Question about if you can fail a roll, or if the PC always succeeds?
On page 22 it says
https://bladesinthedark.com/action-roll
“On a 1-3, it’s up to the GM to decide if the PC’s action has any effect or not, or if it even happens at all.”
But on page 24 it says
https://bladesinthedark.com/effect
“The GM judges the effect level using the profiles below. Which one best matches the action at hand—great, standard, or limited. Each effect level indicates the questions that should be answered for that effect, as well as how many segments to tick if you’re using a progress clock.”
We have always used the tables, and I’ve never noticed John Harper telling someone they failed. I’m pretty sure the players thought they failed a roll, and John saying “nope, you succeed, but here are the consequence.”
It means what it says. If the action is “I pick the lock” then acceptable 1-3 results can be:
“You fail.” (Okay, this one is pretty lame and should be backed up with ticking a clock or something at least)
“You pop the lock open and…“
“You go to pick the lock and as soon as you touch it with your picks, the electroplasmic trap triggers and fries you.”
Players can fail an action roll.
It’s GMs’ prerogative to cancel out any effect that was stated when position/effect was set before the Player rolled any dice; on the result of 1-3.
Check p27 of the player kit: bladesinthedark.com – bladesinthedark.com/sites/default/files/blades_playerkit_v8_2.pdf
See how all 4-5 & 6 results say you do it, while the 1-3 results don’t. When you do it, you achieve the effect of your action roll, unless there’s a consequence or a crit. So you don’t succeed if your highest roll is 1-3, irrespective of the action’s position or effect.
OT comment: Also, succeeding with 4-5 will bring a lot of shit in your characters lives (at least, this is what happened to our table, following a spiral of complications, ugly choices, and deaths).
Effect level is not the same as a dice roll. You can have limited effect but still roll a 6 for example.
PCs can fail. I’ve narrated plenty of failures.
On a 1-3, the outcome is bad. The GM has the option of saying that the PC’s action occurs, but the results are still all bad. The option is there because sometimes it’s silly to say that the action didn’t happen. You’ll see it in context.
There was an “expanding brain” meme I saw a while ago talking about failed rolls PbtA games that I wish I could find again because I think of it whenever people talk about what can happen on a failure.
It was basically,
Small brain: You don’t get what you want
Large brain: You don’t get what you want and something bad happens
Expanding brain: You get what you want, but something bad happens
Galaxy brain: You get what you want, but that’s a bad thing