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Good rewards and penalties for winning or losing a skill challenge
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 5128738" data-attributes="member: 63"><p>I have discovered in my own game that using skill challenges to cover hazardous travel just doesn't work. I wanted to showcase the difficulty of reaching a distant landmark without a map, and I tried to do it by giving them finite supplies a la 'Oregon Trail.' But they argued rightfully that their characters were tougher than westward bound settlers, and that if they had supply problems, they could just kill the abundant wildlife that I had described.</p><p></p><p>I tried having inclement weather, but I realized the tension of "we're cold" is kind of minimal. In combat, the party has mechanical options to let them work toward success, and their choices feel concrete -- make an attack, or move here, or heal my buddy. And your choices affect how your opponents react.</p><p></p><p>In a skill challenge, it's just too abstract. It doesn't matter whether your Nature check represents you making a good shelter, or hunting successfully, or collecting enough fire wood, because whatever you do, it's just the same mechanic: Nature check. Worse, it's not even like the environment will respond to what you do. You either succeed or fail.</p><p></p><p>Combat can be interesting because it's a back and forth. Most skill challenges -- especially intellectual and physical ones (as opposed to social ones) -- don't have a reactive foe. </p><p></p><p>I kind of feel like skill challenges try to inject mechanical tension into something that in previous editions I would just have left to interactive storytelling, often with the result of actually reducing tension and player involvement. Sadly, I'm not sure what would make for a palatable noncombat challenge mechanic.</p><p></p><p>Also, KM, pardon my language pet peevery, but it's "lose" (rhymes with ooze), not "loose" (rhymes with moose).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 5128738, member: 63"] I have discovered in my own game that using skill challenges to cover hazardous travel just doesn't work. I wanted to showcase the difficulty of reaching a distant landmark without a map, and I tried to do it by giving them finite supplies a la 'Oregon Trail.' But they argued rightfully that their characters were tougher than westward bound settlers, and that if they had supply problems, they could just kill the abundant wildlife that I had described. I tried having inclement weather, but I realized the tension of "we're cold" is kind of minimal. In combat, the party has mechanical options to let them work toward success, and their choices feel concrete -- make an attack, or move here, or heal my buddy. And your choices affect how your opponents react. In a skill challenge, it's just too abstract. It doesn't matter whether your Nature check represents you making a good shelter, or hunting successfully, or collecting enough fire wood, because whatever you do, it's just the same mechanic: Nature check. Worse, it's not even like the environment will respond to what you do. You either succeed or fail. Combat can be interesting because it's a back and forth. Most skill challenges -- especially intellectual and physical ones (as opposed to social ones) -- don't have a reactive foe. I kind of feel like skill challenges try to inject mechanical tension into something that in previous editions I would just have left to interactive storytelling, often with the result of actually reducing tension and player involvement. Sadly, I'm not sure what would make for a palatable noncombat challenge mechanic. Also, KM, pardon my language pet peevery, but it's "lose" (rhymes with ooze), not "loose" (rhymes with moose). [/QUOTE]
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