Dec 12, 2021 9:29 pm
ABILITY TESTS
During a game session, the Game Master sets the scene, then the players decide how their characters act and what they do. As a player, you narrate the actions of your character. You might say, "I search the lab for evidence of protomolecule experimentation," for example. The Game Master tells you the results of your action, and may introduce new elements into the scene. For example: "You search for ten minutes but, before you find what you are looking for, an angry-looking man in white lab scrubs bursts into the room and confronts you."
When your character is taking everyday actions that do not have a significant chance of failure, you don’t need to roll dice or consult the game rules. It’s enough to say that your character docks a ship at a known docking port, or walks across a station to stop at a noodle cart and get lunch. When you want your character to do something that requires risk or has a real chance of failure, that’s when the dice come out. To resolve such actions you roll an ability test, often simply called a test. Tests are the heart of the Adventure Game Engine (or AGE) and you’ll make many in any given game session.
Making Ability Tests
To make an ability test, pick up three six-sided dice (abbreviated 3d6). Two of the dice should be one color and the third a different color. The off-color die is known as the Drama Die (see The Drama Die section, following). Roll all three dice and add the numbers they show together; you want to roll high. Then add the score of the ability you’re testing and another +2 if you have an applicable ability focus (see Ability Focuses in Chapter 2). The final number is your test result.
TEST RESULT = 3d6 + ABILITY SCORE + 2 FOR ABILITY FOCUS (IF ANY)
Even if you have several ability focuses that could apply, you can only use one on a given test. You never gain the benefits of more than one focus on an ability test.
Basic Tests:
A basic test is rolled against a target number (abbreviated TN) chosen by the Game Master based on an assessment of the test’s overall difficulty. The Game Master should take all relevant factors into account in determining the difficulty of the test, including the prevailing conditions.
1. You tell the Game Master what you want your character to try and accomplish, such as "I want to open the lock" or "I look around for clues".
2. The Game Master determines the appropriate ability and focus (if any), and assigns a target number for the test based on its overall difficulty.
3. You roll an ability test and determine your test result, including spending Fortune points on the roll, if you wish.
4. If your test result is equal to or greater than the target number, you successfully pass the test and accomplish the desired action. If it is not, your attempt to perform that action fails.
Opposed Tests:
When your character competes directly against another character, you make an opposed test to see who wins. In this type of test, both characters roll and the results are compared. Essentially, each character’s target number is determined by the opposing character’s test result. This same process can be used when more than two characters compete. In such cases, everyone makes an ability test and all of the results are compared. The highest test result wins, with ties broken as in step 4. Also note that it isn’t necessarily the case that all characters use the same ability for an opposed test.
1. You tell the Game Master what you want your character to try and accomplish, such as "I want to beat this guy at arm wrestling" or "I try to grab the gun before she can."
2. The Game Master determines the appropriate ability and focus (if any), then assigns a target number to the task for you and your opponent, based on the task’s overall difficulty.
3. You and your opponent both make ability tests and determine the test results, including spending Fortune points on the roll, if either of you wish.
4. Compare the test results. If you equal or exceed the TN and exceed your opponent’s test result, you win. If you both exceed the TN and there’s a tie, whoever rolled higher on the Drama Die wins. If it’s still a tie, then whoever has the higher ability wins. If that is still a tie, then it’s just a tie and nobody wins. The same is the case if both of you fail to exceed the TN.
Advanced Tests:
An advanced test is used for tasks that take time or planning, when the amount of time required matters, or to determine who accomplishes a task first. If marking time or who succeeds first don’t matter, you can use a basic or opposed test. Advanced tests require multiple rolls, each representing an increment of time, until you either succeed or run out of time. An advanced test uses the following steps:
1. Determine the target number or opposed roll (including modifiers) the character tests against, just like a basic or opposed test.
2. An advanced test has a success threshold. This is the total number of Drama Die points required to complete the task. Each success on a test adds its Drama Die total to the success threshold until you either succeed or run out of time.
3. Each roll requires a time increment. Set it based on the type of activity the test represents. One way to do this is to figure out the typical amount of time the task should take and divide it by half of the success threshold. For instance, if you think the task should take about an hour and have a success threshold of 10, divide one hour by 5 (one half of 10) to get 12 minutes (60 minutes, divided by 5). You may decide to round that off to an even 10 minute time increment per roll.
