Skills are the main way for players to interact with the Universe. A player can propose rolling a Skill if they want to use their character's capabilities to interface with objects or people, or complete a certain task. Alternatively, the Conductor can ask a player to roll a specific Skill to allow them to do the thing that the player wants to do. This is referred to as a Skill Challenge.
A Skill Challenge can require multiple successes to overcome. The Conductor will tell you how many successes you need to meet or beat to accomplish the task you want to do.
When rolling for a Skill Challenge, you always roll at least your Allround Dice. If you are competent in a Skill, you may also add your Competence Dice to the roll. You may choose which Skills you are competent in during Character Creation.
For reference, here you can see how many successes are expected for increasingly difficult tasks:
1 Success is a relatively basic task anyone with competence in this Skill could accomplish, but might still fail at with bad luck.
2 Successes is an advanced task that an expert in this field might still struggle with, even with a bit of luck.
3 Successes or more would make it a gamble even for a master in this Skill with aid.
After you roll, you check if you meet or beat the required successes. If you do, you may choose which dice effects are triggered. If you do not meet the required successes, you must trigger all dice effects.
Each Skill has its own Dice Effects table. That means that some Skills have different results and consequences than others. These effects are triggered in addition to whatever narrative or rulings the Conductor chooses for this Skill Challenge.
Generally speaking, a simple Skill's table looks something like this:
d6 | Die Effect |
1 | Fumble. Something bad happens. For example: lose 1 Focus. |
2 | Half Fumble. Roll two Half Fumble to get a Fumble. |
3 | Half Success. Roll two Half Success to get a Success. |
4 | Half Success. |
5 | Success. |
6 | Half Critical. Criticals usually give extra benefits. |
Some Skills might be more risky or more complicated, depending on the Universe you play in. For an idea of what a crazier Skill might look like, check out Rigging.
d6 | Die Effect |
1 | Fumble. Something explodes! Lose 1 Endurance. |
2 | Half Fumble. |
3 | Half Success. |
4 | Half Success. You may destroy 1 Gear to make this a Success. |
5 | Success. |
6 | Critical. Gain 1 Focus as the adrenaline pumps through you. |
You're up against a Rigging Challenge that requires 2 Successes. You roll your 1 Allround Die and your 3 Competence Dice, because your character is competent in Rigging. You rolled the following results:
1x 1 (Fumble)
1x 3 (Half Success)
1x 4 (Half Success)
1x 6 (Success)
With a total of 2 Successes, you beat the Challenge and choose to trigger the Critical effect but not the Fumble effect, so you gain 1 Focus. If you had the following result however:
1x 1 (Fumble)
2x 2 (Half Fumble)
1x 3 (Half Success)
You do not beat the Challenge. All the dice effects get triggered, so you lose 2 Endurance.
You don't have to learn what all Skills do. Just pick the ones that you're interested in for your character and keep those close at hand. It is recommended to keep a copy of the Skills you are competent in for quick reference.