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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8444942" data-attributes="member: 42582">In another recent thread, [USER=16586]@Campbell[/USER] pointed to this blog post: <a href="https://playpassionately.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/walk-dont-run-to-conflict/" target="_blank">Walk, Don’t Run To Conflict</a>Here is what I think is the key passage:play can be about “driving to conflict” without every single scene having a conflict in it. Indeed, for conflict to occur characters must have things over which they conflict. . . . {In] good solid story building role-playing . . . the scenes without conflicts point towards what conflicts will arise later. These non-conflict scenes establish key beliefs, priorities, loyalties, and passions which later elements of the narrative will threaten. With out scenes that first establish and then later update and develop these character elements “conflict” is essentially a meaningless term. When you let go of the “must have conflict NOW” urge then play progresses much more smoothly and much more naturally. Establishing scenes becomes more about feeding curiosity, “I’d like to see how X and Y interact” or follow up action, “Given what’s just happened I’d like my character to do X.” The play skill involved becomes about identifying conflicts when they occur.How long should these establishing aspects of a RPG take, in play? Also, in the absence of conflict, how do we show (eg) what a character's key loyalty is? In a film this might be done via scenes that show the character engaging with the thing they care about in an everyday fashion. But how do we do this in RPGing? Do we play through these "establishing" scenes? Or do we imply them - eg in the way that is done via statements of Beliefs and Instincts in Burning Wheel. I think one relevant consideration is that in a novel or film the audience has to be introduced to the protagonist(s), whereas in RPGing each player knows at least one of the protagonists rather intimately.I think my default approach is to use subordinate/orthogonal conflicts and obstacles to do the establishing, gradually building up to the "real" action.</blockquote>

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