I used a formidable in our game last Friday. The PCs had killed a thug who had cybernetic eyes. They lugged the body back on board their ship, and blasted out of the starport. Not really sure who had sent the thug, my wife offers, "Maybe we can recover some sort of record of what he has seen lately from his eyes." Well, that was just whacky enough that I had to say yes, but in order for their Outlaw Tech/Doctor to salvage the eyes (which were damaged by a 'blinded' crit during the fight) and recover data, I told him he would need to make a formidable roll. Which he did. And we all agreed that was fun, and in the spirit of the game.

That's awesome. Bravo Zulu to your group.

What did they discover through the thug's eyes?

Formidables rarely come up in my games... As per RAW they shouldn't either. The example they give is "finding food and shelter on a planet with no atmosphere" (I am paraphrasing) which is something that I would not use lightly and even if I would I wouldn't upgrade it. But whatever works at your table of course, there is no such thing as bad fun.

I will say that I don't use Formidable often at all, but I play in 2 campaigns and GM another. Between all that, I have seen it enough that it doesn't shock me. Daunting probably would have been a better fit, looking back at it, but live and learn.

As a GM I'm not afraid of upgrading. The failure result increase is marginal and I think despairs make the story interesting. Additional setback dice are much more likely to increase the failure rate. If you start with a Daunting check, 3 setbacks (not totally unreasonable depending on the situation) adds as much average failure as 4 upgrades. So even 1 setback adds more average failure results than 1 upgrade.

I am not advocating using challenge dice all the time, but I would say the bigger reason to use them is to add despair into the mix, not to make something more difficult (though it does do this, just setback dice are better at it and used much more frequently).

Formidables rarely come up in my games... As per RAW they shouldn't either. The example they give is "finding food and shelter on a planet with no atmosphere" (I am paraphrasing) which is something that I would not use lightly and even if I would I wouldn't upgrade it. But whatever works at your table of course, there is no such thing as bad fun.

I will say that I don't use Formidable often at all, but I play in 2 campaigns and GM another. Between all that, I have seen it enough that it doesn't shock me. Daunting probably would have been a better fit, looking back at it, but live and learn.

As a GM I'm not afraid of upgrading. The failure result increase is marginal and I think despairs make the story interesting. Additional setback dice are much more likely to increase the failure rate. If you start with a Daunting check, 3 setbacks (not totally unreasonable depending on the situation) adds as much average failure as 4 upgrades. So even 1 setback adds more average failure results than 1 upgrade.

I am not advocating using challenge dice all the time, but I would say the bigger reason to use them is to add despair into the mix, not to make something more difficult (though it does do this, just setback dice are better at it and used much more frequently).

I'd say that a Despair option when doing climbing checks beyond the first would be something that makes a ton of sense. Despair = fall.

One of the guys in my group is a photographer. While this isn't the Graflex, it is close, and looks cool.

Friday night's session finale, in which the ladies return from a night out on the town (while the guys called it an early evening), only to be surprised by a bounty hunter waiting for them on the starboard mandible of their ship.

My groups 2nd session I hadn't asked permission to post this, so I blacked out their eyes for privacy.

Stripe Shirt on the left is running a Makashi Duelist Mystic

Grey Shirt to his left (camera right) is running a Trader/Entrepreneur (HELP! I need content!)

Blue Hat is our Pilot Smuggler annnnd

Curly Hair to his right is our (wookie) Technician/Mechanic!

Good group of friends

What are those little sheets in front your screen?

From two Fridays ago, the players really botched their destiny pool rolls. I had fun with those five dark side points.

From last Friday, they brought in a ringer to help them get better rolls. I don't know who that little green guy was, but he was strong with the Force.

What are those little sheets in front your screen?

Sorry for the late response, they are blank NPC cards I printed off.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2t5l_Ykgao_cUtwVExFNkk0c1E/edit

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

blurring their faces would not be enough?

Only five darkside points? I started one of my latest sessions with 9 darkside lol. All the PC's but one rolled two dark pips, and the last rolled a single dark pip, it was great.

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

blurring their faces would not be enough?

It's alot of work, and in the end, I'm not sure it's enough according to Swedish law.

I'll take the safe route on this one.

Only five darkside points? I started one of my latest sessions with 9 darkside lol. All the PC's but one rolled two dark pips, and the last rolled a single dark pip, it was great.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Last night's session!

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

blurring their faces would not be enough?

It's alot of work, and in the end, I'm not sure it's enough according to Swedish law.

I'll take the safe route on this one.

Vad tusan har du för jobb där du kan spela rollspel på arbetstid?

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

blurring their faces would not be enough?

It's alot of work, and in the end, I'm not sure it's enough according to Swedish law.

I'll take the safe route on this one.

Vad tusan har du för jobb där du kan spela rollspel på arbetstid?

Personlig Elevassistent med deltid på fritids när eleven inte är där (tisdagar mer precist).

Men vill du spela rollspel på arbetstid så är nog fritidledare yrket för dig

(sorry about the swedish, guys)

I can role-play the Swedish Chef, if that helps.

;)

Only if you do Rapper's Delight...

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

blurring their faces would not be enough?

It's alot of work, and in the end, I'm not sure it's enough according to Swedish law.

I'll take the safe route on this one.

Vad tusan har du för jobb där du kan spela rollspel på arbetstid?

What was the middle thing?

They had a crazy deal for an old display screen at Walmart so I snatched it up and with a thin piece of plexiglass it has become our new game table...I use Roll20 to run the game as a GM and project my player profile view onto the tv...works great.

Impressive!

Most impressive!

I'd really like to do that someday...

Last night's session!

+2 points for Yuengling.

Wow. That TV Table looks amazing. Great job.

I'm going to try to remember to take a picture when I'm at work, playing with the kids.

Have to be careful though, because I can't publish any pics where the kids are visible, so I'm gonna have to ask them to get out of the frame.

blurring their faces would not be enough?

It's alot of work, and in the end, I'm not sure it's enough according to Swedish law.

I'll take the safe route on this one.

Vad tusan har du för jobb där du kan spela rollspel på arbetstid?

What was the middle thing?

Sorry, middle thing...? *feels stupid*

Otto from "A Fish Called Wanda" maybe? "What was the middle part again...?"