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A metacurrency is a resource players of a roleplaying game can accumulate and spend to gain benefits, activate powers or abilities, and generally bend the narrative of the game. They're a concrete, mechanical way players can affect the game or their rolls and take some measure of control over the story. Sometimes they represent a diegetic, in-game resource that characters are actually expending, but more frequently they are "meta" currencies that exist only at the player level.

Game masters might also have metacurrencies they can spend, either for their NPCs in a similar way to the players, or as a resource to modulate how much chaos they can introduce into the characters' lives at any given time. Introducing consequences, complications, or twists into the narrative might require the GM to spend some metacurrency.

Momentum, as it's usually known in 2d20 games (though some games use a different name for it) is a shared resource pool all the PCs have access to. You might start with some, but generally, you'll gain momentum by exceeding the number of successes the GM requires for rolls. When you do, that momentum is added to the pool, and any player can spend it.

This momentum has many uses, depending on the game, and can offer bonus dice, extra actions during a tense situation, and activate special character abilities that cost momentum.

Even though rolling under your target number on one of your twenty-sided dice counts as a "success" in a 2d20 system, you might need more than one to actually accomplish your goal! 

The average difficulty of a challenge in 2d20 games is usually 2, meaning you'll need two successes to overcome it. The game master sets this difficulty, and may decide that a given obstacle only needs one success if it's easy, or three if it's especially hard. There are even some tests that will truly stretch your characters to their limits, requiring four or even five successes to have a hope of victory!

How many successes to I need to succeed a roll in a 2d20 game?

Generally, your character will have stats, which represent their broad, overall capability in a wide variety of areas, like their strength, agility, or intelligence. These usually start rated anywhere from 1-10, but they can increase in play, and higher is better. You'll want to roll lower than this number on 2d20 to achieve a success with this stat.

Your character will also have skills, which represent more specific competencies, like moving, talking, or shooting. These will also be rated 1-10, though generally they'll be lower than your stats. Similarly, higher is better, because rolling under these numbers on 2d20 for the relevant skill counts as two successes, letting your character show off their skills and accomplish much more difficult tasks.

How do stats and skills work in a 2d20 game?

2d20 System

The 2d20 system was developed as a cinematic tabletop roleplaying game rule set by the publisher Modiphius for games based on intellectual properties like the Dune RPG, the Fallout RPG, and the Star Trek RPG. They also use it for a few of their original games, like Achtung! Cthulhu and Dreams and Machines.

As you might guess, the core mechanic in the 2d20 system has players roll two twenty-sided dice. You compare these rolls to a target number, counting rolls that come up that number or lower as a success. Lower rolls are generally better in 2d20 systems! Your target number depends on the specific game, but is often based on your character's attributes, which will be higher if your character is more skilled, making it more likely to score a success. You might also have a more specific skill as a supplementary target number, and rolling under that might count as two successes!

After the roll, you count your total successes and compare it to a difficulty set by the game master, usually 1 or 2, but this can go even higher for more difficult and dangerous tasks. If you have successes equal to the difficulty, you succeed! If you have fewer than you need, you fall short in some way. If you have more successes than you needed, they get converted into a currency, which differs depending on the game. In most games, you can spend this currency to activate special abilities, push your luck by rolling extra dice, and take extra actions. This currency is often called "momentum" or something similar, representing how characters can press their success!

The GM also has a currency, which accumulates when players push their luck, often called "doom" or "threat," which they can spend to complicate the players' lives, introduce new problems, and generally make their lives interesting. 

Browse 2d20 System TTRPGs Explore one-shots, campaigns, and homebrew adventures run by expert GMs across Roll20, Foundry VTT, Discord & more. Find your perfect game on StartPlayingGames!

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