002: ROLLING THE DICE
It is easy enough to attempt an action. Just tell the Storyteller what your character’s trying to do and how she plans to go about it. Most actions — crossing a field or donning armor, for instance — are easy enough to be considered automatically successful. However, if you are trying to cross a field with many pits while being chased by a knight on horseback, or you are trying to don armor in a hurry before an attacker arrives, there is a chance you might fail. So, when reasonable doubt arises over whether an action will succeed or not, you may have to roll dice to determine the results.
This system uses a 10 sided dice, hereafter, referred to as a D10. When more than one dice is rolled, you will see a number before the D10. This is the amount of dice you will roll. Examples 2D10, 7D10, 10D10. The most dice you are able to roll during any single Action is 10D10.
Although the Storyteller may declare a given action succeeds or fails (usually for dramatic purposes), chance enters the equation in many cases. You roll dice whenever the outcome of an action is in doubt or the Storyteller thinks that there is a chance your character might fail. Your character’s strengths and weaknesses affect the number of dice you roll, and thus directly affect your chances of success.
Although your character’s personality is limited only by your imagination, his capabilities are defined by his traits, which measure his aptitudes and abilities. Most traits are described by a rating of 1 to 5, however, all traits technically have a 1-10 rating, but a 5 is the highest most characters can ever achieve. A 1 in a trait is barely competent, while a 5 is the pinnacle of human achievement. Most people’s traits range from 1 to 3. A 4 in a trait indicates an exceptional person, while a 5 is incomparable — among humans, at any rate. It is also possible to have a 0 in a trait. Such a low rating usually represents a skill that the character never learned.
For normal traits, the following scale applies:
x Abysmal
• Poor
•• Average
••• Good
•••• Exceptional
••••• Superb
Whenever you roll dice, you roll one die for every dot you have in the appropriate trait. For instance, if your character is trying to find something and he has three dots in Wits, you would roll three dice. However, you rarely roll just the number of dice you have in an Attribute. Raw potential is modified by skill. The most common rolls in the game involve adding the dice gained from an Attribute to the dice gained from a Skill.
There is absolutely no situation in which more than two traits can add to a dice pool. What is more, if your dice pool involves a trait whose maximum rating is 10, you cannot add any other traits to your dice pool. It is effectively impossible for a normal human being to have more than 10 dice in a dice pool.
Whenever you roll the dice, there will always be a number you want to roll above, that is the Target Number. This will always be a number between 2-10. The default difficulty is always 6, so if the Storyteller tells to you roll, but gives no target number, you are rolling for 6 and above.
The Storyteller is the final authority on how difficult attempted actions are. If the task seems impossible, he will make the difficulty appropriately high, while, if the task seems routinely easy, the difficulty will be low (if the Storyteller decides you even must roll at all).
If you score no successes on a die roll, your character fails his attempted action. He misses his punch. His attempt to persuade the princess falls flat. Failure, while usually disappointing, is not as catastrophic as a Botch! One thing you cannot fail or Botch! is a damage roll. Damage rolls are the only roll in the game that ignores any and all 1's. You only count successes for damage rolls.
Every 1 that you roll on the dice will remove a single success from your total. Always start removing the highest successes first. this means you will start with 10's and go down from there. Roll enough 1's and not enough successes and you will fail your task. Just don't roll more 1's than successes! That level of failure is covered below under Botch!
In the same vein that 1 removes a success, the player can re-roll every die that comes up a 10 and try to get additional successes. This is cumulative. Any additional 10’s get rerolled. This can lead to some fantastic results if you roll well enough. Remember, the Rule of One still applies here, if you roll a 1, while rerolling a 10, you will remove the highest numbered dice from your pool.
Whenever you roll more 1's than successes, you have a Botch! This isn't just a failure, it is a critical failure. Bad things happen with a Botch! The Storyteller decides exactly what goes wrong. A botch might produce a minor inconvenience or a truly unfortunate mishap. An archers bowstring might snap, a warrior may drop his weapon, a spellcaster my cast the spell in their own face!
Failure tends to produce stress, which often leads to further failure. If a character fails an action, he may usually try it again (failing to pick a lock does not mean the character may never try to pick the lock again). However, each additional attempt will increase the difficulty by +1. Keep failing and it will get hard enough that it is impossible for you to succeed.
The preceding rules should be enough to get you going, and they might be all you ever need for chronicles that favor storytelling over dice-rolling. They do not necessarily cover all instances, though. For example, what if you are trying to do something while a Storyteller character is actively trying to stop you? What if your companion tries to help you break a code? The following several ways to complicate matters are intended to bring extra color to games. You certainly do not have to use them, but they might add more realism and suspense to your story. The following complications are simple and generic, usable to describe a wide variety of actions.
