Two Newbie Questions

[foot land-raker]

1.) If you roll a ranged weapon with your occupation, do you get ammunition with it?

2.) What's with the luck augur and racial bonuses to find secret doors? It would seem from the Skills description that looking for a secret door is not a situation in one needs to roll, but rather describe how they look, i.e. "I pull on the sconce to see if it is a lever." Kind of confused about this.

[Doug Kovacs]

1. Probably, but its up to the Judge. I've usually rolled a die d6,d8, d10 ? something like that. If your character is really stupid maybe they forgot. Maybe something like INT minus 1d12?

2.Secret doors are tricky as a Judge because you don't want the players to miss every secret door, but I personally don't care for the game being slowed down with players searching everywhere a secret door isn't.

If someone is actively searching you might roll a INT or Luck modified check against a DC reflecting how well the secret door is hidden. A good description of what the player is doing should trump this, and maybe even add to a roll if it comes down to that.

The luck augur should probably apply to a situation in which the player isn't even looking as well as actively searching . That's how I would judge it. Problem there is it would be up to the judge to remember. A good player might be reminding the judge and also actively searching.

Hopefully that helps, there are many many things you need to judge on the fly and then move on .

Focusing on niggly little stuff might seem important to some players but overall if run well the Dm or Judge will find a game is better if they put their efforts into larger issues.

[Raven_Crowking]

1. Page 23, note to "Trained Weapon" on Table 1-3: Occupations: "If a missile fire weapon (such as sling or dart), roll 1d6 to determine number of sling stones or darts."

2. If using a roll, simply apply the modifier. If using descriptive technique, use the modifier as a gauge as to how much (or little) slack to cut that description. For example, if a character has a +3 bonus, and even begins looking for discoloured stones, you might mention the sconce. On the other hand, an character with a penalty might not have the door work the first time they try to pull the sconce, as the mechanism sticks.

[Doug Kovacs]

There you go. I avoid looking anything up in the book when I have a common sense answer. Either way works.

[GnomeBoy]

There you go. I avoid looking anything up in the book when I have a common sense answer. Either way works.

The two approaches absolutely work. I'm more of a 'common senser/make something up' guy, but I know from playing with dudes that want to go by the book, that it's good to know what's in the book, and be able to either go with that, or be able to say "here's why this time we're doing that differently...".

[Doug Kovacs]

During my 2E days we used to have a "find the loophole in the rules" house rule to give me a reason why I didn't just kill you.
Back in the day there were only a few guys who had the , "by the book" mentality, but it was cool to see everyone chip in sometimes to try to keep a character alive by finding some technicality.

[Maxwell Luther]

Me personally, I use the roll secretly when they pass by a door without searching (technically, I have a list of rolls that I mark off so as not to give it away by rolling at the time) and then I let their actions guide me when they actively search ('I pull on the candelabra' or 'I try and move the wall mirror') with a roll only used when they do a generic 'search the wall for loose stones' or the like.

[Skyscraper]

There you go. I avoid looking anything up in the book when I have a common sense answer. Either way works.

The two approaches absolutely work. I'm more of a 'common senser/make something up' guy, but I know from playing with dudes that want to go by the book, that it's good to know what's in the book, and be able to either go with that, or be able to say "here's why this time we're doing that differently...".

Wait, there's a book? With rules?

[GnomeBoy]

There you go. I avoid looking anything up in the book when I have a common sense answer. Either way works.

The two approaches absolutely work. I'm more of a 'common senser/make something up' guy, but I know from playing with dudes that want to go by the book, that it's good to know what's in the book, and be able to either go with that, or be able to say "here's why this time we're doing that differently...".

Wait, there's a book? With rules?

It was only part of the premium pre-order package. Sorry you missed out.