When one is called upon to add half of one's infamy (or whatever) characteristic to something, does one round up or down?

I would say it depends. For example, look at pages 41 and 42, specifically the sections Running Vertical Jumps, Standing Horizontal Leaps, Running Horizontal Leaps, and Throwing objects.

The way I see it, the rounding is always done to the advantage of the player. So, generally, round up if you get Degrees of Success and round down if you get Degrees of Failure to mitigate the failure and enhance the success. However, in the case of leaping, the Degree of Failure rounds up in order to give advantage to jumping farther.

In other words, every instance is context dependant and you should round up or down whichever one gives the character the advantage.

I prefer to just go with regular rounding (0.5 rounds up) for all things rather than complicate things by trying to judge context for any particular task. Simple is better.

I asked the devs once, and they said that you should always round up. (especially in case of talents sush as mighty shot, or crushing blow).

HappyDaze said:

You can't just round up across the board. There are cases when the rules state to round down. Look at the examples I quoted in my previous comment. When you read those statements, it becomes obvious that rounding is done on a case-by-case basis so that it is always in the benefit of the character. Besides, it's not like it's that hard to determine - all of about, what, 3 seconds of thinking?

Qaia said:

You're quite wrong - I can and do round up accross the board. Rules that shift back and forth are prime examples of rules that benefit from standardization. And checking to see if the rule says to round up or round down might well take much more than 3 seconds while following a standardized rule for rounding takes no extra time at all.

I generally ignore what ever any system tells me to do and just round how I learned to in school. This means .5 gets rounded up for me, always.

Cryhavok said:

That's a good practice in my eyes. I just wish game writers were smart enought to realize that this KISS approach will make their game just one bit easier to learn and master (since standard rounding typically has already been mastered in elementary school).

HappyDaze said:

How am I "quite wrong" when I'm referencing what the rules say to do??? What you are doing is ignoring the rules and implementing something you want. If that's how you run your games, then so be it. I'm not going to say it's "wrong" - just relegate it to a house rule, which is totally fine. But it makes no sense for you to say what I'm referencing to be wrong as what I'm referencing are the actual rules - round according to the context.

My gaming group prefers realism to the KISS principle. Even if it takes a few extra seconds or a few extra minutes to figure out the rules in a particular context, everyone prefers that the game be as realistic as possible. We're there to enjoy an evening of gaming. No one is in a rush to just simplify every aspect of the game via KISS, get the game over with, and go home.

Personally, disregard the context rounding is not for the purposes of KISS. Rather it adds variety. I dont think it takes any thought at all to tell weather something is for or against the players, but everthing being in thier favor is boring. I find no reason to make my badguys weaker whenever I have to round things. The laws of the grimdark should never be solely in the players favor.

Qaia said:

Read what I quoted. You said I can't just round up accross the board, but I do, so you're wrong.

I'm also having a laugh at the idea that rounding a value by any method has an effect on the 'realism' of a gaming experience.

Cryhavok said:

With the purpose to add variety, that's completely understandable. In that context, and if it's presented as such, I would be ok with that. What I'm against are positions like HappyDaze's in rounding because he doesn't want to, and I quote, "complicate things" and that "simple is better". So in his case, yes, rounding in only one direction is for the purposes of KISS. Also, when you read some of his other posts in other threads, his general attitude towards the gaming experience is towards KISS. In my opinion, if you want to implement house rules (which include breaking official rules), at least have some logic and reasoning behind it. Not just because you're lazy.

Qaia said:

You can't see logic and reasoning to using a single consistent method of rounding? I guess that you must see mathematics as a tool of the lazy then. Those poor fools trying to use a base standard for accomplishing all manner of tasks. I'm sure that'll never amount to anything…

And yes, I do think that the gaming experience should avoid unneeded complication. Rounding in a manner not consistent with what's been taught in schools for decades is certainly an unneeded complication in my eyes.

Round up always unless explicitly said otherwise (like for example in the cases of vertical jumps or whichever it is). Rounding down is very rare to say the least. I can think of just one thing which mentions it.