Intention, Initiation, Execution, and Effect

Although the ability check seems very simple, there's more involved than it seems at first glance. Every time your character takes an action, there are four steps involved: Intention, Initiation, Execution, and Effect. Here's how these break down:


 * Intention
 * The player announces the intended action for the character. No movement or action has happened yet, though. The intention and its consequences may be discussed among the Story Guide and players and changed. Stakes must be stated for the check: what stands to be lost and gained?


 * Initiation
 * The player has committed her character to the task, and no changes can be made now. The dice hit the table.


 * Execution
 * The character completes her action. The player adds the dice to the character's ability to figure out the success level.


 * Effect
 * The players and Story Guide decide what the effect of the task is, whether successfully completed or not.

Now, that sounds like a lot to go through every time you roll the dice. Normally, this all happens without thinking too much about it, making it quick. A player states, "My character's going to do something," she rolls dice, everyone looks to see how the character did, and a decision about what happened occurs.

The reason I bring up the four steps is because if you never think about them, you can cause tension among the players and Story Guide. Imagine a player, Joe, stating, "Jack, my character, hits the priest right in the chest with a sword blow." Now, following the four steps, you realize this has not happened in the game, but is just Joe stating her intention. (While his statement was technically incorrect, in that she stated it happened, and it was an intention, this is a common way of stating intention in role-playing games.)

Carrying on with this example, though, what if the Story Guide is confused about the four steps? She may take this as initiation, for example, and when she says, "The priest grabs her black mace," Joe might want her character Jack to back off. If the Story Guide thinks the above statement was initiation, though, Joe can't do this, and may get angry at the Story Guide for withholding the information that the priest had this mace.

And in the end, what if the group is confused about effect? If Joe's roll is successful, a confused group might think that Joe's stated intention for Jack is exactly what happens. This is not necessarily so: the outcome of the dice and disposition of the players might determine a different effect.

The point is this: take your time to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to a character performing a task. While the first game or two might run a bit slower than normal because steps are being heavily delineated, the speed will pick up as everyone gets used to following them.