How Outcomes Are Decided

Most of what you do just happens. You walk into the tavern, you saddle the horse, you ask the barman a question. Nobody adjudicates that.

Judgement only kicks in when something is genuinely at risk. Then the GM weighs your tier, your approach, and your situation, and picks one of four answers.

The four answers

Yes. It works and the story moves on.

Yes, but. It works and it costs you. Time you did not have, noise that carried, a promise you now owe, a friendship strained, a thing broken to get it done.

No, but. It does not work, and you come out with something anyway. You learn what you were up against, you end up somewhere better placed, or a door opens that was shut a moment ago.

No. It does not work, and the trouble moves closer. This is never a dead end. A no in this game always hands you a new problem, never a wall.

Approach matters as much as skill

Tier is only one of three inputs, and it is not automatically the loudest. A Low character with a genuinely smart plan will often beat a High character being lazy. Describe how you are doing something, not just what, because the how is half the ruling.

Situation is the third input. Wounded, exhausted, rushed, outnumbered, or on unfamiliar ground all pull downward. Preparation, a good position, and a friend helping all pull up. Your condition field is read every time, so injuries are not cosmetic.

Risk has to cost something

This is deliberate, and it is worth knowing so it does not feel unfair when it happens.

Acting Unranked or Low under real pressure never earns a plain yes. Something always comes with it. And if the last three risky things you tried all came off clean, the next one costs, because a session where nothing goes wrong has no stakes and stops being interesting around turn twenty.

Costs are concrete and land on screen. Time lost. Someone saw you. An injury written to your condition. An item gone. A promise you now owe, written down where it will come back for you.

Going up against someone

When two characters push against each other, the same three inputs get compared on both sides. Higher tier usually wins, but a better approach or a lopsided situation genuinely overturns it. Being outclassed is not the end of the exchange, it just means you need the other two inputs on your side.

Failure is not punishment

Every no is supposed to open a door somewhere else. If a ruling ever leaves the scene stuck with nothing to push against, that is a mistake in the ruling and not a rule of the game.