There are three ways Actions can be resolved in No-Dice the game system:

1. Automatically (Scenes)
2. Hands (Scenes)
3. Hands (Action Sequences)

Actions should be resolved Automatically by default when the Players and the GM are role playing during a Scene. That is because this is the simplest and quickest method to determine if an attempted Action succeeds or fails. While role playing, it is important to not interrupt the flow of the game with cumbersome game mechanics and the use of cards that will only slow things down, when the focus is on cooperative story telling.

If a Player attempts an Action as part of a Scene, follow the procedure below:

1. Determine who is the Actor taking the Action, and who or what is the Target of that Action. The Player controlling the Actor states some Action to be taken. Their Bid is always maximum for that Actor when Automatically resolving Actions during a Scene, meaning their Ability Level or Relevant Stat for the Action or Ability being used, whichever is lower.
2. The GM determines the Action Difficulty based on the Current value of the Target's Opposing Stat.
3. The GM and the Player compare the Actor's Bid to the Action Difficulty. The Action is successful if the bid is equal to or greater than the Action Difficulty. The Outcome Score is the degree to which the Action succeeded or failed, and can be important for the GM to determine an appropriate result of the action.

Player: “I climb over that abandoned section of the city the wall. (This implies the Climb Action for which AGI is the Relevant Stat)”
GM: (determines the Action Difficulty consulting the City's Environmental Actor sheet) “Okay, it is ten feet high, made of rough stone and mortar, so pretty hard without equipment or something, Difficulty 7, what's your AGI?”
Player: “shoot, only 5.”
GM: “your fingers can't find any cracks to hold onto, and your boots just slip off.”
Player: “okay, I take out my rope and grappling hook and throw it over the wall and pull it back to hook it.”
GM: “okay, what bonus to climb does that hook give you?”
Player: (looks up the grappling hook item in the Equipment section of the game Wiki) “+2”
GM: “sweet, your AGI 5+2 is 7, which is the climb Difficulty, so you make it.”

The GM should call for “Playing a Hand” whenever an Action is attempted during a Scene, and the Target of that Action is actively resisting, there is some Actor opposing success of an Action. Using the example above of Automatically resolving the Action of climbing an abandoned section of a city wall, suppose instead that their are city guards patrolling on top of the wall. In that case, when the Player states their intent, the GM would call for a Hand to be played as part of the Scene.

To play a Hand during a Scene, follow the procedure below:

1. Play begins with the player who declared an Action that started the Hand, and continues clockwise around the table until all Actors involved have had a chance to take an Action.
2. Before any Actions are declared, all Players must place any cards from their Actor Hand face up on the table that were active before the Hand began. These are called Active Cards, and are things that would be noticeable by their opponents, like armor worn and weapons carried, or even a visible force field protecting them. Unless the nature of these Active Cards if obvious, players may keep their Stat Bid, or other modifying cards face down, for example if their armor were magical, or they have a secret force field protecting them.
3. Only one Action may be declared per Round by each Actor involved. A “Round” is over when everyone involved has taken an Action or passed.
4. The first player chooses an Action or Ability from their Actor Hand, places that card face down in front of them, and places their Stat Bid Tokens face down on top of that card. If the Action involves an item, like Arming a weapon, that Equipment card should also be placed face down along with the Action card. IMPORTANT NOTE: the Pause Action may not be played during a Hand (see Step 12 below).
5. Play then moves to the next player around the table, who repeats this procedure of laying down an Action card and their bid. Players may also Pass, meaning that they say, or signal, that the Actor they are controlling is taking no Action this Round.
6. Play continues in this way until all involved Actors have played an Action, or passed.
7. Once all Actions have been played for the Round, all players turn their cards and tokens face up at the same time. Stat Bids of each Action are then calculated to determine the order Actions will be resolved. Remember, each point bid on the Action's Relevant Stat adds one Phase to the time it takes to be resolved, and each point bid on the Action's Secondary Stat reduces that number by one, to a minimum of one.
8. Actions are resolved in the order of lowest Phase to highest, based on the Stat Bids calculated in the prior step. To resolve each Action, first check if the Target of that Action has an Active Card that would effect the Outcome of the Action directed at them. This could be an equipment card, like armor, or a Reaction like Dodge, that was played before the current action. If the Target has any Active Cards, resolve those first and note the result, then compare the Stat Bid on the Action to the Opposing Stat of the Target Actor. The difference between the two, along with any modifiers from Active Cards, is the Outcome Score of the Action.
9. Once all Actions for the Round have been resolved in the prior step, the round is over, and the Stat Bids on all Actions must be placed in their Spent Stacks. The exception to this rule is for Actions that can be maintained for more than one round, like an ongoing spell, or continuing a reaction, like Dodging.
10. At the end of the Round, leave any Active Cards face up on the table in front of the player to whom they belong. Active Cards are cards that have been revealed but that will persist into the next round. These could be things like Spells, Reactions, or even the Abilities of Environment al Actors that the GM controls, like darkness, or fire.
11. Play continues into new Rounds, and steps 4-10 above are repeated, until all players pass their turn, either because they choose not to take an Action, or they are unable to do so because they have no more Stat Points available to Bid on any more Actions.
12. Once all players have passed their turn, the Hand is over, and the Stat Point Pools of all Actors involved are refreshed, except any Stat Points that were discarded as Damage. If the involved Actors choose to continue their contest, begin a new hand, leaving any Active Cards from the prior Hand in play.

Player: “I climb over the city the wall.”
GM: “okay, you're standing on a grassy field among manicured shrubberies and trees. The wall is ten feet high, made of rough stone and mortar, and there are guards patrolling among the crenelations on top.”
Player: “okay, in that case, I want to throw my grappling hook up there real quiet when they're not looking, and sneak up.”
GM: “okay, let's play a hand.”
(the player and the GM start looking through their Actor Hands, and grabbing Action Cards they intend to use from piles on the table. The GM places 3 figures in front of him for the guards, and some face up Active Cards for the armor and weapons they carry that the player's Actor can see.)
GM: “okay, your turn, ready?”
Player: “yep” (she places cards face down and some Stat Tokens face down on top)
GM: (places a card face down with some face down stat tokens on top of it, and places all three figures on top of that stack as well, indicating that all three guards are doing whatever that action card is) The GM then flips over his Action Stack, since he is the last player in the Round to choose an Action, revealing the Observe Action, with a 3 INT Stat Bid for each of the guards, indicating a total Difficulty of 5 (see Cooperation).
Player: Seeing this, the player also flips over their Action Stack, revealing a Throw Action card, a Sneak Action, and 5 AGI bid. The player explains that 3 are bid on Sneak, to throw the grappling hook without being noticed, and 2 AGI on Throw (note that the Sneak Action is an exception and can be bid along with another action).
GM: deciding an adolescent should be able to catch a grappling hook on a wall, assigns it Difficulty 2, so the Throw action is successful. The 3 AGI bid on Sneak did not beat the guard's 5 INT Observe, however, and so that Action failed with an Outcome Score of -2, meaning that 2 guards spotted them! Had there been only one guard Observing (3 INT Observe), the PC would have succeeded.