Preliminary Rolls Failure?

[Falenthal]

According to the Preliminary Rolls rule, there's no effect if the roll is failed.
I'm not a huge fan of penalising the players for normal failures, but I also don't like the feeling of "I roll just in case I get lucky. Nothing will happen whatsoever."

I'm thinking of house ruling something in the line of:

*If your Preliminary Roll is a failure AND you roll an Eye, the Company loses 1 of the bonus dice.
If none was won, then the LM can allocate a -1 dice penalty to a roll of his choosing during the Encounter/Travel/Combat.

A harder option would be to lose as many dices as "Eye successes": If the roll is a failure AND an Eye is rolled, the Company loses 1 bonus dice. For every 6, up to a maximum of 2, an additional bonus dice is lost.

Some ideas?

[Rich H]

For every EYE they roll on the Battle tests I give one die to the adversary side. It can only be used like a PC bonus dice (ie, gets used by just one character) but it's up to the LM which adversary uses it. Obviously multiple dice mean additional times the bonus can be used.

[aramis]

For every EYE they roll on the Battle tests I give one die to the adversary side. It can only be used like a PC bonus dice (ie, gets used by just one character) but it's up to the LM which adversary uses it. Obviously multiple dice mean additional times the bonus can be used.

That's the same solution I came to....

[Falenthal]

It's a good idea for Battles.

Anything in that line for Travels/Encounters?

Something like 1 more day for Journeys and reducing Tolerance by 1 for Encounters? Or is it too heavy (specially for Encounters)?

[Robin Smallburrow]

Be Creative!!

Don't stick to hard and fast rules here is the advice I would give, the great thing about TOR is that it lends itself to imaginative storytelling (both by the LM and by imaginative players).

The only 'rules' I would keep in mind are the sections on 'Consequences' p.151 of the Adventurer's Book:

" The Task Failed... When this happens, the LM narrates the consequences of the missed task. This usually follows intuitively from what the player was trying to do. Whatever the case, the LM must make sure that the task has a definite impact and produces consequences that cannot be ignored.

and p.28 of the LM book for tests: " the LM should always make sure that both a success or a failure produce tangible effects on the ensuing gameplay".

So it really depends on whether
(a) it was a task or test
(b) the difficulty of what was being attempted - was it routine or extremely difficult?
(c) the actual situation - what consequences could occur if the PC's 'stuff it up' (all LM's should consider this for the plot.

A recent example from my campaign: so the PC's decided to secretly sneak into Lord Arkhad's tower in Umbar to find clues, but they did not take any precautions in case of traps (which it was!), so their incursion went pretty badly (and there were at least two 'eyes' rolled!).

As LM I had to consider what the consequences were of all the failed rolls, not just those with 'Eyes' - but I always keep the story as central and also try to be fair. So I allowed the PC's to escape on a ship out of Umbar to hide for some time (because it was a creative suggestion made by a player and it sounded plausible for the story).

So for Journeys a simple mundane solution for a Lore stuff up would be to add on an extra day or two, but a creative one would be that they go down a different trail and end up at an unforeseen destination (Heart of Mirkwood instead of Woodmen town, for example!) Use some of the many hazards that have been suggested, perhaps.

Robin S.

[Falenthal]

I fully agree with you, Robin.

I only tried to get some base lines of the special case where a failure AND an Eye were rolled, like the Hazards in the Travel rolls, or the fumbles when a Called Shot is tried (p.161 AB).

Also, sometimes creativity is used when explaining why you have 1 less die to roll or why did the travel last 1 more day than expected.
Is like the Battle dice: the players tell you "I run behind a tree and attack the orc from his rear side. I use my extra battle die".

The mechanic is always the same (X extra dice), but you must be creative with the explanation why you have this extra bonus.

Otherwise, I agree that successes and failures in Preliminary Rolls do not always have to bear the same consequences.