EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
Well, keep in mind, I'm playing DW here, so (a) a failed roll still means things advance, just not necessarily in the preferred direction, (b) I have been very clear with my players that I don't have any interest in screwing them over, and (c) things like "let it ride" and such mean that checks are not really as common as they are in most D&D versions.That has gameplay implications though, because now you're disincentivizing making checks in the first place. I don't necessarily mind more extreme results than "the status quo prevails" for player actions, but to the extent possible in a given situation, that's precisely the sort of thing I'd want to be knowable to players ahead of time. If every failed check is supposed to affect something I care about roughly equally negatively, what is the reason to pursue any particular course of action outside of "whatever I'm most likely to succeed at?"
If anything, the best play would be to find some way to lie about your goals, while taking actions that push them obliquely.
I still think that it is better to give interesting consequences rather than asking for a Perception check and then so obviously saying "you see nothing." You'd want mild negative consequences in most cases in D&D, because checks come up a lot and, as you say, were "roughly equally negative," that would be horrendously punishing.