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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 9229756" data-attributes="member: 71699">As a player, why do you choose to perform a given task? As GM, how do you decide whether the task resolves the situation, such as whether information gathered using Gather Information actually leads to finding the demonic papers?That's true, but why didn't we honour their intent to find the demonic papers? And what would honour that intent? As GM, what performances are we going to require for players to find the demonic papers? How do we decide that?So what resolves a scene? How do we decide when the scene is ended? I had a relevant case come up recently during play of Avatar.Our MC was new to game mastering, and unsurprisingly enough hit some hiccoughs in play. We framed a scene where going in our goals were "find the gang lieutenant's girlfriend" and "join the circus". We played out stuff that brought resolution to where we ought to have been rolling for "find the girlfriend" (our goal). It would have been an option to tell us where she was (say yes), but this was played out as Pleading with a friendly gang member. Our novice GM defaulted to "learn about a warehouse where the girlfriend might be held". Notionally, as task resolution, this could indeed be an effect of pleading: GM decides the gang member has some idea but isn't absolutely certain. Maybe there are a few possible locations she could be held? But as conflict resolution our hit should have been - success on our goal. When we got to that warehouse, we dealt with a few thugs (mostly by making them question their life choices) and searched it. Of course, our GM had reserved deciding whether or not the girlfriend was really there. In consequence, they were not sure how they should end the scene? Was it okay to say we found her in that warehouse? Or were additional performances needed? The scene was left hanging. In the end, because it was our last session before the seasonal break, they went with - she was there, held in a downstairs cell. There was of course more going on than what I've explained here, but hopefully I've captured the pertinent elements. So what did GM have in mind? We talked it over after play and it was clear that they were looking for performances leading to a dramatically appropriate denouement. Our performances weren't being considered solely for their effect, but those effects in light of a creative purpose. How well they counted towards a dramatically appropriate denouement.Manbearcat works through how this can apply to other creative purposes. If it's creative problem solving, then your rubric as GM is whether this performance should count towards solving the problem. If you decide it doesn't, then you can't say that resolving the task mattered. If you decide it does, then resolution gatekeeps counting it toward solving the problem.</blockquote>

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