1. The Player States Their Goal

Your goal is the concrete outcome your character will achieve when they overcome the obstacle at hand. Maybe your goal is “I want to get into the manor house” or it might be “I want to see who comes and goes at the house”. In both cases, the obstacle is “the house guard patrol”. The guards are the challenging obstacle that may be dangerous or troublesome for the PC.

Usually the character’s goal is pretty obvious in context, but it’s the GM’s job to ask and clarify the goal when necessary.

“You’re punching him in the face, right? Okay… what do want to get out of this? Do you want to take him out, or just rough him up so he’ll do what you want?”