Good rewards and penalties for winning or losing a skill challenge

[wedgeski]

Skill Challenges may have been introduced as part of 4E, but they are not restricted to 4E any longer. The same mechanic is in Star Wars: SE. There are even some D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder DMs now using the skill challenge system in their games. Accordingly, please refrain from using the "4E" Topic Header when posting on Skill Challenge design discussions. It's just not a system specific discussion anymore. Moreover, that's why the topic is not in the system specific "Rules" sub-forums, either.

Erm, point of contention. I don't agree with this. And please refrain from colouring your text so that I ?mistakenly? believe a mod is making a point.

 

[Nebulous]

(I never had a big problem with the execution of the challenges themselves. I use Obsidian and find my players engage quite well when they care about the outcome.)

I use Obsidian too after i met with lots of failures using the default SC rules. Obsidian to me is very clean, fast, intuitive, and it engages the players creatively, and myself as well, without having to memorize a page or two of skill descriptions. What i've been doing is having three possible outcomes for a challenge based on failure, partial victory, and full victory, with the players knowing the stakes from the outset. Works well enough for me. Although i still like to sprinkle healing surge loss and possible combat as options, but i do agree that having a more emotional impact for success or failure is the best way to go.

 

[bert1000]

I use Obsidian too after i met with lots of failures using the default SC rules. Obsidian to me is very clean, fast, intuitive, and it engages the players creatively, and myself as well, without having to memorize a page or two of skill descriptions. What i've been doing is having three possible outcomes for a challenge based on failure, partial victory, and full victory, with the players knowing the stakes from the outset. Works well enough for me. Although i still like to sprinkle healing surge loss and possible combat as options, but i do agree that having a more emotional impact for success or failure is the best way to go.

That's a great way to put it -- "emotional impact" should be a primary goal.

Not to digress too much, but I like Obsidian for those reasons as well. No prescripted actions, you shoot for # of successes only so it encourages everyone to get involved, and for the most part I think the 3 round structure works well.

 

[bert1000]

The only REAL penalty for the PLAYERS is not having fun. Whatever we do at he playing table that is fun is a reward to the players. Hopefully, a skill challenge can be fun whether it succeeds or fails - or it might be time to reevaluate your game time.

That's the whole point of this thread though. Maybe not all players feel the same way, but there are some of us who don't have a lot of fun if our actions don't have consequences and we spend time playing SC that have no real impact on the characters, the story, etc.

The great games I've played in are the ones where I become emotionally invested in the goals, outcomes, etc. of the character. As Nebulous put it, SC can have this kind of emotional impact if the consequences are set up as more permanent (but of course not game ending). I, as a player, would like to be frustrated not in a "This game sucks and is rigged" kind of way but in a "I really wanted to get to the village before the orc band pillaged it. This sucks that we failed. It's time to hunt them down and make them pay!"

Failure should create subsequent interesting avenues and possibilities, but it should also hurt a little. This is fun to many players, because then victories become all that much sweeter.