Skill Tests
Chapter 5 The Gamemaster
Whenever you’re doubtful of the outcome of a character’s
action, when there is a chance of failure, or where the
degree of success is important, ask for a skill test. A single
skill test represents attempting an activity despite some
resistance or conflict. Skill tests are completed in a rela-
tively short amount of time: searching for clues, repairing
a car, or negotiating with a suspect.
The procedure for a skill test is described fully in the
Player’s Guide: Chapter 3 Playing the Game, but it’s good
to go over the process with the GM’s role in mind.
ROLLING THE DICE
1. Choose Attribute + Skill: You’re the one who chooses
which attribute and which skill are appropriate for the
skill test, and if any of the character’s focuses apply.
You might open it up to the players, but they have to
make the case for why their chosen attribute, skill, and
focus are appropriate.
2. Set the Difficulty: You always set the difficulty for the
skill test, normally between 0 and 5. The difficulty is
the number of successes the player must generate to
pass the skill test. Most skill tests have a Difficulty of 1
or 2, but hazards, a lack of preparation or appropriate
tools, can all lead to you increasing the difficulty of
routine skill tests. If it feels appropriate that a situation
should increase the difficulty of a skill test, you always
have the freedom to do that.
3. Roll the Dice Pool: Before players roll, they have the
opportunity to buy bonus d20s by spending Momentum
or generating Threat for your Threat pool. Always offer
them the opportunity, even if they have no Momentum,
because once the dice are rolled, they can only use
Fortune to reroll any bad dice results.
a. Momentum or Threat lets you buy more d20s.
b. Fortune lets a player set one of the dice in their
pool to a 1 before rolling the rest, or allows them to
reroll their entire dice pool.
“
Give the players agency, allow them
to express themselves, and give their
characters a chance to shine.
Entertain, delight and imperil!
GMs should have as much fun
as players do (if not more).
4. Check for Successes: Each d20 that rolls equal to or
less than their attribute + skill target number scores
1 success.
a. Any die that rolls a 1 is a critical success, which
generates 2 successes.
b. If they have a focus that applies they will score a
critical success if a d20 rolls equal to or less than
their skill rating.
c. Each die that rolls a 20 causes a complication,
(p.130).
5. Check Successes Against the Difficulty: If the
number of successes generated equals or beats the
difficulty of the skill test, then they have passed. If the
number of successes scored is less than the difficulty,
they have failed.
a. Each success above the difficulty becomes a point of
Momentum, (p.139).
6. Get the Result: You, as gamemaster and with input
from the players, describe the outcome, and if the
test was successful players can spend Momentum to
improve the result further. After this, you, as GM
introduce any complications.
es as ri en
In a lot of cases, especially in combat, situations present
default attribute and skill combinations, standard diffi-
culties, and standard consequences for failure, along
with specific uses for Momentum and specific effects
for complications. This provides a reliable, predictable
baseline so that players can plan and set expectations
for how events may play out. However, you are always
free to change those details as the scene dictates.
In a similar way, the players can suggest different
attribute and skill combinations of their own if their
actions fit. Perhaps they think a different attribute
might be more fitting, or they want to use Momentum
in a specific way not covered by the rules. You should
consider these and negotiate with the players about
alternatives — perhaps a player-suggested method is
possible, but it’s riskier, so the complication range goes
up, or it alters the consequences of failure in some way.
“
If a rule doesn’t fit, or feel appropriate,
ignore it, and make up your own.
127
 SETTING THE DIFFICULTY
Chapter 5 The Gamemaster

Setting the base difficulty of a skill test is more art than

i a e
science in most cases, and you will soon learn to gauge DIFFICULTY EXAMPLE
difficulties with a little experience.
0 Researching a widely known subject

Most common skill tests should have a basic difficulty 1 Overcoming a simple lock
of 1. If a test needs to be particularly challenging, or is
2 Driving across challenging terrain
likely to require assistance to complete, a difficulty of 3
is a good starting point. An extremely difficult test should Disguising yourself well enough to
3
be difficulty 5. From those base points, adjust the diffi- pass muster under intense scrutiny.
culty based on environmental factors. Difficulties above
Deciphering an unknown
5 are possible, but they should be extremely rare and can 4
alien language
only be overcome by the most capable, experienced, or
gifted characters. Retaining your sanity as your stare into
5
the face of an elder god!
You can also gauge the difficulty of a skill test by calcu-

“
lating the chance of getting multiple successes on a roll.
Scoring one success is relatively easy, and two successes
is challenging but far from impossible, while three or four Players will sometimes ignore
successes are much harder to score with only two dice. your carefully plotted path
Five successes cannot be scored without buying additional and strike out on their own.
dice. Difficulties 1, 3, and 5 in the difficulty table can be No problem, go with the flow
thought of as the crucial points where the odds change and improvise!
most dramatically.

