Success tests

Simple roll

The GM decides what attribute and ability are appropriate to the test, and what the difficulty should be. A number of dice equal to the attribute are rolled against a target number equal to the difficulty minus the relevant skill. Those scoring equal to or greater than the target number are successes, and the number of successes determines how well the action is performed.

John is a professional journalist and author, and he wishes to write a short story for a magazine. The GM determines that this is a fairly typical action, and assigns a difficulty of 8. He asks John whether he wishes this story to be primarily a work of art, or simply an entertaining diversion. John says the latter, since he is somewhat short of cash at the moment. The GM decides that the roll should be on Intelligence + Writing. John rolls 4 dice (his intelligence) against a target number of 5 (8 minus his writing skill of 3). The number of successes determines the quality of the story, and therefore the amount John is paid for it. If John had been more interested in art than profit, the roll might have been against Perception.

Difficulty modifiers

Sometimes, the same action will be more or less difficult in different situations. This is reflected by altering the difficulty of the action - sometimes the base difficulty can simply be chosen to reflect the current situation, but sometimes the difficulty will be varied from a previously stated value. This is called applying a modifier.

Suppose John's editor had called him, and asked him to produce the story one issue earlier, cutting two weeks off the time available to him to write it. The GM in this case raises the difficulty. John's professional life often invlolves working to tight deadlines, so the difficulty is only raised by 1, to 9. John therefore rolls 4 dice at a target of 6. If John had been an amateur, without experience of working to time pressure, the difficulty modifier might have been +2 or more.

Skill defaults

Sometimes, a character will not have a skill appropriate to the action in question. In such situations, the GM may allow a different skill to be used at a reduced value. Alternatively, a zero value or even a negative value may have to be used.

The editor also asked John to write a short poem to introduce the story - another of the running themes of this issue, apparently. The GM kindly allows John to default from his writing skill to poetry at -2 (it doesn't have to be a work of art), and sets a difficulty of 9, the same as for the story. John rolls his perception, at a target of 8. He fails, and is forced to ask a friend for help. The friend has poetry skill at 2, and the GM gives him the same difficulty, for a target number of 7. He succeeds, so John's pathetic doggerel is replaced with something passable.

Tests helping other tests

Occasionally, one action will be used to make another action easier. In such cases, the degree of success of the first action can be used to determine a modifier reducing the difficulty of the second action, or alter the value of an existing modifier. No universal rule is possible, but a change of one point per success might be appropriate.

Suppose the editor also required that the story concern horse racing, to fit with the theme of this issue of the magazine. John knows nothing about horse racing, so the GM decides that an additional +3 difficulty modifier applies, raising the target number to 9. John points out that as an expert journalist, he has a 'research' skill of 4, and that although he does not have time to get real experience, he can at least jog down to the local library. The GM allows him to roll Intelligence + research, difficulty 8, to make things easier. John has a bad day, and only rolls two successes, but the GM decides this is enough to decrease the modifier from +3 to +1. Hence the target number for the writing roll is 7.

Multiple successes

For some actions, the GM may determine that 'alright' simply isn't good enough. In such situations, the GM decides on a number of successes required to complete the action. Less than this can represent failure, or some kind of partial success.

The GM decides that there is a difference between writing a good story about horse racing, and writing a story about horse racing that will actually convince readers who know much about it. He secretly decides that John only needs one success to produce a decent story, but two successes to avoid letters to the editor complaining about minor inconsistencies. John now makes his roll, scoring exactly two successes, and sends the story off to the editor in time. He then has the same thought that the GM did, and spends another afternoon in the library trying to check his facts. He makes a Perception + Research roll (difficulty 12, since he is checking his facts on a subject he still knows almost nothing about), and makes it with one success. The GM tells him that as far as he can tell, he has made no major blunders. If he had scored 3 successes, the GM might have said that there was definitely nothing in the library to contradict anything he had written.

Extended tests (type 1)

It may be appropriate for a character to make a certain number of actions, which all aim at completing the same task. In such situations the GM may allow the successes from each test to be added together. The tests need not all have the same attribute, ability, or difficulty.

Warning: in such cases, multiple successes become more likely, and the GM should be more cautious interpreting the degree of success.

The editor now calls again, and tells John that he wants the story expanded by 50% to fit a gap in the magazine. The GM decides that another test is required for the additional work, but that its successes will add to those of the original test for the purposes of determining the quality of the piece as a whole. He also increases the time pressure from +1 to +2, since the deadline is now looming. The +1 horse modifier also still appplies, for a final difficulty 11, target number 8. John rolls another 2 successes, and, bleary-eyed, proudly sends his brilliant (4 successes) horse racing story to the editor.

Extended tests (type 2)

On other occasions, it might be possibly for an action to be completed gradually, through a series of attempts. The most obvious example is knocking down a wall, but this method might also be used to gradually increase the degree of success of an action.

