Adjudicate Actions Like a Motherf$&%ing Boss!

theangrygm.com/adjudicate-actions-like-a-boss/

April 23,
2013

It’s going to happen, eventually. No matter how engaging your descriptions are,
eventually one of the players is going to want to do something. A character is going to
have to take an action. Now, I’ve said a lot on the subject of using the dice to resolve
actions, and I promised follow ups on all aspects of resolving actions. Well, here we are.

Let’s start with some useless pontification on role-playing theory, shall we?

The Useless Pontification on Roleplaying Theory

Most RPG rulebooks actually make a pretty big assumption. I mean, let’s take a look at
the very basic core role-playing exchange. The actual step-by-step “how to play an RPG.”

1. The DM presents a situation

2. The players imagine their characters in that situation and decide how the character
acts in response
3. The DM determines the outcome and describes the results, creating a new
situation

Right? That’s a role-playing game, at its heart. That is how all RPGs work. Except that step
three is a little more complex. It looks more like this:

3a. The DM determines whether or not the action is even possible

3b. The DM determines whether the outcome needs to be randomly determined

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3b1. The DM determines how to randomly determine the outcome
3b2. The DM makes a die roll or instructs the player to make a die roll
3b3. The DM determines the outcome of the die roll

3c. The DM decides an outcome

3d. The DM describes the results of the action of the players

(We call this process of determining the results of actions “Action Resolution” or
“Adjudicating Actions”)

Now, go back and read through your favorite RPG rulebook. How many steps are
covered and how much page space is given over to each. You will find that 3b1 and 3b2
get a lot of coverage. And the rest is kind of assumed or glossed over. That is why I wrote
Five Simple Rules. To help cover 3a, 3b3, and 3c. But there are still some big gaps. For
example, a lot of magic happens between 3b2 and 3b3 that most RPG manuals don’t
even begin to discuss. So, I’m going to look at the whole process. And, most importantly,
I’m going to look at how shine a bright spotlight on on Step 2. Because Step 2, as I noted
in another article (Defining Your Game), is really what puts the RP in RPG. It is actually
pretty much the definition of role-playing. And, in discussing all of this, I am going to
draw attention to a concept that is absolutely VITAL for running a good, ongoing role-
playing game that pretty much every role-playing game book ignores and assumes that
you, the DM, will figure out on your own.

So the Player Declared an Action: Intentions and

Approaches
You described the scene, you asked the players what they want to do, and now some
player has opened his or her noise hole and something resembling language has come
out. In theory, the player is trying to tell you what his or her character does in response
to the scene. In practice, players usually suck at this until you start teaching them how to
do it right.

When a player declares an action, you, as the DM, are looking for two things. WHAT is the
player trying to accomplish and HOW is the character trying to accomplish it? I call these
things the Intention and the Approach. Sometimes, figuring them out is easy.
Sometimes, it isn’t. But you have to figure them out. Do not try to adjudicate the action
unless you can state clearly in your head an Intention and an Approach.

The Intention is the thing the player is trying to accomplish or make progress toward. For
example, if the character is climbing a wall, his Intention is to end up on top of the wall. If
he is searching the room, his Intention is to locate anything hidden in the room or satisfy
themselves that nothing is hidden in the room. If a character is keeping watch, his
Intention is to be forewarned of anything approaching the camp. If the character is trying
to persuade the guard to let him into the castle, his Intention is to get the guard’s
permission to enter the castle.

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Intentions tell you what success looks like. The character is on the top of the wall. He
finds the hidden thing. He is convinced there are no hidden things. He is not surprised by
intruders. The guard grants permission to enter.

Be very careful about assumed and unstated Intentions. Do not be afraid to ask the
player what the character is trying to accomplish. “I swing on the rope and kick the
guard” might be just what it sounds like, but it might be ambiguous. The character might
be trying to move the guard, or push him over the railing, or knock him to the ground.
Always ask about unclear Intentions. “What are you actually trying to accomplish” is a
good question to ask.

