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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7741985" data-attributes="member: 996">It's making a judgement.&nbsp; You're keeping watch.&nbsp; Which sensory cues do you investigate and which do you ignore?&nbsp; In a game with a stealth/perception resolution system, those decisions about how your character thinks &amp; acts are taken away from you, and replaced with a die roll.&nbsp; I think maybe the fiction is being evaluated in the wrong way.&nbsp; If a scene progresses with stakes, bonuses, DCs, &amp; rolls all above board, then they can be resolved, and the resulting fiction crafted in accord with the characters involved.&nbsp; So, say, your character, a woodsy ranger type who knows the local area well, is standing watch.&nbsp; He fails a check to notice a goblin sneaking by.&nbsp; The DM could narrate, unilaterally, &quot;the night passes uneventfully, the wind rustles some bushes, and owl hoots and distracts you for a few moments, but you notice nothing important.&quot;&nbsp; You might come back and object &quot;my character knows the area really well, he wouldn't be distracted by an owl if that were normal for the area, and if it weren't he'd've investigated it!&quot;&nbsp; That could then break down into an argument where you're essentially arguing you should have succeeded, when, really, you've failed, and the objective should be to narrate that appropriately.&nbsp; Instead, the DM might ask, &quot;well, what might have distracted your character long enough for someone to sneak by?&quot; and run with that if it makes sense.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7741985, member: 996"] It's making a judgement. You're keeping watch. Which sensory cues do you investigate and which do you ignore? In a game with a stealth/perception resolution system, those decisions about how your character thinks & acts are taken away from you, and replaced with a die roll. I think maybe the fiction is being evaluated in the wrong way. If a scene progresses with stakes, bonuses, DCs, & rolls all above board, then they can be resolved, and the resulting fiction crafted in accord with the characters involved. So, say, your character, a woodsy ranger type who knows the local area well, is standing watch. He fails a check to notice a goblin sneaking by. The DM could narrate, unilaterally, "the night passes uneventfully, the wind rustles some bushes, and owl hoots and distracts you for a few moments, but you notice nothing important." You might come back and object "my character knows the area really well, he wouldn't be distracted by an owl if that were normal for the area, and if it weren't he'd've investigated it!" That could then break down into an argument where you're essentially arguing you should have succeeded, when, really, you've failed, and the objective should be to narrate that appropriately. Instead, the DM might ask, "well, what might have distracted your character long enough for someone to sneak by?" and run with that if it makes sense. [/QUOTE]

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