Starfox
Hero
I just need a game where the mechanics engender interesting stuff!
As a tangent to this, I find that I (and even more so [MENTION=60045]Tuft[/MENTION]) uses the resolution mechanics a little differently. Most tasks PCs perform are things they know fairly well how to do, so success is very likely. But we still roll the dice, to see if any "interesting stuff" crops up. Basically every task has 4 possible outcomes:
"Interesting" bad, also known as a fumble.
Failure - which can often be narrated as interesting in that it is not object failure, but introduces some complication or ongoing task. In general, it takes more than a single failed roll for something to actually fail.
Success - the expected result, and in many cases the least exiting "interesting" result, at least for the GM. The story progresses much as the player intended, which leaves the initiative in the player's hands.
"Interesting" good, critical success, or spectacular success. This is often where a complication crops up, but in a good way. The acting character gets a windfall, but must also decide how to use this, which can sometimes be a distraction from the main task. Teenagers From Outer Space (Talsorian games) was a humor game that had an interesting angle on this - if you succeeded by a big enough margin, you succeeded too well, which was actually counterproductive. All in the interest of "interesting results" comedy.
Let me give an example to illustrate this. Diggy the detective is asking about for the whereabouts of the villains hangout.
Fumble: The villains spot Diggy by chance and confront him.
Failure: Diggy gets no response and starts a few rumors himself - the GM tells the player that he can try again, but a repeat failure will count as a fumble.
Success: Diggy finds the information he seeks.
Critical success: Diggy overhear some villains talking, and get a chance to follow one of them back to the hideout - but they spoke of a murder, maybe following the other guy to see if he will attack someone is a better option? In TFOS this would have been something like the villains inviting the hero to be drinking buddies - all without recognizing him - leaving him with a few new villain friends and a hangover.
Few games talk a lot about this, but most systems can be played this way, it is more a question of GMing style than of actualgame rules.
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