Unwritten

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TAKING ACTION
Characters do lots of things. They jump chasms, they negotiate with native leaders, they
decipher strange inscriptions on the ruins of D'ni outposts, etc. Doing things is what
Unwritten is all about. Now, most of what a character does is not all that interesting.
They are not particularly difficult things to do. Nor are they points of drama in the
character's story. Even when they need to be commented on, characters just do them.

In Unwritten, much of what characters do just happens if it makes sense. If it doesn't
make sense, it doesn't happen. This is a call made by the people around the table, with the
GM as moderator of the discussion. That's not to say that every action needs to be
reviewed by committee; but everyone at the table should feel free to bring up relevant
points at appropriate times.

However, there are times when the stakes are higher. At these times, the character can
still succeed, but potential failure is interesting. Even more so, what a person is willing to
do to ensure success is interesting and a dramatic moment for the character and the
player. In these cases, Unwritten uses a action roll.

An action roll not only determines if a character is successful or not. The roll also
determines the cost of success; how much the character has to push, or how much success
will complicate the character's life. In some cases, the player has the option of turning a
failure into a success for a price.

Sidebar: When should I roll?
When considering a roll, you should consider the following questions:

Is the action is a reasonable action for the character to perform?
If the action is impossible, or just too improbable, then it doesn't happen.

Is this an action that deserves dramatic attention?
Unwritten is a game about story and drama. Some things the characters want to
do may be difficult. However, they may not be interesting. Stopping to roll the
dice may interrupt the flow of gameplay unnecessarily. Or maybe failure or the
cost of success will just have little effect on the flow of the story. If it doesn't
really matter, then let the player have the action and move on.

Is failure an interesting option?
Sometimes failure is just boring. Maybe failing here just stops gameplay
completely to no effect. There's no need to have the characters standing around
and the players stumped. If you are in a situation where a character fails and a
player would just decline to pay a price for success and ask to roll again, then it
may not be worth making the player roll in the first place. However, if failure
might lead to the characters making different choices or open up other avenues
for drama, a roll could be a good idea.
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Could paying a price for success be interesting?
Some things the characters are just going to succeed at eventually. The master
cat burglar will eventually figure out how to get past the ancient D'ni security
system - it's what they do. However, what it takes to do that and what effects it
has is a place ripe for drama. A roll can take advantage of that.

Is the action being actively opposed?
Any time two (or more) people are working against each other, we have drama.
Both failure and the price of success have ramifications, so rolling the dice
makes sense.