THE DICE
This system uses a 10 sided dice, hereafter, referred to as a D10. When more than one dice is rolled, you will see a number before the D10. This is the amount of dice you will roll. Examples 2D10, 7D10, 10D10. The most dice you are able to roll during any single Action is 10D10.
Although the Storyteller may declare a given action succeeds or fails (usually for dramatic purposes), chance enters the equation in many cases. You roll dice whenever the outcome of an action is in doubt or the Storyteller thinks that there is a chance your character might fail. Your character’s strengths and weaknesses affect the number of dice you roll, and thus directly affect your chances of success.
RATINGS
Although your character’s personality is limited only by your imagination, his capabilities are defined by his traits, which measure his aptitudes and abilities. Most traits are described by a rating of 1 to 5, however, all traits technically have a 1-10 rating, but a 5 is the highest most characters can ever achieve. A 1 in a trait is barely competent, while a 5 is the pinnacle of human achievement. Most people’s traits range from 1 to 3. A 4 in a trait indicates an exceptional person, while a 5 is incomparable — among humans, at any rate. It is also possible to have a 0 in a trait. Such a low rating usually represents a skill that the character never learned.
For normal traits, the following scale applies:
x Abysmal
• Poor
•• Average
••• Good
•••• Exceptional
••••• Superb
Whenever you roll dice, you roll one die for every dot you have in the appropriate trait. For instance, if your character is trying to find something and he has three dots in Wits, you would roll three dice. However, you rarely roll just the number of dice you have in an Attribute. Raw potential is modified by skill. The most common rolls in the game involve adding the dice gained from an Attribute to the dice gained from a Skill.
There is absolutely no situation in which more than two traits can add to a dice pool. What is more, if your dice pool involves a trait whose maximum rating is 10, you cannot add any other traits to your dice pool. It is effectively impossible for a normal human being to have more than 10 dice in a dice pool.
DIFFICULTIES
Whenever you roll the dice, there will always be a number you want to roll above, that is the Target Number. This will always be a number between 2-10. The default difficulty is always 6, so if the Storyteller tells to you roll, but gives no target number, you are rolling for 6 and above.
The Storyteller is the final authority on how difficult attempted actions are. If the task seems impossible, he will make the difficulty appropriately high, while, if the task seems routinely easy, the difficulty will be low (if the Storyteller decides you even must roll at all).
FAILURE
If you score no successes on a die roll, your character fails his attempted action. He misses his punch. His attempt to persuade the princess falls flat. Failure, while usually disappointing, is not as catastrophic as a Botch! One thing you cannot fail or Botch! is a damage roll. Damage rolls are the only roll in the game that ignores any and all 1's. You only count successes for damage rolls.
RULE OF ONE
Every 1 that you roll on the dice will remove a single success from your total. Always start removing the highest successes first. this means you will start with 10's and go down from there. Roll enough 1's and not enough successes and you will fail your task. Just don't roll more 1's than successes! That level of failure is covered below under Botch!
RULE OF TEN
In the same vein that 1 removes a success, the player can re-roll every die that comes up a 10 and try to get additional successes. This is cumulative. Any additional 10’s get rerolled. This can lead to some fantastic results if you roll well enough. Remember, the Rule of One still applies here, if you roll a 1, while rerolling a 10, you will remove the highest numbered dice from your pool.
BOTCH!
Whenever you roll more 1's than successes, you have a Botch! This isn't just a failure, it is a critical failure. Bad things happen with a Botch! The Storyteller decides exactly what goes wrong. A botch might produce a minor inconvenience or a truly unfortunate mishap. An archers bowstring might snap, a warrior may drop his weapon, a spellcaster my cast the spell in their own face!
TRY IT AGAIN
Failure tends to produce stress, which often leads to further failure. If a character fails an action, he may usually try it again (failing to pick a lock does not mean the character may never try to pick the lock again). However, each additional attempt will increase the difficulty by +1. Keep failing and it will get hard enough that it is impossible for you to succeed.
COMPLICATIONS
The preceding rules should be enough to get you going, and they might be all you ever need for chronicles that favor storytelling over dice-rolling. They do not necessarily cover all instances, though. For example, what if you are trying to do something while a Storyteller character is actively trying to stop you? What if your companion tries to help you break a code? The following several ways to complicate matters are intended to bring extra color to games. You certainly do not have to use them, but they might add more realism and suspense to your story. The following complications are simple and generic, usable to describe a wide variety of actions.
Comments