Using Skills

All skills represent a task that the character has a chance of failure at. As such not all tasks require a roll- a character is assumed to be able to run, hold a conversation, find their way around and perform similar mundane task without making a skill roll.
When a skill is used, a player rolls a six-sided dice and adds the value of that skill (if they do not have that skill, that number will be 0) to the number rolled. The storyteller sets a difficulty for the roll, and if the roll scores this much or more the skill was successful.
For example, Murphy is attempting to flee from her attacker. She rolls a dice, getting a five, and adds her Athletics score of two, for a total result of 7. The storyteller decides that the task would be comparatively easy, and gives it a difficulty of 5. Murphy has beaten the score needed, and so succeeds.

Opposed rolls

A slightly more complex example would be where one character is trying to resist another’s actions. In this case, the acting character and resisting character both roll, with the highest score winning. In the event of a tie, roll a d6: odds goes one way, and even the other.
For example, Murphy draws her handgun and takes a shot at her mystery assailant, while he dives for cover. Murphy rolls and adds her Shooting value, for a total of six. The mystery man rolls and adds his dodge value, getting a total of five. Since the Murphy beat his score by one point, she has hit him.

Teamwork

Sometimes, multiple characters will work together on a task to try for a better result. In this instance, everybody rolls as if they had the highest skill level present, and the best result is taken. Modifiers for injuries, equipment and so on are not taken into account for this, only the number of points in the skill.
For example, Annie and Jack are working together to travel across the countryside. Annie has 4 ranks in Navigation, but is suffering from minor injuries, giving her a -1 penalty. Jack, meanwhile, only has two ranks, but also has a map which gives him a +2 bonus. Annie would roll with a total of +3 (her four ranks minus one for her injuries) whilst Jack would roll with a total of +6 (Annie’s four ranks plus two for his map). Whoever rolls higher will be the result used to see if they get lost.
Teamwork usually only applies to extended actions where characters can co-operate and aid one another. More often, everybody will roll with their own value. For example, when rolling Perception to avoid surprise in an ambush, everybody rolls and those who score high enough avoid surprise.

Working Carefully

Sometimes, a character will have time to do something slowly and carefully, effectively being able to roll over and over until they get the result they need. In this case, the storyteller may allow them to simply take a roll of six, rather than having to roll until they get a good enough result.
Using this option increases the time needed by one unit: seconds become minutes, minutes become hours, and hours become days. Obviously, this option may not be used if working slowly would not provide any benefit. For example, you could slow down to take a roll of 6 on an athletics roll to climb a wall, but not on an athletics roll to jump across a gap. Some rolls (such as the roll to avoid contracting Mixi, or a Psychology roll to spot a lie) happen reflexively and can’t be slowed down.

See also: Available Skills

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