Hey guys. New user, first time poster!

I'm just getting into the Core Rulebook. Loving it so far, but i have a few questions concerning Threats. It seems hard to come up with creative threats, especially if they occur regularly.

In the "Long arm of the Hutts" adventure the PCs makes a knowledge check on a piece of chitin found in the hold of their ship. The difficulty is hard and detail of information is revealed based on how many successes you get.

Any tips on appropriate Threats on this, or similar types of skill checks?

Apologies, Ive confused Threat with Dispair.

Book suggests leaving out certain information depending on threat, or fake information on despairs.

So maybe a few successes would give:

Where it's found

What it's used for

Approximate value

How to use it

So maybe 1-2 threat, you skip out on 1 of those, 3-4 you skip out on two, 5+ you skip on 3 of them.

Alternatively, you can make it so they actually get more information, but it reveals something bad. So they find out something they found is in bad condition - maybe it needs repair, maybe it creates an inferior product, maybe you need twice the amount to make the same item.

Alternatively, you can make it so they actually get more information, but it reveals something bad.

For myself, failures reveal bad informations, threat means more of an obstacle to get the right information....

In the OP's exemple... trying to get information on a piece of chitin... you roll threat. You get a few sucess but roll 2-3 threat. The easiest way to deal with it is to say it took then way longer then expected to find the info... if you want something better, you can come up with different obstacles... here are a few exemples :

1- You know a guy who is the best chitin analyser in the whole universe.... you just have to find him to get all the info you need.

2- You once read a book that had all the info you needed... maybe you can find it at the local library.

3- To get all the info you need, you just have to use a Multi-specter DNA Chitin Analyser (random wizztech name)... where could you find this tool ?

I think that just saying it takes more time removes a lot of choices from the players... in my 3 exemples, they can choose to go get the info they need, if they just take the time or spend the money... or they can just skip it and continue along the adventure.

But just thinking about it.... while not really revealing bad information... you could opt to alter the info you give to pop-up another question... Here is what I think :

Let's say the book says : the chitin is the skin of a broomok, a reptilian beast that lives in a swamp planet nearby, that is a popular target for beast hunters.... with a few threat, why not change the description to something puzzling... like it is the skin of a broomok, a small reptile with highly poisonnous saliva that can only be found on a planet that has been destroyed in a blackhole not so long ago.... the GM tells a story that is not set in stone, you can change it anyway you like.,.. so in my description, the GM changed the info to make a new one, with story gaps in it... did they have a live broomok ? did they get a sample of poisonnous saliva ? do they still have it ? was it dead ? what could they do with the poisonnous saliva ?

I'm not sure what was the intent for the chitin in the game, but feel free to have fun. Unfortunately, its always easier to come up with good ideas after the game has ended

Later

Thanks for the advice! I suppose making up potential threats for skill checks in advance could be to my advantage. But of course, the players tend to use skill checks on everything they can find so...i guess i'll just have to put on my creative hat.

PC:"Can i understand the language written on the wall?"

GM: "Yes, you recognize it as Rhodian"

He succeeds with one Threat, and gets a paper cut causing him to curse loudly (and alerting a nearby Trooper.)

yeah, the paper cut is kinda silly, but i think Threats could be a good way to introduce some slapstick.

When a threat is rolled you could ask yourself, "What would be really inconvenient right now".