GM style: Narrative games and rolling dice

Game rules

Checking on the Coriolis Discord, I read that the publishers are OK with players recreating tables, figures and data from the RPG source material where the only purpose is the facilitation of playing their game and I hereby promise this is my only intent with this article. Any rules referenced here are from the Coriolis rules; comments on how I run the game are just that: how I like to run my games - Doctor Weather

I've created all of the following to help me run a more-narrative style of game. I'm much more used to the tactical-level play of D&D (one dice roll for each action), so Coriolis has become part of my recent education into other styles of play. I found that I did need a lot of help... but I learned a lot during play, so there it is.

Narrative style - reflection on hints from the community

Analysis to figure out what I'm aiming at
The following two examples were my starting point - obvious to many GMs - but helpful to me to set my target.

Ask players to interpret their successes and failures

A success I'd like to copy came from WttSS session 45: 'I Swear There Are 9 Black Tablets, Honest'. The defences of the Portal Builder entranceway illicted feelings of unease, encouraging affected individuals to turn around and leave. When Kerman's dice roll showed he was more affected by this than the rest of the party I successfully put it back to the player to build on the scene instead of just having Kerman be under some dice affect for future rolls. Asking, "how does Kerman respond to noticing that other party members don't seem as worried as he feels?" Kerman to chose to march boldly into potential danger - to be the first to face trouble - to protect the rest of the party from the dangers they could't fully appreciate. It was a good - defining - character choice and moment.

More narrative combat

These are the headlines from a combat thought experiment I ran between Murad and a Legionary in the Caliban Crow engine room, based on my Whispers to the Star Singer campaign. I did it to improve on the actual combat that seemed dull. Environmental complications The Legionaries turned the gravity off as they had a Zero-G talent and Murad didn't The narrow confines of the engine room meant that large weapons couldn't be used or suffered a penalty - Murad had a halberd and the Legionary he fought had knives and pistols Combat decisions The Legionary put a lot of effort into disarming Murad, whose main weapon - the kharatuk blade - was so deadly A DP spend made the weapon spin away and embed in environment, making it difficult for Murad to re-arm Murad spent actions on defending to dodge away to get the weapon back He then transformed the mercurium kharatuk-blade into smaller daggers to get it out of the environment and to remove the space-resrictions penalties Both made efforts to push their opponent into environmental dangers - heat and radioactivity

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When to roll

My first lesson: learning when to roll dice - and crucially, when not to
So many actual plays of Coriolis have the GM calling for a roll for any chosen action, much like D&D would. I'm told however, that Mutant Year Zero has the GM call for a single roll to cover the whole scene, for example, one scouting roll covers all the instances of trying to find things at any one location - not requiring a series of rolls each time the PC is techincally searching, so...
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When a roll can be skipped

Dice rolls are only needed when the Dark is watching
Fair enough to those who say "only roll when it's plot critical", I embrace that for the most part. However, I'll also call for a roll when PCs are tackling something in a situation where the Dark thinks it can challenge the individual's supposed greatness, and also where it can cause interesting mischief. In all other cases PCs succeed with a strength of success based on their skill level (see success when not rolling below).
Encouraging player choice - do they embrace the Gambler's Coin?
Beyond the above, sometimes I'll also give players the choice on rolling: you can have this lesser benefit without rolling but if you want this greater benefit, you'll have to risk the dice; a failure will be worse than the lesser benefit but a success will be better. For example:

• They have the force to get the door open but do they want to gamble on doing it faster or more quietly?
• They have the manipulation to learn the target of a captured spy but do they want to gamble on tricking the spy into revealing who hired them and how much they were paid?

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Success when not rolling

Players still calculate their dice pool, adding or subtracting any modifiers, but their successes are automatic, based on the number of dice they would have rolled if the Dark had been watching:

MODIFIED SKILL TOTAL	RESULT
1-4	Limited success, equivalent to one 6 being rolled
5-8	Success, equivalent to two 6s being rolled
9+	Critical success, equivalent to three 6s being rolled

I'm using this to quickly move the story on - I can do it myself just looking at the character sheets even. If the player wants to spin the Gambler's Coin for a better result then fair enough, it's their risk to take after all, just as long as they know they could get the Dark's attention with a bad roll in a situation that would otherwise have gone perfectly smoothly...
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Strength of success

Removing the complication from a single sucess
I completely understand the narrative benefit to adding the complication and so it must seem odd for me to remove it, given what I'm trying to achieve. However, I've had numerous concerns with players not feeling their character is as capable as they'd have expected when they can't complete simple actions without complications. Given then, that I have Darkness Points to create complications - which are no comment on a PC's capability - do I need a second way to create extra plot? Hence, I remove the complication from the dice roll outcome and just use DP - a simplification.

