Check

Meaningful Checks A check should only ever be attempted when both potential outcomes have consequences. Say you need to make a strength check to push open a door. The effect of success is obvious (the door is opened), but is there a consequence for failure other than just having to try again? If there is, then it's a valid check. But if there isn't, assume you eventually manage to push the door open and move on. Time and effort are potential consequences, but only if they'll make a difference for the next decision or encounter. 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 dice for "bonus" modifiers (see below), or add Interference dice for "penalty" modifiers. On a result of 6, roll an additional die and add it to the pool.

• Failure: Rolls of 1, 2, or 3 are failures, discard them from the result.
• Success: Rolls of 4, 5, or 6 are successes, keep them. If there are one or more in the pool after Interference (below) then the check succeeds.

Interference

Penalties are rolled as dice themselves, and may remove successes from the original check. Roll any Interference dice like a check, and discard 1, 2, and 3. Starting with the lowest success in the Interference pool, discard it and the lowest success from the Check pool so long as that die is equal or lesser in value. If all the Check pool's dice are a higher value, discard the Interference die and move to the next one. Continue until all dice in the Interference pool have been discarded, or until no successes remain in the Check pool.

Huang needs to dive out of a room before a heavy door slams down and traps her within. Lightness is the most appropriate skill, and she has a 3 score. The door falls very quickly so the referee applies a penalty, -1 die, to the check check. Huang rolls her 3d and gets 1, 4, and 5, a success! Now a single die is rolled in opposition due to the penalty, and comes up a 5. The 5 from Intereference is removed along with her 4. That leaves a 5 in the pool, a success, so she slips under the door in the nick of time.

Opposition

Sometimes a check is actively opposed by another roll. It's rolled just like a check, and may even have Interference to resolve. After Interference, if any successes remain, discard one and an equal or lesser success from the original Check. This may turn the original check into a failure. If the Opposed pool has doubles left over it may generate Momentum. Opposition isn't rolled if the original Check fails.

Green-Jade Huang kicks Tenacious Chen, and he dodges. She rolls 3d for her Technique score, and results are 2, 4, and 5--a success. He rolls 2d for his Lightness. Huang's results He rolls a 1 and a 6, bonus die comes up a 2. His 6 is discarded along with her 4. She still has a 5 in her pool, so the kick is a success despite his attempted dodge.

Momentum

Every pair of successes in the roll generates Momentum. Momentum may trigger certain stunts, be immediately converted into a +1/-1 damage on an attack, or grant a +1/-1 modifier to a character's next check. Mark the Momentum by placing a die on the appropriate character sheet or figure, and the next time the character rolls a check the die is added to the result. It is possible to add a Penalty die (Interference) to a foe in the same manner.

Will

After the initial results, including Interference, but before any Opposition you may spend 1 Will to add another 2 dice to the roll. Opposition may likewise spend Will to add 2 dice after any results are tallied.

Venture

You can take risks to get a better chance of momentum--if you succeed. Before you roll a check, you may add 1 to 3 Interference for an equal number of Venture tokens. After the result is calculated, but before any Opposition, a single success becomes a pair for each Venture token, starting with the highest single and working down until out of tokens or no more single die results remain.

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 guard, setting one token aside 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 Technique and scores a best of 4. Huang rolls her 4d Lightness and gets 1, 2, 4, 5, plus an Interference die that comes up a 3...not affecting her pool. Her 4 eliminates the 4 from the thug's check, leaving her 5, and now the venture token pairs with it to create another 5, giving her momentum--which she plans to use when she attempts to stare the gang down on her turn!

Advantage and Disadvantage

Some Distinctions, Faults, and circumstances may apply Advantage or Disadvantage to a check. The two states cancel one another out if both are present in the same check.

• "Advantage" means 6's on Interference and Opposition don't explode.
• "Disadvantage" means 6's on the check don't explode. Interference and Opposition explode normally.

Failure

A failed check doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t accomplish what you attempted, just that it had some cost. In combat, the cost is precious time where enemies may now strike you. Outside of an encounter the cost might be exhaustion, damage, losing assets, or gaining some other complication. If there isn't a meaningful cost--ie you can just try again without any condition changing or a foe gaining a chance to do something first--then it didn't matter and shouldn't be a check anyway. Sometimes this is an instinctive call, where the GM asked for a check without any consequence in mind until failure made one necessary. This can become a negotiation if a player has an alternative consequence that's still meaningful within the situation.

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 without becoming exhausted. Chen fails the check, and in this case has a choice: the barricade is completed but Chen is exhausted (a state) for the upcoming battle due to the effort to get it done in time, or Chen is fine but the barricade isn't far enough along to offer any protection at all. 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 determine which character is rolling the most dice for the Check. This character becomes the primary. If more than one character could be the primary players may choose who takes the primary role. The primary rolls a check normally, including suffering any penalties for the situation. Everyone else attempting to help rolls an appropriate check, but has Interference equal to the primary roller's dice. Any successes that remain after Interference are added directly to the primary roller's Check pool.

See Also

• Game Play
• Complication
• Encounter
• Modifier

Version 2.5.4
©2017 Frameworks Games

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