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<blockquote data-quote="kaomera" data-source="post: 4957634" data-attributes="member: 38357">I think you're right - and unfortunately it kind of bugs me. I really like what Skill Challenges seem to have to offer, but a lot of the suggestions that seem to &quot;click&quot; best for me boil down to &quot;Run something that isn't a Skill Challenge&quot;. What you've described is pretty much how I would have expected to see the room handled in 3e: a series of individual skill checks with separate pass &amp; fail results for each... To each his own, but I've played through three such encounters in 4e, and numerous in 3e, and I've not usually found them much fun. What's usually missing is tension, well that and &quot;take some damage&quot; isn't much fun as a consequence (although here you run up against &quot;Why kill characters if character death isn't fun?&quot; ~ &quot;Because the whole game is less fun if characters can never die.&quot;).You're supposed to be able to create a failure result that's still fun; ideally the players shouldn't particularly care OOCly if the characters succeed or fail - the story is cool either way. But D&amp;D rarely works that way, the wish-fulfillment is usually a vital part of the fun. BUT - triumphing over adversity is usually more fun than simply blowing though tissue-paper obstacles...So what I think this kind of encounter needs is 1) some kind of pressure forcing the players onward, and 2) an &quot;out&quot; where the PCs don't get dropped straight into the lava or die via hp attrition... Actually, I think the entire opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark is a great prototype for a fun (and failed) Skill Challenge...(Ah, sorry, I think I've drifted way off topic... =/&nbsp; )</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kaomera, post: 4957634, member: 38357"] I think you're right - and unfortunately it kind of bugs me. I really like what Skill Challenges seem to have to offer, but a lot of the suggestions that seem to "click" best for me boil down to "Run something that isn't a Skill Challenge". What you've described is pretty much how I would have expected to see the room handled in 3e: a series of individual skill checks with separate pass & fail results for each... To each his own, but I've played through three such encounters in 4e, and numerous in 3e, and I've not usually found them much fun. What's usually missing is tension, well that and "take some damage" isn't much fun as a consequence (although here you run up against "Why kill characters if character death isn't fun?" ~ "Because the whole game is less fun if characters can never die."). You're supposed to be able to create a failure result that's still fun; ideally the players shouldn't particularly care OOCly if the characters succeed or fail - the story is cool either way. But D&D rarely works that way, the wish-fulfillment is usually a vital part of the fun. BUT - triumphing over adversity is usually more fun than simply blowing though tissue-paper obstacles... So what I think this kind of encounter needs is 1) some kind of pressure forcing the players onward, and 2) an "out" where the PCs don't get dropped straight into the lava or die via hp attrition... Actually, I think the entire opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark is a great prototype for a fun (and failed) Skill Challenge... (Ah, sorry, I think I've drifted way off topic... =/ ) [/QUOTE]

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