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Always Say the Target Number

A player rolls the dice, and the table watches the result, like a roulette ball bouncing about. Rothgar has a +4 to make the jump, but the chasm demands a Target Number (TN) of 12.

The player rolls 2D6…

     _______     /\O    O\
    /O     /\   /  \      \
   /   O  /O \ / O  \O____O\ ))
((/_____O/    \\    /O     /
  \O    O\    / \  /   O  /
   \O    O\ O/   \/_____O/
    \O____O\/ ))          ))
  ((

and they land on ‘8’.

The table look groan, and look to the GM.

Rothgar takes off, but has forgotten how much he still carries, and how tired the long walk has left him. Not even his hands make the other side, so he looks downward into the black abyss, and clutches his torch.

The troupe look down as the light becomes smaller and smaller, and eventually becomes so small you can no longer see it.

Rothgar has undoubtedly died at this point, and the fault lies with the player.

Now let’s replay the situation, but the GM has neglected to think of or say the TN.

I rolled an ‘11’, did I make it?

At this point, the GM has probably not decided on a TN, because making decisions drains a little bit of mental energy each time, and the temptation arises to simply not make one. So due to laziness, the GM now has to make a much more difficult decision - is the roll of ‘11’ enough? We can see at this point that the roll must be enough, because Rothgar’s player will be rightfully annoyed at the GM ‘killing his character’.

Now if we replay this again, where the GM secretly decides the TN ahead of time, we find exactly the same result, except this time the GM will have to change the result (also secretly). Once again, the player will rightly feel robbed if the GM says their character has died.

Beyond the problem of robbery by GM-fiat, Rothgar’s player has another objection:

I had no idea the chasm was that big. I never would have jumped if I’d known.

The GM having said that the chasm was four metres across makes very little distance. Is that a large distance? Can we compare Rothgar to the athletes who regularly jump that long? And how wide is four metres anyway? Can everyone picture that accurately?

If the GM had only said, up-front, that the TN is ‘12’, then the player would have understood the action in exactly the right terms to make a decision.

For further notes on solidity, see Sandra’s post on Blorb[a].

[a]