I can think of a few situations where a "no-stress" TN 0 roll might be called for, mostly things like Knowledge checks, though it could work for anything where the PCs definitely succeed a bit, but there's a question of how much.

An example of a scene I'd like to have in a game: The PCs attend a Kabuki play (and of course the players are handed a short script of one scene, to play it out rather than have me just read to them). The subject is the madness, cruelty, and finally the murder of Emperor Hantei XVI, the Steel Chrysanthemum. I would inform the players that this play probably makes them very uncomfortable, not because of the violence, but because it portrays the Son of Heaven in a negative light. How could such a play even be legal?

That's when we call for a TN 0 check, probably Earth Ring, using either Culture or Government, maaaaybe Composition. All the characters can assist, using any of those skills, and each success is one question they can ask me regarding what they know about the subject. "Who was this guy?" Give them the basic history. "How was such a play written?" His successor gave specific permission, and even commissioned a handful of plays and songs about it. "Why would he allow that?" Because his claim to the throne was somewhat tenuous, and he wanted to quash the idea that he had XVI killed in a coup. And so on. You could ignore Strife, or you could let them suffer it, to reflect their discomfort at the subject matter.

Of course you wouldn't want to do this for every bit of lore. I thought of this because I like the idea of revisiting the War of Spirits, where Hantei XVI returns from the dead (though I would have a different setup), and I would like to give the players a scene that they might remember a little better than a one-page write-up.

54 minutes ago, The Grand Falloon said:

Of course you wouldn't want to do this for every bit of lore.

True, but anything you can do to just avoid "exposition dump" is generally a good thing!

Rokugan has a thousand years of history (give or take) and very few characters in-setting will know all of it, let alone players who haven't lived it.

5 hours ago, The Grand Falloon said:

I can think of a few situations where a "no-stress" TN 0 roll might be called for, mostly things like Knowledge checks, though it could work for anything where the PCs definitely succeed a bit, but there's a question of how much.

An example of a scene I'd like to have in a game: The PCs attend a Kabuki play (and of course the players are handed a short script of one scene, to play it out rather than have me just read to them). The subject is the madness, cruelty, and finally the murder of Emperor Hantei XVI, the Steel Chrysanthemum. I would inform the players that this play probably makes them very uncomfortable, not because of the violence, but because it portrays the Son of Heaven in a negative light. How could such a play even be legal?

That's when we call for a TN 0 check, probably Earth Ring, using either Culture or Government, maaaaybe Composition. All the characters can assist, using any of those skills, and each success is one question they can ask me regarding what they know about the subject. "Who was this guy?" Give them the basic history. "How was such a play written?" His successor gave specific permission, and even commissioned a handful of plays and songs about it. "Why would he allow that?" Because his claim to the throne was somewhat tenuous, and he wanted to quash the idea that he had XVI killed in a coup. And so on. You could ignore Strife, or you could let them suffer it, to reflect their discomfort at the subject matter.

Of course you wouldn't want to do this for every bit of lore. I thought of this because I like the idea of revisiting the War of Spirits, where Hantei XVI returns from the dead (though I would have a different setup), and I would like to give the players a scene that they might remember a little better than a one-page write-up.

The big question is: does checks without strife and/or without opportunities make sense. I think they do? For some situations, especially the dreaded narrative scenes which are so difficult to handle with the mechanics.

You also use a TN 0. That is a double fault

I really enjoy this discussion about how gamers usually handle narrative scenes in term of pacing and checks. And/or if they ever really use narrative scenes. That is one obscure part of the system that can lead to frustrating or strangely broken results if not handled properly.

On 1/21/2020 at 3:20 AM, Magnus Grendel said:

Honestly, that's not really a house rule; that's the primary use of opportunities in narrative stuff - (or the lack of it) determines if you get the information you actually planned on searching for (and which the skill/ring being used was based on), whilst is for 'unrelated stuff that's still nice to know'.

I wasn't contesting the original rules; it's more of a subtle difference between gaining ancillary information not directly related or information which has more of a direct benefit.

For example, using opportunity during initiative will tell a PC more about their opponent than rushing in for a strike with less observant senses.

Just out of curiosity, are you using a Rollable Table to create customer results? I would assume so, but thought I'd ask. That seems to be the preferred way to do custom dice.a