Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3814023" data-attributes="member: 4937">In most of my experience, 'idea' rolls in other systems tend to be very metagamey.&nbsp; In CoC a typical use is with a successful idea roll, have the DM tell you where the next scene is supposed to take place.&nbsp; I never really liked that, but it does keep investigative games moving along when they stall.A general purpose problem solving skill is bad for a game, and I've never seen a game system treat it that way.&nbsp; In published scenarios, suprisingly few idea checks are called for in the text if you assume idea rolls are for solving puzzles.&nbsp; Sometimes, just to keep the game moving along, I've seen 'idea checks' used by the DM to give clues out when the players are stuck, but that's not really a rules system per se.The thing about an 'idea check' is that if it is a hard and fast rule, it invalidates solving the problem any other way.&nbsp; That's why I used in my example, &quot;You see a riddle.&quot;, without giving the riddle.&nbsp; If I gave the riddle, then it wouldn't be fair to the guy who'd invested ranks in the problem solving skill, because some player who didn't would be able to by pass it completely.&nbsp; See my prior discussions on some of the intricasies of refereeing the search skill fairly.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3814023, member: 4937"] In most of my experience, 'idea' rolls in other systems tend to be very metagamey. In CoC a typical use is with a successful idea roll, have the DM tell you where the next scene is supposed to take place. I never really liked that, but it does keep investigative games moving along when they stall. A general purpose problem solving skill is bad for a game, and I've never seen a game system treat it that way. In published scenarios, suprisingly few idea checks are called for in the text if you assume idea rolls are for solving puzzles. Sometimes, just to keep the game moving along, I've seen 'idea checks' used by the DM to give clues out when the players are stuck, but that's not really a rules system per se. The thing about an 'idea check' is that if it is a hard and fast rule, it invalidates solving the problem any other way. That's why I used in my example, "You see a riddle.", without giving the riddle. If I gave the riddle, then it wouldn't be fair to the guy who'd invested ranks in the problem solving skill, because some player who didn't would be able to by pass it completely. See my prior discussions on some of the intricasies of refereeing the search skill fairly. [/QUOTE]

Verification