Random Skill Challenge Generator

[Asmor]

So this is an idea I was kicking around, and I just stumbled upon a list of all the skills (on the pregens for Keep on the Shadowfell), so I figured I'd go ahead and implement it.

Step 1: Take 17 cards, and label them with the 17 skills*.

Step 2: Shuffle.

Step 3: Deal 4 cards out. These are the "appropriate skills."

Step 4: Deal 2 cards out. These are the "unlockable skills."

Step 5 (Optional): Deal 1 card out. This is the "forbidden skill."

Step 6: Figure out how all the pieces fit together.

Appropriate skills: These 4 skills are all require moderate difficulty checks and immediately applicable to the situtation. In addition to normal successes, succeeding on any of the appropriate skills should give some ancially benefit, such as bonuses on other checks.

Unlockable skills: These 2 skills all require easy difficulty checks. The easy checks are not available at first (but see other skills, below). They don't give any additional benefits other than successes.

Forbidden skill: The forbidden skill is one which will always fail, no matter what. If a player attempts to use this skill, it fails.

Other skills: The remaining 11 skills may be used if the player can come up with an appropriate justification (DM's discretion), and will require hard difficulty checks. Each of the unlockable skills is treated as an "other skill" until it's unlocked.

*Skills: Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, Endurance, Heal, History,Insight, Intimidate, Nature, Perception, Religion, Stealth, Streetwise, Thievery

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Okay, so time to put my money where my mouth is. After making my cards, these are literally the first ones I drew, following the method above.

Appropriate skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, Stealth, History
Unlockable skills: Heal, Religion
Forbidden skill: Perception

Alright, let's see. Arcana, diplomacy, stealth, history. I'm thinking the PCs have to sneak into something. Perhaps a tomb.

The tomb is guarded by an intelligent, but simple, undead. It's not much of a threat, but it could alert others to the PCs' presence if it's provoked.

A diplomacy check will coax the undead into revealing that last week, it lost the use of its left arm. This unlocks the heal check, which a player can use to diagnose the arm (one success), discovering it's dislocated. They may then fix it (a second success) by pushing it back into its socket.

A successful history check reveals that this is one of the Dark Dragon tombs, created by a cult many centuries ago. This unlocks the Religion skill, which can be used to remember one of the Dark Dragon Cult's prayers, which will help convince the undead guarding the tomb that it's okay to let them in.

A stealth check can be used to distract the undead guard, allowing the PCs closer inspection of the runes covering the tomb door and granting a +2 bonus to arcana checks.

An arcana check can be used to scrutinize the runes on the door and recognize the symbol of the Dark Dragon. This grants a +2 bonus on History and Religion checks.

Finally, if a player attempts a perception check, the undead grows impatient with them and tells them to go away.

To succeed, the players need 6 successes before they get 3 failures. If they succeed, the undead allows them passage, or they manage to otherwise sneak in without trouble. Otherwise, the undead determines that the PCs are a threat and screams, alerting others nearby.

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Actually, I think that came out pretty good. I thought I was screwed when I got perception as my forbidden skill, but I'm happy with the whole encounter.

Might be interesting to play around with the number of different cards you deal out for each category. If you're particularly adventurous, deal out one of your appropriate skills onto each of your unlockable skills, and you have to use the one to unlock the other.

 

[Aria Silverhands]

Sounds pretty neat. ^_^

 

[mach1.9pants]

I like the idea (providing that is how skill encounters run, I reckon you are right). Like anything of that type of thing I would be happy to fudge it a little, like if I got your perception panic . I certainly will give this a go, at least for a couple of trials. It is just nice to have little tools like this when you are learning a system.

Oh and I had to laugh about the undead with a dislocated shoulder

 

[malcolm_n]

what an awesome idea

 

[Iron Sky]

So, I tried it and drew:

Appropriate Skills: Intimidate, Streetwise, Bluff, Thievery
Unlockable Skills: Insight, Stealth
Forbidden Skill: Arcana

So, this just screams to me getting into some underworld society or something. Say infiltrating an assassin's guild.

The PC's head to the Black Thorn, a tavern that they think might be the front for the Umberban Assassins guild. There are a dozen lesser assassins scattered throughout the crowd in the tavern and an door to the HQ in a back room that's always locked.

Intimidate: Some of the patrons know about the assassin's guild being based here and come here to do other shady dealings or just to brag to other people that they drink "yeah, in that tavern." If the PC's so much as mention Umberban too loudly though, the locals tend to get worried since it's supposed to be a secret and the PCs can use that to scare the patrons into giving up what they know about them. Success also unlocks Insight(see below).

