Skill Encounters

Skill Encounters

In your adventures, you'll encounter challenges that require creativity and teamwork to succeed. Some obstacles might be straightforward; haggling with a merchant for a better price requires a Persuade Skill roll. Others may be more intense, like a high-speed chase through crowded streets, unlocking a door before a guard returns, or escaping a labyrinth of traps and illusions.

Though not always the best fit for all situations, Skill Encounters can provide an Encounter-like structure that allows each player to get involved in Overcoming a challenging situation. These Skill Encounters involve the whole party working together toward a common goal, each Character contributing with their unique Skills and resources.

How Skill Encounters Work. Each player describes their plan of Action to contribute to the Encounter. This could range from physical efforts like lifting debris to strategic approaches like devising a pulley system. Players then roll the Skill, Defense, or Ability most relevant to their action. The outcome determines whether they contribute to success or set the group back.

Determining Success

Successes. Each Skill Encounter requires a specific number of Successes across all Skill Rolls to be Overcome. Typically, this number equals the total number of Characters participating plus one, for a moderately difficult challenge. The total number of Successes each Character obtains on their Skill Roll during the Skill Encounter is added together and compared against the encounter's required number of Successes.

Failures. Using the same logic, all Failures from Skill rolls are similarly counted against the number of Successes, with each Failure removing a Success, or adding a Failure if there are no Successes to remove.

The Realm Master may designate more favorable outcomes depending on how many Successes are achieved over the required amount or designate more dire consequences for each Failure below the required amount. Some situations carry inherently more risk, while others may have no worse consequence for failure than some wasted time.

Type of Skill Rolls. Any Skill should be a viable option to overcome an Encounter provided the reasoning is good enough by the player for why it should help. However, some Skills should be naturally more effective for certain Encounters. For instance, removing a fallen tree might favor Strength and Vitality Skill rolls, with Intelligence or Acuity Skill rolls as a close second used for helping devise an efficient plan. Charisma-based Skill rolls could be used to motivate others but might be less effective and thus more challenging to succeed within this context. Specific Skills like Athletics or Nature might offer even higher chances for success, scaled relative to the Abilities they use.

Bonuses. The Realm Master may grant Bonuses to Skill Rolls depending on their utility in the Encounter. Using the fallen tree example:

• Strength and Vitality Skills: +2 Bonus

• Intelligence and Acuity Skills: +1 Bonus

• Charisma Skills: No Bonus

• Specific Skills (e.g., Woodworking +4 Bonus or Nature +3 Bonus)

A 1–3 difference between each Bonus is typically sufficient to highlight which Skills are most effective while keeping all attempts viable. Encounter-Specific Skills should generally have higher Bonuses. For example, as noted above, Woodworking might have a Bonus that is 2 points higher than Strength- and Vitality-based Skills in general.

Using Resources. During a Skill Encounter, a Character may want to boost their chances of Success by using Powers, resources, or supplies. Sometimes, a Power or resource directly explains how it helps in a Skill Encounter, like a Power or Toolset that gives a Bonus to certain Skill rolls. Other times, the exact numerical Bonus from a creative solution, such as using a Power or a piece of Equipment, isn’t so obvious.

In those cases, use the table below to assign Bonuses based on the estimated Rarity of the Equipment or the amount of Energy the Power or even Technique would cost. Innate Powers can still apply if they’re situational enough to make sense for that particular Skill Encounter.

As a general rule, Powers and Techniques grant a +1 Bonus for every 5 Energy they cost, or would cost in the case of Innate Powers.

Using a resource to aid in a Skill Encounter still requires a relevant Skill Roll for which the resource would be aiding. The Character using the resource can simply grant this Bonus to another Character’s Skill roll instead if they desire or it makes more sense for the situation.

The Order of Skill Encounters

Turn Order. There doesn’t need to be a designated turn order in Skill Encounters; instead, players can discuss amongst themselves in which order they’d prefer to go, or decide who will go next after each turn. Either way, players take turns describing their desired Actions and making Rolls. A player can:

• Roll to achieve Successes.

• Help another player achieve Successes, as outlined in Chapter 1: Playing the Game - Skills.

Timing. Depending on the Skill Encounter, players could be performing their Action over the course of seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. In these cases, a Skill roll represents the average performance of a Character over the course of that entire time period. If the timeframe for a Skill Encounter seems too long for a single Skill Encounter, you can separate it into multiple Skill Encounters in a Sequence instead, such as having characters roll once per each 5-day period.

Some Skill Encounters may be inherently more time-sensitive, such as a chase or quickly unlocking a door before being seen. In these cases, the Realm Master may call for the players to roll for initiative to determine their turn order as outlined in “Combat Encounters” below, usually using Acuity or the Perceive Skill. Combat-Skill Encounters and other types of Skill Encounters are outlined below in “Different Skill Encounters”

Sequencing. In some scenarios, you may encounter multiple Skill Encounters in succession. For example, sneaking into a keep might involve first finding a way inside, then avoiding detection while moving closer to the goal, and finally accomplishing the objective. Successes or Failures from earlier encounters may carry over to subsequent ones, potentially influencing the Successes required or difficulty ahead.

Carrying over Successes from previous Encounters in a sequence can be flavored in many ways, but it can also be presented simply as a favorable outcome or ‘luck’ carried over from earlier events.

In some situations, gaining a number of Successes or Failures on an early Skill Encounter can influence the outcome of future Skill Encounter rolls in the sequence by granting a +1 to the next Skill Entounter Rolls in the sequence for each success in the first.

Resolving Skill Encounters

Once all players have taken their turns, the Realm Master narrates the outcome, combining the party's descriptions with the results of their rolls. Whether the group succeeds or faces setbacks, the resolution should feel dynamic, reflect the Characters' intentions, and be grounded in their performance.

