101 Wild Die 1's

One gimmick I like to use when I'm GMing is checklists. If there's some category of random element that's likely to come up almost every session, I'll brainstorm a big list of possibilities, and then write them all out. Later, when a situation comes up I can grab one off the list, and check it off. This prevents me from lamely relying on the same problem again and again - which is especially bad when dealing with something as annoying as a critical failure.

Here's an example - it's the critical fumble list from a d6 StarWars game I ran a while back. These are 101 things (well, 35, but it's still enough for several sessions worth of rolls) that can go wrong when the wild die rolls a 1.

1. Allies wounded: Some allied NPC is wounded automatically. It's not that you shot him, but he's somehow hurt at this time.
2. Ammo running low: you have 5 shots left, then you need to buy a new power pack or change weapons. (continuous weapons have this turn and next)
3. Awkward Footing: The difficulty of all actions this round and next is increased by +5. (Subtract 5 from your Dodge rolls)
4. Cowardice: One of your allies flees or surrenders to the bad guys.
5. Droid in the way: Your next stated action has TN: +15 because of a Droid being in the way.
6. Drop your weapons: The item(s) in your hand(s) falls to the ground. To pick it up takes Dexterity vs TN:10.
7. Dropped something: An item on your belt or in your pocket falls to the ground, and the enemies see it. To pick it up takes Dexterity vs TN:10.
8. Equipment Ionized: One weapon or piece of equipment stops working until the end of the next turn.
9. Escape Route Blocked: Some neutral 3rd party (droid, taxi-driver, jawas, etc) has blocked your best escape route.
10. Excess Venting: There's a leak of steam, power, etc. 1d6+1 spaces of the map are now off-limits. Passing through does 3D damage.
11. Exposed: All attacks against you roll an extra die until you spend an action taking better cover.
12. Floor collapses: The ground beneath you gives way. Climbing/Jumping vs TN:15 or take 1D+2 damage and be on the next floor down. Climbing out is TN:15.
13. Gravity Failure: If on ship or station, gravity fails. Dexterity rolls: TN:10 to start moving. TN:15 to stop or to change direction. -2m speed for everyone.
14. Gun Jammed: Requires a Weapon Repair roll vs TN:10 before it can be fired again.
15. Horrible Alarms: The klaxons are so loud, no one can hear each other talk. PCs may no longer communicate or plan together. Security TN:10 to disable.
16. In Your Friends Way: The next PC other than yourself to take an action has +10 TN because of something you did, or else they hit you.
17. Item Damage: Some item you carry but are not currently using becomes damaged. Takes Repair vs TN:15 to fix.
18. Meanwhile, On Your Ship: Crew, droid, or ship calls to tell you about a mechanical or social problem they are having.
19. Mechanical Failure: A neutral piece of machinery malfunctions - a door locks, bridge retracts, a shield collapses, an elevator jams, etc - in an inconvenient way.
20. Obvious Target: You gain the attention of every bad guy in the scene. They all attack you next turn if able.
21. Reinforcements are on their way: Start counting rounds. On round 4, the bad guys get 1d6 minor characters to back them up.
22. Reinforcements: 2 more minor bad guys enter the scene.
23. Ricochet: A blaster shot ricochets off a magnetized or reflective surface. All PCs must roll Dexterity vs TN:10. Lowest roller is hit, provided they failed the roll.
    
24. Shaky footing: Must immediately make a Dexterity roll vs TN:10 or fall. (1d6 damage. Getting back up will require a climbing/jumping roll vs TN:5)
25. Sights misaligned: TN for all non-point-blank attacks is +5 until you make a Weapon Repair roll vs TN:20 (TN:10 if take a full minute)
26. Slowed: Next turn, you move 1/2 distance, and roll -2D on Running, Dodge, Beast Riding, Vehicle Operations, etc.
27. Spectacular Death: The next villain killed explodes like a grenade. PCs must dodge or take damage.
28. Structural Collapse: Some part of the room you're in falls on you. Dodge roll vs TN:10 to avoid it. If hit, 2D+2 damage and pinned till make Lifting vs TN:15.
29. Twist an ankle: You roll 1D less on all Dexterity skills (and Running) till a medical check against TN:15 is used on you. -2 meter move / turn.
30. Unexpected Explosion: Something blows up near the PCs. They must Dodge vs TN:10 or take 2D damage.
31. Villains figure it out: The NPCs suddenly figure out your plans better. They know you're lying, you're rebels, which side you'll attack from, etc.
32. Weapon Overheating: If you roll a "1" on your wild die again this combat, the weapon will explode like a grenade. You will be hit automatically.
33. Weapon switches modes: You're now set to stun (or to lethal, if you were on stun) and you don't know until you hit someone.
34. Winded: Roll Stamina vs TN:10. If you fail, you are Stunned for the remainder of this turn and next turn as well.
35. You get in their way: The other PCs and all your allies get -1D on their next action because of your mistake.

