Forum

[dkyle]

Originally Posted by Stalker0

1) Insight system seems like a needless addition: Currently I feel the insight area is a way to tell the players things most DMs would just tell them anyway, and it feels like rolling for rolling sake. With the amount of complexity you are going for, I think you can clean up your system a bit by taking this aspect out.

I can see what you mean. I added it because I often felt that insight was not a particularly useful skill. In practice, I've been satisfied with the results, but I could see running the system without it.

2) No partial successes: Probably the biggest praise I've gotten from my system is the addition of partial successes. I see no reason your system can't incorporate them and I highly encourage it.

I'm not very explicit about it, but my version of a partial success is where a third failure on one conflict doesn't cause the skill challenge to fail entirely, but reduces the benefits of success. The labyrinth example uses this on the fourth conflict. Do you think I should have something more?

3) Need gameplay examples: I'll post my notes below, but right now for me some of the language is pretty confusing. Even one example that details all of the rolls and decisions of a skill challenge goes a long way to clarifying the bits that language sometimes leaves unclear.

I will add an example in the next version.

My confusions:

I'll update the document soon, but for now I'll clarify below.

1) Conflicts handled together or all at once? I believe the answer is every conflict is handled in each segment, but its confusing because you start out talking about how each conflict is handled in order.

Simultaneously. The players must choose which conflict to roll against, and which skill to use. I simply meant that because of the way failure checks work, it's usually wise to handle them roughly in order. That probably doesn't belong in that section.

2) How many checks does each character roll? I gathered that its 3 checks per conflict per segment....regardless of the number of players? So if I have 4 conflicts that's 12 checks...so if I have 5 players....an average of 2 checks a piece with 2 players making 3. Is that correct?

The players collectively can roll 3 checks per segment against a conflict of their choice -- each segment ends with a failure check. In theory, the skill challenge could go on forever, segment after segment, if they continually roll poorly, and the failure checks never cause any failures, but the chance of that is very slim.

3) The -5 rule. So if a character makes 2 checks in the same challenge, he gets a -5 to the second.

Yes; only if they're both among the 3 checks within a single segment.

If he uses the same skill, is that a -10?

Just -5; will clarify in PDF.

If two characters both use the same skill in a conflict, is the second one at a -5?

No; the penalty is there to discourage the player with the highest skill from being the only one to ever tackle a particular conflict.

If a character uses the same skill in two different conflicts, is he at a -5 to the second conflict?

Yes

4) Spend a surge to stop failure. What does "one last check to stop the failure" mean? Does that mean I'm trying to boost the failure DC high enough to stop the failure? Or perhaps that I'm opposing the role?

The former -- treat it as a normal check, and adjust the conflict defense (i.e., the failure DC) accordingly. If this beats the DMs initial roll, the failure is annulled.

5) Should failure checks be rolled in order? Since I can only get one failure per segment, should I roll failure on conflict 1 then conflict 2, etc...or can I pick the order?

In order -- and stop once one failure occurs.

6) Complication - So any time a failure is received someone must immediately spend 2 surges or the challenge is over right?

If it's the Confrontational complication.

Does it have to be someone participating in that conflict?

No; could be any party member (assuming that they are all present)

Also as a note, not a big fan of always using surges, I could see times when surges might not make sense.

There could be another complication that requires expenditure of a daily attack power, I suppose. But, I like surges because they are a daily resource which the players have reason to ration, but loss of one or two in a skill challenge isn't too major. If a skill challenge is supposed to have the same weight as a combat, it should have similar resource management requirements.

Furthermore, a surge could represent many things, such as physical strain, mental strain or pure luck.

7) Individual - Does every player roll a check on an individual challenge every segment or can only 3 do so since its normally 3 checks.

There is one "global" instance of the conflict, plus one "personal" instance for each player. One player, as one of the three checks in a segment, rolls against the global instance as normal, but also applying the check result to his/her personal instance (find highest DC beat, award SPs). Each other player gets a free check against his/her personal instance only. These checks do not count against the three per segment.

Victory relies only upon the "global" instance being handled.

Also for failure rolls, so I roll once but apply the failure to every players DC who is low enough correct?

Yes.

The math: Ultimately I love the form of your system, but its got to past the ultimate test....how does the math pan out. However, I'm so interested in your mechanics that if you'll correct my confusions I would like to do so math modeling and see how it looks.

Indeed -- I'm not sure how the math works out. So far, I've run the four example challenges, and my players won each of them, but with a few close calls. But that's also true of the combats I've run -- I think it's a question of whether the system is compelling enough that running it, even though the players will probably win, is satisfying.