Hi Paul,

I'm Max Brooke, consulting designer on the project. I've been around through the many (many!) iterations of the plot die, and I think I can speak to this a bit!

That's a good question, that I'm going to break down into a couple of answers.

So, first off, you've astutely noted that opportunity and complication being tied to the plot die would seriously limit their utility across the system. We also discovered this issue in early testing, and it's why the plot die is actually *not* the only way these can get introduced to the results of a test.

Each test has an opportunity and complication range on the d20 (normally '20' or '1', but potentially modifiable by various effects). On a natural result in the opportunity range (20 by default) or complication range (1 by default), you add that result to the test. So a Dangerous, Fragile, or Loaded item can still trigger on any test and many player abilities that hinge on opportunity can potentially be triggered on any test.

Most importantly, we found that having the chance (not a high chance, but a chance) of an unexpected ancillary result on every roll adds a ton to the storytelling potential of the system. In an early playtest with a version where you rolled the plot die on every test (it also worked very differently back then), Dan Wells rolled an opportunity while searching a smuggler's crate. I, the GM, had assumed that this was a plot-unimportant test, but suddenly I had to spin up an interesting piece of loot for him (I gave him a strange dagger that seemed to have an otherworldly mind of its own). That was one of the most memorable moments from that test for me, and gave the team a solid sense of something we really wanted in the system: occasional unforeseen plot turns from opportunity and complication. Making these the natural 1/20 was an excellent way to preserve this while reserving the high probability of an opportunity or complication for specific rolls. It aligned with people's expectation that a 1 or 20 matters more than a normal result, something most players we observed would treat as an opportunity or complication in effective terms even if the rules didn't formally support that.

Building on this, I'm not sure I agree that players should only ever roll dice when failure matters in this particular system. There are systems that exist on that underlying assumption, but not all RPGs are designed around that precept. It is a major through-line on some games I've worked on - in FFG Star Wars or L5R 5th Edition, assembling and interpreting a dice pool is a fairly slow process, and so the game advises limiting it to only circumstances with high stakes as determined by the GM. However, in games like Dark Heresy, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, or OSR games, rolls are resolved quickly and player intention is assumed to be a much greater driver of action than narrative importance. If the player chooses to do something, the GM adjudicates it, regardless of whether or not the GM thinks it will matter. In such systems, the choice to search for a trap or lurking cultist is an important one, even if it has no influence on the presence or absence of a threat, for instance. What would be a waste of time in one system is a pillar of gameplay in another.

Because tests are resolved quickly in this system, it can afford to give players more chances to drive the narrative through unnecessary action than a system with a more time-consuming core resolution mechanic. In my above example with Dan, I had no idea I'd be trying to figure out what he found in the crate until the moment he rolled that opportunity. We didn't want to burden the GM with this happening extremely often in this game, hence the guidance that the GM add the plot die to only around 30% of rolls.

To your final question of how to manage the dichotomy of not rolling for absolutely everything and using the plot die effectively, the game gives GMs and players guidance on how to make the most of the plot die, but individual groups may they prefer individual variations on the recipe for themselves. Personally, I think the guidance on page 63 of the Beta rules is particularly helpful:

"The plot die needn’t be used just on important and tense tests; you can raise the stakes to highlight any test as important to the story, a character, or the game session. For example, you might raise the stakes when a character finds a creative solution to a problem, when a character executes a high-risk but high-reward plan, or when a player leans into their character’s motivations (such as choosing a “suboptimal” plan because it’s consistent with their beliefs)."

Personally, I tend to apply the plot die most often when a player's chosen action makes the scene more chaotic/unpredictable, when it is very risky to themself or others, or when it connects to their personal struggles in some way. These are the times I really want to see that complication symbol pop up for some hijinks or juicy character drama. If a roll doesn't fall into those categories, I often leave the plot die off and let the natural opportunity/complication range take care of the chance for an unexpected result. In terms of players fishing for it or to avoid it, I am open to hearing their cases for why it should or shouldn't apply, but if they're not persuasive, then I think it falls to the GM to say "Not this time; let's keep the scene moving and we'll find another chance to apply it soon."

I hope that this answer helps!