MOCking one's self

"Ears" Petrov was the CP2020 character of mine that Jeremy mentioned at his blog. To Quote Jeremy:

"Rolfe's character has less social skills than the fence, no real combat skills to speak of, and didn't otherwise stand out in the crowd."

The following will be as painful to write as that was to read, but I'm pretty sure it will be cathartic.

My concept was actually quite the opposite of how it played out. His back story was that "Ears" Petrov was the guitarist of a band called "Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat," which had a number one hit as recently as a year ago and then broke up suddenly when the lead singer went cyberpsycho and killed the drummer. He had failed to invest in his brief flash-in-the-pan, and was now slumming it while trying to figure out how to make a name for himself again. The other band members had been the ones with ambition - he had oodles of talent but no taste for marketing.

This could be seen as an obvious parallel to my situation in regards to the gaming industry - I'd been a bit of a force for the last six months to a year before Wargames West Distribution suddenly went out of business (due to emotional complexities on the part of owner), and then I vanished completely. My work was emulated (and in at least one case plagiarized) by other Distributors, but my name was no longer associated with it. Despite having been really good at marketing games, I was a total flop at marketing my own talents once that Industry Giant fell off it's beanstalk.

The dice then conspired with Rob and Sarah to completely hammer this metaphor home.

My character, Ears Petrov, was intended to be the face man, since no one else had any such desire during the big character-creation session. I was a Rockerboy with totals of (attribute + skill) of 16 to 18 on Charismatic Leadership, Wardrobe & Style, Social, Perform, and Human Perception. I could solve most difficult tasks in that niche by rolling a 3.

Sarah, as GM, felt it was important Charismatic Leadership (exclusive to Rockerboyz) not replace skills such as Leadership, Oratory, or Streetwise. Sadly, she told me this several sessions after character creation. I ended up rolling Charismatic Leadership once in the entire campaign. She also favored Persuasion / Fast Talk over Social, and favored rolls of Personal Grooming over Wardrobe & Style. This all cut into my character's effectiveness. Sarah had yet to establish her style as a GM, and her self-confidence was lacking, as such I wouldn't question her judgment or rules calls, not even in private.

Rob, missing the first session and character creation, asked what roles we had, and then built a fixer. Having never played cyberpunk before, I thought fixer was some sort of techie, so I didn't speak up about already being the faceman. Via cyberware and a more efficient distribution of points (stemming from years more experience at CP2020 in high-school campaigns where point-weaseling was encouraged) had totals of over 20 in Human Perception and Persuasion / Fast Talk. To further strip me of my spotlight, every time we both rolled for either of these skills, his die would be a 9 or 10, and I rolled far more than my fair share of 1's.

Despite the fact that I'd known and gamed with Rob for 5 years and never known him to be at all dishonest, I started getting irrationally paranoid. Eventually I started asking Sarah after sessions "did you see any of his dice rolls tonight, or just hear totals after modifiers?" which didn't help the situation at all. My being so accusatory of her high-school chum was rude, even if it was behind the scenes. I was pissing off my wife and GM, by repeatedly making an ass of myself out of jealousy over Rob's dice karma. Sorry. Had I just asked to revise my character to match the skills she found pertinent to social interactions, she probably would have said yes.

I feared the dice, and tried to avoid rolling them. This was doubly true for things my character should have been good at. After about 4 or 5 sessions of that, I was so fed up with it, I just changed my character concept to match my die-rolls. It was easier for me to play a burned-out loser than to get yet another critical failure on a skill I was practically maxed out on. I started cracking jokes about how bad his band was, and how he was nothing now that Eyes and Throat were dead. When Sarah asked me to make some item cards for cool low-value stuff we could find as random loot, I presented her with the card on the right.

I even badgered an NPC to shoot me with my own gun at one point. Everybody was shocked, so since it was my gun I claimed OOC that I knew what I was doing and the math of it guaranteed she couldn't hurt me. This was a lie - a critical hit on a head-shot would have meant a new character and a great tale about fateful last words. Yet despite all this, I really loved that game. I am a truly complicated individual.