Spotting things

[AdrianH]

What do you normally get players to roll for their characters to spot or notice things? The GM I'm currently playing with makes us roll Recon, which is bad news for anyone who didn't get it as a skill, and doubly bad news for my character who also has low enough INT to get a further penalty beyond the usual -2 for an untrained skill. This means he's lucky if he can see a door before he walks through it.

 

[Golan2072]

How obscure is the thing they need to spot? Relatively obvious things could probably be spotted using narrative alone (describe the place, then if the players want they can look at certain parts of the place in detail, then describe them in detail, then let them make their own conclusions).

Obscure things will probably either use an Int skill roll with no skill (for general perception using their natural senses), the Sensors skill (if using sensors to search/watch) or the Recon skill (for military applications such as noticing camouflaged enemies or understanding weaknesses in enemy defense plans). Stealth might be used instead of Recon to notice enemies trying to sneak at the characters.

 

[rust]

What do you normally get players to roll for their characters to spot or notice things?

We use Intelligence instead of Recon. We see Recon as an active skill
used by someone who is actively looking for informations, and has lear-
ned what and where to look for, while the ability to notice things without
actively looking for them seems to be more of an inborn attribute thing.

 

[alex_greene]

The Int characteristic roll works for most basic situations where no specific skill is required, e.g. trying to spot a pistol lost during a scuffle or trying to figure out a pass code for a door lock.

The most useful skills one can apply to gather data are Recon, Sensors and Investigation, though other skills can prove highly useful.

e.g. Art (sculpture), Edu - to work out the hidden satirical message implicit in a work of art on display in a gallery.

Drive, Int - to work out that the driver of the vehicle behind the character's is tailing the character;

Gambler, Int - to work out not only that the game is rigged, but also how.

 

[CosmicGamer]

How obscure is the thing they need to spot? Relatively obvious things could probably be spotted using narrative alone (describe the place, then if the players want they can look at certain parts of the place in detail, then describe them in detail, then let them make their own conclusions).

Now you are leaving it up to the players skill and not the characters. Personally, I don't care for a mystery/detective/puzzle type game where it is up to the players to put all the little clues together. I often feel like I'm being led by the nose and following the clues because I know it's what the GM wants my character to do or I'm constantly wondering what clues my agent character with investigation 4 would have picked up on but dumb me missed.

A cleverly crafted important clue that is key to progressing the story line being left up to random dice rolls can be risky. So can leaving it up to the players. That pad of paper that someone was supposed to rub with a pencil to see what was written last may be overlooked.

Obscure things will probably either use an Int skill roll with no skill (for general perception using their natural senses), the Sensors skill (if using sensors to search/watch) or the Recon skill (for military applications such as noticing camouflaged enemies or understanding weaknesses in enemy defense plans). Stealth might be used instead of Recon to notice enemies trying to sneak at the characters.

I agree that depending on the circumstances, different skills might apply. In some cases, multiple skills could apply (Investigation or Recon). In some cases it may be a straight characteristic roll. Also, depending on the circumstances, different difficulties could be assigned.

Depending on how often these type of things may occur, you can create a new characteristic. I play in a game where perception is an additional characteristic. In a game I ran, I added hearing and vision characteristics because I planned on using them fairly often for detection.

 

[JimG]

What do you normally get players to roll for their characters to spot or notice things?

We use Intelligence instead of Recon. We see Recon as an active skill
used by someone who is actively looking for informations, and has lear-
ned what and where to look for, while the ability to notice things without
actively looking for them seems to be more of an inborn attribute thing.

Huh... that's a perfectly reasonable interpretation, but I made the exact opposite one in my game.

In my game, I use Recon as sort of a passive skill to allow players to spot trouble before it starts, and use either Investigate or Recon as an active skill for examining a situation. Lacking these skills doesn't mean the characters won't notice things, it just means that they aren't trained observers and may miss important details.

For example, assume the players are being tailed: if the tailing character misses a Stealth or Deception roll all of the PC's get a chance to notice him. If he makes the roll, his actions are subtle enough that it takes a Recon roll to spot him.

Most of the time "Spot" rolls are either trivial in which case, I don't make anyone roll, or important enough that I want the trained observer to have an advantage.

 

[Dave Chase]

Also consider the characters background and skills

A character who has construction work (ie engineering or such) might notice something out of place/wrong or added to something that is not normal.

A character that has some security background, might notice something unusal or different that what is considered 'normal'.

Someone with streetwise might notice or feel something out of place.

The key is to remember that someone who has dealt with things of a certain type will normally spot or feel that something is different before someone who knows nothing about the subject or situation.

Take the above and add or subtract it to the Int (Edu) or other skill could help you or the character notice something.

Personally while GMing, I don't like to tell the players directly that X is wrong, out of place or different.

Instead, I will tell them things that they have noticed, like the crew seems to work well together, or that the ship areas seem cleaner than most ships you have been on. (this is assuming that the players are Travellers or have had ship time)

That then leaves it up to the players to clue in or tune out the information. Sometimes the information will help develop the NPC's sometimes, the information is hints about something not seen or run into yet.

Dave Chase

 

[alex_greene]

Streetwise could be used to spot a deal going down in the street; who the buyer and seller are, where the kids are stationed to act as lookouts and yell "Five - O!" when the cops appear and so on. Also, if there's a drive-by about to happen, Streetwise, Int can quickly establish the signs (kids in gang colours coming in on bicycles way too fast, or a car driving by way too slowly with the passenger side window rolling down ...)

 

[Bygoneyrs]

When I am GMing I will give varrious "clues" along with tons of other details with my descriptions. It keeps the players always guessing about what is or isn't a clue. Plus I have a list of every player characters skills behind my GM screen and roll for the player in this case and if need be pass a note to a specific player. I some times pass notes with none standard clues or etc to players just to throw out stuff to keep them going. It always adds entertainment for me.

I should also point out in my game I always have plots within plots with plots running for the players to get involved with. Depending on their choices, certain actions help to drive a plot line along.

Penn