Example success: Patron: "Shhh, not so loud, they might hear you! Look keep your voice down and I'll tell you what I know alright?"
Example failure: PC(loudly, just as one of those akward room-wide pauses happens): "Yeah, I'm not afraid to talk about Umbraban!"

Streetwise: All sorts of information can be found out in the Black Thorn. If enough time is spent asking the right questions, picking up on hand-signals, and eavesdropping a bit, the PC's can learn more about the Umberban from the Patrons. Success also unlocks Insight(see below).

Ex. success: DM: You mention needing someone "taken care of" a couple times and get directed to the barkeep who sets a dagger on the bar and says, "can I help you with something in particular?"
Ex. failure: DM: The two men notice that you've been holding your cup to your mouth without drinking for the last few minutes and leaning towards them. You take a drink and cough, but see them still staring at you out of the corner of your eye.

Bluff: Alternatively, the PCs can pretend to be Umberban members themselves. The assassins asigned to "guard" the front are new enough that they might be taken in, and other patrons go pasty just hearing people claim to be Umberban. They can get the key to the back room from the barkeep if done a second time.

Ex. success: Player: I walk up to the table and lean close to the man wearing the leathers and say "the boss wants to see you, now. I'd suggest we don't keep him waiting."
Ex. failure: Player: I walk up to the table and lean close to the man wearing the leathers and say "as the leader of this here you-know-what, I order you to let me into the secret you-know-where."

Thievery: If the PCs pickpocket the barkeep or pick the lock to the back room, they can possibly sneak in without being noticed and use the enterance in the back room - Success unlocks Sneak(see below).

Ex. success: DM: You manage to pick the lock with one hand, behind your back, while leaning against the doorframe and flirting with the barmaid.
Ex. failure: DM: Someone walks towards the door and you accidentally break your lockpick as you quickly move away, leaving an inch of it sticking out of the keyhole.

Insight: The PCs piece together what they've heard to piece together that this is the front for the assassins guild and that there's probably an entrance to their headquarters here.

Ex. success: DM: You've seen enough hand signs and gotten the gist. The Black Thorn is definitely the front for the Umbraban.
Ex. failure: DM: You've seen enough hand signs and gotten the gist. There's a secret order of tailors that meets here once a month.

Stealth: The PCs can sneak into the back room either waiting for someone to open it and sneaking in or, if they've already gotten it open somehow, just sneaking in on their own.

Ex. success: Player: I "accidentally" kick a gold coin into the wall ten feet behind the guy as he unlocks the door." DM: He turns, looks around quickly, then goes to pick it up. Player: Great! I sneak in and find a place to hide quickly.
Ex. failure: Player: I try to kick a gold coin into the wall behind him. DM: It hits him in the leg and he looks around quickly to see who did it. Your eyes meet for a second before you can look away.

Arcana: The Umberban were recently hired to kill members of an organization of mages and suspect that the mages may be trying to get even(which is possibly why the PCs are here). They have placed symbols that only mages and the like would recognize and tend to watch people who examine them too closely.

Ex. failure: DM: You notice that the mark is similar to one used by the Mages of Kreen, but are trying to figure out the difference when you hear a rough voice behind you whisper "notice something interesting friend?"

To succeed, they need 6 successes before 3 failures. On success, they have infiltrated the Umberban without arousing suspicion and have access to the headquarters(though once they are there, they might have another, harder skill challenge). If they fail, they might be kicked out of the Black Thorn, outright attacked by assassins, or tailed when they leave/ambushed/questioned by suspicious assassins later. Individual failures might give -2 penalties to a subsequent skill check as the assassins get suspicious while individual bonuses might give +2 bonuses to a subsequent skill check as the PC's efforts synergize.

This is kinda fun! I'm going to try another.

Edit: Added sample successes/failures for each check.

 

[Exen Trik]

What really impresses me about this idea isn't just that it's handy, but that it inspires creativity like nobodies business. A draw of the cards can not only lead to an adventure, but possibly seed an entire campaign.

Someone needs to write up some kind of program for this, maybe something simply scripted and put on a webpage. That's more than a bit beyond my abilities though, but maybe someone else here is game?

 

[Aria Silverhands]

I could write it in nwscript for Neverwinter Nights, lol. If someone does create a script like this, I'll gladly host it on my site.

