narratively, this doesn’t necessarily mean your plan failed, was mechanically bad, or that your character has no ability to engage in what you were attempting; rather, forces outside your control conflict with you dramatically. like if you’re trying to sneak into a palace—it could be coincidence that someone else is also trying to sneak in on the same night and has already alerted the guards, which is why they’re able to find you. your characters don’t fail because they’re incompetent—or they wouldn’t be adventurers in the first place. failures are a chance for narrative complexity, not player punishment