It's a fantasy role-playing game.

DM: You are Tiberius Stormwind, a dragonborn sorcerer . You are the member of the famous group of adventurers. Previously, Being the adventurers they are, they took it upon themselves to leap out into the forest of the Vesper Timberland, found and hunted down this hydra, fought it, and upon slaying it discovered that there was another group also hunting this hydra. An actually sanctioned group, and hunting this hydra is considered illegal in Vasselheim unless you had actually been contracted to do so.
DM: Okay. As you are beginning to go through his body, you guys have rushed beneath, and as you can see, the dwarf, Hosin, is walking down the hallway really quickly with his robes open.
Player: As a gadfly, can I really quickly buzz in front of him?
DM: You pull underneath, because you had to go underneath the door to make it into the hallway. You see him, he's about 15 feet away, and as he's walking, he's looking about very nervously. He's seen one of the guards is approaching, and he looks back over and sees the rat scurrying down the hallway.
Player: How far away is he from me?
DM: He's about 20 feet.
Player: How far away is the guard in front of him?
DM: You know what, let me go ahead and pull this up. It'll give a good indicator of the circumstance here.
