Repeated Attempts

Sometimes you will only get one chance to do something (defuse a bomb, jump over a crevasse, remove an inflamed appendix, please the King with a song). Other times you can try over and over again until you succeed (pick a lock, catch a fish, analyze a poison). Still other times you will not know whether you succeeded or failed until it's too late to try again (translate an old treasure map, order in a French restaurant, build a ship). Finally, there are times when you are injured by failure but can afford to fail a few times (climb a wall, impress a savage tribesman).

The GM must use common sense to distinguish between these cases, according to the exact situation in which the players find themselves. As a rule:

• If the first failure kills them or destroys the object of the attempt, that's that.
• If a failure causes damage of some kind, assess the damage and let them try again after a "reasonable" time passes. (Skill descriptions frequently state the time required.)
• If a failure causes no damage, let them try again after a reasonable time, but at -1 per repeated attempt – that is, -1 on the second attempt, -2 on the third, and so on – until they succeed or give up.
• If repeated attempts are the norm for the task (e.g., when attacking in combat), or if it's long task, tell them that their attempt failed but let them try again at no special penalty, in the usual amount of time.