About failure
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:47 am
There are dice in this game. Dice are, by definition, unfair. There will be characters that will succeed at everything they attempt, even against overwhelming odds. There will be characters that will fail anything they try, even with probabilities heavily leaning on their side.
Here's a few reminders for when luck isn't on your side:
The form of the failure is your choice and your choice only. For a similar missed cooking roll, some players like to describe their character as having put the whole kitchen on fire, some as having just failed the mayonnaise, some something else entirely. All these approaches are perfectly valid.
The consequences of the failure however are a GM-prerogative. In other words, if a roll does not state that something bad happens in case of failure, then nothing bad happens in case of failure. Your character might start a fire, but someone will immediately notice and put it out before it can do real damages and the day will go on as usual after that scare.
Note that only very few specific rolls will have actual negative consequences for failure, and only as a balancing mechanism (high risk, high reward). All such rolls will always be optional (alternative options available), the potential penalty always explicit and never something that cannot be earned back. Namely, honor/glory loss, maybe a wound at worst, but certainly not something like being maimed, disowned, banned, etc, as per the result of a given roll or series of rolls. This just won't happen, even if you were to fail every single roll through the game.
Finally, failing at having purely random virtual plastic polyhedrons achieve a particular result is only as bad as you let it be. Like in real life, success is more pleasant than failure, but the work put into the attempt is never lost. Failure is as much an opportunity to interact with the game and your fellow players as success, and sometimes more.
In particular, note that no event whatsoever will ever be locked behind a dice roll.
Here's a few reminders for when luck isn't on your side:
The form of the failure is your choice and your choice only. For a similar missed cooking roll, some players like to describe their character as having put the whole kitchen on fire, some as having just failed the mayonnaise, some something else entirely. All these approaches are perfectly valid.
The consequences of the failure however are a GM-prerogative. In other words, if a roll does not state that something bad happens in case of failure, then nothing bad happens in case of failure. Your character might start a fire, but someone will immediately notice and put it out before it can do real damages and the day will go on as usual after that scare.
Note that only very few specific rolls will have actual negative consequences for failure, and only as a balancing mechanism (high risk, high reward). All such rolls will always be optional (alternative options available), the potential penalty always explicit and never something that cannot be earned back. Namely, honor/glory loss, maybe a wound at worst, but certainly not something like being maimed, disowned, banned, etc, as per the result of a given roll or series of rolls. This just won't happen, even if you were to fail every single roll through the game.
Finally, failing at having purely random virtual plastic polyhedrons achieve a particular result is only as bad as you let it be. Like in real life, success is more pleasant than failure, but the work put into the attempt is never lost. Failure is as much an opportunity to interact with the game and your fellow players as success, and sometimes more.
In particular, note that no event whatsoever will ever be locked behind a dice roll.