and a success indicates that the barricade is complete in time. Chen fails the check, but his player proposes a consequence: the barricade is completed but Chen is exhausted (a state) for the upcoming battle due to the effort to get it done in time. The referee agrees that's a valid consequence, and now Chen must decide whether that barricade is worth it.
Cooperation
When allies pool their efforts they each roll a check. Modifiers are applied to each check separately. Cooperating checks don’t necessarily need to be rolled against the same facet. The best result within the rolls is used for the group’s result. Matching dice from the other rolls may create or add to sets. If a cooperating check completely fails it removes the best die from the result. Some circumstances force a single character to become a primary roller, and everyone else only rolls support. In such cases only the primary roller's dice count for the best, but tied dice add to the set normally.
Momentum
Every three 6’s on a check generates momentum. Momentum may trigger certain stunts, or be immediately converted into a +2d bonus to a damage or facet roll. It doesn't even need to be your facet, you can forward the bonus to an ally's next roll. Place the dice on the recipient's character sheet on the facet they're meant for. If the momentum dice aren't used by the end of the recipient's next turn they're removed.
Venture
You can take risks to get better results on a future check or damage roll. Before you roll a check, you can declare a number of ventures (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. If you still succeed after the dice are removed, you gain one momentum for each venture.
Green-Jade Huang faces a gang in an alley, and hopes to intimidate them into leaving her alone. When one throws a punch, she declares a venture on her defense. She'll take -1 venture to reflect a fancy dodge using the splits and then flicking the thug on the nose to display her prowess. The gang member rolls his 2d Combat and scores a best of 4. Huang rolls her 4d Agility and gets 1, 4, 5, 5. Thanks to the venture she loses one of her 5's, but that's still enough to win the contest and gain momentum. She places the two dice on her will facet for when she attempts to stare the gang down on her turn!
See Also
Version 2.5.4
©2017 Frameworks Games
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