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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8250472" data-attributes="member: 42582">This can depend a bit on system.What you say is certainly true for Burning Wheel - because if there is no conflict then the&nbsp; prior rule &quot;say 'yes' or roll the dice&quot; comes into play and so no mechanics will be invoked. And there is also &quot;Let it Ride&quot; as a further principle that establishes finality in resolution.But there are some systems that mandate the use of mechanics even if there is no conflict (in any obvious sense of that phrase) occurring: Rolemaster has truckloads of this; Classic Traveller has a bit of it.I will concede that to some extent it becomes self-fulfilling - in the sense that (eg), in Traveller, those points at which the system mandates mechanical resolution tend in virtue of that to become the sites of dramatic possibility - but I still think it's helpful to keep the two things distinguished. Rolemaster has its problems as a system, but I don't think it's ipso facto a failure just because it doesn't equate mechanical determination of outcomes with resolution of conflicts.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8250472, member: 42582"] This can depend a bit on system. What you say is certainly true for Burning Wheel - because if there is no conflict then the prior rule "say 'yes' or roll the dice" comes into play and so no mechanics will be invoked. And there is also "Let it Ride" as a further principle that establishes finality in resolution. But there are some systems that mandate the use of mechanics even if there is no conflict (in any obvious sense of that phrase) occurring: Rolemaster has truckloads of this; Classic Traveller has a bit of it. I will concede that to some extent it becomes self-fulfilling - in the sense that (eg), in Traveller, those points at which the system mandates mechanical resolution tend in virtue of that to become the sites of dramatic possibility - but I still think it's helpful to keep the two things distinguished. Rolemaster has its problems as a system, but I don't think it's ipso facto a failure just because it doesn't equate [I]mechanical determination of outcomes[/I] with [I]resolution of conflicts[/I]. [/QUOTE]

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