What do you use for a perception role?

[Jack Tar]

I ran my first BRP game a few days ago. It was a lot of fun. I'm using the Hollow Earth Expedition as background and BRP as the system.

One thing came up however. I kept whanting the players to make a perception role to see if they noticed certain things. However, there isn't a "perception" skill. The closest was "Insight" which doesn't seem quite what I was after. Nor does "Spot" seem correct. What do people here use? An "Idea" roll?

[rust]

Our "House Rules" include a Perception skill, otherwise I use either an Idea
roll or (Listen + Spot):2, depending on the situation.

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by Jack Tar

I ran my first BRP game a few days ago. It was a lot of fun. I'm using the Hollow Earth Expedition as background and BRP as the system.

One thing came up however. I kept whanting the players to make a perception role to see if they noticed certain things. However, there isn't a "perception" skill. The closest was "Insight" which doesn't seem quite what I was after. Nor does "Spot" seem correct. What do people here use? An "Idea" roll?

"Spot" would seem well suited to what you want:

The art of noticing tiny details, use this skill for to search a room for important details, find a hidden compartment, notice a fleeting detail, recognize a disguised foe, or spot enemies lying in ambush. Keen eyes and quick wits are both essential.

Alternatively, perhaps an Idea roll?

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[frogspawner]

I worry that Spot will get over-used, and everyone will get such a high skill that no detail could ever be missed!

I'd prefer to reserve Spot skill for when the players actively decide to look for something (likewise Listen) and use Idea-type, INTxN, rolls when the GM is deciding whether to give out some clue. But usually I forget, and just call for Spot/Listen rolls...

[jean]

Originally Posted by Jack Tar

I ran my first BRP game a few days ago. It was a lot of fun. I'm using the Hollow Earth Expedition as background and BRP as the system.

One thing came up however. I kept whanting the players to make a perception role to see if they noticed certain things. However, there isn't a "perception" skill. The closest was "Insight" which doesn't seem quite what I was after. Nor does "Spot" seem correct. What do people here use? An "Idea" roll?

If it is a physical perception (a noise, an image) I'd use listen or spot.
If it is looking for clue, I'd say search
If it is detecting lies, insight fits

If the atmosphere seems wrong or something in the background does not quite fit, maybe an idea roll with a stiff penalty

Hope this helps you
Jean

[NickMiddleton]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

I worry that Spot will get over-used, and everyone will get such a high skill that no detail could ever be missed!

I'd prefer to reserve Spot skill for when the players actively decide to look for something (likewise Listen) and use Idea-type, INTxN, rolls when the GM is deciding whether to give out some clue. But usually I forget, and just call for Spot/Listen rolls...

I try and distinguish between three categories of information that can be derived from a scene:

• Elusive details only a sharp observer would catch - revealed by a suitable Spot roll.
• Obscure ramifications of what is present - revealed by a suitable Idea roll (or specific skill where appropriate).
• Concealed information of material - revealed by a suitable search strategy and requiring only sufficient time and the correct search strategy to locate.

To quote what I posted recently at Yog-Sothoth.com:

I tend to use "Spot Hidden" in CoC as exactly that - the chance a character will pick notice a salient detail that, if not actually concealed, is certainly easy to miss due to the "signal to noise ratio" in the scene - it might be a significant look between two NPC's, the feint scent of ambergris in the air, the sudden absence of bird song, the fact that a book has been moved whilst the characters back was turned or whatever.

Sometimes, if it's more a matter of rationally processing information I may ask for an Idea roll instead or, depending on the scene, a Spot Hidden success will alert the character to the fact that "somethings off" then an Idea roll lets them determine WHAT exactly (which often allows the "you know somethings wrong, but you can't work out what" which seems very in genre to me...).

If items are actually hidden (secret journal concealed behind other books on a bookcase, a safe behind a painting etc.), I may allow a Spot Hidden to reveal clues to their presence when the character enters the room - but if the Players tell me they are searching the room then I rule based on their planned search as to how long it takes them to find things and skill rolls are rarely involved; I may use successful Spot Hidden rolls to allow them to locate things quickly however - e.g. if they are frantically searching the room for the journal whilst an NPC is elsewhere but likely to return.

Cheers,

Nick Middleton

[Shiba Homer]

Originally Posted by Jack Tar

I ran my first BRP game a few days ago. It was a lot of fun. I'm using the Hollow Earth Expedition as background and BRP as the system.

One thing came up however. I kept whanting the players to make a perception role to see if they noticed certain things. However, there isn't a "perception" skill. The closest was "Insight" which doesn't seem quite what I was after. Nor does "Spot" seem correct. What do people here use? An "Idea" roll?

You don't seem very clear on what you mean by "noticed certain things"

Natural or supernatural, which of the (min) 5 senses, moving or non-moving?

You could always divide spot into search/scan...

[Shaira]

BRP of course also now has the "Sense" skill, which refers to "taste, touch, and smell". To quote:

"A high Sense skill rating gives your character an almost uncanny awareness of the world around him or her."

Also, like Listen and Spot, it is both an active and a passive skill - the GM can roll "in passing", or you can deliberately try and employ the skill to a specific end.

That now puts four skill / characteristic rolls in the "perception" arsenal:

• Trying to notice a person, hidden object, etc, visually: SPOT
• Trying to notice a person or hidden thing, audially: LISTEN
• Trying to realise something, etc, by deduction: IDEA ROLL (or appropriate Knowledge skill - History, Science, etc)
• Trying to notice something by smell, touch, or taste (testing a substance for poison, smelling gas or some noxious monster close by, detecting a hidden door in a wall by feeling for cracks, etc): SENSE

Of course as different characters - and especially different types of creatures - will prioritise different abilities, it makes sense to have these abilities broken out into discrete skills rather than lumped together into one catch-all "Perception" skill.

Also, just as a development, note you have all the "Super Sense" super abilities in the Powers chapter. There's nothing to stop you assigning these as natural abilities for other animals or species - with this you can describe Sonar Senses, Heat Sense, Night Vision, Dark Vision, etc, etc, which expands their range of potential perception rolls. I've been doing that when speccing up my campaign's equivalents of trolls, etc.

Cheers,

Sarah

[Jack Tar]

Thank you all. The situation I found myself in was wanting the players to notice subtle things such as, the relatively large numbers of military walking around Paris in 1937.

I now see that an Idea roll would have been most appropriate. But also lots of clarification and extra ideas from this thread.

Thanks again.