SUCCESSES	STRENGTH OF SUCCESS
One 6 (limited success)	You succeed - no added complication but no extra benefit, you just succeed
Two 6s (success)	You succeed and gain a small extra benefit
Three or more 6s (critical success)	You succeed and more: where possible, the player takes over and describes their character's brilliance

Story flavour is determined by the character's skill level
A master's success will still outshine a novice's. Either I or the player can add this flavour on wherever it seems interesting or valuable, and it's easy enough to see how many dice have been rolled to know what level to use. This can be applied whether dice are rolled or not.

MODIFIED SKILL TOTAL	RESULT
1-4 (novice)	Your successes are slower, clumsier or just show a certain lack of technique
5-8 (competent)	Your competence is obvious here: the untrained find what you do impressive
9+ (master)	Your successes have the speed, control and / or technique such that people are stunned, having no idea how you did it

Spending successes

Spend success in tense or fun situations
Sometimes it's been fun or tension building to allow people to spend skill successes like they would at a tactical level, as in combat. It's not the full one-roll-per-scene of Mutant Year Zero, as described above, but adds player choice - a valuable tool for enjoyment.
Example: a choice that creates tension
You're hacking the Colonial Agency computer but the Rangers are just round the corner. You've rolled 3 successes but you're not a master at hacking: it'll cost you 1 success to steal each of the 3 bits of information you're after but 1 success to shut off the security alarm; which do you want to do?
Example: a choice that hits a personal problem or allows the player to cause trouble (for fun of course)
You're a novice entertainer at best, but you rolled 3 successes. You could use that critical to allow the rest of the party to rob the crowd and sneak safely away... or, you could spend them to upgrade your performance to something a master could do and the crowd will really love you; what's more important to you here?
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Interpreting failed rolls

Failure with large dice pools is dishearteningb
In my analysis of the Coriolis system I've considered player perceptions of failure, in particular the bad feeling that comes with rolling massive numbers of d6 and getting no successes, when you really feel your character is too skilled to have 'completely failed'. Though D&D has made the natural-1 acceptable, the Year Zero Engine doesn't have an accepted equivalent that I've seen around game tables.
So: the higher your skill the more a failure must be through interference from the Dark Between the Stars
It's not a matter of you making it worse through incompetence but rather that it was already worse than you originally realised, it’s just that this is you noticing properly now; the GM or player can then invent the extra complication by invite of the dice.

MODIFIED SKILL TOTAL	RESULT
1-4 (novice)	Sorry, you messed up As a novice it's quite likely it was your own skill not being good enough - the Darkness didn't see you as much of a challenge
5-8 (competent)	It was a little bit of both you and the Dark...? I need to refine this a little still; at the moment I might - or I might as the player to - look for the Dark as an explanation or just see what seems best for the situation, story-wise
9+ (master)	The Dark is laughing You really should have succeeded there, so it must have been the Dark that threw you off, for example: Sunlight reflects off something into your eyes A cruel smile from a person in the crowd shows the presence of The Darkness nearby A snake rears from hiding to distract you

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Interpreting damage taken

Combat damage that isn't a critical must be a lesser form of damage
Damage that isn't critical heals at 1 point per hour, so it can't really be that serious:

• Vulcan-rocket impacts might have their shrapnel absorbed by armour but the blast force knocks someone back and winds them still
• Halberd blades do 3 damage but you could be hit with the pole instead of the blade - damaging but not critical
• Thermal pistols do 3 damage but slugs could burn skin as they pass nearby or hit the wall next to the target, causing a spray of bricks

...Though this is something I only use with the main rules. When I run with my 1001 Nights variant rules, I've changed combat to remove the need for interpretation.
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Challenge types

Going beyond the simple roll
I've had a bit of trouble working with contested rolls, specifically with Creatures of the Dark and environmental effects: if such fails the initial roll to activate their power / have an effect then the anticlimatic "and nothing happens" really bothers me. I'm now using a few different types of challenges to tackle this and to speed up play even at a tactical level, embracing the fewer-dice-rolled principle discussed above.

