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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7797713" data-attributes="member: 16814">See, I would have framed this whole thing differently and never landed in the spot you did.  I agree, in the framing you've presented, the solution is to alter how you use the mechanics.  This situation, though, is far from a fixed or necessary type of encounter.  If you instead frame the bridge as having lookouts, then the challenge is known and the need to roll isn't providing information you'd rather be hidden.  It's the choice to hide information that usually causes this conflict and need to use the mechanics in a way to obfuscate or otherwise mitigate the hidden information.  Don't get me wrong, this is a perfectly valid way to play, but it's not a necessary way to play.As a second point, this also works if you're trying to push a planned failure consequence, like the shape-shifted druids now tailing the character.  But, this can be done even with more obvious framing.  Frame both a guard and a druid watching the bridge and then, on a fail, just describe that the character doesn't see the druid anymore, but the guard isn't following.  This means that the player might know they were spotted (they failed), but now is wondering if the druid is going for reinforcements, or maybe is an bird, or something worse.  You don't have to explicitly spell out the exact consequence every time, especially if the PC wouldn't be in a position to notice.  There's still plenty of mystery and intrigue available even if you do point-of-conflict resolution with more obvious scenes.  The reason is that players only get the information the DM gives them, and if a DM is acting to conceal information, that channel gets distorted in ways that are hard to judge from only one side -- eg, the DM may think they've provided enough information, but the players are just lost.  I prefer to keep that channel as wide and open as possible by not constructing situations that require me to hide information and instead let the process of play generate the drama.  It's does this very well on it's own.</blockquote>

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