Here is what I see:
1) A Skill ENCOUNTER should have as much (or little) preperation as a Combat Encounter.
2) Much as a Combat Encounter has rewards and penalties, so should a skill encounter.
3) Just as a Combat Encounter has a "ideal" solution, so should a skill.
4) The DM, not the players sets the DC's for different skill checks AND the results for skill usage. (For example, with the Duke, acrobatics is not listed, but as a DM I"d let a player attempt acrobatic check if it went along the lines of "Your Grace, if we say we can do something, we can do it, for example, I will jump over your throne, without touching neither the throne, nor the banner above it." Player makes a Hard DC acrobatics check and if he succeeds they get two successes. However if the Player just states, "I'll tumble around to show him we can be entertaining" would result in neither success nor failure unless he keeps trying.)
5) Intimidate : to make timid or fearful , neither of which is close to making trusting...
As a DM you can still have all the random skill CHECKS you want, but your Skill ENCOUNTERS, should be planned, have a purpose, and should count toward the "number of encounters for level progression" planning. So a "one level gained adventure" might have 2 skill encounters and 9 combat encounters, or vice versa, failing more than one encounter could result in that adventure not resulting in level gain. Failure of any encounter might result in the need for more encounters in order to conclude the adventure.
The fact there is so much fretting over a one page exerpt from an entire chapter shows that there are many people who just like to worry for worry's sake.
1) A Skill ENCOUNTER should have as much (or little) preperation as a Combat Encounter.
2) Much as a Combat Encounter has rewards and penalties, so should a skill encounter.
3) Just as a Combat Encounter has a "ideal" solution, so should a skill.
4) The DM, not the players sets the DC's for different skill checks AND the results for skill usage. (For example, with the Duke, acrobatics is not listed, but as a DM I"d let a player attempt acrobatic check if it went along the lines of "Your Grace, if we say we can do something, we can do it, for example, I will jump over your throne, without touching neither the throne, nor the banner above it." Player makes a Hard DC acrobatics check and if he succeeds they get two successes. However if the Player just states, "I'll tumble around to show him we can be entertaining" would result in neither success nor failure unless he keeps trying.)
5) Intimidate : to make timid or fearful , neither of which is close to making trusting...
As a DM you can still have all the random skill CHECKS you want, but your Skill ENCOUNTERS, should be planned, have a purpose, and should count toward the "number of encounters for level progression" planning. So a "one level gained adventure" might have 2 skill encounters and 9 combat encounters, or vice versa, failing more than one encounter could result in that adventure not resulting in level gain. Failure of any encounter might result in the need for more encounters in order to conclude the adventure.
The fact there is so much fretting over a one page exerpt from an entire chapter shows that there are many people who just like to worry for worry's sake.