4. You make an ability test against the target number or opposed roll for each time increment. On a failure, you don’t make any headway, and the time passes. On a success, note the number generated by the Drama Die. This represents progress during that increment. Add the Drama Die results from each successful roll together. When the total meets or exceeds the success threshold, you complete the task.
Most advanced tests use the same ability and focus for all of the ability tests towards the success threshold. Some advanced tests, however, may vary the required ability and/or focus, either allowing multiple means to accomplish the test, or even requiring different abilities to combine, in succession, to achieve success.
STUNTS
There’s a difference between accomplishing something with a test and really accomplishing it with style. That difference comes into play in The Expanse with stunts.
When you roll dice for a test and two or more of the dice show the same number, that test generates stunt points (abbreviated SP). If the test is successful, you can use these points to enhance the results of your action, pulling off some special maneuver, trick, or flourish beyond just the benefits of success. You must spend any stunt points you generate on a test or else they disappear at the end of your turn. The kinds of stunts you can achieve depend on the type of action.
As a general rule, only active tests generate stunt points, such as when your character is trying to accomplish or achieve something. Tests you make in response to something else, such as a test to resist an effect, or a follow-up test required by another action, do not generate stunt points. See Chapter 5: Game Play for lists of stunts for various situations and additional details on how and when to use them
FORTUNE
Characters in The Expanse have a resource called Fortune, which represents a measure of survival instinct, dumb luck, good fortune, divine favor, whatever you want to call it. The character you portray as a player starts off with a certain amount of Fortune, which improves with experience, as your character becomes more and more important in the series. Likewise, certain characters controlled by the Game Master have their own Fortune scores. Fortune is measured in Fortune points or FP for short.
Fortune is used for a number of things, some described later in this book. For the purpose of tests, Fortune is impor- tant because you can spend Fortune points, decreasing your current score, in order to improve the results of your tests. You can spend Fortune points to make one die show the value of the number of FP you spend, up to 6. For the Drama Die, this costs twice the usual amount, so the die shows the value of half the number of FP you spend, rounded down. You can only modify one die out of a roll using FP.
During a game session, the Game Master sets the scene, then the players decide how their characters act and what they do. As a player, you narrate the actions of your character. You might say, "I search the lab for evidence of protomolecule experimentation," for example. The Game Master tells you the results of your action, and may introduce new elements into the scene. For example: "You search for ten minutes but, before you find what you are looking for, an angry-looking man in white lab scrubs bursts into the room and confronts you."
When your character is taking everyday actions that do not have a significant chance of failure, you don’t need to roll dice or consult the game rules. It’s enough to say that your character docks a ship at a known docking port, or walks across a station to stop at a noodle cart and get lunch. When you want your character to do something that requires risk or has a real chance of failure, that’s when the dice come out. To resolve such actions you roll an ability test, often simply called a test. Tests are the heart of the Adventure Game Engine (or AGE) and you’ll make many in any given game session.
Making Ability Tests
To make an ability test, pick up three six-sided dice (abbreviated 3d6). Two of the dice should be one color and the third a different color. The off-color die is known as the Drama Die (see The Drama Die section, following). Roll all three dice and add the numbers they show together; you want to roll high. Then add the score of the ability you’re testing and another +2 if you have an applicable ability focus (see Ability Focuses in Chapter 2). The final number is your test result.
TEST RESULT = 3d6 + ABILITY SCORE + 2 FOR ABILITY FOCUS (IF ANY)
Even if you have several ability focuses that could apply, you can only use one on a given test. You never gain the benefits of more than one focus on an ability test.
Basic Tests:
A basic test is rolled against a target number (abbreviated TN) chosen by the Game Master based on an assessment of the test’s overall difficulty. The Game Master should take all relevant factors into account in determining the difficulty of the test, including the prevailing conditions.
1. You tell the Game Master what you want your character to try and accomplish, such as "I want to open the lock" or "I look around for clues".
2. The Game Master determines the appropriate ability and focus (if any), and assigns a target number for the test based on its overall difficulty.
3. You roll an ability test and determine your test result, including spending Fortune points on the roll, if you wish.
4. If your test result is equal to or greater than the target number, you successfully pass the test and accomplish the desired action. If it is not, your attempt to perform that action fails.