Holding Your Skill Roll. A player may choose to hold their Skill roll until after the outcome of the Skill Encounter is determined. These held Skill rolls cannot contribute to the overall success or failure of the encounter but are used solely to mitigate potential negative consequences from a failure.

For example, if the group is attempting to cross a crevasse, a Character might prepare an Athletics Skill roll to assist someone if the encounter fails. If the prepared roll adds enough successes to shift the consequences to match those of a success (e.g., avoiding a fall), it mitigates the negative outcome. However, it does not change the overall outcome of the encounter itself from a failure to a success, only the consequences of the failure.

Prepared Skill Rolls cannot worsen outcomes or increase failures. They can only reduce or nullify negative consequences if sufficient Successes are added.

Skill Encounter Example. In this scene, a party of adventurers must navigate a dangerous river. The Realm Master decides to reveal the Difficulty Scores and describe the outcomes as events unfold. However, your Realm Master may choose instead to keep the Difficulty Scores hidden or narrate the entire sequence of events only after everyone has acted.

Skill Encounter Variants

The basic 'Skill Encounter' was outlined above, but there are various other forms, each with unique mechanics, while still adhering to the general 'Skill Encounter' format.

Maximum Failure’s

While most Skill Encounters allow Successes to cancel out Failures, sometimes it makes more sense for Failures to persist, such as when tracking a stealthing party's presence or heat in an area they are attempting to lie low in; each noise increases the alertness of the enemy, while staying quiet doesn’t change the fact that a noise was made in the first place.

As determined by the RM, these encounters should work the same as normal but without Successes nullifying Failures and vice versa. These encounters can feel like races to success while avoiding Failures, since each gained failure and success is permanent as a party attempts to get the required number of successes.

Social Encounters

When two sides have different goals that have the potential to be discussed, a social encounter can take place, such as when parlaying with an enemy ship's captain, talking down a manic individual, convincing a courtroom of a client's innocence in a trial, or debating the best plan of action with an allied general.

Resolving Social Encounters. To resolve a social encounter, each side will roll the relevant Skills against the other individual’s Resolve, or the Resolve average when against a group. Each Success and Failure persists instead of canceling out, while you attempt to gain a number of successes equal to a value set by the RM, usually equal to that individual’s Resolve Bonus multiplied by two.

Maximum Number of Failures. In a social encounter, the player characters must attain successes while avoiding failure. Since failures persist in these encounters, players must achieve success before resulting in failures. The number of failures that result in failing a social encounter is usually around five, which more or less represents a more difficult or reasonable individual.

Social Encounter in Turns. A social encounter starts with the adventurer’s turn, where one character makes a Skill Roll against the target’s Resolve and determines the number of attained failures and successes. Afterward, the target rolls against that same player's Resolve, with each success on their side reducing the Successes for the player, and each failure increasing the successes of the player by the same amount. After the enemy offers their rebuttal, the party can once again attempt to convince them, having the same or different player chime in with a Skill Roll.

Players who take the Help action to roll a Help Dice are welcome to do so if they have a good way to add to the primary character's skill roll, such as by looming behind the primary character using intimidation while that character makes threats against the target.

Combat-Skill Encounters

In tense situations, adventurers often need to address multiple challenges at once. For example, they might have to defend and repair a breaking dam during a goblin attack, search for the source of a curse while fending off enspelled creatures, or protect each other from poisonous mists while battling toxic mushroom monsters. These situations are Combat-Skill Encounters, taking place within a Combat initiative order, where each turn Characters can choose to use the Skill Encounter Action and other combat actions to address the encounter’s challenges.

Skill Encounter Action. As outlined in the Combat Encounter section of this chapter, the Skill Encounter Action is used to make a Skill Roll as part of a designated Skill Encounter. Although this action often involves interacting with elements of the environment and includes an Ability Roll, it does not count as an Ability Roll action or an Interaction.

Countdowns & Competitive Successes

Some Skill Encounters can ebb and flow with momentum, with different forces pushing toward either success or failure. Instead of working toward a fixed number of total successes, these encounters may involve a Countdown to Failure; a mechanic that can be stalled or reversed using Skill Rolls or Skill Encounter Actions, whether during rounds of initiative-based combat or outside of it.

Alternatively, Skill Encounters may involve opposing forces-such as enemies actively working to increase the number of failures while the Characters strive to accumulate successes. For example, if goblins are attacking a dam, the encounter might begin with the dam at “0 out of 3 successes.” The heroes’ goal would be to restore the dam to full functionality by reaching 3 Successes, while the goblins work to drive it to -3 (or 3 accumulated Failures), which would result in the dam’s destruction.

Consequences During Skill Encounters. Rather than resolving with a single pass/fail outcome at the end, these Skill Encounters may include active consequences that trigger based on the current success or Failure state. For instance, if the dam reaches 1 Failure, all creatures downstream may need to roll Reflex against the encounter’s Difficulty Score or become Prone due to surging water. This consequence might lessen or disappear as the party gains Successes, or worsen if Failures accumulate further.

Travel. Travel is often structured as a sequence of Skill Encounters, which may be separated or replaced by Combat Encounters or Social Interaction. These Encounters typically cover three or more key events occurring between destinations, with the outcomes determining how efficiently and successfully the party completes the journey.

Competitive Encounters. Similar to Combat, a Skill Encounter may involve competing against an opposing side. This can involve having an alternating turn order, or could simply be done as one side making Rolls and comparing to the Rolls of the other. In these cases, simply assign Bonuses instead of Difficulty Scores to each Skill roll based on what it is and how effective it is in the given situation. Take the average between all rolls on each side, and compare them. The higher is the winner and thus succeeds, but there can also be ties.

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