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Questions as a dm?

A topic by Tony Bamalaboni created Mar 15, 2022 Views: 330 Replies: 2
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Hi I'm just curious exactly how checks and rolls will work, as a first time DM or Facilitator and maybe it's just the lack of sleep but I'm not getting exactly how rolls work and neither are my potential players, say just for example, I want someone to roll a control check how would I write an event for a ctrl check and what an average like, required check would be, I'm new to this and especially this system as I've only played 5e

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Okay so I'm going to provide some links and some explanation. Def let me know if it helps reframe for you. The biggest thing to think about when doing SAVES is that they are only called for when there is some risk involved , the result is uncertain. Yochai has a good entry on his FAQ for Cairn (LH's parent system). It also has a fantasy example of play that helps frame how these types of roles are made.

Another resource for framing GMing is Chris McDowell's ICI doctrine from Electric Bastionland. It asks you to consider Information, Choice, and Impact during play.

For Liminal Horror specifically I find that a lot of times I respond with saves based on what the players come up with. Throw a few risks and variables into play (ticking clock, being chased/looked for, locked door) and then the player's response will dictate which save is necessary based on their approach. Sometimes though players have a clever solution that takes the risk out of the equation so there is no roll.

For CTRL instances where luck or the weird are in play, or if a NPCs response is not clear, is when I'd ask for those. With STRESS there's a balance of often I'll just give it (and not have an opportunity to resist) but as play goes on and the characters get more used to it I may give opportunities to resist stress through a CTRL save. Other times CTRL comes into play is "magical effects." An item is "beckoning" to them to grap or put on. I had an encounter in the mall where everyone made a CTRL save. Those that failed heard their most loved one calling them deeper into the tunnel (the others just saw a shadow). When the players followed there was a hole and they saw the face of their loved one and they were asked to follow deeper. The CTRL save was around seeing this manifestation, but in the end I left the final act of going deeper to player choice because that control of the character is important. 

Being able to safely wield objects of power is also 

Thank you so much now I understand saves and how someone would roll for a check of some kind, also the stress damage, I know this is kind of a weird comparison but I think I could run some of these weird and stress encounters similar to a game like World of Horror or Darkest Dungeon, this was really helpful but I to write up a lot of events but thank you this was really helpful