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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8699008" data-attributes="member: 6696971">[USER=7028554]@Grendel_Khan[/USER]I've GMed The Between (which is the same engine as BB I believe).&nbsp; Given your context here, what you're describing is no different than what I described above with Hosea and the barred basement door in Muck's garage in AW.Why do you put obstacles (a barred door, an unruly mob, a rebuffing chamberlain, a terrible storm, a perilous locale) in a PBtA game? Because (a) they facilitate the particular game's premise/genre + (b) they intersect with xp triggers.&nbsp; You could have chosen a rebuffing lighthouse keeper or a rusted stairwell threatening to give or a BEWARE OF DOG sign and a terrifying growl or police tape and an ongoing investigation...or whatever.The game has a premise (genre meets procedures meets xp triggers to be blunt) and the player has a goal/dramatic need.&nbsp; Cue conflict.&nbsp; Conflict means at least one obstacle whether its a barred door or threatening denizen or a internal crisis or an inhospitable environ.&nbsp; The best GMing will mean maximally deft use of obstacles (the follow the fiction, that personally oppose the PC and interact with the game's xp triggers).&nbsp; An investigator looking into an old lighthouse encountering &quot;locked door as obstacle&quot; (with what they want beyond) is absolutely on-point.What is not on-point is extraneous locked doors barring the way to conflict/premise-neutral content.Conflict/premise-neutral content and the presumption of some kind of logistical crawl and &quot;the action organically emerging&quot; is the problem...not the barrred the door.The game's premise, the built PCs, the xp triggers, the game's procedures will define &quot;the action.&quot;&nbsp; Go directly to &quot;the action.&quot;&nbsp; Engage with &quot;the action.&quot;&nbsp; Resolve &quot;the action.&quot;&nbsp; Don't mess about with weak conflict/scene framing (that doesn't engage with premise) and opaque obstacles (like doors that may or may not have things behind them and may or may not be barring &quot;the way&quot; because we don't know of this is &quot;the way&quot;) and hope &quot;the action&quot; somehow just happens.TLDR - The play excerpt you've depicted in your post above is exactly appropriate GMing and obstacle use.&nbsp; Well done! This is why play excerpts are so much more helpful to conversation.EDIT - There is another aspect to &quot;locked door&quot; obstacle framing that goes beyond &quot;does it bar the way to the goal?&quot;Good conflict framing is multivariate in decision-space and consequence-space.&nbsp; Consider &quot;the Hosea door&quot; in my AW excerpt above.&nbsp; Yeah, its a locked door, but there is telegraphed crisis and active consequence space.&nbsp; Hosea might be dead or alive.&nbsp; There might be something terrible down there that you're letting out/interacting with.&nbsp; There is urgency and crisis.&nbsp; You better act quick and we will know what you prioritize by your action/approach.&nbsp; We'll know what you care about, what you do, and &quot;how you do what you do.&quot;&nbsp; Whereas, a simple &quot;locked door&quot; with no urgency or crisis needs a little more teeth...little more meat on the bone.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8699008, member: 6696971"] [USER=7028554]@Grendel_Khan[/USER] I've GMed The Between (which is the same engine as BB I believe). Given your context here, what you're describing is no different than what I described above with Hosea and the barred basement door in Muck's garage in AW. Why do you put obstacles (a barred door, an unruly mob, a rebuffing chamberlain, a terrible storm, a perilous locale) in a PBtA game? Because (a) they facilitate the particular game's premise/genre + (b) they intersect with xp triggers. You could have chosen a rebuffing lighthouse keeper or a rusted stairwell threatening to give or a BEWARE OF DOG sign and a terrifying growl or police tape and an ongoing investigation...or whatever. The game has a premise (genre meets procedures meets xp triggers to be blunt) and the player has a goal/dramatic need. Cue conflict. Conflict means at least one obstacle whether its a barred door or threatening denizen or a internal crisis or an inhospitable environ. The best GMing will mean maximally deft use of obstacles (the follow the fiction, that personally oppose the PC and interact with the game's xp triggers). An investigator looking into an old lighthouse encountering "locked door as obstacle" (with what they want beyond) is absolutely on-point. What is not on-point is extraneous locked doors barring the way to conflict/premise-neutral content. Conflict/premise-neutral content and the presumption of some kind of logistical crawl and "the action organically emerging" is the problem...not the barrred the door. The game's premise, the built PCs, the xp triggers, the game's procedures will define "the action." Go directly to "the action." Engage with "the action." Resolve "the action." Don't mess about with weak conflict/scene framing (that doesn't engage with premise) and opaque obstacles (like doors that may or may not have things behind them and may or may not be barring "the way" because we don't know of this is "the way") and hope "the action" somehow just happens. TLDR - The play excerpt you've depicted in your post above is exactly appropriate GMing and obstacle use. Well done! This is why play excerpts are so much more helpful to conversation. EDIT - There is another aspect to "locked door" obstacle framing that goes beyond "does it bar the way to the goal?" Good conflict framing is multivariate in decision-space and consequence-space. Consider "the Hosea door" in my AW excerpt above. Yeah, its a locked door, but there is telegraphed crisis and active consequence space. Hosea might be dead or alive. There might be something terrible down there that you're letting out/interacting with. There is urgency and crisis. You better act quick and we will know what you prioritize by your action/approach. We'll know what you care about, what you do, and "how you do what you do." Whereas, a simple "locked door" with no urgency or crisis needs a little more teeth...little more meat on the bone. [/QUOTE]

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