I've hit a mental brick wall and need a hand.
The game I've been working on for a few years uses a dice pool system, with each die showing a 4 or greater counting as a "success".
Problem is, I don't want to call it "success". I want it to be something distinctly different from any term you would use when describing if the overall task was successful or not. It's not an issue for most experienced gamers, but this has always been one of those weird things that takes some adjustment for some new players. I considered "hits" as well, but that has the same problem.
"Did you hit him?" "I'm not sure..." "How many hits did you roll?" "What?"
Every time I read what I've got til now, this bugs me. Now I'm just banging my head on the desk trying to force my brain to go in another direction.
What are some alternative terms for a single die that counts for a successful roll?
An 'Advance'?
"How many advances did you roll?"
They advance you toward suceeding at the overall task.
Highs?
If the basic issue is that it won't be obvious to the inexperienced reader, be literal. "4+"
"How many four plusses did you roll?"
"How many points did you score?"
Or perhaps "How many passes?"
Diversity in Challenge Outcomes
Make up your own little acronym that sounds short and sweet.
Thanks! Some great responses.
Points or passes might work, though that could get confused with points of damage. I may have to tinker around with some acronyms. Diversity in Challenge Outcomes just strikes me as funny and somehow politically correct. Which makes me wonder if there is not some sort of delightfully evil and funny politically acronym acronym I could use...
Marks?
S.C.R.A.P.s? (Successful Counted Rolls As Points)
#'s or Higher?
Something in theme with the setting perhaps?
yes
I feel like no matter what you write, people are just going to fall back on old habits and call them "successes" or "victories" or whatever it is they call them. Why does it matter to your design that it's called something other than "success"?
it's a dice pool problem. To succeed at a task you need to get 3 dice to roll 4+. If you call rolling a 4+ a success it gets confusing that you need 3 successes for the attempt to be a succcess.
whereas if you call a 4+ a point, saying you need 3 points to succeed is clearer
As mentioned above, I recommend "Marks".
I had a shadowrun game going with a bunch of people who were pretty new to RPGs altogether, let alone shadowrun. After I noticed some of the "I got hits, but I dont hit" confusion we started referring to them as marks. Less confusion that way.
Fortunes
Chances
Advances
Breaks
Aces
Feats
Strokes
Benefits
Bull's eyes
Boosts
Pluses
It really depends what kind of flavor you want to give the game.