What to do if players fail checks?

[cmastah]

I'm running an adventure in a few days and I had a nagging thought. What if the players fail the checks in the adventure? It's an investigation and if they fail checks due to unlucky rolls, the story would end up going nowhere (it's the first adventure in gallows of madness). Any thoughts on how to redirect them?

[Vidmaster7]

Back up clues alternate ways of finding information and If the roll is to important for them to fail don't make them roll at all.

[DalmarWolf]

There's a concept from Fate that might work. A failed check can mean that they succeed but at a cost, something bad also happens. They could end up spending a lot longer than planned to find the clue, giving the enemy extra time to get away or to prepare. Or they could get a false clue that leads them on a dangerous detour but that eventually gets them back on track. Or they could take a wound, maybe they accidentally triggered a trap, or even alerted some hooligans to their presence.

[Matthew Downie]

A good adventure makes allowances for this.

Example:

The party makes a Diplomacy roll to try to find the location of the necromancer's guild. Succeed: Someone tells them. Fail: no-on tells them and they attract unwanted attention. The necromancers send an assassination squad. If the party survives, they will find on one of the bodies of the assassins a clue that leads them to where they need to go.

[GM Woran]

Gallows of Madness has some of the mitigation of failed checks build in. If they fail to find information on the warehouse for example, the Mayor can tell them.

Also, if regular ways of gathering information fails, allow them to be creative. Failing their knowledge checks? They can bring a vial of the purple goop to the alchemist. She will know.

[ryric]

What DalmarWolf is describing is called "failing forward," and it's a useful tool for the GM to keep plotlines on track. If the PCs make the check, they get the information easily. If they fail, they are still going to get it, but now it is hard and has more risk involved. Thus, there are still consequences for failure, and PCs are still rewarded for having and using the right skills and abilities, but a single failure doesn't end the whole adventure.

[cmastah]

Thanks for the advice guys, the failing forward idea is definitely a good idea. There are two combat encounters that are necessary for advancing the investigation forward, but if the players were to bungle both checks, the investigation would've come to a standstill. There WAS mention of an outbreak occurring in a matter of days if unchecked, but I hadn't considered that perhaps that may actually have been the fail safe in place.

[Mark Hoover 330]

One last trick, don't know if it'll apply here or not but I use it in my homebrew games: NPC trash talk.

Call it monologuing, braggadocio, or insults hurled at the PCs, but often I have sentient creatures spout something I want my players to know in the midst of a fight. Want to drop a clue that the BBEG is a vampire? "Ha, you fools have no chance of winning; I can't wait until The Master sinks his fangs into your veins!"

Between that and clues found on corpses my players have advanced 2 small plot points in my games they otherwise had stalled on.

[blahpers]

The Three Clue Rule

[Take 10]

Be sure to remind them they can Take 10 on most skill checks outside of combat...??

The scenario is built to expect average rolls, and unless they all dumped the skills they need... otherwise, let the players come up with something - they always seem to.

[Abraham spalding]

Never put a check in if you are not comfortable with the players flubbing it.

Do not dictate the solution to problems. Have a few ideas of how it's normally handled and then allow the PCs to solve it their way with comparable DCs.

Have failsafe methods that will get them where you want. It might be harder, and more costly but that's okay.

[David knott 242]

One of the SFS modules had some checks where failing a check by 5 or less got you the desired information but created future complications (because in the process of gathering the information you tipped off or annoyed people that you would encounter later on in the module). That might be a good approach to use if you want the plot to move forward regardless of what they roll -- but the players are still rewarded for good rolls.