Position and Effect

Position and Effect express advantage without stacking modifiers.

Position answers: How bad can the downside be if this goes wrong?

Effect answers: How much can this approach accomplish if it works?

The GM only needs to state them when they clarify a real choice. If everyone already understands that walking across an empty room is safe and that pulling the fire alarm will be obvious, announcing ratings for both would add bureaucracy instead of information.

Position

• Controlled: you have time, leverage, preparation, or a safe fallback. Consequences are limited and recoverable.
• Risky: you are exposed. A miss can create a Condition, cost, exposure, worse position, or active pressure.
• Desperate: severe downside is established before the dice are rolled. The GM does not reveal a hidden catastrophe only after seeing a low number.

Effect

• Limited: the approach can matter, but scale, quality, leverage, or access prevents the full intended impact.
• Standard: success achieves the stated intent at the expected scale.
• Great: strong leverage, quality, scale, or preparation lets success accomplish more than the baseline intent.

Why gear and preparation matter

A useful edge normally changes Position or Effect. A reinforced coat may make crossing falling debris less dangerous. A legitimate service credential may turn a locked staff procedure from impossible into routine. A correct map may improve how much ground a successful navigation attempt covers.

This keeps advantages tied to what characters have and do. You do not need to track whether three different pieces of gear each grant +1.

Tradeoffs before a roll

Sometimes an approach has good Effect but bad Position, or excellent Position but Limited Effect. That is useful information, not a problem to smooth away. You can accept the tradeoff or change the approach before rolling.

If you change the situation—find cover, recruit help, obtain the right tool, narrow the goal—the GM should reconsider Position and Effect. If nothing changes, repeating the same roll against the same uncertainty is usually the wrong next step.