Need Some Help Fleshing Out a Skill Challenge Idea

[Hussar]

For some bizarre reason I have been beating around the idea that I'd like to rebuild my World's Largest Dungeon campaign for 4e this time around. I've been recreating the maps (my players don't click this link please) and slowly getting things going.

One thing that came up during the first time I ran things was scouting. It was mostly boring to be honest. The rogue (or whatever) goes forward, opens up the map, comes back and the party moves forward. It always seemed to take ten or fifteen minutes where the other four players were pretty much bored. Too much lone wolfing.

Thing was, it made perfect sense to do it.

What I'd like to do this time around is make scouting a skill challenge. This is the idea so far:

1. There are three difficulties of skill challenge and the players can choose between them. Easy difficulty will result in about a 1/4 of the map being revealed. Medium gives about a half and Hard reveals the entire section of the map they are in. Each region has about six or eight sections. My idea right now is that the map will be revealed regardless of success or failure.

2. The better the success, the more information the PC's get. If there are no failures, they get to know (roughly) what is in rooms, monsters and that sort of thing, maybe get some or all of the secret doors, reveal a trap or two. That sort of thing. One failure might give you the secret doors and traps, or maybe some of the monsters. Two fails and you probably get the location of monsters. Note, I'd probably not give types, but rather general information. ((You hear many rough voices here speaking Goblin, you hear a single heavy breathing, etc)

3. Failure results in something rather bad happening depending on how difficult the challenge was. Likely ambush by the inhabitants, a possibly neutral encounter automatically becoming hostile, serious traps being set off, that sort of thing, and likely a combination of all three.

That's all well and good, but, what I really want to do is create a sort of narrative framework for the skill challenge. I don't want the skill challenges to be nothing more than a series of Thievery checks. So, what I'm trying to do is come up with a list (as long as possible) of situations that I can string together after each success. As the PC's succeed on one check, it moves on to the next one, which, hopefully engages different skills. If I can get the list long enough, I'd like to turn it into a random table and roll after each success as to what the next situation is.

And that's where you come in. Can you add to my list? What situations can you come up with that can be resolved in a single (or a couple) of skill checks? Each situation has to occur underground in a fairly typical dungeon setting. However, the Dungeon is a very magical place, so, the skies the limit for weirdness. You don't really have to give a method for solution, that's up to the players.

I'll get the ball rolling:

1) Locked Door. (ok, simple I know, but, it needs to be there.)

2) Pit/Big Hole in the Floor.

3) A spirit of an adventurer rises up and confronts the PC's. If it is not dealt with, it will follow the party, screaming and moaning.

4) The floor animates and grabs the party/PC.

5) Fungal spores are released in the area that cause a disease.

6) A poltergeist attaches itself to the party, causing havoc.

7) Green Slime.

8) A spirit/small fae offers to sell a map of the area to the party if they complete a task.

9) Shriekers - small fungus that scream loudly if disturbed.

10) Gas pocket that is possibly poisonous or explosive.

That's all I got for now. What can you guys add? Thanks.

 

[Stalker0]

Just wanted to say that I think the core concept is a really good one.

I've often thought myself that certain core dnd tasks could be turned into a special set of skill challenges.

The general challenge might be too generic, but a scouting specific skill challenge is just what the doctor ordered.

 

[Hussar]

Well, it looks as if it's up to me to provide some more of the heavy lifting. Hrm, for your edification:

11. Random, fairly innocuous creature (think Flumph) attaches itself to the party, making stealth very difficult.

12. Combination lock.

13. Riddle. (ARRGGH, I hate these, but, it's a staple)

14. Fatigue. The PC's have been wandering in a high stress situation for some time. How do they deal with it?

15. Cave in.

16. An Arcane Mouth appears on the wall and quizzes the party about why they are here. Failure to deal with the mouth will cause it to give information about the party to the denizens of the dungeon.

17. Water supplies have become contaminated. (jeez, sounds like Oregon Trail)

18. Extreme temperatures, either high or low.

19. Lost. The PC's have gotten turned around and are no longer sure of where they are.

20. Poisonous insects (non monstrous but still dangerous) block the path.

 

[LostSoul]

I think you might be better served if you come up with a combo table.

You roll on the first one - let's call it "Object" - and then the second one, "Hazard" or something.

Object
1. Alcove
2. Balcony
3. Corridor
4. Door
5. Entrance
6. Fungus
7. Gazebo
8. Hole

Hazard
1. Animosity
2. Balance
3. Caustic Acid
4. Darkness
5. Emptiness
6. Frost
7. Growth
8. Hatred

Combine the two - 6 + 4 is "Dark Fungus: This fungus sucks in all light; any source of light is eaten by the fungus and it grows, causing hazardous terrain. Creatures with Darkvision are not affected."

The key for that would be to make sure that you get words on the list that inspire you to come up with something. (You could add mechanics in on the Hazard list.) If you don't come up with an idea, you could roll again until you do.

 

[Hussar]

Ooo, I like that. It's late here, so I'll be heading to beddy bye, but, boy oh boy does that sound like a bitchin' idea.

Okay, sleepy, too much alliteration.

 

[Quickleaf]

You mean the SSSSSes? Frankly I don't believe in them. That's short for "subterranean situations solvable with a single skill", as I'm sure you know.

Here's my contribution:

21. A stone slab crashes down behind you, closing off one route for now.

22. The passage narrows into a painfully tight squeeze. Add some other complication to make this a high pressure scenario.

23. The party's light source or voices risk awakening a ceiling full of dangerous bat-like creatures.

24. "Delver's Madness" (a claustrophobia/paranoia type condition) affects a non-dwarf PC or NPC ally.

