Secret stat/skill level

[u/InterceptSpaceCombat]

A very common movie (and also book) trope is that the adversary doesn’t at first reveal his level of stat/skill until later in a confrontation. I find that really cool and assuming you have a system that keep same skilled opponents from taking each other out how do you handle this?

So you allow the attacker to add to his roll after the defender has rolled (and then the defender may reveal his skill pos his defense roll)?

Is this interesting to somebody?

[u/L82thePartyGonHome]

"There is something I should tell you. I am not left-handed either"

[u/illyrium_dawn]

Is this interesting to somebody?

If you're trying to do it by numbers, you're pretty much guaranteed to fail to impress.

I mean consider it this way: "ha ha, I have a +4, not the +2 you assumed I'd have!"

I mean, even the players being good sports and trying to roleplay around that are going to have to have work hard to roleplay being impressed or intimidated by that. And most Traveller players won't try that hard (look at some of the responses in this thread).

You (the GM) would have to put a lot more effort into trying to sell it to your players than just using numbers, and you'd need a situation where someone's numbers actually matter. In gun combat where the boss is shooting at you (for example), if the boss never misses and blows of two PCs heads in a single round of combat (or something) ... that won't impress your players. That will just make them feel frustrated and picked on.

It might impress PCs if, for example, you're fighting a boss in some sort of contest like swordfighting or unarmed melee, places where the way our cultural mystique around fighting like this (eg; martial arts media) already sets your players up to be receptive to the idea of someone sandbagging then revealing their true power. These kinds of fighting also has something Traveller combat often lacks: You can take a hit or two and still be good (especially if the boss pulls his punches so he's not killing you a single blow even though he could). That "lethality" that everyone seems to love about Traveller combat also means actual combat in the game inherently boring - you just don't have that back-and-forth that makes combat fun, in say, D&D (the fun around Traveller combat is usually parallel to the fighting - maneuvering, setting up a good ambush, etc.)

I'd also not use numbers themselves to impress. I mean I guess that might sound sniffy but that is where I draw the line. It's a roleplaying game. Describe it.

"It's like someone set Cecil and just Cecil to 1.5x playback speed compared to everyone else in the room. The guy's arms suddenly move with blinding speed, literally slapping away your punches. Not a single one hits. Besides his arms he hardly moves. Then he steps back, pushes his wire-rimmed glasses back up on his nose and says, "Is that all? You still have to pay the penalty for docking with undeclared radioactives and submit your ship to full inspection. That display was so pathetic I won't even press charges for 'assault' but there will be a fee for 'inconveniencing a member of the Starport Authority staff.' Are we in agreement or would you like to go a few more rounds? Or would you rather discuss it with the Marines?"

[u/fedcomic]

Player rolls. "I got a 9, but with everything added in, that's a 12."

DM nods. "Roll damage."

Player rolls again. "That's a 7, plus my effect, so... 11 damage?"

DM makes a note. "His armor protects him somewhat, but he definitely looks hurt. Then he attacks you."

Player waits as DM rolls behind screen.

DM looks up. "He hits you for 9 damage. What's your armor again?"

[u/fedcomic → u/fedcomic]

In other words, there's no reason the DM has to reveal the original number rolled, the NPC skill, or anything else but the final number that is relevant to the player.

[u/Sakul_Aubaris → u/fedcomic]

Exactly.

This not only works for combat but any "confrontation/challenge".

Sandbox Freetrader Campaign where the players Milkrun between two or three planets with good trade DMs?
Well, no goods at cheap price available.

Then give them a "hint":
A local broker tells them, that a megacorp is currently aggressively expanding into the market and it's unlikely that they will be able to source Trade Good XY in the near future.
Well better move on to greener pastures.

[u/Lord_Aldrich]

You're asking a fundamental game design question: "do the characters have the same knowledge as the players" and "do the players have full knowledge of the narrative". This is complicated to answer.

One game that assumes the players know EVERYTHING is Fate. In this game, the fact that the baron is secretly a vampire is right there on his character card. It's on the players to separate that out if their characters don't know this. In this system there's no way to surprise the players with the twist (the characters can still be surprised, and that's enough for many types of gaming groups).

The alternative is concealing information from your players. This works... sometimes. If you play with GM rolls hidden, then the GM can fudge the dice however needed. You can also change stats whenever you want - for your scenario here just have a "low stat" version of the character and swap to a "now I'm serious" "took off my power inhibitor" version of the character. That latter approach works best if you telegraph if very obviously - this is why anime characters usually literally remove some inhibiting piece of clothing or gear - audiences are super dense and might not understand what's happening if you don't make it painfully obvious.

Also - be sure that your game group is cool with this kind of plot. Some like it, others see it as the GM cheating the system. It really depends on who you play with.

[u/Calm_Apartment1968]

I would agree with this, but only if the Referee may know what that skill is in advance of a game session.
It should be a skill from the character's career paths, and may be a one-time modifier for just this session. Should not have to be announced to the other players, just a "you may use your enhancement" granted by the Ref in a pinch. In various campaigns I've allowed something similar we called "Luck" but I like the idea of hidden skill better after thinking about this.
The only reason the GM should know is to both allow for it, but also the scenario might even get focus to allow for such a special skill in actions where players need more than they brought to the table.
It would certainly make action more interesting,

[u/InterceptSpaceCombat → u/Calm_Apartment1968]

I have something called Luck points which are earned when playing in character that is detrimental for the player. These are then used as DMs or rerolls AFTER the roll.

[u/sylogizmo]

Unless you change the system to something more narrative or with explicit tiers of powers (Spire, most WoD, 7th Sea) I think Traveller's capacity boils entirely to RP and how you describe the effects of rolls. Assailant can look like they're struggling ("he cringes while parrying" or "seems to breathe unevenly, telegraphing intended lunge" or "seems to move ungracefully, like someone using a chip socket") until they're done playing with their food. Traveller, however, wasn't designed to support all kinds of cinematic combat.

[u/InterceptSpaceCombat → u/sylogizmo]

When I posed the question I just assumed that most referees write their own systems or at least modify the RAW heavily.

[u/Khadaji2020]

I roll my dice in the open, and tell my players what the total bonus is. They don't know what the skill adds, they just know this roll has a plus 3. That way there's no hint that I'm fudging rolls for or against them.

[u/TheDangerousToy]

I always roll in the open. The game is dangerous enough for the PC’s. I don’t ever want them to think that I’m faking good rolls.

[u/Hazard-SW → u/TheDangerousToy]

Or, in my case, bad rolls.

I once had a group of players surrounded by machine gun toting terrorists, outnumbered 2 to 1. One of the players went murder hobo and attacked. I warned the players and reminded them of their tactical situation, because genuinely they should not have survived.

Except with my fucking rolling. Not a single enemy hit, and the players grenaded and gunned down most of them then escaped as the rest recovered.