Noticing things: "Passive checks"?

[flybane]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to gaming and have been reading through the books preparing to give GMing a first try, running DWAITAS for a friend or two.

I'm wondering what the real life implementation of rules about awareness is like for you. Does it ever get to be a problem that having players roll all the time to notice things might give away the existence of some booby trap or affect the flow of the game?

Do you ask your players to roll when there might be clues or traps that aren't essential parts of the plot? Do you ever roll for them? Finally, do you ever decide what clues or information to give players based on attributes and/or skills/traits without rolling at all?

[allivingstone]

The way in which characters' perceptions of the in-game universe are managed can have a massive impact on the feel of a game. For instance, horror/suspense scenarios have different requirements to high-octane adventure. Since DWAITAS can easily encompass both, 'it depends' is the best answer I can offer.
I realise that isn't much help though.

I'd suggest having a read of this and this to get a feel for some ways you could approach the in-game flow of information.

For DWAITAS, I'd suggest generally keeping the rolls in the hands of the players though. Failing an Awareness roll can be a good way to have them use up Story Points, for instance.

However, don't ask them to roll in order to notice trivial things. Before asking for a roll, ask yourself if the outcome matters. Does failure have a consequence? What is the benefit of succeeding?

One of the most valuable uses of an Awareness roll is to help make up your mind about how much to reveal. It can also buy you precious thinking time when the players come up with truly unexpected questions.

If you are new to GMing, I'd suggest keeping things pretty simple while you're finding your feet. Never rely on players passing an easy roll, or assume that they will fail one that is incredibly difficult. If you really don't want something to be noticed, don't allow for the possibility that it might be. If something really must be noticed, simply tell them what they perceive.


Welcome to the forum (and the hobby) btw.

[flybane]

Thanks for the reply! Just the sort of thing I was looking for. I'll certainly take a closer look at your recommended reading for sure.

[azimerthemad]

Agreed; generally the less rolling in Doctor Who the better. You can even just take the Buffy RPG route sometimes; make them not notice horrible things until they happen but bribe them with story points to escape that situiation to make them happy.

"The Cybermen stuck up behind you. Everyone gets 2 story points. How're you going to use them to get out of this?"

[Curufea]

Or you could even allow players to pay story points to be more alert in a scene-
1 sp to notice clues (e.g. noticing a strange device)
2 sp to get more detail about clues where applicable (e.g. noticing a strange device and realising it fits the hands of a Silurian which you've read about).

Although if there are no clues present, they waste the points (or a kind GM may use them in some other manner).