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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cruentus" data-source="post: 9404382" data-attributes="member: 7034645">In my B/X and OSE games, they're fairly fluid.  OSE (I'll use that as my shorthand for OSR in this response) uses reaction charts for social encounters.  I use that chart for random encounters and as a fall back in social situations, and maybe a minor bonus or penalty depending on the situation, what is said, how it is said, etc.  Players are free to either RP their encounter, or tell me what they want to accomplish "I try to intimidate the bartender by lowering my voice and threatening him."  My players allow some pretty wide leeway for the DM (me) to respond without having to worry about complaints of being adversarial.  For Lore, players will know the common elements of the world, remember myths and common elements of religions (more so if they're a cleric), etc.  So if they ask "Have I ever heard about the wizard Xamanderous or his rituals?" I give would give some "known" rumors or myths, but if they wanted something specific, it would likely be an ability check (roll equal or under Int, or Wis, or whatever) for the asking character.  They are also free to talk to NPCs, consult Sages, research things in large cities in libraries or churches, etc.  If players spend time and resources, they're likely to be more successful overall. For Perception, players find things if they search.  Period.  If they say "I search the room", and agree to spend 1 Turn (B/X, OSE measure of time), ie. 10 minutes or so, looking, they find everything there is to find in the room unless its hidden by magic.  Secret doors, traps, the floorboard, etc.  No rolls.  If they are in the middle of combat, or rushing through the room being pursued, or don't want to spend the time to search, then I fall back on the "find traps" "find secret doors" and similar rules that are already in the game.  Basically, if players can spend the time, and risk the random encounter roll, then they'll succeed.  For perceiving things in social situations, I'll clue players in that they notice the way someone is standing, or looking at them, or they appear to be dodging the question, etc, usually without a roll.  The players can then act on that info or ignore it.  And for a trickier situation, we fall back on the Ability Score check. I also extend these elements to characters and their classes - wizards can feel the presence of strong magics (but it doesn't replace detect magic or identify), thieves can climb any wall without roll unless it is described as particularly sheer or slick, particularly if there is no time pressure.  Same thing with hiding in shadows or moving silently, etc.  Its only when under pressure that I have people roll, or where there is a consequence for failure - slipping into a shadow before initiative, for example.  We sometimes go through entire sessions with no dice being rolled. We gave up on 5e due to things like "Perception" rolls, and how, to us, it felt like it reduced things to buttons and levers on a character sheet.  If you wanted to deviate from the sheet and skills or abilities, it caused things to slow down, or defaulted to "Roll Perception or Roll Stealth or Roll from whatever limited set of skills seemed to fit the situation."  We felt it lessened our engagement in the actual game.   But YMMV.</blockquote>

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