Tests and Challenges

Playing the Game

At some point during your adventures, you and your friends will be faced with some troubles or problems—if everything always went well, it would not be much of an adventure after all! There are two different things that can occur: tests and challenges. Let’s take a look at them separately.

Using the Rules and Introducing New Ones

As you’ll probably notice when you first start playing Tails of Thedastria, the best way to assimilate all the information and rules is to jump right in and give them a try in your campaign. The best way to approach the rules presented is simply to start using them. Don’t study and agonize. Just go for in. Of course, this can get overwhelming and you don’t need to introduce every single rule in your first session or even first few sessions. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Start with the basics: scuffles, talents, and basic stunts like scuffle and magic. If exploration and roleplaying stunts are too confusing or intimidating at first, add them later. Some rules, like those for running Organizations and the Advanced Spell Stunts from Flemeth Zecora’s Black Grimoire, should definitely be added only once you’re comfortable with the basic rules. If, when you try out some new rule, you get confused or things don’t go exactly the way you were expecting, the GM should make a quick ruling and keep the game going forward. Then, after the session, anyone who’s interested in revisiting what happened can talk, with a little bit of distance, about any troubles the group had. You can figure out what you might have done wrong, or, if you just don’t dig the rule, you can introduce a house rule for use in the future. Keep the game going in the moment and debate the rules later.

Stunt Points

When doubles are rolled on certain types of tests, this generates stunt points. You can then use these points to pull off a number of special maneuvers. Stunt points are used primarily in scuffles to keep fights dynamic and fun, along with spell stunts, which let mages enhance their spells. If your GM permits it, you can also use stunt points in exploration and roleplaying encounters. Check out Advanced Roleplaying for more information on those options.

Tests

A test is when your pony is facing a difficult situation like kicking open a locked door, dodging a falling coconut, solving a difficult puzzle, or memorizing a speech.

The gamemaster will set a Difficulty to the test you need to pass, which is a number from 2 (the easiest) to 20 (the most difficult), and will tell you what trait you should use for the test. In order to pass the test, you need to roll equal to or higher than the Difficulty.

For example, to dodge a falling coconut, the gamemaster could decide that you need to test on your Body trait, against a Difficulty of 4. This means that you roll the die for your Body trait (say, for example, that it is a D8), and if you score a 4 or more, the test is passed—you dodge the falling coconut and are okay. If you roll a 3 or less, the test is failed and you’re hit on the head by the coconut—ouch, lose 1 point of Stamina!

Of course, if your Body trait was higher, like a D10 or better, the test would be easier.

If instead there was something making the test more difficult, such as your legs being tied together, the gamemaster would set the Difficulty a little higher—a 5 or even 6.

Difficulty Value Chart

Task	Difficulty	TN
Very easy	2	7
Easy	3	9
Sort of easy	4	11
Sort of hard	5	13
Hard	6	15
Very hard	7	-
Extremely hard	8	17
Unbelievably hard	9	-
Indescribly hard	10	19
Almost impossible	11	-
You’ve gotta be kidding!	12	21
Has anypony ever done this?	13 to 20	-

Bad Luck!

Note that the minimum Dificulty for a test is 2, so if you roll a 1, the test is always failed.

Not only that, rolling a 1 is really bad, and the gamemaster can make up some very entertaining effects when that happens.

Amazing Success!

Sometimes you succeed really spectacularly, in which case, you or the gamemaster get to tell everypony how amazingly successful you were. This happens when the roll of your die is double or more the Difficulty of the test.

For example, if the test was Difficulty 4 and you roll an 8 or more, the test was amazingly successful.

In the example above, if you rolled an 8 on the test to dodge the coconut (Difficulty 4), then you and the gamemaster could come up with something really cool—for example, you could say that rather than just dodging the coconut, you bucked with perfect timing as it fell and kicked it right on top of the cart of supplies that is behind you—nice move!

No Fingers? No Problem

Often in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, ponies can be seen doing things with their hooves that don’t make sense in our slightly less fantastic world. They tie knots, pick up stuff, move small objects, and even play the piano! It is the same in Tails of Thedastria—generally a pony can use a combinating of teeth, hooves, and magic to do what a creature with hands can do. As a general rule of thumb...err...hoof, if a question comes up concerning whether a pony is able to do something using hooves, it’s best to simply not think very hard about it. Thedastria depends far more on magic than science, after all!

Using Talents for Tests

In some cases, when faced with some difficult tests, someone in your group might have a talent that could give an advantage in that test. For example, if you have the Special Skill: Bucking talent, you get to roll an extra die when bucking, which would apply nicely to kicking down a door!

Some talents allow you to upgrade or re-roll the die you roll for a certain test.

Some other talents allow you to roll an extra die for the test—simply roll this extra die alongside the die you’d normally use and pick the best result.

For example, you are trying to kick down a door and the gamemaster decides that the Difficulty is 4. Normally you would use your pony’s Body value to do this. Let’s say that your Body is D6, but that you have the Bucking (D8) talent. This woud allow you to roll a D8 as well as a D6. You roll both dice and then pick the highest result.

A Little Help from your Friends

If more than one pony is attempting the same test, you all get to roll your die and pick the highest.

For example, more than one pony could join forces to try to kick down a door, one after the other. Each pony takes the test. If any pony succeeds, then the task is successful, and the number of ponies succeeding can help the gamemaster decide how successfully the test has been passed.

Sometimes several ponies can join forces all at the same time rather than one at a time. This makes passing the test even easierm and can allow the group to succeed in tasks that would be impossible for a single pony. For example, imagine you had to move a very heavy table—one pony could not even lift it, but if four of you each grabbed one leg, then altogether you lift it and move it.

