Trophy Gold Discussion

Hello! Late to the party, but I ran Trophy Dark a few weeks back and was nuts for it.

I’m planning on running Trophy Gold (Hester’s Mill) but we keeps tripping me up is dark dice on Risk Rolls. The rules claim if you want to risk mind and/or body, you can add a dark die to the roll. So far, so good. But assuming you had light dice from either skills or devil’s bargains, couldnt you always try that roll with just light dice first, then decide to add a dark die if you needed a re-roll? Would there be any mechanical advantage to adding the black die first, or is it just for the player to decide their character is doing it as part of the fiction?

Also, earlier in this thread Jesse Ross quoted an example:

Baso (Ruin 2) is exploring the room for secret passages. The GM calls for a Hunt Roll. Baso gets a 2 as their highest. Something bad happens: a trap is triggered and a volley of arrows are flying toward Baso! The GM calls for a Risk Roll to avoid them, but their body is at risk, so they need to include a dark die. Baso rolls a 5… on their dark die. Baso avoids the arrows, but their Ruin still goes up to 3 and there’s a complication. As the complication, the GM decides that in the dive to avoid getting hit, Baso twists their ankle and takes the Condition “Limping”.

It seems like in this example, the GM calls for a Risk Roll with a mandatory dark die, which I didnt know was a thing? Or is it that the player, per the fiction, knows that they would need to include the dark die so they do? I’m just a little confused. Any insight or clarification would be super.

Everything else is dynamite.

Welcome! Glad you’re enjoying Trophy!

But assuming you had light dice from either skills or devil’s bargains, couldnt you always try that roll with just light dice first, then decide to add a dark die if you needed a re-roll?

Yep – that’s exactly right, and often how it works in play.

It seems like in this example, the GM calls for a Risk Roll with a mandatory dark die, which I didnt know was a thing?

The GM can declare that the thing the treasure-hunter is doing is dangerous to their mind or body and so they should include the dark die. If the player wants to avoid including the dark die, they might need to try their action a different, less dangerous way. I always just say “Hey, what you’re doing seems dangerous. You should probably include a dark die on this roll.”

Or is it that the player, per the fiction, knows that they would need to include the dark die so they do?

The player is always free to include the dark die on their own, if they think that what they’re doing is dangerous enough.

I hope that helps!

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