I think this needs some more explanation - perhaps because I've never played Oblivion, I don't quite understand what you're supposed to be doing.
thank you. That’s a note I’ve gotten from a few people over on Bluesky, so I’ve been workshopping a better explainer that I hope to post here soon. I think I was relying too much on implied rules to fit it all on one page
What I will say here is that the core mechanic is a pun: “picking locks by picking numbers”
You roll one D20 and pick one of the five rows to slot it into. Then you roll another D20 and if it’s a number higher than the first roll, then you are limited to the slots above the first roll; and it it’s a number lower than the first roll, then you are limited to the slots below the first roll. Once you pick a slot for the second roll and lock it in, you roll a third D20. Slot the third roll into one of the remaining three rows. If the slotted numbers are ever out of descending order then the pick breaks. Now a fourth roll, then a fifth roll—basically you are rolling five d20, one d20 at a time, and ranking it before knowing what number is coming next
The example I used on the original was a pick which had already unlocked two locks, and failed the third lock before it could be retired. I was told this was confusing and looked like Dice Checks where you were rolling against a number—that was my bad. You are never rolling against a number. The whole game is just rolling up a random number and picking a row to slot it into
😊