Unopposed actions: Success by 2+: An excellent job Success by 1: A good job, although nothing special Success by 0: Barely succeeded Failure by 1: Barely succeeded, but with something going wrong; or a stall-out on the path to success (can probably try again next time, maybe with a bonus); or a bare failure -- in any case, no risk penalty Failure by 2: A moderate failure, possibly due to bad luck or misjudging the difficulty or making a series of cascading errors; if another try is reasonable, it can be done later with no penalties Failure by 3: Starting to look less than competent to observers (even untrained ones), or at least unlucky; have probably damaged chances for a second try Failure by 4+: Either the fates have all conspired together, or this is a tremendous misjudgement of skill level against task; very unlikely to be able to make a second try here Opposed actions: Difference of 0: Stalemate; narrator's choice if things remain as they were before or move to a different deadlocked position Difference of 1: One character comes out ahead, but not by much; they may have just been lucky at a crucial moment. Probably not a clean or complete victory. The loser suffers no risk penalties, but the winner might optionally do so. Difference of 2/3: It was a struggle, but one character has definitely been successful. If a later, related contest occurs, there is no penalty to the roll for the loser. Difference of 4/5: One character is clearly more skilled, or the other made a critical error. If a later, related contest occurs, the loser here will suffer a penalty to the next roll. Difference of 6+: Either this is one-in-a-million luck, or there is a severe skill mismatch. In any case, one contestant is now in a very bad position and suffers a penalty to all successive related rolls until the situation changes (eg, they win a roll). Risk factor: Terrible (-3): A very minor injury that will go away soon (a Scratch), or something similarly innocuous (dropping what you're carrying) Poor (-2): Same as above, or perhaps slightly worse for especially grievous failures (being disarmed but the weapon lands nearby, or twisting an ankle) Mediocre (-1): Two Scratches (or one tickmark if already Hurt), or similar (falling prone in a fight, completely ruining the chemicals you're mixing and having to start over with new ingredients) Fair (0): Three Scratches (or one tickmark if already Hurt), or similar (acquiring a disfiguring scar, having a total computer hard drive failure with out-of-date backups, getting into a non-fatal car accident, a non-close friend is seriously injured) Good (+1): A more serious wound that will slow the character down some (a Hurt tickmark), or similar (total computer hard drive failure with no backups, a non-close friend is killed, the natives are outraged at your attempt at diplomacy and war is declared, a finger is chopped off) Great (+2): Two Hurt tickmarks (or one if already Very Hurt), or similar (a close friend is in serious trouble or seriously injured, an eye or hand is lost, a powerful & deadly enemy is made, the family sword falls overboard and sinks to the bottom of the ocean, the character's house burns down and virtually all their possessions are lost) Superb (+3): A near-fatal wound that will have to be treated soon (a Very Hurt tickmark), or similar (loss of an arm or leg, the character's best friend dies) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- There are two players. Ed is playing Catch, a sneaky rogue-type who sometimes gets into trouble for being too greedy but usually gets himself out again. [Main skills: Superb Thief, Great Dagger, Great Acrobatics, Great Fence, Keen Senses (+1), Nimble (+1)] Sue is playing Millie, an Amazon who was captured for the gladiatorial pits of the east but eventually escaped. [Main skills: Great Bow, Great Gladiator, Great Gladius/Shield, Great Lasso/Spear, Great Jungle Lore, Cautious but Has Temper] The players decide to start in the Center. