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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tomBitonti" data-source="post: 7080957" data-attributes="member: 13107">The question about doors and hanging cloaks on pegs seems to be diverting from the real issues here.What is important is whether the PCs have a pre-arranged signal, whether the players want the signal to be discreet, and whether the environment creates a hurdle to using the signal as planned.What would matter is whether the PCs are familiar with the locale, how good they are at being discreet, and how closely and well they are being watched.Then:Player: I want to signal to someone at the inn that (variously) I have arrived or we are proceeding as planned or abort the operation!.GM: As you approach the inn, you notice the Sheriff and two deputies lurking inside.  You don't know how, but they seem to be on to your plan, or at least aware of your presence.  You can continue to attempt to deliver the message, but the Sheriff will almost certainly notice you and detain you if you simply walk into the inn.  (The inn had been under observation, and a spy overheard the PCs plan to meet there later in the week, although, the spy was not able to hear all of the details of the plan.)The details of how the signal is delivered don't seem to me to be particularly relevant.  The issue how the GM intrudes on the PCs when the attempt to deliver their signal.  Does the GM evaluate the plan relative to the difficulty and particulars of the environment, then allow dice to decide the outcome, or does the GM declare (or virtually declare by make the task very unlikely to succeed) that the plan fails?  The difference is whether challenges to the plan are inherent in the scene (say, the players are particularly bad at this sort of activity, or the inn is very busy because the day the players selected was a busy holiday), or inherent in the system (the GM spends resources to create challenges at suitably dramatic story points), or are arbitrary (the GM wants a particular outcome and clumsily imposes it).Thx!TomB</blockquote>

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