Heroes Act Intelligently by Default

We'll play with the understanding that Heroes act intelligently by default. They won't put themselves in unnecessary danger unless their players deliberately describe such actions. This approach helps us maintain game flow without players feeling overly cautious about every situation. If a Hero encounters potential danger, they'll automatically stop and retreat to safety without the player needing to specify this. For instance:

Imagine your Hero begins walking into quicksand. They will notice that very quickly and stop moving forward / deeper. Or imagine your Hero takes a step onto a staircase and it starts to crumble. They do not continue up the steps. The Director stops the action and narrates the unexpected or risky situation.

Heroes Know the World

Your Hero knows far more about the world than you, the player, do. You are encouraged to ask them questions. They will always give you honest answers to the best of their experience and knowledge.

Heroes will also warn you if you're about to make a serious mistake. If you direct your Hero to do something that will clearly have unfortunate consequences, they will pause. This will take the form of the Director stepping in to confirm that your Hero expects a bad outcome, and to make sure you really want to proceed.

“In Character”

Speaking in character is for flavor, not a requirement.

At its core, a Role-Playing Game is about making the decisions that an imaginary character probably would make in an imaginary situation taking place in an imaginary world. You don’t need to try to emulate a Scottish accent for your Dwarf Assassin. Or whatever.

The following exchange, an example of using the Insight skill, is perfectly reasonable.

When a PC thinks the suspect is lying about their alibi – either because of a passive Insight clue or because the player deduced it from other information in the adventure or because the player just has a hunch – they can probe the suspect about the alibi without just outright accusing the NPC of lying. The player can say, “I think he’s lying about his alibi. Can I see if I can catch him in the lie?” The Director might say, “Okay. Is there anything specific you’d like to bring up or do you just want to poke around?” Then the player can say, “Well, you said it seemed like he was feeling guilty about something; can I lean on his guilt?” And then we’ll roll some dice and then the Director will describe the long, probing conversation they have that ultimately suggests that the guy’s guilt doesn’t seem connected to the crime. It seems connected to his alibi. And he’s most definitely lying about his alibi. He can’t keep his story straight. ~The Angry GM