Campbell
Relaxed Intensity
Not entirely sure how you draw that conclusion from what I said - maybe elaborate your reasoning?
I say this because story advocacy pro-or-con wasn't in my thoughts at all when I raise the piint about bypassing challenges; my concern was more that the mechanics in question might allow the players to in effect put the game on 'easy' mode and in doing so unintentionally reduce the fun* and engagement it might otherwise offer.
* - assuming, of course, that there's more fun to be had in overcoming challenges by meeting them and putting some effort in rather than overcoming them by simply leaving them to starboard.
This is why it can be dangerous to use D&D as a baseline for judging all RPG mechanics. Dungeons and Dragons is primarily a game about overcoming detailed challenges prepared by the DM. Burning Wheel is primarily a game about finding out who the PCs are as people. Detailed maps and prepared encounters are not a feature of play. What matters is that we can continue to press PCs to fight for their beliefs.
Another important detail is that generally the more audacious the intent the more difficult the check will be and the more room the GM has to establish consequences of failure.
So imagine we have a PC, Vertigan the Bold. He has the belief I will claim my rightful place on the throne by vanquishing my brother, the usurper. Vertigan has been thrown in his brother's dungeons after a failed coup attempt. He attempts to escape the dungeons by using a secret passage. His player's intent is return safely to my brothers in arms who are hiding inside the citadel. If he succeeds at what should be a fairly difficult check he will rejoin his comrades in the city. However on a failure he might end up deeper in the dungeon in a crypt where his father's remains are laying and be confronted by his father's ghost who thinks Vertigan killed him.
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