 

[Iron Sky]

Appropriate Skills: Athletics, History, Heal, Religion
Unlockable Skills: Insight, Thievery
Forbidden Skill: Acrobatics

These draws made me think of stumbling across the ruins of a cursed castle in the middle of the wilderness and trying to discover its past. Alternately, they were sent there by a descendant of the lords who used to own it - he still has title to the castle, but can't claim it due to the curse and so hired/sent/asked the PCs to find out for him.

The castle itself is covered with razor-sharp thorns and must be navigated very carefully. Perhaps the lords of the castle offended the local fey or a fey-pact warlock and he put a curse on the castle.

Athletics: Some of the castle has collapsed, masonry blocking doors that might lead to clues or stairways rotted mostly away so there is some hard climbing to get into the towers and look search for hints, though some of the doors behind the rubble or in the towers are locked. Success unlocks Thievery(see below).

Ex. success: DM: You roll the giant stone away with a heave and a grunt and find a small iron-bound door behind it. It's locked.
Ex. failure: DM: You roll the giant stone partially away, but it rolls back into you, knocking you into a patch of thorns.

History: They might find the remains of old tapestries, banners with old heraldry, moldered, barely legible accounting or history books that can be pieced together to determine the nature of the curse. Success unlocks Insight(see below).

Ex. success: DM: You notice the tapestries seem to depict an awful lot of animals being caught alive in traps and taken back to the castle...
Ex. failure: DM: You notice the tapestries seem to have caught on fire when you knocked your lantern over.

Heal: Animals sometimes wander into the castle and get pricked by the thorns, the thorn's poison slowly paralyzing them. PCs can gain the favor of local woodland spirits/what-have-you by treating the animals. Alternately, they can treat players who get pricked to keep them going.

Ex. success: DM: The animal staggers to its feet and runs away from the castle, though it seems as though it pauses and looks back at you for a moment before vanishing from sight.
Ex. failure: DM: The animal thrashes, does 3 damage to you with a hoof, and you fall into the thorns with it.

Religion: Perhaps the local lord was secretly sacrificing wild animals to some dark god in exchange for power. The PCs might find a bloody altar or runes and symbols of the god and use Religion to figure out which god it is, etc. Success unlocks Insight(see below).

Ex. success: DM: You see a symbol of a broken antler with a rain of blood pouring from it alot. It reminds you of something...
Ex. failure: DM: You see a symbol that you think belongs to Grum'esh(sp?), god of Orcs!

Thievery: Unlocking the simple locks on the doors allows the PCs access to small libraries or hidden shrines/altars, rooms with the abandoned personal belongings of those who lived there that give more clues. Success unlocks Insight(see below).

Ex. success: DM: You unlock the door to find a disturbing room full of animal bones.
Ex. failure: DM: You unlock the door, but find when you jerk it open that the door was all that was holding the rest of the wall up.

Insight: PCs can take the information and clues gathered to piece together that the local wood guardian(whatever it happens to be) is the one that placed the curse on the castle for the lord's sacrifice of the woodland creatures.

Ex. success: Player: "I seem to be getting the idea that there were some form of animal sacrifices going on here. Maybe it has something to do with the curse." DM: *nods*
Ex. success: Player: "I seem to be getting the idea that the evil Lord Razor Thorn, eater of bones, destroyer of castles is awakening below the keep. We should find our way to the catacombs and defeat him to remove the curse." DM: *nods*

Acrobatics: The thorns are so thick and sharp that any fancy attempts at leaping/jumping/tumbling result in PCs just injuring themselves and getting slowed(maybe eventually paralyzed) by their poison.

Ex. failure: DM: You try to tumble through the razor-sharp briar patch and quickly discover that, yes, it is as dense and pointy as it looked.

To succeed, they need 8 successes before 4 failures. Success means they discover the curse and how to appease the local spirit/guardian and get it to lift the curse. Failure means being poisoned and maybe arousing the ire of the wood guardian. Individual failures might mean being poisoned and taking -2 on their next rolls do to the numbing effects of the poison, while individual successes might give +2 bonuses to an appropriate related roll.

Edit: Added example successes and failures.

 

[reanjr]

Most excellent idea. I think I may use this to jumpstart creating adventures.

 

[ShockMeSane]

I just have to compliment the OP and those that have made attempts on a very cool and innovate use of the skill challenge. A fun read, and as someone else mentioned, could easily be an inspiration for an adventure!