Message:Players may flounder early and that’s not best to get the clues out and establish a general narrative. (I also sell less games when players think the rulez sux.) While any character has lots of Make-Rolls, the dice are hard. To encourage make-roll use but also to make each depend on the others. The game is collaborative.
Don’t be idle! There must be ways to help others with skill tasks. Allow early rolls to be attempted with X3 dice when swaggering or Accoutrements cleverly aids the situation.
Here’s some good default actions, none of which has penalty for failure. It’s a Hail Mary, to toss the dice and see if allies can gain someone a modifier.
Command Action: Success for Fury to friend before his roll.
Persuasion: Success for Catbird Seat to friend before his roll.
Occult Reasoning: Success for Tactics to all for the scene.
Investigation: Allow someone to attempt his next roll as if he has no Make-Rolls remaining.
Secrecy: Lessen the severity, Ref concludes by how much, for a failed roll by a friend.
Note: The players might get in a groove where they may even callback to the Ref after he reads the situation, saying for instance, I made Occult Reasoning if that helps? Again, none of these dice pumps for Pips should have negative consequences. The worst that can happen is the Ref should say your action did not seem to help.
Yours,
IronRed
24-Jul-2022