In this situation, the gamemaster lowers the Difficulty of the task, and then all the ponies take the test as described above. The Difficulty is normally reduced by one point per pony helping out, but the gamemaster can increase this if they think it is appropriate (such as if one of the helpers is a dragon!).

For example, lifting and moving the heavy table is Difficulty 7, so a single pony with Body D6 and no talent that would help them lift would find it impossible. However, if the pony was joined by a friend, the DM could decide to lower the Difficulty to 6. If the friend has a Body of D4, lifting the table would be possible for one of the ponies, but not for both. However, if a total of three friends were helping the first pony to lift the table, the Difficulty could be reduced by 3 down to 4, so even friends with Body D4 could succeed.

Think Outside the Box

Somepony in the group could have a talent that could be used to solve a problem using a completely different test, if the GM agrees.

For example, a Unicorn in your group, seeing how breaking down a heavy door is very difficult or even impossible for the group, could say, “Wait a second! Can I have a peek through the keyhole? Is the key in the keyhole on the other side of the door?”

The gamemaster would answer, “Yes, you have a look and see that the key is indeed in the keyhole on the other side.”

The Unicorn could then ask, “Can I use my Telekinesis talent to try to turn the key in the lock?”

The gamemaster could say, “Sure, that is a test against Difficulty of 3 for your Telekinesis, which is a D6.”

So, by using your imagination and talents, you can find a solution to almost any problem!

Impossible Tests

So what happens if the Difficulty of a test is too high for anypony in your group to pass? For example, if you were trying to buck down a door made of thick oak planks reinforced with metal strips, the Difficulty could be 10. If you have a Body of D8, you have no chance of rolling a 10, which means that the test is impossible for you.

If you wish, you can still try an impossible test—there is a secret technique that gives your pony a very small chance for success. This ancient technique, passed through the centuries from master to disciple, is called the Exploding Hoof! When you attempt the Exploding Hoof Technique for an impossible test, pick a single die for your pony to use (either from one of their characteristics or a relevant talent) and roll for the test as normal.

If you roll the maximum value on your die, you may roll the next best die.

For example, if you roll a 6 on a D6, you then roll a D8. And if the D8 also rolls its maximum (8), then you roll a D10, and so on. Once a die fails to roll its maximum, or you have rolled a D20, you stop rolling and pick the highest result you have scored in that series of rolls as your final result.

Note that the Exploding Hoof technique cannot make a roll worse. For example, if you roll a 1 on your D8, you would use the 6 that was previously rolled on the D6.

Of course, there are often other ways around impossible tests. For example, it faced with the heavy door described above, you could a Token of Friendship to increase your chances of kicking it down, or you cold ask a stronger friend to give it a try, if their Body was D10 or better. Alternatively, of course, there might be other directions you could explore rather than trying to go through the door...maybe there’s a window wide open somewhere!

Challenges

A challenge is a special kind of test, where there are two sides competing to achieve the best result. For example, a challenge could be a cross-country race, a spelling contest, or a game of chess.

In a challenge, the two characters involved in the contest use the same trait or talent to see who wins.

The two sides both roll, and the one that rolls the highest wins the challenge. If the rolls are equal, the GM decides whether the challenge is a draw, and will tell you what the effects of the draw are, or will ask the two sides to roll their dice again.

Let’s take a spelling contest as an example. Your pony and a rival are competing and the GM decides that it’s going to be a Mind challenge. This means that you both roll your Mind die and the highest rolling result is the winner of the challenge.

In the case of a race, the GM could decide that you need to take a challenge using your Body trait. If the challenge involves convincing somepony to give you information, or you were trying to win an argument, the GM might decide that you have to take a Charm challenge.

If it’s a challenge that involves a talent, then you would use the die for that talent. For example, in a flying race, you would use the die you get from your Fly talent.

As in normal tests, rolling a 1 equals a Bad Luck result, with bad effects decided by the GM. And similarly, if you beat the opponent’s score by twice or more of their score, you have succeeded so well in the challenge that the GM will describe some cool, additional effects.

Untrained Tests and Challenges

Normally, simple tasks can be attempted by just using your Body, Mind, and Charm traits, but in some cases a test or challenge might need a particular talent. For example, it it’s a test or challenge of flight, ponies that do not have that cannot take the test or challenge, or if the test involves a magical talent, then only ponies with that talent can attempt it.

In some cases, if the GM agrees, you can try to attempt a challenge or test that requires a talent even if you don’t have that talent! In this case, you would have to use a D4 for that test or challenge. For example, you could try to use Unicorn magic to control the weather at a crucial moment even if you were never trained in weather manipulation, but your chances of succeeding would be really low. If the GM allows it, you can give it a try, but you would be using a D4, which would be very tough!

Upgrading and Downgrading Dice Rolls

When a rule or ability allows you to upgrade a die roll, this means that you roll a die that is one step better than you normally would.

For example, if you normally roll a D8, and this roll is upgraded, you roll a D10 instead.

If a rule tells you to downgrade a roll, the die you use is one step worse—for example, if a D6 roll is downgraded, it becomes a D4.

Some rules may upgrade or downgrade a roll by two or more steps rather than a single step (for example, upgrade a D6 to a D8 then a D10), but this is rare.

If a D20 is upgraded, you can decide to re-roll the result instead (see below). If a D4 is downgraded, you must re-roll the result if it is successful—too bad!

Re-Rolls

When a rule or the GM allows you to re-roll a die, this means that you can choose not to accept the first result you rolled, discard that score, and roll again. The second result always stands, even if it was worse than the first, and can never be re-rolled.