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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8420121" data-attributes="member: 6785785">There are two ways of looking at it, as I think [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] has pointed out. A dead end in the fictional investigation/mission/job that the PCs are engaged with, and a dead end in play. The former may happen, but the latter shouldn’t.You mention dead ends as a staple of the mystery genre…but is that really true? Sure false leads and failures occur….but most scenes in fiction will serve some purpose, even if it is not directly connected to the investigation.I’ve played and run scenes in D&amp;D where the players were searching for information in the wrong location or using the wrong means or whatever. As I said in my last post, there’s no difference in success or failure in this situation. Nothing actually happens. That’s a dead end of play, as well as a dead end in the investigation.So, when the PCs in a more Story Now game head to a location, the outcome of what will happen there is not predetermined. Maybe they will find something useful to their goals, maybe they’ll find nothing. Maybe they’ll find something but also suffer some setback or complication. Whatever the result, it will he based on the actions taken by the PCs, their intent, and the results of their rolls. The process of play will produce results of some sort.I think this is a pretty key distinction.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 8420121, member: 6785785"] There are two ways of looking at it, as I think [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] has pointed out. A dead end in the fictional investigation/mission/job that the PCs are engaged with, and a dead end in play. The former may happen, but the latter shouldn’t. You mention dead ends as a staple of the mystery genre…but is that really true? Sure false leads and failures occur….but most scenes in fiction will serve some purpose, even if it is not directly connected to the investigation. I’ve played and run scenes in D&D where the players were searching for information in the wrong location or using the wrong means or whatever. As I said in my last post, there’s no difference in success or failure in this situation. Nothing actually happens. That’s a dead end of play, as well as a dead end in the investigation. So, when the PCs in a more Story Now game head to a location, the outcome of what will happen there is not predetermined. Maybe they will find something useful to their goals, maybe they’ll find nothing. Maybe they’ll find something but also suffer some setback or complication. Whatever the result, it will he based on the actions taken by the PCs, their intent, and the results of their rolls. The process of play will produce results of some sort. I think this is a pretty key distinction. [/QUOTE]

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