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GM: Ok, word has reached Catch that a valuable ruby, the Heartblood Gem, has come into the possesion of Lord Tamren. Clearly it would be a waste to leave it with him, so the two of you have waited til a night when he is due to be at the Silent Opera all evening, seen him depart, and are now standing outside the back wall of his manor. It is an hour or two after dusk on a warm mid-summer night. Ed: How tall is the wall? GM: It's about fifteen feet high, made of rough brick. Ed: I tell Millie to keep watch for any passer-bys, and I scramble up it. GM: Ok, that'll be Good (+1) difficulty, since it's a little low on handholds. Ed: Using my Superb (+3) Thief skill -- oops, 4 -1s. Mediocre (-1) result. GM: Luckily we're just starting off, so we're at Poor (-2) risk. Ed: Right, then, uh -- Catch starts climbing the wall, but he only gets two-thirds of the way up, and then scrapes his arm on one of, uh, the spikes in the wall jutting out to deter climbers. He drops down again to the ground, cursing quietly. [Ed marks down a Scratch.] Sue: (as Millie) Quiet! I'm sure Tamren's guards are around somewhere! Ed: (as Catch) Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to try again with a rope to make it easier for you. (then OOC) I'm going to pull out my rope and toss it up onto the spikes, and then climb up with it. GM: Won't the spikes cut through the rope? Ed: It's, um, got an iron grappling hook on the end. Which is padded to not make noise. GM: Well, ok, fair enough. You can toss the rope up pretty easily since it's not that high, and now the climb is only Fair (0). Ed: That's more like it -- I get a Superb (+3) result. GM: Ok, you climb up the wall successfully, and manage to help Millie up also. Ed: Oh yeah, and we picked a spot where we're not going to be silhouetted against any lights while we're up here. GM: Right. Well, it's probably a moonless night anyway. Of course, this makes it hard to see the yard, but you can faintly make out a wide expanse of ornamental gardens, touched by bits of silver in the starlight. You can also faintly make out a few things moving in the darkness -- it's hard to tell what they are, but they're big and black and moving silently. Sue: Crap. I strain my eyes -- can I make out any details? GM: Perception test, Good difficulty. Sue: If these are some kind of big animals, can I use Jungle Lore instead? GM: Sure, same difficulty. Sue: Woo, Superb result. GM: Good lord, where could Tamren have gotten a collection of shadow panthers? He must be rich -- just the cost of the raw meat to feed them must be enormous. There must be a half-dozen of them in the garden, prowling around. Sue: Well, crap. GM: At least Catch's Scratches are gone now. Ed: (as Catch) What we need is a distraction. Sue: (as Millie) No, what we need is to pick easier targets. Ed: (as Catch) C'mon, the tough guys have all the good stuff. Sue: Ok, unless you have a better idea, here's the plan: I'll break off a branch and toss it in the bushes in the opposite direction-- when they go to see what's up we slide down the rope and run like heck for the house. Ed: Sounds like a plan -- I always wanted to end up as panther chow. GM: Ok, this is an opposed action, your running silently against the panthers' Great Garden-Guarding skill. But since they're distracted by the branch, they get a -1 penalty. Sue: Ok, I guess I got some endurance training in the arena, so I'll use Gladiator at -1 for the running -- hrm, Fair (0); Ed: I don't really have a relevant running skill so I'll just use the default -- sigh, Mediocre (-1). Can I at least get a +1 bonus for being a Superb Thief, since we're trying to sneak? GM: Sure. And the panthers get -- Superb (+3). Got a plan B, guys? Ed: Yeah, my plan is I should stick to what I'm best at, running away. Catch is racing through the middle of the garden when he hears a growl from up ahead. He turns to go the other way, only to see another panther coming that way. He blinks for a second, and then takes two steps to put his back against a tree. [The contest is lost, so he's detected. The risk is Mediocre (-1), so he suffers some penalty -- in this case, being surrounded by the panthers.] Sue: Millie is racing through the gardens as fast as she can, dodging around bushes, when there is a sharp growl and something leaps out at her. She pulls back, but its claws gash her arm. She would cry out, but her Amazon heritage makes her grit her teeth and keep running for the house. [Millie instead takes the two-Scratch damage.] GM: The panthers snarl and circle Catch, eyeing him dangerously. Ed: Catch flips himself upwards for a branch of the tree. Acrobatics roll -- Superb+1. GM: One panther snarls and takes a step forward, just as Catch leaps upwards. Its jaws close on thin air as he pulls himself safely high up in the tree. Millie, what are you doing? You're close enough to see Catch, or close enough to run for the house. Sue: What