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Message: <blockquote data-quote="niklinna" data-source="post: 8650131" data-attributes="member: 71235">This is an artifact of trying to apply a task-based skill system (more GNS Simulationist/possibly Gamist) to stakes-based conflict resolution (more GNS Narrativist). Look at Apocalypse World: There is no Open Locks skill, or anything remotely resembling one. It's all about how you go about getting what you want or the circumstances under which you do so—and the sorts of consequences or fallout that will result from succeeding, getting a complication, or failing in those approaches.Blades in the Dark hews closer to task-based with its Actions such as Prowl, Finesse, and Wreck, but the structure around those particular actions very much supports stakes-based resolution, and that will be more of a factor in deciding who opens that safe. Smashing will make enough noise to draw guards; do you want to risk that? The Finesse guy may not have as high a rating, but a fight is a much less likely consequence of failing a Finesse action. Too, Blades has additional player resources for improving likelihood of getting what you want, or even reversing/blocking failures or bad consequences. (I can get into them if you want.)So, if you have the Finesse guy do it, maybe they'll botch the roll, but again, that doesn't mean the papers aren't there—it means things don't go smoothly. Maybe they manage to open the safe, but knock over a bottle of acid that was sitting next to the papers, or set off a failsafe mechanism that burns the contents of the safe. There will be enough for them to salvage a clue to further incriminating evidence, so things don't dead-end, but the players do not get what's immediately at stake. Or they might still get them! The bottle of acid could spill on the Finesse guy instead, inflicting lasting Harm. Simply being unable to open the safe, or simply having the papers not be there, are the least interesting, most boring possible outcomes of the action.And to address process-sim thinking—the existence of the bottle of acid or failsafe needn't be determined well in advance. Consequences are usually decided on the spot in Blades, and communicated to the players as part of negotiating the ways the story might branch from that action. If the Wrecker instead wants to bash the door off, the referee is more likely to start a clock for how quickly guards will show up to investigate, based on how well the Wrecker does on their roll—or just have them immedately show up on a bad failure. Or there could be a firebomb too, that inflicts Harm to complicate the Wrecker's life for the imminent flight/combat. The important point, though, again is that none of that need be planned in advance.Edit: Clarified a few details about how things work in Blades.</blockquote>

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