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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 9711160" data-attributes="member: 6915329">I know, which is why I wonder why it's still being talked about now. As I'm pretty sure I said back then, this is all stuff you would also be thinking about in a trad game where you write the adventure ahead of time. Maybe not what would happen on a failed lockpick, but you'd probably think something along the lines of, there are guards in areas 2 and 8, and they would be able to hear things that go on in the areas surrounding 2 and 8. And since Stealth and Lockpicking are disconnected in your game, when they fail on a Stealth check in area 3, which is connected to area 2, the guards there would hear them. You always know what's going to happen on a success or failure because you, the GM, decided it ahead of time when you plotted out the adventure instead of right there at the table. You know that a failed Stealth check in area 3 will bring the guards from area 2 because you've said the guards in area 2 can hear what's going on in area 3. It literally doesn't matter if the only thing that happens is "you unlock the door" and "you don't unlock the door." You've decided that. There's absolutely no GM-facing illusion in a trad game. Not unless every single thing in the game is determined randomly on table, probably one that someone other than you wrote. (And to me, that sounds like a terrible game to play or run. At that point, you might as well just be a player yourself and get an AI GM.)Secondly, as as I may have said before, you were, quite frankly, running BitD wrong. You don't have someone roll to pick a lock. You find out what their goal is and they roll to see how well or how poorly they achieve that goal. Here's this example from the book: “You’re punching him in the face, right? Okay... what do want to get out of this? Do you want to take him out, or just rough him up so he’ll do what you want?” The GM is asking what the end results will be: unconsciousness/death or intimidation? Thus, what's actually rolled will change depending on what the goal is. The PCs want to get in cleanly? That's probably Prowl. They cleanly picked the lock and got in. If the lock itself is important--maybe it's the only thing between the PCs and the ruby that they broke in for--then you'd have them roll Tinker to pick it. Unless they don't care about leaving things neat and want to break the safe's door, in which case they'd roll Wreck. So thisIs incorrect. This is addressed in full in the "GM Bad Habits" section of the book.The first thing you'd do is ask the player what they want to do. You don't guess they want to get in clean. Secondly, you don't worry about what will happen on a success or failure until it happens, and there the dice will tell you. Was it a Controlled situation but their highest die was a 4? 4/5: You hesitate. Withdraw and try a different approach, or else do it with a minor consequence: a minor complication occurs, you have reduced effect, you suffer lesser harm, you end up in a risky position.That's when you might introduce a cook, but because it's a minor complication or risky position, they're not going to do something major like scream and call all the guards. But even there, there are other options. Minor complication: The lockpick is jammed in the lock; it will be obvious that someone tried to enter it. Or, it took a really long time; your window of opportunity is rapidly closing. And so on.But most importantly, The players and GM narrate the action together. So you don't have to worry about coming up with stuff as they roll because the game says that you and the players come up with it afterwards. In the book's example, if the PC wanted to knock the guy unconscious and rolled badly, then together, you might decide that the guy is still conscious and mocks the PC for their little girly punch--or maybe the PC accidentally killed him since, y'know, rendering someone unconscious via a blow to the head is actually really dangerous.</blockquote>

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