NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="P1NBACK" data-source="post: 5879289" data-attributes="member: 83768">How do I determine if a particular character can step up a staircase without difficulty? Or, whether a wall needs a rope to be climbed? Or, whether the water is so deep the PC has to swim instead of wading? Or, whether a height is short enough to drop down from without taking damage? Or, whether a PC can jump up and grab onto a ledge? Or, whether a bucket of water is enough to put out some raging flames? Or, whether someone is close enough for them to hear you if you shout across the waterfall? Here's my method: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I consult my prep. I consult the established fiction. What have we determined so far? Then, with honesty and impartiality, I let the player know what is true or not.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The player may then ask me questions about the environment. I answer them to the best of my knowledge, filling in the details using my principles - make the world fantastic but real, make the PCs lives not boring, and put the PCs in positions to make decisions.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Then, the player uses the knowledge to move forward with a course of action.</li> </ul>Here's an example: "You're standing at the edge of the riverbank, where this raging, roaring waterfall tumbles down 40'. On the far side of the bank, a good 50 yards across from where you stand, there is a woman in a red robe washing her hands in the water. She doesn't seem to notice you yet. It's then you notice several orcs with the blood moon tabard you saw earlier creeping out of the forest behind her. What do you do?" "Am I close enough that if I shout, she will hear me?" "You would have to shout pretty loudly, and she might not be able to make out your specific words. But, you'd get her attention.""Great. I shout at her and wave my hands to get her attention." "It works. She looks up and sees you, but motions to her ear as if she can't make out what you are saying. And, the orcs are getting closer to her. What do you do?" I don't have him roll a "Shout Check". I just set up the scene and we negotiate the outcome based on the description of his actions. Here's another example. "You're standing on the second floor balcony above the open air main tavern hall. The balcony wraps around the whole inn, with doors leading to rooms. The floor below you, a good 20' or so is filled with tavern patrons. Five chandeliers hang in the shape of a square, with one in the center, over them with the end of the chandeliers being maybe 15' off the floor - enough for you to hang and maybe drop onto a table safely. Belvor's men are climbing up the stairwell in the northeastern corner of the inn toward the second floor balcony. What do you do?" "Crap. I can't go that way. I want to leap onto one of the chandeliers and hop down onto a table. Are they close enough to do that?" "They are several feet away from the second story. You'll have to climb up onto the banister to be able to leap over to them. You won't be able to without holding anything in your hands, so you'll have to stow your dagger. And, they are just close enough to hang from the chandelier with your arms, so you'll be swinging there with your feet dangling. But you can do it.""Ok. I'm going to do it anyways. I stow my dagger between my teeth and leap out." "You grab onto the chandelier, and your momentum carries the chandelier further from the table than you expected. You dangle wildly from the chandelier and Belvor's men immediately see you. One of them starts climbing up onto the banister to follow you out there while the others bump into each other as they start changing course back down the stairs. It'll take a few seconds for the chandelier to swing back toward the table it was hanging over. You can wait on it and land safely on your feet on the table, giving Belvor's men time to get back down the stairs, or go ahead and drop down to the floor but risk falling damage. What do you do?"I don't need a "Jump Check". Maybe I say, "No, they are too far out to reach." And the player has to  send his character back into the room and look for a window to climb  down with some sheets, or whatever. It all depends on my prep, what honesty demands and what the fiction demands. We just establish the fiction and what can happen, happens. "There is a narrow set of stairs leading down into the dungeon." "Ok, we carefully walk down them with Bob the Fighter in the front." I don't roll a "Walk Check". Now, when do I roll checks? When there is some sort of conflict. "One of the Belvor's men charges and leaps out on the chandelier you are hanging on. He grabs hold and suddenly the chandelier is spinning out of control, with both of you dangling there. Roll for initiative. Ok, Belvor's man wins. He tries to kick you from the chandelier so you fall to the floor 10' below..." Roll an attack. Allow the player a saving throw. That kind of thing.</blockquote>

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