RangerWickett
Legend
One of my fellow GMs cued me in to this little gem of gaming wisdom. For all the great ways the d20 system is relatively simple to jump into, there's no hard and fast rule for that most challenging of situations: when the GM has no idea what's gonna happen.
For example, imagine you're a GM, and though you encourage heroism and dramatics, you don't want PCs to always just have great dumb luck, so you try to be fair. A werewolf attacks at a mansion, and a PC asks if the kitchen has any silverware that's really silver. You hadn't thought about that, and you'd kinda wanted the PCs to run instead of fight, but you want to be fair. Do you just assume that the utensils were silver instead of, say, porcelain or gold?
Another example. A PC wants to buy a suit of Elven Chain, and he's in a big city. You know that sure, it's possible someone might have a suit of Elven Chain for sale, but you didn't take the time to figure out the exact financial statistics to let you know the probability. You could just let the PC make a Gather Information check, but even then, how do you determine the DC for something this random?
The answer is the luck system.
It's simple. Whenever you are at a loss and you really couldn't care less whether you're nice or mean to the PCs, roll d%. Low rolls are bad for the PCs, high rolls are good. How high or low determines how generous you are. A 35 on the roll for silverware would mean there isn't any easily available silver. To be able to find Elven Chain in your typical human city, you might need a roll of 80 or higher to even have a chance of finding any.
A few specifics.
01 - This is always, horrendously bad. Maybe the PC tries to get a silver knife, but the silverware drawer is trapped, which really screws the PC.
100 - This is always phenomenally lucky. The PC notices that one of the ornamental suits of armor in the castle actually has a silver-edged sword, or the kitche has silverware, plus that rare spice called wolfsbane. Of course, don't let the luck system allow PCs to get away with the impossible. Even if the dice say 00, you don't have to let them find a suit of Elven Chain in the middle of a goblin village.
69 - This is generally somewhat good for the party, but you have to find a way to make it sexual. Maybe the silverware you find has etchings of naked women, or the person who owns the armor will only sell it if she gets something 'special' in return. *wink wink, nudge nudge*
Try it in your games, but don't rely on it too much. If you use it more than three or four times in a session, you're probably not inventive enough.
For example, imagine you're a GM, and though you encourage heroism and dramatics, you don't want PCs to always just have great dumb luck, so you try to be fair. A werewolf attacks at a mansion, and a PC asks if the kitchen has any silverware that's really silver. You hadn't thought about that, and you'd kinda wanted the PCs to run instead of fight, but you want to be fair. Do you just assume that the utensils were silver instead of, say, porcelain or gold?
Another example. A PC wants to buy a suit of Elven Chain, and he's in a big city. You know that sure, it's possible someone might have a suit of Elven Chain for sale, but you didn't take the time to figure out the exact financial statistics to let you know the probability. You could just let the PC make a Gather Information check, but even then, how do you determine the DC for something this random?
The answer is the luck system.
It's simple. Whenever you are at a loss and you really couldn't care less whether you're nice or mean to the PCs, roll d%. Low rolls are bad for the PCs, high rolls are good. How high or low determines how generous you are. A 35 on the roll for silverware would mean there isn't any easily available silver. To be able to find Elven Chain in your typical human city, you might need a roll of 80 or higher to even have a chance of finding any.
A few specifics.
01 - This is always, horrendously bad. Maybe the PC tries to get a silver knife, but the silverware drawer is trapped, which really screws the PC.
100 - This is always phenomenally lucky. The PC notices that one of the ornamental suits of armor in the castle actually has a silver-edged sword, or the kitche has silverware, plus that rare spice called wolfsbane. Of course, don't let the luck system allow PCs to get away with the impossible. Even if the dice say 00, you don't have to let them find a suit of Elven Chain in the middle of a goblin village.
69 - This is generally somewhat good for the party, but you have to find a way to make it sexual. Maybe the silverware you find has etchings of naked women, or the person who owns the armor will only sell it if she gets something 'special' in return. *wink wink, nudge nudge*
Try it in your games, but don't rely on it too much. If you use it more than three or four times in a session, you're probably not inventive enough.
