I've actually started on converting the Scales of War skill challenges over to Obsidian. I've only finished converting Rescue at Rivenroar so far, but it wasn't too hard, just takes a bit of ingenuity.
The rest of this post contains **SPOILERS** for Scales of War 1: Rescue at Rivenroar.
Our first skill challenges come in a trio. They're all level 1, and they come as follows:
The Summons: Level 1, Complexity 2 (6 successes before 3 failures), 200 XP, social.
Interrogating Morrik: Level 1, Complexity 2 (6 successes before 3 failures), 200 XP, social.
Tracking the Goblins: Level 1, Complexity 3 (8 successes before 3 failures), 300 XP, mental.
Now, assuming every roll produces either a success or a failure (not the case, just an approximation), succeeding at all 3 skill challenges takes the PCs 20-26 rolls. I aimed to keep it around this total, so that it would have about the same weight in the adventure. Here's what I did in Obsidian, assuming 5 PCs:
Section 1: The Summons (Social) Level 1, Two Segments
Primary Skill: Diplomacy
DC 16
Victory (6+): 150 XP: As Success is described in the module, but “whatever aid the good people of Brindol can muster” means a bit more. In particular, Troyas will see to it that the PCs are well equipped when they set out, bringing them rations, strong travel cloaks and waterskins, and some brief and scattered notes from various townsfolk on local plants, trails and wildlife. These give the PCs +1 on Endurance, Nature and Perception skill checks in Section 3.
Partial Victory (5): 100 XP: As Success is described in the module.
Failure (4 or less): As described in the module.
Section 2: Interrogating Morrik (Social) Level 1, Two Segments Primary Skill: Intimidate
DC 16
Victory (6+): 150 XP: As Success is described in the module; the PCs receive the information, the historical information, and the good map, which changes the outcomes of Section 3.
Partial Victory (5): 100 XP: As Success is described in the module, but without the historical information. The PCs still receive the good map.
Failure (4 or less): As Success is described in the module: no historical information, and the PCs receive the bad map.
Section 3: Tracking the Goblins (Mental) Level 1, Two Segments Primary Skill: Perception
DC 16
Good map: Take what's written.
Bad map: Go down a step.
Victory (6+): 400 XP: The PCs arrive at Rivenroar.
Partial Victory (5): 300 XP: The PCs fight the kruthiks, and then find their way to Rivenroar.
Failure (4 or less): The PCs fight the kruthiks, and then must do another segment of this skill challenge. If they can bring their success total to 6, they get to Rivenroar. Otherwise, they accidentally double back into the kruthik area and fight the cave bear (who is munching on kruthiks). The PCs are then able to get to Rivenroar.
Worse Failure (with Bad Map): The PCs have the kruthik encounter followed by the cave bear encounter.
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The XP totals for the 3 skill challenges as a whole total to the same as in the original adventure, but I shifted more XP to the final section because even if the PCs fail there, it just means a combat, aka chance for XP. Some of the problems from the module persist: In terms of gaining XP, it's better for the PCs to fail the last two skill challenges abysmally than to succeed at them. I think I should set it up so that all roads lead to the same XP total, but I'm not sure how to do that. Maybe put all 700 XP hinging on the last section, only giving 100 XP for a partial victory (the kruthik encounter is worth 600), and eliminating the cave bear altogether. In that case, the good map could just provide +1 on all skill checks in the final encounter, though with the benefit from Section 1, this adds up to +2 (a 20% change in victory chances, if I recall?)
Another problem is that each skill has different mechanical effects under the Core system. I don't think the module should force using certain skills the way it does, even at low DCs, but picking a skill can be a much more tactical choice. So, keeping in mind that no one should be afraid to make their own skill checks, here are some ideas for applying this to the third section:
Note: All successful checks still count as a success. Also, remove the bonus for using a Primary Skill.
Perception: You get a free aid another roll to any other PC's check, if you can justify it. EG, I spotted an easier path through those rocks, so +2 to Endurance, Joe.
Nature: If at the end of the skill challenge, you have had less than 2 successes with Nature, you walked right through a stretch of poison thorns. Every character must make an Endurance check, DC 10, or lose one healing surge.
Reward success.
Don't penalize failure. Instead, penalize not-succeeding.
-Robert
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