The Approach tells you how the character is trying to accomplish the Intention. The
character is trying to get to the top of the wall BY climbing it. The character is trying to
locate hidden objects BY searching the room thoroughly. The character is trying to get
the guard’s permission BY being persuasive. Sometimes the Approach is obvious.
Sometimes it is not. And sometimes key details get left out.

For example, the player climbing the wall did not mention using any tools. Is he using
pitons, a grappling hook, a crampons and climbing claws. These are all part of his
Approach. As for the player trying to persuade the guard, what persuasive argument is
he making? Is he just saying please? For maximum clarity, you should always force a
player to be as clear as possible about their Approach. “What exactly is your character
doing?”

The Approach is as vital as the Intention. In fact, the two work things work together. The
Intention tells you, the DM, what success and failure look like. The Approach helps you
determine if the action is possible and helps you determine what mechanical rules to
use. But, more importantly, the Approach is the part of the action where all of the role-
playing lives. I kid you not. This one little thing is actually the glue that binds the
mechanical gamey parts of the game to the role-playing parts of the game AND shines a
huge spotlight on Step 2 in EVERY SINGLE ACTION. You’ll understand this when we start
looking at Consequences! And without those, you are not running a role-playing game.
You’re running a game with some story elements.

The Approach: Where Role-Playing Lives

Why is the Approach so important? Because the Approach is what differentiates one
character from another more than anything else. It might seem like the Intention is
important, and it is. But the Approach is the part that really helps define a character.

For example, suppose my coworker and I both make big (separate) screw ups at work.
We both want to avoid getting into trouble for the screw up (that is our Intention). So, I lie
and conceal the screw up from my boss. My coworker admits the screw up and tries to
fix or mitigate it. In game terms, I make a Bluff check and he makes a Diplomacy check to
avoid being disciplined. In both cases, the outcome is the same: we either get disciplined
or we don’t. But my action has left the screw up unfixed, floating out there and it might
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come back to bite me in the ass. Also, if my deception is ever discovered, or my action
fails, I have the additional trouble of having lied to my boss to conceal my mistake. My
coworker meanwhile gains a reputation for honesty, whether or not he gets disciplined.

Now, that is not to say that Intention isn’t important too. Both the means and the ends
are important. My point is that, in most RPG systems, the Approach only explicitly
matters insofar as it determines what mechanics to use to determine the outcome. But
you are ignoring a big part of the game if that is all you use the Approach for.

How to Adjudicate the Action Like a Motherf$%*ing Boss

(I Like the Title, I’m Using it Again)
Once you have identified a clear Intention and Approach, it is time to adjudicate the
action. And we’ll run through the steps, one by one.

3a. Determine Whether the Action is Possible

Different DMs do this step in different ways. Me, I ask myself two questions.

First, is the action the character is attempting physically, mentally, or spiritually possible
in the game world? Different DMs worry about this more or less. A full discussion about
suspension of disbelief and verisimilitude is beyond the scope of this article. Maybe
some day. Just be aware of this: there is no one right way to handle this question, but
every f$&%ing DM out there thinks there is and they will tell you so. Some DMs will tell
you never allow anything remotely “unrealistic,” while others will say “never, ever
disallow any action as impossible because you are stomping on the players fun.” Well,
they are both wrong .The real answer, the useful answer, lies somewhere in the middle
and it lies in a different middle spot for every DM and every group. Don’t even get drawn
into this useless argument.

Second, can the Approach the player stated actually bring about the Intention the player
stated. Can the character actually end up on top of the wall simply by climbing? Can the
character actually get by the guard simply by saying please? Can the character actually
make progress toward their stated goal by taking the action in question?

Now, for all my egalitarian bulls$&% about “no one right answer,” that part (the one
about whether the Approach can lead to the Intention) isn’t optional. If you skip it, you
are damaging the level of role-playing in your game. Why? Because you’re removing the
connection between actions (Approaches) and outcomes (Intentions). You don’t want to
create a world in which any action can bring about any goal. Eventually the players will
stop making logical, rational decisions when they realize it. They will start to simply use
their best numbers against every challenge. I am not kidding. Ask any five DMs who have
run a couple dozen Skill Challenges for D&D 4th Edition and four of them will tell you
that this can happen.

