Untitled - Index of - Free

Failure, based upon how difficult the Director feels such
an action would be, the Skill Rank of the character
performing the action, the character's Traits once again,
and anything else deemed important. The Director then
describes an outcome that is consistent, that is somewhat
plausible, and that lies within the bounds of the previous
two decisions.
SKILL VS. PLOTLINE
Whether an action Succeeds orFails isnotdepen­
dent upon how skilled a character is. Success and F allure
are dependent upon the roleplay of the Actors, and the
requirements of the plot only. Any action adjudicated a
Success can't Fail, and any adjudicated Failure won't
Succeed. No matter how high your Skill Ranks are, if you
ignore roleplay, you're not likely to Succeed at actions
very often. All your Skill Ranks will do is allow you to Fail
with grace. Very creative or very well acted solutions, on
the other hand, are more likely to be deemed Successes.
So the better your roleplay, the more Successful you're
going to be.
Your character's level of Skill will have a much
greater effect upon the extent of your Results. The plot
may call for the Success of some action, assuring you of
victory. Whether that victory will be marginal and a
coincidence, or overwhelming and due to your ability, will
depend largely upon your level of Skill. The same is true
of Failure. Even if the plot calls for your downfall, Skill
Ranks can cushion the blow, saving you from an overly
depressing defeat, and can even allow you to look good
while Failing. So if you want to consistently shine at
something, you're still going to need those Skill Ranks.
The trick to balancing Success and Failure Vs. Skill
Ranks, is to be aware of who, or what is in control.
Incredible Success should be directly attributable to the
character's mastery of a situation. Poor Success should
be attributable to something, or someone else; more
coincidence than skill. Use the same scheme for Failure.
Absolute Failure is absolutely the character's fault. Mar­
ginal Failures occur due to events mostly outside the
character's control.
For example, lets take a single incident, four times
o\ler. Imagine an old-style Western showdown, at high
noon, along a border town's dusty main thoroughfare. Our
hero will be by turns, unskilled and exceptionally skilled
with the pistol he's about to draw.
c::> Exceptionally Skilled Success - Your
opponent draws, but you draw even faster.
The first of your shots takes the pistol out of
your opponents hand, the next removes his
hat, and the third neatly strikes his belt buckle,
dropping his pants.
52 Theatrlx - The Core Rules
¢ Exceptionally Skilled Failure- As you draw
your gun, you hear the distinct sound of firing
hammers being drawn back, from the doorway
behind you, the rooftop to your left, the open
window of the general store ... ambushed!
¢ Unskilled Failure- You never quite get that
damned thing out of its holster. At least not
before the arm that's trying explodes in searing
pain. You stare at the silver dollar sized red
stain on your arm as it grows steadily larger.
You're feeling kind of sick and dizzy.
c::> Unskilled Success- You jerk that damn thing
out of its holster and fire. The recoil of the
mighty beast flings your arm up, wide of your
mark, and staggers you back. That wasn't
such a bad thing, because your opponent's
bullet whizzes past your right ear, just where
your head would have been. Your bullet
strikes a brass lamp hanging to your right,
shatters a glass window in the general store,
pings a skillet inside, squarely ricochets off
the spittoon outside the saloon, and drops
your opponent dead in the street. He had the
oddest look on his face.
AMBIGUITY
A crucial part of this scheme is the ambiguity
between Success and Failure. This ambiguity is vital to
promoting the feeling of a lived experience. Never explic­
itly tell the Actors whether one of their actions has been
deemed a Success or Failure. Let the Actors judge this for
themselves. Often, an action's repercussions are only felt
long term. You may deem an action a Failure and allow
it to Succeed in the short term, revealing the true nature
of this Result at a later time. Similarly, some Successes
may at first seem like Failures. In life, we're often unsure
of our Results. One reason for using the supplied Reso­
lution Flowcharts, is that we've optimized our suggestions
to give interesting theatrical Results, with plot twists
thrown in often enough to keep the Actors guessing.
ROLEPLAY
If roleplay is the key to Success, then what consti­
tutes good roleplay? Well, that's obviously going to
depend a lot upon you, your Troupe, your Setting, and the
specific situation you're in. As a general guideline though,
what we look for is creativity, humor, genre, and plot
enhancement.