Normal: ACTIVE, SKILLED ATTACK --- For example, a creature is physically attacking the PC's person	The GM rolls X dice, based on the strength of the attack The PC rolls defensive successes that subtract from offensive ones A successful attack deals its full effect with extra successes potentially spent on further effects An attack might have a lesser effect even if the attack is brought to 0 successes, just because it's so dangerous to humans
New: PASSIVE ASSAULT --- An effect whose presence is a danger to PCs - a new way that accounts for the strength of the danger being automatic --- For example: A poison, chemical or energy Lingering Resonance plaguing the mind of a mystic A Dark creature's power - whose energy is always dangerous to humans	The GM sets the base strength of the effect: 1+ This may be augmented by an active creature's skill: 1 more for each success rolled The PC rolls on a skill, needing that many successes to resist it If they pass they might even gain a benefit, even if just of knowledge, and/or might suffer a reduced effect if the offensive thing is particularly potent If they fail they suffer the full effect
New: INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL DICE RESOLUTION Somewhere between task-level and scene-level	Option 1: roll once and spend successes throughout the scene As in spending successes above Option 2: a deal with the Dark The player gets a choice of risks when there are a couple of skills that they might logically have to roll on, allowing them to just roll on the one they're most happy to take the risk on. Example: Kerman wants to swing into the cab from the roof of a crawler and take control of its out-of-control steering You could ask for a Dexterity check and Pilot check or you give a choice: Either: roll Dexterity and you can definitely pilot the vehicle back under control but the cost would be your own personal safety if you miss the Dexterity roll Or: roll Pilot and you can definitely get into the cab safely but the cost would be losing control of the vehicle if you miss the Pilot roll ...And I'd ask the player to narrate their success and cost.
New: EXTENDED THREATS FOR NARRATIVE GAMES --- ...as used in Tales from the Loop	Assign a Threat Level, for example number of PCs times 3 for a hard challenge, times 4 for almost impossible, and let the PCs make a plan Each PC can contribute one approach (like grabbing the heavy stuff, piloting the vehicle, commanding the others, etc.) Each PC rolls once for the appropriate skill (+ reroll for praying) - add their successes together PCs they can then take damage - e.g. 2 HP or MP - to generate further successes to simulate the effort (getting hit by rocks, getting stressed out, etc.) If the total successes are less than half the Threat Level, it’s a complete failure; half or more is a partial success and so on - with everyone narrating the outcome in turn

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Examples of play I want to remember

Allow PCs to investigate occurences instead of giving them an event to passively witness after the fact WttSS session 41: 'City of Brass'

I once had the party's marmosets escape the ship and try to make an active run for mountain passages on which humans were turned away by Portal Builder defences that clouded their minds. I simply revealed the marmosets could be used to detect trouble in and navigate a Portal Builder labyrinth, only asking the players to react to the reveal. Instead I could have created a mystery for the players to interact with: "there's a noise inside the Caliban Crow" and then "the marmosets want to run somewhere, really desparately". I would have given the players more to work with.

Creating problems with items WttSS session 46: 'Nasralleh Makes His Move'

When Khalil was chasing the Orb of Ghodar, I could have improved the challenge with DP spends. I could have made use of the shaking the ground instead of relying on the actions of the rock monsters he was up against. I could have had the shaking ground roll the orb behind rocks or other monsters, forcing Khalil to get more creative in how he retrieved it, instead of him simply picking up the orb unhindered by his opponents as he won initiative. I could also have used DP to give hidden monsters emerging from the rock a move on Khalil, instead of just adding new opponents to the initiative order, which allowed Khalil to simply run away. Both would've added more tension to a scene where the enemies' awful initiative made them quite useless.

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My GM style has evolved from considerations I've discussed in my analysis of the Coriolis system

Contents

• Narrative style - reflection on hints from the community
• When to roll
• When a roll can be skipped
• Success when not rolling
• Strength of success
• Spending successes
• Interpreting failed rolls
• Interpreting damage taken
• Challenge types
• Examples of play I want to remember

Related

• GM style: Darkness Points
• House rules summary