So what do yall say happens when some one rolls a neutral roll? If every thing cancels out, what is some things that yall or the rolling player has said about the results of said roll?

I asked this recently as well:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/201715-what-to-do-if-the-roll-is-a-wash/

So what do yall say happens when some one rolls a neutral roll? If every thing cancels out, what is some things that yall or the rolling player has said about the results of said roll?

Per RAW, it's a failure, so you say you missed, you can't figure it out, the lock is beyond your skill, the information is sketchy and inconclusive, you can't stop the bleeding, etc. Same thing you would say if one uncancelled failure is showing.

The shot goes wide into the bulkhead, showing sparks but with no damage. You cant crack open the door, but at least you didn't set off any alarms. The database security is simply beyond your capabilities.

It doesn't have to be flashy, just that you missed the target. Not every roll in this game has to shake the pillars of heaven.

It isn't an empty roll narratively if you think of what COULD have happened. It's still very full from a certain point of view. You failed, but lots of bad stuff did NOT happen. You were lucky the failure didn't cause any further harm. It's not empty from a narrative point of view.

You failed in a spectacularly boring way. No benefits gained, no negative consequences, nothing. It's like the Magikarp of a dice roll.

I believe it was the Skill Monkey that gave this advice. Look at which dice produced the results. Since a wash is still a failed check, look at which of the negative dice brought results. If it was a Setback die that canceled a success, then the attempt failed because of whatever environmental factor put the setback into the roll. If it's a red die for active opposition, then the other guy stopped you.

All your green dice coming up blank? Perhaps this particular task required a particular technique, and you've been making it on instinct (Characteristic) all this time.

A complete wash means there's no mechanical effect, so I like to go massively over the top narratively. Just for fun.

Your shot ricocheted off the frying pan with a clang, bounced off the blast doors, broke out through a window and finally came to a halt in a passing seagull. Nobody is injured. Except the seagull, obviously.

*(Please don't ask why there are frying pans and blast doors in the same room).

Your shot ricocheted off the frying pan with a clang, bounced off the blast doors, broke out through a window and finally came to a halt in a passing seagull. Nobody is injured. Except the seagull, obviously.

Seagulls in Spaaaaaaaaace!

A complete wash means there's no mechanical effect, so I like to go massively over the top narratively. Just for fun.

Your shot ricocheted off the frying pan with a clang, bounced off the blast doors, broke out through a window and finally came to a halt in a passing seagull. Nobody is injured. Except the seagull, obviously.

*(Please don't ask why there are frying pans and blast doors in the same room).

Why are there windows and blast doors in the same room?

We play a lot of FaD, so we've collectively decided that a perfectly neutral roll results in a saber lock, with on-going narrative and mechanical effects in combat.

Of course, that really only affects Lightsaber rolls... which has resulted in a lot of in-jokes about lightsabers popping out of computer terminals in our AoR campaign whenever the slicer's slicing attempts are cancelled out.

A complete wash means there's no mechanical effect, so I like to go massively over the top narratively. Just for fun.

Your shot ricocheted off the frying pan with a clang, bounced off the blast doors, broke out through a window and finally came to a halt in a passing seagull. Nobody is injured. Except the seagull, obviously.

*(Please don't ask why there are frying pans and blast doors in the same room).

Why are there windows and blast doors in the same room?

Ask the Trade Federation...

Clearly, someone wanted to design a ship with a reasonable chance of decompressing rapidly

Well of course you are going to put windows on your command centers! How else are you going to see the enemy ships so you can shoot at them? Duh.

I ran into the problem where it was a question of whether someone that gets a neutral role fails. For example: climbing a rope, you roll neutral. My interpretation is that you do not get any higher, others are interpreting this as you fall...

I don't like the pass/fail mechanic, it just leads to the 'now what?' mechanic and the excuse to roll again until there is a success. Climbing the rope successfully means just that, you climbed the rope. Failing means you slipped while you were doing it and depending on how crappy your result was you suffered X Strain , Y Wounds, or Z critical, while ascending the rope.

I think the biggest issue is the Gm not knowing what failure looks like ahead of time. Which can lead to a lot of issues and a lot of unneeded rolls.

In the climbing example. If they are using a ladder, failure could mean no progress.

If the are climbing up the ladder trying not to make noise, failure could mean they made noise.

If they are climbing a wet slippery mountain ledge failure could mean they lose their grip and fall.

Honestly, failure can really mean anything, but what's most important is that the GM and players know what base success and failure looks like before a roll is made. If failure of a roll doesn't have a clear consequence or isn't fun and exciting there is no need to call for a roll.

As to the original question. No Success and No Failures = no success, a failure. It's the same as if the roll came up 1 failure and 0 successes.

I don't like the pass/fail mechanic, it just leads to the 'now what?' mechanic and the excuse to roll again until there is a success. Climbing the rope successfully means just that, you climbed the rope. Failing means you slipped while you were doing it and depending on how crappy your result was you suffered X Strain , Y Wounds, or Z critical, while ascending the rope.

Why make a roll for climbing the rope in the first place? Seriously if failing a roll is something that is going to hinder the GM and the players then just don't roll. Dice should only be rolled when there is a risk of failure or chance of overwhelming success to some beneficial effect. If the GM wants the players to get up the rope and the dice rolls are getting in the way then just dont roll.

Back to the original question... I agree with what ever body else has said, no successes and no failures is still a fail. It depends on how descriptive you want to be. You can either say "you are unsuccessful in your attempt" or describe how close they came to succeeding if you think it will make them feel good about missing.