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Of course, it falls to you to determine how strict you want to be on the connection
between Approach and Intention. But whatever you are comfortable with is fine. And
don’t let ANYONE tell you there is a proper level. Just don’t ingore the question
completely. Always ask yourself if the Approach can actually get to the Intention (or make
progress toward it) and don’t be afraid to rule that an Approach CAN’T bring about an
Intention.

If you determine the action is not possible for either reason, THE ACTION FAILS. Skip to
3c. You’re done. In some cases, particularly when you feel it should be obvious that the
action can’t succeed OR when the failure will bring some harm to the character, it is
appropriate to warn the player. Usually, the player has a mistaken impression about the
situation, the world, or the rules and usually, that is due to misunderstanding or poor
communication. Thus, you do not want to punish the player or cost them anything. It is
okay to tell the player that their action can’t lead to success if you feel it should be
obvious. Of course, sometimes it won’t be obvious until someone actually tries the
action. In which case, treat the action as a failure and move to the end (3d).

3b. Determine if the Outcome Needs to be Randomly

Determined
Now that you have determined the action can succeed, you need to determine whether
or not it warrants a die roll. Do you need to use the game mechanics to figure out what
happens? Five Simple Rules deals almost entirely with this step, but I’ll sum up the
important points:

If the action can’t actually fail or failure is extremely unlikely, THE ACTION SUCCEEDS.
Huzzah! Skip to 3c.

If the action can fail, but failure carries no risk or cost and the player can freely try again
and again, THE ACTION SUCCEEDS. Huzzah! Skip to 3c.

If the action can fail and failure somehow changes the characters’ situation, you need to
use the dice baby. Keep going.

3b1: Determine How to Randomly Determine the Outcome

Now it is time to use the game rules, bubby. But you’ve made it easy on yourself. By
grilling for a clear Approach, you’ve done most of the work for figuring out how to use
the rules. The Approach should clue you in to which ability score, skill, attribute, ability,
dice pool, or whatever the hell else your game uses. This is the part where you crack the
book and roll the dice. Use your best judgement and you will do fine.

3b2. Make a Die Roll and 3b3. Determine the Outcome of the
Die Roll

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Roll the dice and determine whether the die roll succeeds or fails. Read the rulebook if
you are unclear; the whole rulebook is basically about this step.

3c. Determine the Outcome (and Consequences)

Somehow or other, when you reach this step, you have a couple of things to work with.
You have an Intention, you have an Approach, and you have either the word SUCCESS or
the word FAILURE. If you don’t have those things, something went wrong and you need
to figure out how you f$&%ed up a simple (nested) step-by-step guide. Go back and
troubleshoot.

Now comes the part where you have to decide the result of the action. “But Mr. Angry
DM, sir, I already have the word SUCCESS or FAILURE. Isn’t that the result.” NO! Bonus
points for calling me ‘Mr.’ and ‘sir,’ but you are wrong. That’s something a lot of people
assume and that is why a lot of people bitch and whine about binary systems in an
argument I will not get into here. The rule books generally, inexplicably stop at the words
‘success’ and ‘failure’ and assume you can take it from there. But there’s more to it than
that. And handling this step wrong can ruin your entire game forever and make all your
players hate you and also cause the moon to crash into the Earth. No pressure, though.

Seriously, though. You might have noticed that started this whole process with two
things: an Intention and an Approach. Ultimately, you want to get two things out:
Outcomes and Consequences.

The Outcome is a direct result of the Intention and whether or not the action itself
succeeded or failed. If you have the word SUCCESS, the character reached their stated
Intention (or made progress, more on this in a second). If you have the world FAILURE,
the character did not reach their stated intention AND something has changed so that
they either can’t try again or must decide whether to try again. Because, remember, if
they can keep trying again and again without any cost or risk, the action CAN’T FAIL.

So, the Outcome writes itself. That is the easy part. And if you spend more than a second
or two on it, you are over thinking it. Either the action succeeded or whatever it was that
kept the character from trying over and over happened: you set off the trap you were
trying to disarm, the monster heard your attempt to break down the door, you fell and
took damage, you ruined some of your materials and have to buy more, you waste time
and you have a deadline (the ticking time bomb I mentioned in Five Simple Rules) and so
on.

