Players Choosing Skills for Tasks

[Majestic]

In the Adventurer's Book it says (emphasis mine) regarding Tasks:

p. 149
Choose Ability
As the examples above show, it is up to the acting player to pick the ability that his character is going to use.
Players are trusted to choose the ability most appropriate to their purpose (the description of skills and their use
is found starting from page 85, and a series of examples can be found below) but, as is the case with the use of
Traits, their judgement is subject to the approval of the other players; in case of any objection, the Loremaster
will be called upon to select the ability he deems to be most appropriate.

and on p. 151
First, determine the ability to be used for the roll. If the action is a task, the ability is selected by the acting player; if the action is a test, the ability is chosen by the Loremaster.

I'm wondering how many of you use this exactly as written? Or do you do a mix of this and the more conventional RPG method of the GM deciding what ability should be rolled? Or do you - as Loremaster - decide every time (as is done with Tests)?

This seems like an intriguing way of doing things. And I can see it really serving to be a method for getting the players involved in the game.

But until they really have a solid familiarity with the system, I think it would be hard to rely on them to come up with the right Ability every time. There's a great chart on p.l49, but most of my players don't have rulebooks to reference.

I suppose I could mock up a sheet that shows the information on that chart for them, to help them out. And the elegance of the design - with the symmetry and balance among the various Skill Groups - means it should usually be fairly clear what Ability is most appropriate.

But my players haven't read through the rules as I have. And without copies of the rules, it's a lot tougher for them to know the exact definitions of the various skills and abilities, to know which one might be best for a particular usage.

[Pangea]

Or do you do a mix of this and the more conventional RPG method of the GM deciding what ability should be rolled?

If I remember correctly, a Task is when the Character initiates the action, vs. a Test when given by the Loremaster. If you are specifically talking about Tasks (initiated by the players), then, in general, in the games I am in it is the players who say what ability they think should be used. And the Loremaster decides if that is okay.
For Tasks, in general, the LM says what he wants, and, sometimes, the players try to change things (like if he asks for a Hunting roll to follow Orc tracks, and the player has zilch in Hunting, he might ask if Battle works instead, because these Orcs are on a military-style mission, heavily armed and armored…).

[Majestic]

You are remembering correctly; it's Tasks if the player initiates it and a Test when the Loremaster calls for it.

Which does mean, I suppose, that there would probably be less of them (making them rarer), as one would presume that the Loremaster is going to have some called for that are intrinsically relevant to the story being told.

BTW, technically - per the RAW - it isn't that the player calls for it and then the Loremaster adjudicates it. It's the player calls for it, the one(s) who have the ability to challenge that decision is/are the other players, and then the Loremaster can serve as a final arbiter.

[zedturtle]

I think the skills are evocatively named enough that most players will make an informed and acceptable choice most times. With the LM able to veto, I imagine most players will have it down by about their sixth task or so.

[Robin Smallburrow]

This aspect is like traits one of those things I have to keep reminding my players about- in fact I am glad this came up as I'd forgotten about tasks!

Robin S

[Stormcrow]

it's Tasks if the player initiates it and a Test when the Loremaster calls for it.

Close. A task is an action in which the player wants his hero to do something and knows—or is told by the Loremaster—he has to make a roll. It's important to note that it's the player, not the Loremaster, who chooses the ability to use. But the other players have the right to object, and if they do, the Loremaster chooses the ability.

It's not stated, but I take it as implicit that the Loremaster counts as a player in this case. And if the Loremaster as a player objects, then the Loremaster as the Loremaster has the right to choose the ability. By contrast, the boxed text on Trait Etiquette (p. 92 of the revised rule book) says "if nobody at the table objects," which does include the Loremaster. Interestingly, the text on choosing an ability (p. 140) does say, "as is the case with the use of Traits, their judgement is subject to the approval of the other players." Clearly, the Loremaster is supposed to be able to object as well.

Meanwhile, tests are those rolls which are not only called for by the Loremaster, but which represent his impositions on the courses of actions of the players. They represent the Loremaster temporarily taking the story-telling initiative away from the players. The players get no vote.

I rather wish the published adventures were consistent with this terminology. Too often they just say "make a roll."

[Majestic]

Great stuff so far. Thanks, all (especially Stormcrow, as that was really helpful to me!)