hazarding a tale

rule

Whenever a rogue is in dire enough straights, they can hazard a tale appropriate to their current peril. You may not hazard the same tale that someone else has already proved for themselves. After naming your tale, throw two dice:

• A throw of 2,7 or 12 proves the tale is true. It becomes a permanent part of your character (retroactively if necessary) and they escape the peril.
• A throw of 3 or 11 calls out your character for a liar and they'll just have to deal with the situation like everyone else.
• Otherwise, the tale remains to be proven; record the throw next to the tale. The peril remains

While a tale remains to be proven, the Referee can occasionally put it to the test by rolling again; the tale is proven when the original throw is thrown again, but a throw of 7 before then calls it out for a lie.

why?

I have a great love for the way the Far Traveler and the Zouave inject a checkered past into a character. If I could find a fault with those classes it's that I'd like to have that sort of thing continue throughout their adventuring career. I wrote the mechanic for specifically roguish characters (it's what I'd use for the core mechanic of a rogue class), but in a more generally picaresque game it may make sense to have it open to all characters.

A list of example tall tales follows. It's not meant to be exhaustive, players are certainly welcome to make up new tales, but this should do to prime the pump and all these options would I think be interesting at the table:

• Peril: Being found
  Tale: Survived A Massacre. Given a minute to find a hiding place, you are as difficult to find as a secret door.
• Peril: Being stopped or questioned
  Tale: Walked Through A Blockade. Outside the chaos of a fight or a chase, people assume you have a good reason for whatever you're doing unless you give them cause to question it.
• Peril: Drowning, strangling or suffocation
  Tale: Didn't Work Last Time. You survived an attempted execution. You can hold your breath longer than anyone thinks you might, and things that should break your neck somehow don't.
• Peril: Exhaustion or hunger
  Tale: Survived A Forced March. You a mouthful of food and a swallow of water a day keeps you on your feet and walking.
  
• Peril: Falling
  Tale: Didn't Touch The Ground For A Fortnight. If you fall within reach of a surface, you stop at some random point before the ground. You can climb at half your walking speed.
• Peril: Burning heat or freezing cold
  Tale: Struck By Lightning. You're always as protected from the elements as if you could be if you were dressed appropriately for them.
• Peril: Falsely accused
  Tale: Got A Double. You've a double out there, looking exactly like you and the two of you get mistaken for one another whenever the Referee thinks it would be funny.
• Peril: Destitution
  Tale: Wasn't Always Like This. You used to be privileged and propertied. If things got bad enough you could try to go back to your family home, but it's a long way from here and you left for a good reason. You can have perfect manners, but you hate every minute of it.
• Peril: Truly accused
  Tale: Owes Me One. A long time ago, you did a favor for someone who's now in a position to do one for you. No matter how much it may frustrate them, fortune tosses two people who have saved each others' lives back together.
• Peril: Summarily killed
  Tale: Gambled My Life And Won. If you propose that someone make sport of your life (and your friends') rather than kill you outright, they'll agree but they won't make it fair.
• Peril: Stranger in a strange land
  Tale: Been Here Before: You speak the local language and know a few people. Choose two of the three people the Referee names who you'd be glad to see again; the referee chooses one of them who'll be glad to see you.
• Peril: Magical doom
  Tale: Death-Cursed By A Witch. You've been cursed so thoroughly no other magic will affect you; if it has before now, the curse must be close to coming true.
• Peril: Being bewitched or possessed
  Tale: Broke An Enchantment. Any control that another will gets over you, you get over them in return. You can always tell if someone's will is not their own.