Now, sometimes, as a DM, you will decide that the Outcome doesn’t get all the way to
the Intention. That’s fine. Sometimes, an action is complex and requires multiple
successes to achieve. Of course, you shouldn’t do this willy nilly. You should always have
a good reason. And there needs to be a visible benchmark for progress. A lock so
complex it requires three successes to pick is stupid. There is no way to separate one
action from another. “Do you continue picking the lock” is a dumb question.

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But a vault door with three locks, each of which has a trap on it is fair and gives a sign of
progress and a risk or cost for failure. As does a door lock with three locks leaving a
room that is filling with water. About the only consistent example of a situation where
fuzzy progress and multiple die rolls is okay is social interaction, and I have a whole
separate article about that coming soon.

So, when deciding that the Outcome is “progress toward the Intention” and not the
Intention itself, ask yourself what the party can see or hear or perceive to tell them
progress was made. And ask yourself what dragging the action out accomplishes for the
game. If the answer to both of those is nothing, success equals Intention achieved.

But the Outcome is only half the result. The other half of the result is the Consequence.
Consequences are a very important way to spotlight the choices your players make in
Step 2. A Consequence is something that occurs as the result of choosing a specific
Approach. They can be positive, negative, or neutral, and they can vary depending on the
success or failure of the action, but their existence should never depend on the Outcome
of the action. That is to say, whether an action succeeds or fails, you must think about
the Consequences.

Remember how my coworker dealt with the screw up by admitting it and I dealt with it
by concealing it? Well, whether my coworker succeeded or failed, he gained a reputation
for honesty and owning up to his mistakes. Our boss will probably remember that and
trust him in the future. Whether I succeeded or failed, that mistake is still out there
waiting to be discovered. It can come back and cause trouble. And, of course, the
problem reappearing can create situations where my deception might eventually be
exposed despite my successful lie. And, if I fail to deceive my boss, I am branded as a liar.
That has repercussions as well.

After the Outcome is determined, you must think about the Consequences of the
Approach. How does the players decision to utilize that particular Approach change the
world?

Sometimes, Consequences grow naturally out of the action themselves. Combat actions
are great examples of actions whose Consequences take care of themselves. Everything
you do in combat helps shape the overall outcome of the combat. You position yourself
here instead of there. You use a healing spell instead of attacking. You choose this target
instead of that target. And so on.

But what often gets overlooked is the Consequence of choosing to fight at all. When you
kill off a patrol in a monster’s lair, what will happen when and if those bodies are
discovered? If some of the monsters get away what are the Consequences?

Other actions also have Consequences that appear organically. If the party jumps a
ravine instead of building a makeshift bridge, the ravine still exists as an obstacle. It might
slow down anyone following them or it might hinder them as they try to come back the

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way they came. Setting off a trap vs. disarming a trap vs. avoiding a trap fall under the
same heading.

The key, then, is to look at whatever was involved in the situation (the PCs and NPCs, the
physical objects, the locations) and ensure that they have been permanently changed as
a result of the PC’s Approach in a way that logically follows from the PC’s Approach. Every
time the players take an action, you should be able to see how the world has changed as
a result of their choice. Whether the action succeeds or fails, there should be some
evidence of that choice. And if they haven’t been changed, be sure that lack of change is,
in itself, a choice (like the ravine the party jumps or the trap they didn’t disarm or the trail
they worked so hard to conceal in the wilderness).

The positive or negative nature of Consequences should not depend on the success or
failure of the action. Just because I got away with telling my boss a lie doesn’t mean the
Consequences are positive. They are pretty negative. The important thing is that the
Consequences follow directly from the Approach in a way that makes logical sense and
any reasonable person could see the connection. You should be able to say something
like this:

“Because the party jumped over the ravine, the ravine remains an obstacle for
anyone traveling that hallway.”
“Because the PC chose to conceal his mistake instead of fixing it, the client is going
to get a fine from the IRS.”
“Because the PC bullied and browbeat the guard into letting him into the castle, the
guard told the other guards about the PC. Now they all dislike the PC and will
harass him.”
“Because the PC chose this APPROACH, this CONSEQUENCE exists in the world.”

