The Sneaky Beaky

Stealth is something just about everyone understands: don’t get caught! To expound on that, it’s about acting without drawing attention, moving beneath notice. An alternate way to go about this is obfuscation; if you can’t hide what you’re doing, mislead any onlookers as to your actual intent and goals.

Even the most casual player will wonder if they can steal that slice of cake, or the magic item in the shop, or the queen’s secret magazines, without getting caught. Secrecy and misdirection are the bread and butter of the stealth game.

Stealth Checks

A check is used when there is uncertainty about the outcome of an action. A stealth check, therefore, is used when there’s uncertainty about the outcome of a trick, or a subversion, whether the other side will be fooled by your misdirection.

The typical skill used in a stealth check is, well, Stealth, with Perception used to oppose it. Occasionally, Survival might be substituted where camouflage and blending into one’s surroundings matters, and Investigation might be used in certain contexts, but both of these skill substitutions are rare.

There is also Sleight of Hand, which goes together with stealth in the age-old tradition of picking people’s pockets. Social skills also go hand in hand where misdirection by silvered words and subtle hands intertwine.

There is also attack rolls, which are technically not a skill check, but might be used as part of a stealth gambit if it involves taking out enemies from stealth.

To Surpass Metal Gear

Or Assassin’s Creed, since those two come to mind first.

There are situations where the player may be faced with multiple opponents, guards, etc, with the option/intent to methodically take them out while avoiding detection. In these cases, instead of possibly running a strife for every set of guards, consider a stealth gambit to abstract the affair.

A popular depiction of stealth gameplay in videogames is that the player sneaks up to an unaware enemy and can knock them out or kill them in a single hit. Replicating this purely through strifes becomes very tedious, very quickly, depending on how many guards are around and what the map looks like, if one exists.

As a rule of thumb, consider which is more important; sneaking around, or the actual fight itself? If being a sneaky beaky matters more, use a gambit to abstract the player’s progress, with every success representing the player taking out more and more guards, or how likely they are to get away scot-free.

Examples

Let’s look over some samples to get a feel for this. Your mileage may vary, depending on your SM and the way they like to run their sessions.

• Example Checks:
  • Regular: Run by a hall monitor when they’re not looking, blend into the crowd when the mean girls posse is around.
  • Opposed: Sneak by the neighbor’s dog looking for someone to bark at, hide in the forest from an actual cannibal looking for you.
• Example Gambits:
  • Regular: Stealthily take out a group of guards one by one without raising the alarm, locate and neutralize a VIP without being caught.
  • Opposed: Evade armed guards searching for you after your prison break, sneak a long message to a third party while being watched.
• Example DCs:
  • DC 10: Sneaking through an abandoned warehouse or dense forest, hiding in a concert or rave.
    • Alternately, a total bonus of +0, for opposed checks.
  • DC 15: Hiding from motivated guards under the city catacombs, searching for a specific tool whose only distinguishing feature is a small strip of colored tape.
    • Alternately, a total bonus of +5, for opposed checks.
  • DC 20: Evading bloodhounds and trained paramilitary forces, looking for that one specific lego piece in a man-sized pile of lego pieces.
    • Alternately, a total bonus of +10, for opposed checks.
  • DC 25: Hiding from every major government of the world, finding Waldo, pointing out the fourth wall.
    • Alternately, a total bonus of +15, for opposed checks.
• Example Stakes and Flaws:
  • 1 Stakes Die: Soundless sneakers, a brief distraction. A helpful item. An opportunity.
  • 2 Stakes Dice: Certified ninja attire, a fireworks festival. A very helpful item. An environmental factor.
  • 1 Flaws Die: Crunchy boots, loose tic tacs in your pocket, you don’t actually know where the end is. An unhelpful item. A reason to meander.
  • 2 Flaws Dice: Bells on the wrists and ankles, a phone not on vibrate, going it blind. A very unhelpful item. An unknown quantity.

Tie-Ins

Decors are often the go-to for Stakes dice. Every type of Decor has one or two suited towards this end.

The majority of Flaws will come from either inferior equipment, environmental factors, or unknowns. Accordingly, preparation can be as simple as scouting out the goal beforehand, getting rid of that rattling thing in your back pocket, and not going on a stealth mission in broad daylight.

Alchemy geared towards stealth encounters is focused on boosting one’s stealth capabilities, as well as information gathering. Most Stakes dice will come from this or Decors. Clothes that absorb noise instead of generating it, a shiny distraction rock that always returns to your pocket, an accessory that briefly lets you become invisible.