Consider the following scenarios:
GM: Okay, the gate is in front of you, how do you wanna approach it?
Player: I'm gonna try and rip it off its hinges!
GM: Okay, make a 2 Difficulty Move check.
GM: Two hits and a Trick! You pass with a bonus, how would you like to spend that Trick?
Player: Uh...
*The player glances at a cheat sheet*
Player: I'll find 5 Rings.
Another Player: Wow, that's, what, the third time this has happened?
Player: Yeah, well, I couldn't think of anything else, the other options didn't make any sense here.
OR
Player: I'm gonna make a Sneak check to get past the guards.
GM: Alright, that will be opposed by the enemy's Perceive skill.
...
GM: Ooh! That's a failure. Critical Success, though! And a Slip!
*The group collectively freezes trying to parse the contradictory results*
Player: Uhhhh, I guess I'll upgrade the next guy's check?
GM: Uhhhh, add +1 Disadvantage to your next check, I guess.
GM: Oh! And you failed the check, roll for combat initiative.
Think Outside the Box
The rulings in the previous examples were OK, they made adequate use of the mechanical modifiers that players and GMs can utilize, and the game kept moving. But the results themselves were rather inconsequential to the narrative, a routine skill check came and went, and the only dynamic shift was writing new items on character sheets or changing what dice were rolled later.
Tricks and Slips can be much more exciting, and with some prep work and practice, they can be the most talked about moments of the session!
Let's take the first example when the player ripped the gate off of its hinges. Rather than think about the mechanics of the action, the player can ask themselves the following;
What are some logical side-effects of this action?
How might the characters in this encounter effected be affected, mentally or physically?
What other objects nearby might be changed by this event?
What undesirable effects could be minimized?
What information could be gained?
Instead of simply gaining some Rings, the player might have:
Weakened the wall, making it easier to break or climb
Intimidated nearby NPCs with their show of strength, making them more easily coerced
Performed the action quietly or with minimal damage
Asked the GM to provide information about the area, which the GM rules as hidden wiring becoming exposed, alerting the players to the security systems present
The possibilities are nigh endless. Generally speaking, however, a Trick should not accomplish a task for a player outright but should instead assist them in performing a subsequent task.
In the following example, instead of hastily passing a bonus to another player, the player could have asked themself the questions from earlier and done one of the following:
Draw the guards' attention from the other players, allowing them to make an easier check, or at GM's discretion, not need to roll at all
Gain valuable intel from the guards, such as noticing them inputting a code to disable a system or overhearing the guards talking about something important
Reduce the hostility of the guards to avoid combat, causing them to let the PC off with a warning rather than attacking or detaining them
In these instances, a Critical Success allows the player to greatly reduce bad consequences or even circumvent certain obstacles altogether. These are the times when a player is encouraged to swing for the fences and make the most of their "Nat 20" moment. But it should be noted that an "I fail the check but succeed anyway" should be avoided since it trivializes the dice result. In this instance, the player's stealth attempt was still ultimately unsuccessful, they did not pass through without notice. Even so, the character accomplished secondary goals that assisted their team as a whole.
As for the Slip, reconciling the complication with the Critical Success is easier than it looks. First, discern what questions have already been answered by the check:
The player failed the check, the guards are already alerted to the PC's presence and will react accordingly
The player was able to receive a significant boon from their Critical Success, so whatever the Slip ends up being, this cannot change (i.e., the guards cannot make the character forget the intel they learned, the other characters do not lose their benefit from the distraction, the guards should not attack the character after previously deciding to let them go, etc.)
With those considerations out of the way, consider complications that run parallel to the previous results or recontextualize them.
The guards become more wary of this individual after letting them go, making further checks for them to sneak in harder
The guards alert their superiors, complicating an upcoming encounter with their intervention
The intel the character received was incomplete or partially inaccurate
Mastering a multi-axis resolution system can be tricky, but with some prep and a lot of practice, you may just find you never want to go back to a simple pass/fail system again!
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