25. Something dangerous and unstoppable is coming down the passage (flood, insects, giant worm, boulder) and you've got to make a run for it.

26. A vast chasm separates you from the far passage, a set of crumbling stairs the only apparent means across.

27. A fissure of hot air rushes through the room, threatening to pin you against the ceiling or send you falling to your doom.

28. Lodestone makes the room's gravity wonky, making traversing the stalagmites/stalactites all the more deadly. May also screw with PCs wearing metal armor.

29. Magical scrying sensors float down the passage serving as the bad guy's scouts. Being sen by a sensor allows the BBEG to perform some ritual vs you remotely.

30. Magma as in lava? Cause everything is better with lava.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I may be stealing parts of this for my completely empty (so far) Golem Lab Skill Challenge.

 

[LostSoul]

Here is my "Dungeon Room Features" table that I use to make dungeons in my game. The entries are left vague because I re-use them; they're mostly there to provide creative constraints to get my imagination flowing.

(Hmm, 1d6 and 1d10 would be easier for a d60 table.)

Dungeon Room Features
1d60 Feature
1.1 Arena pit with blood-stained sand and 1d6 pit traps. Hidden balconies
overlook the area.
1.2 3-tiered black basalt ziggurat with blood-stained altar on top.
1.3 Stone pillars hold up the room, carved with images of people in chains.
1.4 A chasm spans the room. A narrow bridge crosses it.
1.5 A massive brzone statue of a long-forgotten god stands in the center of
the room.
1.6 A heavy fog obscures vision.
1.7 The stone floor ripples and waves like water.
1.8 The room is filled with rusting iron cages holding skeletons.
1.9 A twisted tree made up of writhing, pulsating purple vines grows in the
centre of the room. The tree bears strange fruit.
1.10 Stone pillars line the room, each with a strange rune-carved throne on
top.
1.11 Rings made of rusting, barbed iron chains float in mid-air throughout
the room.
1.12 Vines grow from the cieling. Each ends in a human appendage or organ.
1.13 A pool of sparkling water stands in the centre of the room.
1.14 A heavy wind gusts through the room. Voices can be heard in the wind.
1.15 The walls of the room are covered in molds, spores, and fungi.
1.16 The walls of the room are made of flesh and bone.
1.17 Rusting iron pipes run along the walls and cieling. The pipes are
filled with oozing flesh.
1.18 Blood-filled veins criss-cross the walls.
1.19 A well with a golden bucket lies in the centre of the room.
1.20 A fountain spewing flesh, blood, and pus stands in the centre of the
room.
2.1 The walls of the room are covered in blasphemous etchings.
2.2 A great demon's head covers one wall, its mouth boiling with lava and
fire.
2.3 A window in one wall reveals a strange, blasted landscape.
2.4 The room is lined with crucifixes.
2.5 A greedy tree made of bones with fleshy leaves grows in the room.
2.6 The room is covered in snow and ice.
2.7 The room is a miniature amphitheatre. Crows line the seats, and one
crow, its wings clipped, stands in the centre.
2.8 The walls are carved in the images of dwarves. The dwarves cry tears of
ore.
2.9 The walls are honeycombed with small holes and crevices.
2.10 The room is filled with thick webs that do not burn.
2.11 Small violet flowers carpet the room. If disturbed they sing a song in
Supernal.
2.12 A strange server room circa 1970, its tape drives made of skin.
2.13 The diary of a fallen dwarf, carved onto pages made of paper-thin stone.
2.14 The walls of the room are covered in faces, carved in endless screams
into the stone.
2.15 Strange geometries exist in the room. Corners are dangerous.
2.16 A massive inky-black pit writhes with tentacles.
2.17 The floor is covered in 3 feet of writhing snakes, beetles, or rats.
2.18 A stone slab lies in the centre of the room, ringed by torches in tall
iron sconces. On the slab rests the melted flesh of hundreds of
creatures.
2.19 A man is trapped in an alcove covered in a web of branches and roots.
The roots have grown into the man, becoming a part of him.
2.20 A waterfall crashes down from above.
3.1 The room contains a graveyard, each tombstone made of bones. The graves
appear fresh.
3.2 A rusting wrought-iron spiral staircase is in the middle of the room,
the top and bottom both blocked with stone.
3.3 The room is made of skulls closely packed together, mortared with flesh.
3.4 Innocent-seeming dolls line the walls.
3.5 A field of rich, ruby-red roses grows in the room.
3.6 The walls of the room are carved with images of naked women.
3.7 Two braziers burn with purple light, fed by strange coals. Between the
braziers lies a magic circle.
3.8 All colours in the room are inverted.
3.9 A pit full of writhing flesh lies in the middle of the room. The flesh
has dozens of ill-formed mouths, eyes, and ears, and it wails hungrily.
3.10 A narrow stone beam crosses the room, an inch above the dark, still
waters that fill the room.
3.11 Dozens of glass jars filled with organs line the walls of the room.
3.12 Heads dangle on spiked chains in the room.
3.13 Mirrors line the walls, showing grotesque images - and anything
invisible.
3.14 Thick clouds of spores fill the room.
3.15 A narrow beam of moonlight fills the room.
3.16 The exits from the room are all carved to represent fanged demon's
mouths.
3.17 A pit in the middle of the room belches strange vapours.
3.18 Large vats with half-formed curious creatures sleeping inside.
3.19 The walls of the room are carved with leering faces.
3.20 Beautiful women imbedded into the walls by rusting iron spikes and
chains that grow into them.