Totally unskilled efforts

[TaxiMan]

I've winged this for a long time - and finally realized I could ask you! So here goes:

If a PC attempts an action for which they do not have the skill, how is that handled? For example:

A PC in desperation tries to jump a creek (with a car) without combat driving (or even any more than the Everyman transport familiarity!).

Another PC tries bribing a guard to "look the other way" - no skill.

Yet another tries to travel at night, using the North Star (while not going directly north), ... without Navigation.

I've faked all these occasions, making decisions based more on what I want to happen than on a rulebook. What do you say?

[Steve Long]

I say you pretty much did the right thing -- faking it based on the most dramatically appropriate outcome is a time-honored GMing trick, particularly when you can pull it off so the players aren't aware of your sublime string-pulling. ;)

As a rough guideline, I suppose you could allow a really low roll -- say, 6-. Otherwise people who pay for Familiarities are paying for something everyone else gets for free.