A boardgamey RPG

ardoughter said:

It strikes me that the unsatisfying thing about skill challanges or even die rolls vs a DC are that they do not reflect how people really use skills.
It is a bit too binary, like many I was excited by the idea of skill challanges initially, the idea that the number of successes over failures could allow one the determine the degree of success of failure.
In practice it encourages the players to hunt for the best stat and aid another whcih works out a bit dry in the game. So I have reverted to my old way and let the players tell me what they are doing and call for rolls as I deem them needed.

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I don't want to derail the thread, so see here for my musings on skill challenges.

More on topic, I think I would rather have the mini-games work in conjunction with skill checks rather than as a replacement for skill checks.

For searching, say you have twenty locations to search to find one item. An Easy Perception check allows you to search one location, a Moderate Perception check allows you to search two locations, and a Hard Perception check allows you to search three locations. The player gets involved because he has to pick which locations to search after a successful Perception check, and if you add a time limit (traps going off, battle going on, roof collapsing, guards arriving in a few rounds, etc.) you also add a tactical dimension to the game: go slow and steady with Easy checks, or risk a Hard check?

For picking a lock, perhaps the players have to obtain a specific combination of 20 numbers. A Moderate Thievery check reveals one number, and a Hard Thievery check reveals two. The player of a character who fails the check can still try to detect the underlying pattern and make a guess. You can use the same time constraint factors mentioned above to add a tactical dimension to the game and give players an incentive to guess even if the Thievery check is failed.