does the part of the house look like? GM: It looks like it has a gated porch-place, probably where the panthers are let out from. The gate's open; Fair (0) difficulty to reach it. Sue: Ok, I put on a burst of speed and run for the gate -- Good (1). GM: That's a success -- you make it inside just ahead of the panther and slam the door shut. It glares at you for a bit and then stalks away. The two under Catch's tree continue to stare up at him. Ed: I'm going to remain completely still and see if they go away. GM: Ok, I guess that would be your stealth vs their Great (+2) Fierceness-- and they get a Good (+1). Ed: Whew, a Great (+2). GM: Minutes tick on, seemingly endlessly, as Catch freezes in place. But eventually, the two panthers sinuously slide off into the darkness again. The coast is clear, but you've lost valuable time. Ed: I wait until they're definitely gone and then run like heck for the house. GM: Running silently, you make it to the cage next to Millie unmolested; I guess the rest of the panthers have gone off to prowl elsewhere. Sue: "What took you so long?" I ask, tearing off a piece of my cloak. to bandage my arm. Ed: (as Catch) I, uh, got sidetracked. Sue: (as Millie) Right, well, we're at the house. Time to head in. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, so that was a sample situation. One thing it makes clear is that the distinction between the penalty for failure at a roll and risk penalty still isn't as clear as I'd like. In the first example, climbing the wall, they are reasonably distinct: failure at the roll means that the climb doesn't succeed (with failing by 3 or 4 meaning you actually damage your climbing chances, perhaps by knocking a stone out or snapping a climbing tool) whereas the risk penalty means that you take some longer-term penalty (in this case, a Scratch; other ideas might be having the rope snap, or having it snarl and lose valuable time). The second example is where it gets confused. Failing in the roll, by definition, should mean that the panthers aren't evaded. Ok, but I don't know what this means in specific. I guess one way to look at it here is how many panthers are distracted -- failure by 1 would mean that most of the panthers are distracted, whereas failure by 2 or 3 means most of them aren't (then failure by 4+ means that not only are they not distracted, they're now on the alert, hence the penalties to future related rolls). But, ok, say there's only one panther, or we can't do partial distraction (although a partial success is a good way to interpret the contest results some of the time). In that case it seems like you have to look at the whole plan ("distract the panthers and then run to the house") and consider the failure in terms of that. So there I guess, hmm, a failure by one is that the plan almost succeeds (you get almost all the way to the house and then discover the panthers) and a failure by 4+ means that only a small part of it works (they're distracted for a few minutes, you hop down, and crap, they're back again, surrounding you). Actually, strike that last parenthetical part -- *surrounding* you seems like it would be a penalty from the risk, since that would lead to general future badness. So I guess a failure by 4+ means "they're distracted briefly and then start heading back towards you" -- this seems like a picky distinction but it seems like with this setup it's important to distinguish between "future related rolls are penalized" and "you are in a general bad position/in danger/the overall mission just got harder". The other rolls are more straightforward: note that Catch suffers a penalty in the stealth part because he only won by one (time is lost and the mission is delayed -- it seems like it is ok in this situation to effectively penalize both players, although probably should be avoided as a general thing). The main thing I am not sure about wrt the risk factor is if you should always suffer a penalty for failing a roll, or if it is just that the risk factor caps the max penalty for failing a roll. But then, if there's no penalty, maybe you shouldn't need to roll. Like, possibly it's a mistake to have Sue roll to identify the panthers, since what's the penalty for failure? I guess in theory misidentification, or (if this were a comedy) her leaning out too far and falling off the wall. But enh, both those seem like crappy directions for the story to go; I think in this scenario she probably shouldn't have rolled.