Opposed Tests:
When your character competes directly against another character, you make an opposed test to see who wins. In this type of test, both characters roll and the results are compared. Essentially, each character’s target number is determined by the opposing character’s test result. This same process can be used when more than two characters compete. In such cases, everyone makes an ability test and all of the results are compared. The highest test result wins, with ties broken as in step 4. Also note that it isn’t necessarily the case that all characters use the same ability for an opposed test.
1. You tell the Game Master what you want your character to try and accomplish, such as "I want to beat this guy at arm wrestling" or "I try to grab the gun before she can."
2. The Game Master determines the appropriate ability and focus (if any), then assigns a target number to the task for you and your opponent, based on the task’s overall difficulty.
3. You and your opponent both make ability tests and determine the test results, including spending Fortune points on the roll, if either of you wish.
4. Compare the test results. If you equal or exceed the TN and exceed your opponent’s test result, you win. If you both exceed the TN and there’s a tie, whoever rolled higher on the Drama Die wins. If it’s still a tie, then whoever has the higher ability wins. If that is still a tie, then it’s just a tie and nobody wins. The same is the case if both of you fail to exceed the TN.
Advanced Tests:
An advanced test is used for tasks that take time or planning, when the amount of time required matters, or to determine who accomplishes a task first. If marking time or who succeeds first don’t matter, you can use a basic or opposed test. Advanced tests require multiple rolls, each representing an increment of time, until you either succeed or run out of time. An advanced test uses the following steps:
1. Determine the target number or opposed roll (including modifiers) the character tests against, just like a basic or opposed test.
2. An advanced test has a success threshold. This is the total number of Drama Die points required to complete the task. Each success on a test adds its Drama Die total to the success threshold until you either succeed or run out of time.
3. Each roll requires a time increment. Set it based on the type of activity the test represents. One way to do this is to figure out the typical amount of time the task should take and divide it by half of the success threshold. For instance, if you think the task should take about an hour and have a success threshold of 10, divide one hour by 5 (one half of 10) to get 12 minutes (60 minutes, divided by 5). You may decide to round that off to an even 10 minute time increment per roll.
4. You make an ability test against the target number or opposed roll for each time increment. On a failure, you don’t make any headway, and the time passes. On a success, note the number generated by the Drama Die. This represents progress during that increment. Add the Drama Die results from each successful roll together. When the total meets or exceeds the success threshold, you complete the task.
Most advanced tests use the same ability and focus for all of the ability tests towards the success threshold. Some advanced tests, however, may vary the required ability and/or focus, either allowing multiple means to accomplish the test, or even requiring different abilities to combine, in succession, to achieve success.
STUNTS
There’s a difference between accomplishing something with a test and really accomplishing it with style. That difference comes into play in The Expanse with stunts.
When you roll dice for a test and two or more of the dice show the same number, that test generates stunt points (abbreviated SP). If the test is successful, you can use these points to enhance the results of your action, pulling off some special maneuver, trick, or flourish beyond just the benefits of success. You must spend any stunt points you generate on a test or else they disappear at the end of your turn. The kinds of stunts you can achieve depend on the type of action.
As a general rule, only active tests generate stunt points, such as when your character is trying to accomplish or achieve something. Tests you make in response to something else, such as a test to resist an effect, or a follow-up test required by another action, do not generate stunt points. See Chapter 5: Game Play for lists of stunts for various situations and additional details on how and when to use them
FORTUNE
Characters in The Expanse have a resource called Fortune, which represents a measure of survival instinct, dumb luck, good fortune, divine favor, whatever you want to call it. The character you portray as a player starts off with a certain amount of Fortune, which improves with experience, as your character becomes more and more important in the series. Likewise, certain characters controlled by the Game Master have their own Fortune scores. Fortune is measured in Fortune points or FP for short.
Fortune is used for a number of things, some described later in this book. For the purpose of tests, Fortune is impor- tant because you can spend Fortune points, decreasing your current score, in order to improve the results of your tests. You can spend Fortune points to make one die show the value of the number of FP you spend, up to 6. For the Drama Die, this costs twice the usual amount, so the die shows the value of half the number of FP you spend, rounded down. You can only modify one die out of a roll using FP.