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Pushing rolls seems subject to some interpretation, so I'm looking to clear it up, possibly with some rules I missed somewhere.

In the below example, the Player has 6 base dice, and 1 stress.

She rolls a skill roll. The STRESS die comes up a 6 (success), but she is not satisfied with 1 success, so she pushes the skill roll, adding 1 stress for a total of 2. Which of these is correct for the PUSHED roll:

(1) She rolls 6 base dice plus 2 stress dice, and what she rolls is what she gets. (I.e., the first roll is completely "overwritten" by the push roll.)

(2) She rolls 6 base dice plus 2 stress dice, and she can choose to use the result of the original roll or the push roll.

(3) She sets the stress success aside, and rolls 6 base dice plus the 1 (remaining) stress die, adding whatever successes she rolls to the original 1 success (and of course risking Panic).

(4) She sets one of her BASE dice aside as a success, and rolls 5 base dice plus 2 stress dice, adding whatever successes she rolls to the original 1 success (and of course risking Panic).

The way we've been doing it is (4), but as I said, the rules are pretty vague. I was on the fence between (3) and (4), and settled on (4) just because I'm a MU/TH/UR ...

How do y'all do it? Can you point me to any clarifying rules?

3.

You re-roll your non-success dice (you can't push a skill roll where you have rolled a facehugger) plus the new stress die you got for pushing the skill roll.

3.

You re-roll your non-success dice (you can't push a skill roll where you have rolled a facehugger) plus the new stress die you got for pushing the skill roll.

Do you have rules support, by any chance? I couldn't find any.

3.

You re-roll your non-success dice (you can't push a skill roll where you have rolled a facehugger) plus the new stress die you got for pushing the skill roll.

Do you have rules support, by any chance? I couldn't find any.

p.60 in the rulebook for pushing a skill roll and p.61 for what stress level is.

p.60 in the rulebook for pushing a skill roll and p.61 for what stress level is.

Nah, unfortunately those rules don't do it. FWIW, I talked it out with Andrew Gaska, and he wasn't sure either! We specifically were referencing pages 60+. It's just not clear that (1) You put the success aside, and (if so) (2) Whether you put the success aside as a Stress die or a Base die.

I am almost positive that I read the procedure somewhere for pushing when you have a success, but I can't find it now.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter that much. My days of "must adhere slavishly to the rules" are long gone. I'm interested primarily in what the intent was, because these four possibilities all set very different tones.

Well, I have told you how the rules work and how they are intended to be used but personally I don't find them that hard to understand (at least not this part), but sure, I pretty much knows the rules from the get-go, so that makes YZE-rules a bit easier for me I guess.

But, if you are not happy you can always house rule your game.

Well, I have told you how the rules work and how they are intended to be used but personally I don't find them that hard to understand (at least not this part), but sure, I pretty much knows the rules from the get-go, so that makes YZE-rules a bit easier for me I guess.

You've told me how you interpret and use the rules (which I really do appreciate), but you haven't pointed out where the actual rules support what you're saying.

Just for example, where do you see -- in the rules -- that the success rolled on the initial skill check is "put aside," and that die not rolled in the pushed skill check?

I also assumed it worked that way. But I can't find it in the rules, and you haven't quoted it from the rules. If you can, awesome ... that's exactly what I'm hoping for.

Are you referencing the rules (from another game) that ALIEN is based off of? If so, that's cool. Can you quote those rules, just out of curiosity?

If you can't point out the specific rule we've both assumed existed, don't feel bad ... neither can I. It's exactly why I'm asking.

p.60

If you are desperate to succeed with a dice roll, you can choose to push the roll. This means that you grab all the dice that didn't show 'SUCCESSES' and roll them again. You get a new chance to roll 'SUCCESSES'.<>

p.60

If you are desperate to succeed with a dice roll, you can choose to push the roll. This means that you grab all the dice that didn't show 'SUCCESSES' and roll them again. You get a new chance to roll 'SUCCESSES'.<>

Thank you! I have no idea how both Andrew and I read over that about four times.

So now it bumps into this. from page 61: "When making skill rolls—including the immediate re-roll when pushing—add a number of Stress Dice to your dice pool equal to your current STRESS LEVEL."

This, for me, is the possible distinction between (3) and (4), above. Do you really need to roll dice equal to your STRESS level in the re-roll? If so, and your original SUCCESS was on a Stress die, how do you do that? You've left that initial STRESS die out of the PUSH dice pool.

p.61

<> When you push a roll, your STRESS LEVEL, immediately increases by one point. Mark this down on your character sheet before you re-roll your dice.
When making skill rolls - including the immediate re-roll when pushing - add a number of Stress Dice to your dice pool equal to your current STRESS LEVEL.

If a skill roll is six base dice plus one stress die (because you have a Stress Level of one), you roll all those seven dice in the skill roll. If you push the skill roll, your Stress Level goes up to two, which means that this skill roll is now six base dice and two stress dice, eight dice in total, but when you push a skill roll:

<> you grab all the dice that didn't show 'SUCCESS' and roll them again.<>

If any of the dice in the initial skill roll show a 'SUCCESS', those aren't re-rolled because they are already 'SUCCESSES' but they are still part of the skill roll, part of your end result of the skill roll.


When it comes to Mr. Gaska, he is the setting writer, not the rules designer. He has vast knowledge of the lore and setting, but not necessary the same knowledge about game mechanics, Tomas have that, that is his job.