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[eriktheguy]

Building a larger challenge:
I have one quibble with this system: the first challenges seem pointless to me.

Lets take the example of a three part challenge

If the players succeed or fail the first challenge, it has no bearing on the final challenge directly. They get -1 to the second challenge which slightly alters the probability that they will succeed that, which would then directly alter how the third challenge goes.
If you use a four part challenge, the first one seems even less important.
Finally, if they players succeed the first two skill challenges in a four-part challenge, then fail the third, they end up with a penalty on the final challenge, all their hard work and success was for nothing!


Another solution is that the success/failure penalty is that each success/failure in the initial skill challenges gives bonuses/penalties to the final one. This gives the players the feeling that all their hard work is paying off and all their mistakes are coming back to bite them in the final epic showdown. Lets say we have a string of 4 challenges. The players might get -1 to checks in the final challenge because they failed to impress the duke in the first challenge, but get to use intimidate as a primary skill because they learned something about the dukes enemies, and they require 1 less success in this challenge because they gained the favor of the duke's daughter during the third challenge and she comes to their aid.

I think this would give the players a better feeling of accomplishment because everything they did up to this point effects their success. Since players are probably slated to succeed at most skill challenges, they will probably have more bonuses than penalties at the end which is okay, because you want them to eventually succeed during the final epic challenge anyways.