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We've been talking about a thief. You've just recently added the "master" designation. PC skill doesn't make the cook more or less likely to be there, it makes it more or less likely for her to hear the efforts made to pick the lock. This has been explained so many times now. It's not. I...

How so? What would your concern be?

When I have suggested keeping this kind of thing brief in the past (earlier in this very thread, though likely weeks ago now), you always lament about the lost opportunities for roleplaying and something interesting to emerge. Why the seeming change of heart?

Well, that's not the principle as described. That's some stuff you said and then put the same label on it. Okay... so what about the text from Monsterhearts that was sahred by @Campbell do you disagree with or see as flawed?

It's a ridiculous concept that someone picking a lock could make more or less noise? That the noise made when doing something related to skullduggery is important? You're adding in all kinds of qualifiers here. Suddenly it's a master thief and the failure isn't just enough noise to alert...

So you agree with the principle of "make the characters' lives not boring"?

That more noise is made on the failed attempt... enough to alert someone nearby. Similar to a stealth roll. I don't think either of these things is true. I believe that one attempt at picking a lock can be quieter than another, just like one can walk more quietly, or attempt to do just about...

It should be not boring, though. That's the idea. But please... make the case for boring and then criticize us for saying your game's boring! That's fun!

What is this "turn" you speak of? ;)

Sure, but this isn't something done at every door these guys may open. It also may not always be possible at all times, even in dangerous situations.

Unless they're risky? But people do that in real life all the time. People make decisions that are not in their own interests. Very often, they may not realize that's what they're doing, or they haven't stopped to consider it, but other times, they know it going in. Sometimes they are...

Yes, it is. Let's say that this is my game and I'm running it and that's what I decide is the result of the failed roll. You can describe this as a Ruling Not a Rule or as homebrew or GM fiat or whatever you want to call it. But this is indeed the consequence that I've decided in as a GM...

The sensible thing for Luke to do would not have been to listen to the old wizard and go off to try and save the princess. Instead, he should have turned the rogue droids in to the local imperial magistrate. The sensible thing for Indiana Jones to do would be to safely sit in his classroom and...

Max… if someone makes a noise and another person hears it, that’s a direct result. Adding in a bunch of game steps doesn’t change that. Notice how in your example with the ice cream and the ant, you described a bunch of actual steps for the person in the fiction. Here you’ve added a bunch of...

How is it false? It’s literally the advice. Oh my god would you guys stop being so paranoid about people saying D&D is boring?

Are all your characters like this? Are none of them ruled by their passions? Are none of them addicted to danger? Are none of them willing to put it all on the line for fortune and glory? I can’t understand this pushback against making interesting choices for characters. It’s bonkers.

We’ve been talking about a cook hearing someone picking a lock. There are no interim steps between the lock picker acting and the cook reacting. No it’s not. Because having the principle “Make the characters’ lives not boring” is not a statement about the quality of the game. It is advice for...

Because when they came up with the idea they picked a phrase that made sense to them and weren’t worried about pedants discussing it online years later? But we’re showing an alternate way of handling it where it does matter if the attempt succeeds or fails. That’s the most recent example I...

If this is how you would do it, then sure... go ahead. It seems nonsensical to me, so I'd handle it how I've already described many times. If the roll failed then enough noise was made by the thief that the cook heard the lock picking. She is alerted. She probably turns, her brow furrowed, to...

Should not be related in what way? The cook is a potential observer to the lock picking attempt. They are not independent. You may prefer to handle them with independent rolls in play… that’s a way to do it and is perfectly fine. But that doesn’t mean they are independent. Nor does it mean...