Adjudication Procedure

A player character wants to do a thing. Or maybe, a non-player character needs to make a decision. The referee must now determine what actually happens.

Adjudication Procedure

Does the thing happen? Read the list from top to bottom. When an option works, use it. Do not read further.

• Think about the immediate context. Would it clearly happen? Is it impossible? Judge it. Decide. Ability scores, npc motivations, physics, etc. are relevant.
• can I defer this in a way that improves the game?
• No immediately relevant factors can determine the answer? Judge what the probability of it happening might be, then roll a dice to determine the outcome.
• Having trouble deciding a probability to use? Is it also unclear whether the ability score will cause the thing to happen? Do an ability check roll.

Flawed methods

Here are some adjudication options that some referees recommend that decrease the fun of oldschool D&D. I recommend never using them for oldschool games.

• if it’s fun, it happens
• if a player wants it, it happens