Lethal Obsideon

This next coming session I am running a skill challenge using a modified Obsideon method courtesy of [MENTION=5889]Stalker0[/MENTION]. I love the system, but feel that running it 'as-is' doesn't quite capture the intensity I desire in this next scene.

Plot: THe PC's have a valuable McGuffin and need to navigate a hazourdous forest terrain while being assualted various factions that have not had time to properly prepare.

The combats individually are not enough to spend the time to run on thier own {EL-5 usually} but there are 10 to 15 of them...

My goal: run a skill challenge that can replicate the cost of 10 to 15 minor combat encounters without spending 40 games hours doing so.

My current thought is to use the Obsideon system for a physical skill challenge with the following options/changes:

The PCs can choose to either 'run the gauntlet', fleeing the individual encounters {fast but higher risk}, or to 'bash through', destroying each encounter before moving on {slower but lower risk}

Changes:
The DCs are based on the new chart from Essentials
The range of successes is multiplied by 2.5 {with failure = Victory /2 + 1}; resulting in Victory = 20, Partial Success from 12 to 19, Failure with 11 or less.
Each round, the PC can wager healing surges, rolling a D20 for each one wagered. Missing the DC results in losing the surge while making the DC retains the surge and garners a success for the group. In the 'fleeing' mode, you can wager up to 3 surges. In the 'Combat' mode, you can wager up to 2 surges. *


PCs can spend an Action Point to wager an additional healing Surge.
PCs can spend a daily power to auto-succeed on a wager.

'Going for Broke' is implemented.

If the group is fleeing, 'Follow the Leader' is implemented.


My question to the really cool folks out there is.. can I improve on this?

* Yes, I know this means that PCs taking the Combat route will be almost unable to achieve a full victory. In this case, speed is of the essence!

Bump!

My game is this friday where I plan on using this mechanic, so I would really appreciate some feedback!

Quick report after the game.. the session went well. My quess at 20 successes was just perfect for the group.


[MENTION=2002]Chimera[/MENTION] might drop in to give his comments on this.. or maybe not. Either way, I am going to continue using this mechanic.


I did two versions:
1> PCs 'bid' healing surges in order to get up to 3 skill checks as written above.
2> PCs 'bid' the difficulty of the task, in an environment where noise was painfully amplified. The higher the DC, the more successes, but failure caused more damage.

I thought it went extremely well.

Of course, being the pessimist I am, I initially stated that I thought that we would be out of healing surges before we completed the challenge. Obviously way overblown, as five players combined = 40-50 surges. But of course, when the first player two players muff four total rolls, it begins to look that way - a bad turn of the dice can wreck you. However, I didn't fail a single roll myself, even when leading off with a skill which wasn't one of my tops. Of course, for me that means it was a "mere" 14 Endurance rather than my 23 bluff skill used for obscuring our path.

In short, I think we rolled exceptionally well overall, including 3 or 4 crits. It could have been much more difficult if we had rolled poorly.

Although I also have to mention that we cut the expected travel time by quite a bit. Bards with Rituals tend to do that. Shadow Walk is great for things like this.

"Thumbs up, would do again."