<was more my players having a real
difficult time framing what they wanted out of the conflict. Because I spent so much time coaching them through it, it felt more like we did "here's a situation" "negotiate a resolution" and repeat without the roleplay in between
the situation.>
At least with HQ there isn't a scene framing structure to make you feel like each scene has to have a specific point. So it should be easier. I would recommend not pulling out too far from the action in general. I have wrestled with conflict scope for some time and I find that it works best for me if you resolve the obvious immediate conflicts rather than widening everything out into overall conflicts.
So I wouldn't make a whole raid on a castle a single roll, I would either play through each stage "you are confonted with a large wall with guards on the ramparts, how do you plan to get past them?"; or just jump to the first major obstacle/branch point "You scale the walls, sneak past the guards and find yourself in an antichamber with a large door and sounds of conversation". These kinds of decisions are entirely based on the players expectations. The player of a sneak thief may revel in not even having to roll to pass the guards but will probably become frustrated if they never get to test thier sneaking abilities.
The trick with conflict resolution is to keep the action flowing regardless of outcome. A major failure could result in the guards being alerted to a break-in attempt and a cat and mouse game in the outer grounds while the players seek another route in, but it shouldn't just be a failure and back to the drawing board. This is where the Failure is Fun maxim comes in, or in other words failure must still move the story forwards not backwards.
< I see HQ as hand waving all the tasks as more narration unless they have more
significance to the story line, then you use the resolution mechanic. Or, you
could take the whole dungeon as an extended resolution garnering points to see
if you go through. I think...>
I see this as another possible stumbling block. Deciding what is important to the story line can keep play moving forward and focused, but I really don't think you need focus on the overall arc so much as how important is this current conflict to the players, and where is it pointing us. There is even a procedure built in to help you identify if it was more important than you realised. All automatic successes are minor but can be bumped up two steps to complete with a player hero point.
<I may take you up on that, although it would have to be a weekend when my wife
hasn't planned something. With spring coming on, that's getting more difficult.>
Same here with wife and parents making plans but PM me if you want to chat it through. I record all of the games I run so I could send you some edited stuff to show how I tend to run things.
Jamie
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