Understanding Opposed Skill Rolls in Basic Roleplaying

by: Arthur Reyes

Version 3 - 5/23/2009

The purpose of this document is to provide

better understanding of the core mechanic of Protagonist Antagonist Winner Degree of Success
Opposed Skill Rolls as presented on page 173 Critical Critical - Highest Roller Wins Normal (1)
of the Basic Roleplaying Rulebook. Then I Special Protagonist Normal (1)
explore a few ways to utilize the details pro- Success Protagonist Special (2)
vided by the results for use in refereeing and Fail Protagonist Critical (3)
narrating your game. Fumble Protagonist Spectacular (4)
Special Critical Antagonist Normal (1)
Opposed Skill Rolls Special - Highest Roller Wins Normal (1)
Success Protagonist Normal (1)
At its center, the mechanic of Opposed Skill
Rolls is pretty straight forward. The GM Fail Protagonist Special (2)
should feel perfectly comfortable running Fumble Protagonist Critical (3)
their games using the basic mechanics. How- Success Critical Antagonist Special (2)
ever, if you decide to use the rule as written, Special Antagonist Normal (1)
additional options come to light, providing Success - Highest Roller Wins Normal (1)
you with potent tools to guide your narrative Fail Protagonist Normal (1)
and create rewarding challenges that can Fumble Protagonist Special (2)
match combat in depth and detail. Fail Critical Antagonist Critical (3)
Special Antagonist Special (2)
Opposed Skill Rolls: The Basics Success Antagonist Normal (1)
Fail Neither Both Fail (0)
The winner of an Opposed Skill Roll is the
person who rolls under their skill. In the Fumble Neither Protagonist Fumbles (0 or
event that multiple opponents succeed at their worse), Antagonist Fails (0)
skill roll, the person who both succeeds and Fumble Critical Antagonist Spectacular (4)
rolls highest wins. Special Antagonist Critical (3)
Success Antagonist Special (2)
Opposed Skill Rolls: By The Book Fail Antagonist Normal (1)
Fumble Neither Both Fumble (0 or worse)
The table shows the winner of Opposed Skill
Rolls based on the participant's Degree of Critical Success, can be described as participating in an epic
Success. First index the Protagonist's Degree of Success on the struggle. The victory may be decisive, but the individual perfor-
table, then cross reference with the Antagonist's result. A result of mances may be incredibly memorable, and the heroic quality of
' - ' in the Winners Column indicates that the GM should compare that victory may be debated for years to come.
the actual rolls of each participant and award the contest to the
person that rolled highest. The language used to narrate the scene will have much to do
with the overall skill of the participants. Imagine two poets of
In the event that multiple participants are engaged in the same modest rank (20%), one achieves a Critical Success, the other a
activity, concern yourself only with the highest degrees of suc- Fumble. The GM could describe the contest as a series of child-
cess and ignore all others. For example, a young security guard ish rhymes and unimaginative limericks, the loser being com-
drops his firearm in a bus full of prisoners and a complete free- pletely incapable of even the simplest rhymes, the winner manag-
for-all erupts as each convict attempts to gain control of the ing to get through most recitals without stuttering.
weapon. The GM calls for an Opposed Skill Roll, using wrestling
or brawl. Of the 6 prisoners attempting to grab the gun, 3 roll a Those same rolls between skilled masters (90%+) would de-
Success, the rest Fail or Fumble. The GM need only compare the serve far better praise. Maybe both poets brought the room to
3 Successful results to determine the winner of the contest. tears. Such was the mood, that one poet succumbed to the power
of their own words (or those of her opponent!) and was simply
unable to carry on.
[Optional] Degree of Success: Narrative Guideline
The GM may wish to use the degree of success in an Opposed [Optional] Degree of Success: Tangible Rewards
Skill Roll as a reference for narrating the results of the contest.
The table shows the winner's relative degree of success. Each de- A GM can flesh out their own or pre-made scenarios by outlining
gree above a Normal Success indicates tangible qualities of additional rewards for skill based challenges based on the degree
grace, mastery or aplomb. of success achieved by the participants. Key scenes or events in
your adventures can be given additional emphasis using these
Narrative should reflect the overall successes of the participants simple guidelines.
as well, not just the winner's. Two individuals, each achieving a
 In the above mentioned poetry contest, winning by 1 success
may provide nothing more than bragging rights to the victor. 2
successes may get the character recognized at other local pubs,
earning her a few rounds on the house. 3 successes may give the
character a bonus to Reaction Rolls when meeting a particularly
valuable contact who is an aficionado of the art. 4 successes
could find local bards vying to be an understudy and companion
of the character.
The value of a reward should be relative to the skill of all par-
ticipants. A character with 100% Brawling may not gain the same
benefits for beating up toothless old men as a more moderately
skilled fighter who faced equally matched opponents. Con-
versely, damage to Status and reputation can occur if the master
brawler is somehow bested by an old man. Such events may even
get the brawler laughed out of town!

[Optional] Opposed Skill Rolls: Extended Contests

A GM can instill dramatic tension into an Opposed Skill Roll by
making the procedure an Extended Contest. In an Extended Con-
test, the GM decides that victory will be achieved after one side
acquires X number of successful Opposed Skill Rolls. For exam-
ple, a chariot race may be described as an Extended Contest,
where each success represents progress along the contest's route.
The winner of the race is the first to achieve 5 successes.
Nothing says Extended Contests must rely on the use of a sin-
gle skill. In fact, an Extended Contest can be even more exciting
if you allow players an attempt at any relevant skill that may help
them win the contest. In a chariot race, an opponent might test
Drive to guide his vehicle, or Throw to snag an opponent's char-
iot spokes with a stick, or even Knowledge to remember a short
cut through the city.

[Optional] Extended Contests: Degree of Success

In an Extended Contest, a GM can use the degree of success in
an Opposed Skill Roll as a guideline to award multiple mile-
stones for determining who wins an Extended Contest. As in the
example of a chariot race, someone who achieves a Critical Suc-
cess vs. an opponent's Fumble may be awarded 4 'successes' to-
ward their overall goal of 5 to win the race. The table above lists
a numeric value in parenthesis that indicates the number of suc-
cesses to attribute to the winner.
Alternatively, the GM can sum the value of all Degrees of Suc-
cess throughout the Extended Contest and then judge the overall
performance of the each participant by the sum of the results.
For example, the GM decides to run a social event in which the
characters are interacting with the court elite. He decides to treat
the event as a 5-roll Extended Contest. He's noted that anyone
that achieves a total victory of 10 points will be judged the 'life
of the party', and invited to an even more selective event later
that week – a key reward for the adventure's, who plan to steal a
famous diamond from the home of a reclusive noble.
After many rounds of play, one character wins the contest with
the following results: 1 Critical (3pts), 2 Normal (1pts x2), 1
Failure (0pts x1), and 1 Special (2pts x1) for a total of 7 Points.
This isn't enough to be whisked away to the ultra-elite gathering,
but it may be enough to develop contacts elsewhere in the city.