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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6249579" data-attributes="member: 6696971">For reference, here is the anecdote of the shrodinger's gorge and how it manifests in play.  This is the tail end of a Complexity 3 Skill Challenge (8 successes before 3 failures).  Having pilfered an idol from a temple to Zehir, the PCs are being chased through desolate badlands by an overwhelming force of snakemen.  A village is cursed and the idol is key to the ritual to undo the curse.Of note.  Setting is zoomed-out.  The initial excursion through the badlands was transitioned by way of  deployed "Ranger" resources, which earned the below PC a + 2 to his  Nature check on the way back out.  Specific geological features are not mapped.  This is scene-based play meant to drive play toward conflict, resolve those conflicts, and continue escalating the stakes until they resolve themselves naturally through play.  It is not serial exploration where every geographical feature is marked in considerable detail and where most campfire scenes or mundane haggling with merchants and hucksters are played out, all in order to immerse in a living, breathing world.  It is a different sort of game where the primary locus of play is the conflict-charged scene. The stakes are clear so the question that the conflict is answering is:  "Will the PCs escape with the idol?"What is important is that in this sort of zoomed-out conflict resolution, the adeptness of the PC's execution of the task itself is not of primary consequence.  You can go ahead and assume proficiency.  What is important is the intent of the task with respect to the stakes and the current fictional positioning.  If upon deployment of the resource the mechanical resolution yields a failure, then a complication born of failure to succeed at the intent of the effort manifests, denying forward momentum toward the PC's strategic objective (affirmation of the question established at the outset).  Directly below, the PC's resident Rogue laid a trap for their pursuit the evening before.  It yielded a success, bringing the mechanical resolution of the conflict to 7:1, so nearing the realization of the positive outcome of the stakes; "the PCs escape with the idol."GM:  Despite the success of your companion's trap in buying you much needed time to recover, the chase now carries on for many  hours.  Your horses fatigue while your pursuit's lizard mounts do not yield.   Hours pile up and while you are nearing the last leg of your trek  through the badlands, your pursuit gains.  They are now within artillery  range and as dawn breaks, their aim becomes more true.  Javelins whir  by your heads, the crackle of lightning sizzles next to your ears,  startling your exhausting horses.  The ground gives way in great chunks,  switches back, rises and falls; death from a neck-breaking fall is  everywhere.  So the next PC (their trailblazer, a Bladesinger with Ranger secondary) has the conflict zoomed in on him.  Present fictional positioning:- Idol secured.- Many hours into the chase.- Overwhelming pursuit gaining.  - Under fire.  - Horses tiring.  - No more stars to navigate.  - Treacherous badlands.  We are at the climax of the challenge with what appears to be a positive denouement right around the corner. PC:  I work in earnest to keep my horse steady despite it all.  I  curse the Goddess of Night for taking away the stars as I am now blind  in guiding my companions.  I hope my horse knows the way better than I.   I hold tight, steering him free of any hazards and any incoming enemy  fire.  I look for natural signs of the trail that brought us into this  harsh place...and hope.  His intent is to ride his tired horse proficiently through the maze of death while seeking signs of the natural markers that brought them into the badlands to take them back out.  Again, the question the conflict is answering is "do the PCs escape?"The PC fails his Nature check (despite his + 2 bonus).  Complication arises with respect to the intent of his effort married to the stakes.GM:  Your horse moves sluggishly and its natural sense of the way  appears askew due to its state.  You see none of the scant trail-signs  that you marked in your mind on the way in.  Everything looks the same.   Over the next rise your worst fears are realized in the shape of a deep  gorge.  Your horses in their best state  could leap across the chasm...but they are tired.  Doubling back may be  the only way out.  But your pursuit closes in on you. Nigh-impassable gorge as complication of failed Nature check to ride his tired horse proficiently through the maze of death while  seeking signs of the natural markers that brought them into the badlands  to take them back out.   This in effort to answer the question the conflict is resolving, "do the PCs escape?", in the affirmative.At that point we were at 7:2, with the next success or failure dictating the outcome of the Skill  Challenge and the resolution of the stakes determined at the outset; "Will the PCs escape with the idol?"</blockquote>

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