When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

Quote from: RPGPundit;737597When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

If it's a situation where the character could reasonably know how difficult a task is, Yes.  If not, No.  Unless I want to speed up play for some reason, then Yes.

Not usually... but sometimes.

Overall I prefer self-referential systems where the issue is avoided all together.

Quote from: RPGPundit;737597When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

My difficulty number is 5.

I'm not kidding. For 1d6 rolls, things stay the same on 1-4, things change on 5+. Occasionally, there is a plus or minus. That's it.

For combat, I use Target 20, so the combat difficulty number is 20. Beat that on d20 roll + OD&D hit dice. I add the AC to that roll mentally, but do not tell them the AC any more, just what it looks like. "He's wearing plate!" "The monster has a leathery hide!" If you can figure out the AC after a couple attacks, fine.

Quote from: RPGPundit;737597When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

I run RQ/BRP/d100 games, so yeah, they generally know it.  And I tend to award bonuses and penalties right as they are rolling for simplicity sake.

I could theoretically take their skill totals behind the screen, but rolling dice is fun and it'd be difficult in a BRP type game to have the players roll but not know their skill totals.  I'm not sure the advantages are worth it.

Quote from: RPGPundit;737597When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

I tell them how difficult a task would be, and they add/subtract whatever the number would be for that.

ADDED:
What I say is hard to do, may not be hard for a PC to do. Depending on how skilled they are. The players still has to add/subtract the difficulty though.

It depends on if their character would know how hard the task is.

Quote from: RPGPundit;737597When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

Depends on the situation, and in particular, whether the character would be able to know, or not, and anywhere in between (i.e. "you can tell the cliff is very smooth, pretty hard to climb, especially now that it's wet after the storm").

Quote from: Benoist;737622Depends on the situation, and in particular, whether the character would be able to know, or not, and anywhere in between (i.e. "you can tell the cliff is very smooth, pretty hard to climb, especially now that it's wet after the storm").

this.

After a couple of checks I normally tell then what they are aiming for.

Generally with skills I am now just stacking disadvantages/advantages rather than using modifiers.
my games uses 2d10 v target 13. The target number stays the same except in opposed situations (combat is a particualr case of an opposed situation) however we can stack ad/disads on top and the players know these cos I am asking them to roll.
GM just eyeballs it. Smooth wall, wet, tryingto move silently.... 3 disadvantages
FYI with 3 disads on a 2d10 vs 13 roll with no bonuses you have a 2.7%chance of sucess. If your PC has a an excellent skill say +6 (4 ranks of skills + a key stat of +3) then success comes up to about 38%.

Advantage is a realy great rule that just removes tracking stacks of modifiers and makes combat and skill resolution very quick.

Yes I do. I think it enhances player engagement. More to the point it's part of the discipline that ensures that I have decided the target number before I ask for any dice roll. Don't laugh, this does happens.

With me using GURPS, players usually know the skill level, stat or defense off of which they need to roll.  And that's alright.

They never, never, never have the slightest idea what modifiers I'm applying.  Never.

That's the way I like it, because in real life, no one knows either.  We know, in a vague, general way, that driving in a blizzard at night is more treacherous than driving on a sunny day on dry pavement.  But I have no idea -- and neither do any of you -- what the precise percentage chance is of you driving home at normal highway speeds without an accident.  We know, in a vague, general way, whether we're skilled singers or not.  But I have no idea -- and in my shoes, neither would any of you -- the exact chance I have of getting through that Handel recitative without a bobble.

Yes, I tell them.

I want them to know and see that I never fudge outcomes to fit some story or plan.

Transparency and cold impartiality are the style I aim for. This makes it easier for players to accept things like character death that I feel are important to the game aspect of the hobby.

I almost always tell them the difficulty number -- I assume their characters would have a good, instinctive sense of how hard something would be to do.

There are, sometimes, exceptions -- a character is trying to sneak past some guards, but isn't aware that there are also hidden cameras watching the checkpoint: the cameras could impose an unexpected negative... but those are somewhat rare.

I also think the game works better if the mechanics are generally transparent.

Cheers,
-E.

Quote from: Ravenswing;737634With me using GURPS, players usually know the skill level, stat or defense off of which they need to roll.  And that's alright.

They never, never, never have the slightest idea what modifiers I'm applying.  Never.

That's the way I like it, because in real life, no one knows either.  We know, in a vague, general way, that driving in a blizzard at night is more treacherous than driving on a sunny day on dry pavement.  But I have no idea -- and neither do any of you -- what the precise percentage chance is of you driving home at normal highway speeds without an accident.  We know, in a vague, general way, whether we're skilled singers or not.  But I have no idea -- and in my shoes, neither would any of you -- the exact chance I have of getting through that Handel recitative without a bobble.

We don't think in terms of precise percentages -- or exact dimensions -- but humans are good at assessing the difficulty of things.

In your driving example, I think a person would know if a particular set of conditions was going to be irritating (a low modifier), treacherous (a medium modifier) or extremely hazardous (a modifier high enough that catastrophic failure was a distinct possibility).

In game terms, I'd consider that as his *character* not seeing the mechanics (he doesn't know he has a 14- Vehicle Operations skills) or the modifier (blizzard conditions give -5), but he'd probably have a distinct sense of how dangerous it might be.

His *player*, on the other hand, sitting around a table, isn't getting the same kind of information his character is but he ought to be able make appropriately informed decisions.

Cheers,
-E.

Quote from: RPGPundit;737597When the PC has to roll something, do you as GM tell the player what the difficulty number is?

In games with GM-set difficulties, yes. Partly it's a means of quickly communicating expectations - I give them a chance to change their mind once they know the difficulty number if they realise that something was harder than they'd expected it would be. Partly, I find the tension of dice-rolling works better if the players know what they're aiming for and can instantly see whether or not they failed. Also, in some systems players might want to spend Fate points/Hero points to affect a roll and I don't think it's fair to ask them to do that when they don't know what the difficulty is and so can't make a meaningful judgement call on whether or not it's worth spending or saving those points.

Major exception is AD&D, where I don't give indications as to armour class, mostly because I find combat flows better if I do all the THAC0 calculations myself.

That said, it doesn't come up in Traveller (where you're always going for the same target number under Mongoose's task system) or Pendragon (where you already know what your skill is anyway).