Danger Sense in Dungeon Fantasy

[Athanbeli]

In a dungeon - or other obviously dangerous situation - I tend to look at the margin of success (secret roll, made by the GM): a mere success by 1 or 2 is going to produce almost useless results, just ad Phil and Kromm said: horrible danger is lurking... somewhere in this labyrynth.

The hard part is to try at being honest in interpreting the roll, even if it will ruin your expectations.
I guess the players eventually realize when your faking every secret roll...

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Azinctus

You could have the danger sense trigger early. When the PC walks into the room with the cursed jewelled dagger they sense danger because this room has a trap in it (the dagger) but they have no idea if walking on the floor, picking up the dagger or going to sleep here is the dangerous act.

Originally Posted by finn

That would work, but the GM would have to be careful to not consistently "trigger early". If the player knows that Danger Sense kicks in when entering a room with potential danger, the gay with Danger Sense will try to enter every room before his friends, prepared to jump out a second later.

If there were something dangerous in the room (for example a dagger with a curse on it), I'd tell the Rogue there is something dangerous in the room when he steps in there. He would not be able to say..."This chair? Is this the dangerous thing? How about this wall?" I'd say, "As you walk into the room you feel a sense of unease...something is wrong in this room." And I'd leave it at that.

If the party wants to then avoid the room, that's fine. But in a dungeon? They'd be avoiding many, many rooms. Including rooms with treasure or their ultimate goal in it. And all those rooms without a sense of danger, in a dungeon, are probably empty and not very interesting.

[Anaraxes]

that "occasional" fail will come sooner then later, and it might be fatal

"Might"? See the OP; We're talking traps from b-dog here. Ain't no "might" about it. :)

In fact, I'd probably just have Danger Sense going off all the time. "You detect that b-dog is the GM. There is impending danger to your character."

[Fish]

For that matter, how do you label something "dangerous?" In any stereotypical horror movie, there's a gotcha! moment where something leaps out of the dark, or somebody's hand falls on the heroine's shoulder — and half the time it's just the cat, or the neighbor next door, or one of the others playing a joke. Is that "danger?"

I can see it going both ways, here. On the one hand, the player spent good points to have a danger detector and it's unfair to simply categorically deny him the use of the ability. And it wouldn't be right to have a player's "Danger Sense" going off constantly for cats, neighbors, thunder, or tree branches scraping the window — once the house becomes perforated with bullet holes from quick-reacting characters, those points have actually become a liability instead of an asset.

On the other hand, the ability doesn't specifically give explicit, localized or enumerated danger-rating bullet points on each and every individual item or condition in the vicinity.

[Ragitsu]

Anything that catches you off guard?

[Canology]

I wouldn't think non-dangerous events would trigger Danger Sense even if they were surprises.

It would be more like: "Oh, my Danger Sense didn't go off because it was the cat!"

[Fish]

But the flip side of that is, "I just met a guy and my Danger Sense went off. Therefore, it's safe to assume he's the villain and I can kill him."

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Fish

But the flip side of that is, "I just met a guy and my Danger Sense went off. Therefore, it's safe to assume he's the villain and I can kill him."

Only if the Villain that has no support net work that would not pain you as the villain for the act.

[trooper6]

Originally Posted by Fish

But the flip side of that is, "I just met a guy and my Danger Sense went off. Therefore, it's safe to assume he's the villain and I can kill him."

I don't know. If the guy is not an immediate threat...I don't think your Danger Sense would ping. It isn't "Detect Evil Intent in the future" for example. And again...the Danger Sense isn't localized to a person or a thing. It is just a general vibe. You walk into the room to meet the King and your danger sense goes off. That doesn't mean the king is the Villain. If could be someone scrying on you who has intent get you right now! Or a guard, or a trap...who knows what? Danger Sense just says...Danger! It doesn't say, Danger from Mr. Snow!

[Mehmet]

Originally Posted by trooper6

I don't know. If the guy is not an immediate threat...I don't think your Danger Sense would ping. It isn't "Detect Evil Intent in the future" for example. And again...the Danger Sense isn't localized to a person or a thing. It is just a general vibe. You walk into the room to meet the King and your danger sense goes off. That doesn't mean the king is the Villain. If could be someone scrying on you who has intent get you right now! Or a guard, or a trap...who knows what? Danger Sense just says...Danger! It doesn't say, Danger from Mr. Snow!

Also, I'd think if DS worked that way it would go a couple of French fries short of a happy meal the moment you spot Harry Blackstone Coperfield Dresden - who is certainly not a villain but an extremely dangerous guy to be around.

Cheers...