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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6190950" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Let me first say right quick that the way the "wash your scent away" usage of Prestidigitation seems to be missing a bit of the mark on how it would interface with a creature's (in this case the Black Dragon) Scent power/feat.  The dragon isn't familiar with you and therefore not familiar with your scent so Scent wouldn't be looking for your particular scent.  Instead, the dragon would have an uncanny ability to distinguish various smells and likely especially in his lair.  Therefore, in this case, the deployment of Prestidigitation vs Scent would be to eliminate the distinguishing characteristics of your scent versus the scents in the immediate environment; eg Dragon's Lair.  You would want to "smell like the lair".Now.  Back to the "what in the world does Indie/Narrativist mean?"  I'm going back to my "Roll the dice or say yes (or Say yes or roll the dice as common usage goes)" vs "Rulings Not Rules."  Consider how the deployment of Prestidigitation vs Scent would be resolved in Dungeon World or 4e vs 3e and prior.In Dungeon World, the Wizard is going to deploy the Cantrip Prestidigitation and make a move in order to accomplish this.  This will basically be a Custom move version of Defy Danger (Roll + Int and get target number/s) that will have considerable success or a modicum of success.  For instance, something like:Prestidigitation makes me smell like the swamp, roll + INT: * On a 10 + choose 2.  On a 7-9 choose 1.- You smell terrible just like a swamp!...but the close proximity of the stink makes you constantly wretch!  You take - 1 forward.- Your ears pick up a sound of quiet, stirring down the corridor after you've said the words.- Stopping to cast the spell now revealed a hidden, secondary tunnel that leads to another entrance into the lair.The GM would then make A Move that Follows naturally from the evolving fiction (the players choice/s above, the tags - descriptors - of the lair/creatures).Consider how it would be resolved in 4e.  I would handle the location of the Dragon's Lair and the stealthy infiltration as a Skill Challenge.  Depending on where we were in the Skill Challenge (how many Hard Checks need to be brought about) and how the player came about the Knowledge of the Dragon's Scent (did they deploy a truly powerful Divination Ritual like Consult Oracle or did they do research on this particular Dragon's legend and roll a successful History check?...both successes in the Skill Challenge), it would be Arcana vs an of-level, Medium or Hard DC.  Depending on the reference point of the pre and post-resolution of this check (Success or failure?...where in the continuum of the Skill Challenge framework are we?...what has evolved within the fiction to this point?), something would happen afterward that takes everything into account that is similar to the above process of GMing Dungeon World.  If that check was successful and the arbiter of ultimate success in the Skill Challenge, I would likely now frame the next scene of the player emerging into the Dragon's Lair, the great beast's head nestled against the shoreline of the water of its mire, its body full submerged.  I would then describe the lair in detail and the player would cue me as to what they wish to do.  If the check was the ultimate determinate of failure in the Skill Challenge, the Dragon's Lair would "come to life" greeting them in some nasty way (nasty hazard/trap, guardians/lair occupants, the dragon itself).  If it was a micro-success/failure in the Skill Challenge, something would happen to complicate the fiction and the player would likely lose a Healing Surge on a failure...and we would play on until its resolved.Contrast that with "Rulings not Rules":  GM says - "I don't think that would work because ______" and so it doesn't. or- "hmmmmm, roll (arbitrarily devised task resolution method vs arbitrarily devised contest number)" of which the GM is creating illusory mechanical resolution because they are going to force/impose the same result either way.The aggregation of conflict/task resolution by the two different methods creates a very different experience overall at the table (for a myriad of reasons).  People looking for different experiences (such as the above) will value different system components (eg; codification and transparent vs open-ended and opaque) and different techniques to move the fiction along.  There is a large difference between system, technique, overall table experience between the two.</blockquote>

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