Whenever a player asks me a question such as, "Is there a stone I can pick up to throw?" I either go yes because we are standing in a quarry or no because you're sinking in a quagmire. But sometimes I'm not sure; it might be a godsend if there were a rock, and a gaff it there weren't.
In systems with a Luck stat (DCCRPG), I usually ask the PC's current Luck+fleeting luck total and roll a d20 at/under to get the answer. Passing barely could be a "yes-but..." situation.
In systems without luck, I usually ad hoc a number from 1 to 5 and roll a d6 at/under.
Today I present a new idea: convience points. When entering a dungeon, roll 2d6. A room, 1d3. A fight, 1d6.
Tell the players the result as an amount of convience points they can use. Say the players want to cross an abyss. A player can pipe up, "Ooh, I'll spend a point to have a bridge be there!" To which the DM might say, "Cool," or "Nah, I just described a bridgeless gap, but we could spend one of your points to have a conviently placed post?... er, stalagmite on the far-side to lasso..."
You could use this system in other situations. Say the party meets some CHUDs and desire to parley with words commonese and chudese happen to share. Each point spent could be a word or phrase that both sides understand.
Or say a puzzle/riddle is present. Points could be spent on noticing things in the room or recalling incidental things that could be clues. "You notice a top, a spinning toy, is sticking out of the nearby garbage heap. It reminds you of your childhood as an orphan in the jungle temple, where the abbot was fond of saying..."
----Share good posts with good goblins. Claytonian at the gmails.
