Whether it's a matter of looking for loot in Alacrian ruins, scouring a crime scene for clues, studying relevant lore in a library, or trying to find the safehouse of an urban contact, adventurers spend a lot of time and effort on simply searching around.

    Almost all searches are process actions, and all are rolled on INT. Many Abilities such as Ruin Looting (Culture), Cultural Research (Culture), or Investigation (Stealth) provide +TNs to searches of a certain context; whenever the GM asks for search rolls and you believe you have a relevant Ability to give a +TN, remember to ask if it can be used. Search process actions typically do not have die size restrictions except in extremely complicated or unfamiliar environments. The roll interval may vary with the size and complexity of the area being searched; typically, the GM will have you roll once to begin the search with a quick once-over of the area, then again for every 2 or 4 hours spent searching. Willpower cannot be used to give a reactive +TN in search rolls (including the initial, fast roll). Roll failure does not ruin the search, and multiple characters may help each other (with all rolls contributing to the same point goal).

    Rather than a single point goal, the GM will determine a point goal for each item or secret which can be found with the search. Items poorly hidden might be found within 20 points or so, items quickly hidden or buried in ruin rubble might require 60 or more points, and secret safes or hidden passageways might have a point goal much higher. As such, you may never know for sure if you've fully exhausted the search. You might reasonably conclude that an extremely well-searched area is completely exhausted, but you may stop just short of finding an important well-hidden item. Alternatively, your party might keep searching for days, while the GM knows well and good that there is nothing for you to find! Choosing the most beneficial use of your time is an important skill as an adventurer.

    Low Light environments (or echolocating characters in total darkness) generally add 2 Hindrance to all search rolls, except for characters with shadow vision or some other unaffected sense. Searches are usually impossible for characters completely unable to see.

    Note that these rules describe characters searching an area via conventional, everyday methods. In many cases, extra senses such as darkeye or clairvoyance may immediately find hidden secrets without the need for conventional searching. Such senses will of course be less useful during research-related searches.

Search Insight Cost

    Typically, each character's first roll in a search incurs no insight cost; a quick initial scan is not too mentally taxing. Further rolls almost always involve an insight cost equal to 50% of the point value of the roll; this is called a half-insight search. For example, if you choose to roll a d12 on INT (which would contribute 12 points to the goal), you must spend 6 insight. Searches that are more intellectual in nature - such as library research or computer searches - may have an insight cost equal to the point value; this is called a full-insight search.

    As mentioned above, you may never know for sure whether your party has fully exhausted the search. Still, you know what you are doing at the moment, and that might give you a clue about whether it's time to stop. The GM will always give answers to the following questions:

    -How cluttered is the room? For example, in an Alacrian ruin, you know whether there are only bare stone walls and floors, or whether there are promising piles of debris to search.
    -How much of the room have we searched? For example, you may never know if there is a well-concealed hidden passage, but you know if you have at least looked at all the promising piles of debris.
    -What level of detail have we covered so far, and what will further searching activity look like? For example, you know whether you are merely surveying a cluttered room for the first time, or whether you have searched so thoroughly that you are obsessively dusting off wall tiles for tiny clues.

    For different kinds of searches, simply adapt the same questions. For example, when searching a library, you know how well-stocked the library is, how many of the shelves you have looked at so far, and whether you're just skimming book titles or desperately searching for hidden meanings in individual sentences by now.

    There may be situations where search progress is blocked by a physical obstacle, or where an item may be found but not accessible until an obstacle is addressed. For example, a search of an Alacrian ruin might reveal a valuable vehicle pinned underneath a collapsed wall. The rules in General Labor might be used to resolve such a development; if not addressed, the search may continue, but any discoveries blocked by the physical obstacle cannot be revealed. Alternatively, the GM might secretly reduce the point goal of certain items if a physical task is completed, such as clearing a room of bulky debris. In any case, intellectual characters with search-related Abilities often benefit from the assistance of their stronger friends.

    Non-sentients have an INT stat but do not have insight. As such, they may perform searches as normal during rolls which do not involve an insight cost (such as the first round of rolls in most searches). Because they do not become as mentally fatigued as a sentient does, they can also contribute to searches involving insight, albeit in a reduced fashion. During a half-insight search, non-sentients do not actually roll, but may instead simply contribute points to the search in the amount of 50% of their search TN per roll interval. These rules may not be copied by sentients who are simply out of insight, and non-sentients cannot contribute any points to a full-insight search.

    Obviously, unbound techs and untamed animals will not pursue searches that are not included in their instincts or programming; animals will search for food, and techs will search for targets or equipment. Usually this will only be a subject of gameplay if the non-sentients are looking for you - for example, performing a search against a PC who fled and began using Long Hide rules. Many non-sentients have Predatory Search (Stealth) to assist in this, but most will still not continue a search beyond the first roll. Bound techs and tamed animals, of course, will assist their owner in whatever search is commanded, and will do so for as long as they are supervised.

    The GM may decide to use search rules for certain social applications - for example, asking around the streets to see if anyone has seen a certain character, or tracking down the details of a certain rumor in a busy tavern. These situations will follow the rules for a half-insight search, with some exceptions: 1 Hindrance is added to all rolls, but the rolls are considered to be social offense rolls. Characters must use +TNs relevant to social offense rolls instead of any related to searches. Non-sentients cannot participate in a social search.