Warning: The warning above goes doubly here - it is not necessarily true that doubling the time spent on an action doubles the quality of the result. In many cases it will be more appropriate to reduce the difficulty to relfect the extra time spent, rather than allowing a secind roll.

John is paid enough to live comfortably for a few weeks, and the magazine expresses interest in any similar work he produces at any time. He decides to take time to produce something decent - this could be quite a profitable line if he plays his cards right.

He wants the sequel to be even better than the last, and the GM decides that he can do this if he accumulates 6 successes on an extended test, rolling every two weeks. He wisely decides to steer the story away from the technicalities of horse racing: the GM removes the +1 penalty, but rules that an extra success is required to smooth over the necessary plot twists. He is also no longer working under time pressure, since he has as long as he needs, so the difficulty is back to 8, the target to 5. The GM realises that two weeks per roll is still fairly fast work, and gives John the option to increase the rolls to once per three weeks, or take a +1 difficulty. John take the +1 difficulty, and scores 3 successes in his first roll - the sequel is going very well after two weeks. The next roll gives only 1 success - obviously writer's block is setting in. The third roll nets two successes, however, so after 6 weeks the masterpiece is almost complete. However, John's bills are also piling up on the mat - he is going to have to complete the story in two weeks, or plead with his bank manager. Unfortunately, he fails the next roll, making almost no progress on the story for a fortnight. The GM rolls that he can nevertheless wrap it up and send it to the editor, but that it is no better than the first, and falls slightly short of what John felt he could have achieved. Nevertheless, he gets paid the same for it as for the first, which avoids the bank manager.

Delayed extended tests

In many situations, attempts at an extended test need not occur imediately after one another.

Later, John comes to publish a book of short stories, and decides to rewrite parts of this second story for that book. The GM decides that he can pick up almost where he left off - two weeks work and another roll yield 1 more success, making the story everything John originally hoped for.

John then asks if he can continue the extended test to produce a genuine masterpiece. The GM rules that he can't, although if he wants to he can make a Perception + writing roll to improve some of his descriptive passages, at a difficulty of 11 (they are already pretty good). He warns John that he could easily make things worse if he fails, and since John's Perception is only 2, he decides to play safe.

Simple opposed tests

When two chracters are trying to complete the same task, it is often appropriate for them to make the same roll, with the same difficulty. In an opposed test, it is often a good idea to set the difficulty lower than for a similar action under ordinary circumstances, in order to make ties less likely.

John enters a writing competition - the GM decides that all competitors simply roll against a difficulty of 8. John scores 4 successes against his target number of 5, winning the contest.

Open tests

In an open test, dice equal to a chosen attribute are rolled. The highest value rolled is noted, and the value of the relevant skill is added to give the result of the test. Difficulty modifiers may then also be applied. If multiple 10's are rolled, the GM may add one to the result for each additional 10 rolled.

There are two uses for open tests. Firstly, they can be used in place of an opposed test, since they make ties less likely. Secondly, they can be used in situations where the success of one action determines the difficulty of another, such as writing and breaking a code. These situations are usually effectively an opposed test, with the opposed actions widely spaced in time.

Winners of this contest can enter an international contest. To make ties less likely, the GM decides to use an open test. John rolls his intelligence, but only scores 3,6,6,7. His score is 10 (7 plus his writing skill of 3). Sadly, another competitor with a writing skill of 4 rolls two 10's, for a final score of 15, winning first prize. John gets nothing here.

Complex opposed tests

A complex opposed test in one in which either the characters involved are not using the same characteristics, or where the difficulty for each character depends on some characteristic of the opponent. Otherwise, the test is the same as a simple opposed test.

Stretching probability somewhat, John gets caught up in a Haiku duel with a biker in a somewhat dubious bar. Participants are permitted to attempt to distract their opponents in the hope of spoiling their delivery. John's turn is first, and he rolls his Perception against a target number of 8 (basic difficulty for composing Haiku while mildly inebriated) minus 1 (writing skill defaulting for poetry) plus 2 (the intimidation skill of his opponent, who is standing at the bar cleaning his fingernails with a combat knife). The target number is 9, and he scores one success. Realising that he has to do something impressive, he attempts to engange an increasingly larger group of the audience in a fascinating discussion about the horse races due to occur the following day. The GM has him roll Charisma (3) against a difficulty of 10 (for a pretty improbable ploy) minus 1 because several of the crowd have read his horse racing story, and were impressed. Astoundingly, he rolls 3 successes. The GM increases his opponent's difficulty from 8 to 11. Subtracting poetry skill of 2 gives a target number of 9, and the roll fails, leaving the biker delivering his poem at a shout over the noise in the bar. John wins the contest - all he has to worry about now is that knife...