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Consequences of Failure
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7796587" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I think there is a lot more agreement in this thread between everyone than you might at first thing.</p><p></p><p>If in fact they will eventually find the thing if they search long enough, and they state that they intend as a methodology to do a thorough search, then there is no need to make a roll for the search. They eventually find the thing. No roll needed. Likewise, if they will eventually pick the lock if they try long enough, and they state the intention to keep trying until they succeed, there is no need to make any rolls. They simply open the lock.</p><p></p><p>None of that is I think controversial.</p><p></p><p>However, one approach that I tend to find coming up a lot in threads like this is that, if the player proposes to pick a long, then to make that lock picking meaningful, the GM needs to on the fly invent an evil ritual that is happening or invent a guard that might be coming along, so that you have immediate impactful stakes and a dramatic situation that makes this proposed act of picking the lock have a meaningful consequence of failure.</p><p></p><p>And I'm suggesting that in the long run, that's a bad idea. Just get through the lock or the search quickly and on to what is meaningful. There is no need to make everything have dramatic stakes, and at some point there is little difference between trying to make everything have dramatic stakes and antagonistic DMing or railroading.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7796587, member: 4937"] I think there is a lot more agreement in this thread between everyone than you might at first thing. If in fact they will eventually find the thing if they search long enough, and they state that they intend as a methodology to do a thorough search, then there is no need to make a roll for the search. They eventually find the thing. No roll needed. Likewise, if they will eventually pick the lock if they try long enough, and they state the intention to keep trying until they succeed, there is no need to make any rolls. They simply open the lock. None of that is I think controversial. However, one approach that I tend to find coming up a lot in threads like this is that, if the player proposes to pick a long, then to make that lock picking meaningful, the GM needs to on the fly invent an evil ritual that is happening or invent a guard that might be coming along, so that you have immediate impactful stakes and a dramatic situation that makes this proposed act of picking the lock have a meaningful consequence of failure. And I'm suggesting that in the long run, that's a bad idea. Just get through the lock or the search quickly and on to what is meaningful. There is no need to make everything have dramatic stakes, and at some point there is little difference between trying to make everything have dramatic stakes and antagonistic DMing or railroading. [/QUOTE]
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