For me, it really seems that there is something more that I need apart from reality checks, but I can't quite understand what that is. In the couple of instances that I have become lucid, I *knew* it was a dream before I did the RC. In one of these times it was because of realising I couldn't remember how I got there (reverse reality check) but the other time there was no apparent trigger.

I have done multiple reality checks in dreams that have either failed, or didn't actually fail but didn't produce lucidity. Perhaps they have become a habit, but there seems to be a very fine line between doing them enough and correctly, and not-over-doing it so they are just mechanical.