THE NOTHING CHECK AND HOW TO FIX IT

    (This is a legacy post from my old website, so there may be some formatting issues. Feel free to email me if you notice anything out of the ordinary. Thanks!)

   When dice are rolled at my table, I want tension. I want every player peering, begging the roller to tell them what happened. Dice represent uncertainty, after all. Oftentimes they're the lifeblood of the game we play, in-fact they're the only thing that keeps what we do a GAME and not a table of people playing pretend (highly recommend this if you haven't done it). What I don't want a die roll to do is waste time.

    There's a common phenomenon which occurs which I call the "Nothing Check." Now I know it is "in-style" right now to rag on 5E, and while I do believe this problem reveals itself in MANY tabletop games, I should clarify I will be talking precisely about D&D 5E for the sake of consistency throughout this post.

    How many times has a PC made a perception check in a crowded tavern looking for interesting characters, or made an investigation check in a looted library searching for arcane knowledge, only to come up with a weak 6, forcing you. the GM, to stare at them across the table and shrug? Or maybe the Barbarian even wants to pull her boot-strings tight and climb up a rock wall, but instead you have to tell her "No, you're at the bottom of the wall still." because she rolled a natural one.

See the Fighter after rolling a Nat 20 in full-plate.

    This is not interesting, and in-fact it often locks content away, which is a problem! As GMs we want the things we have made to be seen! After a couple sessions of playing in a system like this players start to learn that a die roll is not a moment of tension, it isn't a question of whether the story will turn down this twist or that. Instead they learn that a die roll is an opportunity to lose, a strict percent chance to completely miss out on content, and it isn't fun to know you lost this chance! (Not for GMs either)

     This is why GMs often stumble into the "Check Chain" effect: where, after the Barbarian fails to climb the rock wall, now the Wizard is hiking up his robes, and soon after him the Rogue decides to give it a try. Not only does this waste time but it feels silly and monotonous to players. Many DMs even make a "one challenge one check" ruling: where only one player may attempt a skill check, and only once, which feels like an unsatisfying rule to solve a difficult problem.

    But the Check Chain actually does reveal something important: that if a group of adventurers were given infinite time in a 100% safe environment, they could overcome ANY obstacle by attempting over and over again forever.

I will never escape the 5E hater allegations.

     Torchbearer has a solution which could help ease this issue. Torchbearer is a grimy resource-based "classical fantasy" dungeon crawler, with very strict rulings on everything the players do, including skill checks. Their solution to the "Nothing Check" is simply to acknowledge that no, nothing an adventurer does is EVER done in a completely safe area, let alone with time to spare! Torchbearer emphasizes that when a player takes any action risky enough to beget a roll, they are decisively choosing to put themselves in danger, and not just them but their companions and loot as well. Choosing to act is always an expenditure, of effort, time, or equipment. When the dice are rolled in Torchbearer it is a big moment because failure means a tactile loss.

When the Barbarian fails to climb the rock wall in Torchbearer, she falls directly onto her lantern, shattering it and plunging the group into shadow. Or maybe she knocks a rock loose which tumbles to the ground, alerting the goatmen lurking deeper in the cavern. Maybe the Barbarian does actually end up reaching the top, only to find herself exhausted and exerted, suffering a permanent penalty until she rests.

     Now when a player decides to roll a die, they aren't exasperated, they're excited! Will the Mage find the scroll he is searching for in this accursed library? Or will he linger too long and allow the writings to turn his mind to madness? What machinations will thwart us should we choose to dawdle here longer? And if you decide that the players do have time, and their lives are not in danger, why have them roll to search in the first place?

    It keeps tension high, and does wonders for keeping players engaged, reminding them that everywhere they go they are surrounded by unceasing danger. Plus coming up with on-the-fly rulings and complications is a great way to practice flexing your creative skills.

    This is easy enough to port over to D&D by just... adding consequences. This isn't to say that good GMs haven't already been doing this or that this necessarily suits every GMing style. It is just to say that this at least should've been given a heading in the text of the damn game.

    I don't want to sound like an OSR nerd yelling from my porch about how "players are so spoiled these days" but I'm really not asking for much. Just deal a couple points of damage here and there, alert some enemies, break some of the PC's toys. Just fuck with 'em a little! They're adventurers after all, they have a lot more to lose than you might realize.

If Torchbearer sounds like something that interests you I highly recommend you check it. The game knows what it is. The creators have made a perfectly tuned set of rules and procedures (albeit a very weighty and complex system) to make the game flow in such a way that gives players a huge pool of meaningful resources and character traits to manage. It also does an incredible job of churning out extremely interesting stories. I'm sure there will be more Torchbearer stories to follow. Check it out here at torchbearerrpg.com.