I think I can work around the issue of conflict resolution, at least early on, by just rolling my own dice or using author fiat. Perhaps, thinking long term, I could switch from randomized dice rolls to something more cut and dry. Assign each character a certain number of traits corresponding to their skills and natural talents. Each trait would assign either a bonus or a malus to that character in a given situation, and whoever has the highest bonus after summing the trait modifiers wins the conflict.