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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6782615" data-attributes="member: 97077">I see &quot;fail-forward&quot; (or D&amp;D 5e's &quot;progress combined with a setback&quot;&nbsp; or &quot;success at a cost&quot;) to be just another form of stake-setting. On a successful check, you succeed at your goal. On a failed check, you succeed at your goal with a cost or complication. I use it when outright failure wouldn't be particularly interesting or when the a binary pass/fail would result in a disconnect between player and character knowledge.For example, many people suggest rolling ability checks secretly when players try to search for traps, knowing that if a player sees a low result on the die and hears the DM saying &quot;There are no traps,&quot; &quot;You believe there are no traps,&quot; or &quot;You find no traps,&quot; the player may be tempted to repeat the task or have another character make a pass at it. (Cue the cries of &quot;Filthy metagamer!&quot; Not that I give even a single flumph when players &quot;metagame.&quot;) By using progress combined with a setback, I can narrate a failed check as being, for instance, &quot;You find the trap - and your foot is on the pressure plate! There is a continuous, disconcerting clicking noise coming from the walls around you. What do you do?!&quot; I thus avoid that disconnect and don't have to take the dice from the players as others DMs do.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 6782615, member: 97077"] I see "fail-forward" (or D&D 5e's "progress combined with a setback" or "success at a cost") to be just another form of stake-setting. On a successful check, you succeed at your goal. On a failed check, you succeed at your goal with a cost or complication. I use it when outright failure wouldn't be particularly interesting or when the a binary pass/fail would result in a disconnect between player and character knowledge. For example, many people suggest rolling ability checks secretly when players try to search for traps, knowing that if a player sees a low result on the die and hears the DM saying "There are no traps," "You believe there are no traps," or "You find no traps," the player may be tempted to repeat the task or have another character make a pass at it. (Cue the cries of "Filthy metagamer!" Not that I give even a single flumph when players "metagame.") By using progress combined with a setback, I can narrate a failed check as being, for instance, "You find the trap - and your foot is on the pressure plate! There is a continuous, disconcerting clicking noise coming from the walls around you. What do you do?!" I thus avoid that disconnect and don't have to take the dice from the players as others DMs do. [/QUOTE]

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