128

a sa a e
You should have a clear idea of what a skill test is for,
and what will happen if the test succeeds or fails. In
general, one of the following should be true:
The skill test is an attempt to achieve something.
if they pass the test, the character gets what they
want; if they fail, they don’t. This might be to create a
truth, or to change or remove a truth currently in play.
The skill test is to avoid or resist danger. In this
case, passing the test means the character avoids
some or all of the danger, while failure means that
they suffer the full effects of the danger they sought
to avoid.
The skill test is an attempt to achieve something,
but something is at stake as well. Success
means that the character got what they wanted and
avoided the consequences, while failure means
that they suffer the consequences instead, or must
choose to face the consequences if they want to
achieve their goal.
Players should know the potential outcomes for passing
or failing before the skill test is attempted. The player
characters are assumed to be capable enough to judge
the most likely outcomes for their actions.
ser a ion an i e esear
One of the most common actions a player attempts
during a game is to try and learn more about the world
around them. This may be short term — attempting to
spot if there’s a hazard nearby or a hidden object — or it
might be something longer and more difficult, like inves-
tigating a crime scene or researching a nemesis.
These sorts of activities are easily handled in Achtung!
Cthulhu, using the Obtain Information Momentum
spend. Skill tests about finding information should have
a low difficulty (0 or 1), though it may be higher if the
information is secret, obscure, or otherwise unknown.
Success should provide basic information, with players
given the opportunity to learn more by spending
Momentum to ask you questions.
If the information is vital for the plot, then you should
keep the difficulty low or allow the player characters to
succeed at cost to receive the most vital information.
They can use any Momentum they generate to gain extra
context or additional useful details if they wish.
Some research subjects may be more difficult or more
dangerous and can be handled by way of an Extended
Test p.133.
PACING DIFFICULTY
Chapter 5 The Gamemaster
Structuring difficulties in a game session requires careful
consideration. Starting a scene with a difficulty 4 or 5 test
isn’t recommended unless the scene absolutely demands it
— there’s always the possibility to ramp up the difficulty
of tests as the action progresses, using complications and
by spending Threat. In contrast, if passing a test is neces-
sary for the story to continue, keeping the difficulty low or
allowing success at cost (see p.138) ensures a failed skill
test doesn’t stall progress. In general, a variety of difficul-
ties, rising and falling throughout the session, is a great
tool for pacing an adventure.
Environmental truths adjust the difficulty of skill tests,
based on whether they are helpful or not, and such a truth
may be beneficial in some ways and problematic in others:
a heavily-crowded area may make it easier to avoid notice,
but it’ll make rapid movement more difficult. Think care-
fully about the circumstances of a scene, taking note of the
truths present, and judge the difficulty accordingly.
Finally, making judgements based on the mood and prefer-
ences of the players is also key to the difficulty of skill tests.
Few groups enjoy constantly having to beat the odds by
facing an abundance of difficulty 4 or 5 tests, while some
revel in rising to such challenges. If the group has just faced
off against a difficult opponent, tension will have been
running high, so allow a few easier skill tests to help release
it, giving players a break and allowing them to generate some
much-needed Momentum. And sometimes, players just have
a bad night with a string of unlucky rolls — nobody thinks
badly of a GM who eases off the pressure when the dice are
falling badly, if it allows the fun and the story to continue.
o
It’s important to remember that the consequences of
failing a skill test may only be temporary. A character
may not be able to achieve their goal right now, but that
doesn’t mean that this will always be the case — your
players will be persistent, and a character can always
change the situation through their actions.
These rules presume that, given sufficient time, the
correct tools, and the opportunity to concentrate, a char-
acter will be able to succeed at just about anything they
set their mind to, unless that task is clearly beyond their
powers, like lifting a Tiger tank with their bare hands.
Failure is usually not a matter of inability, but of insuffi-
cient time, inappropriate (or absent) tools, or an obstacle
or interruption. A course of action may also be deemed
impossible not because the character isn’t capable, but
because they don’t have the means at this moment in
time. Finding out a way to make the impossible possible
is all part of the adventure. Regarding that Tiger tank,
perhaps all the characters need is a suitable fulcrum and
an unfeasibly large lever?
129
Chapter 5 The Gamemaster

COMPLICATIONS Loss: The character loses something valuable, like

Whenever a 20 is rolled, a character suffers a complica-
tion. Complications can take a number of different forms,
and don’t always have to be a truth, with a number of
common examples below. These options can even be used
for players to succeed at cost (p.138):
Delay: The action takes longer than anticipated. This
could have a number of different effects. If the action
takes a specific amount of time, each delay could
increase that time by half. Alternatively, it may instead
allow enemies to prepare, allow pursuers to catch up,
or keep the character from acting when they want to.
Diminished Effect: The effect of the action is only
partial or incomplete. The character still gets the
minimum of what they wished to achieve, but their
success isn’t perfect and may result in problems, like
reducing the damage of an attack, or making it so that
the effects of the test don’t last as long as expected.
Limitation: The character is prevented from using one
of their normally-available options or benefits. This
should only apply briefly, like a single round in action
scenes. This may apply to a specific use of Momentum,
losing the benefits of cover, or restricting the
character’s access to one of their talents momentarily.
one of their resources. This may be one a character’s
belongings, ammo, or a loss of Momentum or
Fortune instead (though loss of Fortune should be
used sparingly).
Negative Truth: The character suffers some
negative truth, or the enemy gains a positive truth.
Alternatively, you could remove a positive truth for the
character, or remove a hindering truth from an enemy,
or change a truth in the scene so that it becomes a
problem for the player.
No Retries: The character’s chosen approach can no
longer be attempted — the character cannot attempt
this skill test again without changing their methods or
their circumstances.
Revelation: The character learns something that they
wish wasn’t true, such as finding out that there are
reinforcements inbound, or that the enemy leader has
extra guards, or something similar. Revelations may
provide you with new opportunities to spend Threat.
Stress: The character suffers stress, either physical
or mental. A roll of 3 is normally sufficient, though
inflicting a point of Fatigue is a good alternative.
Additional complications may add to this stress: an extra
+2 per additional complication is a good guideline.

130