Not every Consequence will be an issue. If the PCs never wander that hallway and
nothing ever tries to follow them down the hallway, it doesn’t matter that the ravine is
still there. That’s okay. Don’t try to force Consequences to have an impact. As long as
Consequences occasionally pop up in ways the PCs can see, they will learn to act as
though their actions have Consequences.

It is also important that you never, ever contradict a Consequence. If the party leaves all
of the obstacles behind them untouched as they travel through the forest (jumping
ravines, fording rivers, traveling out of their way to avoid bramble patches, and so on),
anyone following them is going to have a hard time keeping up. They should not be
followed. And if they are followed, you need to acknowledge that the party made it very
hard on their quarry. “The half-starved, wild-eyed bounty hunter glares at you. He has
obviously had a hard few days (and he’s missing some HP). ‘You lead me on a merry
chase through the woods, but I still have more than enough strength to deal with you…'”

Back in Five Simple Rules, I noted the importance of differentiating approaches as a way
to ensure that the skill system retained its depth and didn’t become a game of “choose
the highest skill modifier and just use that.” Well, this is exactly what I was talking about.
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Consequences are what ensure that two actions are different even if they have the same
Outcome.

Remember: Outcomes come from Intentions and Consequences come from Approaches.
Consequences follow logically from the Approach and can be positive or negative or both
regardless of the Outcome. Consequences might never come up in the game again, but
when they can come up, you should make sure they do come up. Never contradict a
Consequence once it exists.

3d. Describe the Results

Now comes the time to show off your improvisational chops. You need to tell the players
what the Outcome of the action is and apply any results. Then, you need to lead into the
next decision point. If you are an experienced DM, you probably have already found your
voice, but if you are a new DM, this part can be pretty daunting. So, I’m going to make it
simple for you.

Remember way back in Step 2, the player told you what he or she wanted his or her
character to do? There was an action from you which you took the Approach. Start by
repeating that. Then, using the word ‘and’ or ‘but,’ tack attach the Outcome you decided
on in step 3c.

“Using your grappling hook and crampons, you climb the wall and you reach the
top.”
“You threaten to beat the guard up if he doesn’t let you in, but he isn’t intimidated
and won’t let you in.”

If the Consequence is something that has an immediate, direct effect on the party right
now and it needs to be handled, throw that on as well. Or if it is something that will have
a future impact, try to work that in too. But that isn’t always possible.

“You get a running start and jump over the ravine, landing on the far side. If you
want to get back, though, you’ll have to jump over it again.”
“You threaten the guard, but he won’t let you in. He also narrows his eyes and it is
clear he’s angry. Hopefully, he won’t make trouble for you later.”

Don’t force mention of the Consequences, but it is a good idea to reinforce the idea that
the choice of Approach has an impact on the game whenever it is possible to do so. Just
keep it natural.

Either way, that is all it takes. One sentence to close the action. You can try to dress it up
and make it more exciting, but the deep, dark secret is that you don’t have to. And if you
try to dress it up too much, you risk poor communication. It is far more important for the
players to understand that they succeeded or failed and to restate their goals. The fact
that you are responding directly to their actions and throwing back their own words does
far more to keep them engaged than all the fancy adjectives any thesaurus can. Because
it tells them that the outcome was tailor made for them, that you listened to their action
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and responded with a hand-crafted, lovingly made result.

Out With the Old, In With the New

And the action is done with. You started with a single, declared action. You teased out (or
asked for) the Intention and the Approach. You made sure the Approach was a feasible
way to acheive the Intention. You determined whether the action succeeded or failed.
Then, you determined the Outcome and the Consequences. And you described the
results.

Now, you are ready to move on to the next action and do the whole thing again. But
remember, there may be a new Consequence living in your world. Make a note of it if
you have to. Somewhere, there is a guard badmouthing the PCs or a ravine with a tree
trunk laid over it like a bridge. But otherwise, you adjudicated the hell out of your
players’ actions. Go you!

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