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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6710563" data-attributes="member: 27160">For combat encounters, in particular, and especially ones with objectives other than "kill all the monsters", you probably don't need to map the full range out in advance. Many of the options will be implicit (head back to town to heal up, or look for a campsite for an extended rest, or continue exploring further into the "site", or flee the victorious opponents and end up somewhere semi-random...)For skill challenges, though, I think that, once entered into, there should be at least some (>2) defined ways out. Some will be extremely simple - the challenge is to get over an obstacle. You get over it or you get stuck in the middle or on the same side you started (whatever that means in context). Others may be more variable - like negotiations. Perhaps the foggiest of all will be player instigated challenges. Suppose they decide that the PCs will try to build an airship/spelljammer? That sort of thing can be great for a sandbox game - and 4E has the advantage that it often has existing game elements upon which you can base some sort of proposed mechanic. If a flying vehicle has a level as an Item, then that can serve as the basis for a level of Skill Challenge to build one.Remember that it is sandbox style "adventures" that we are considering, here. Level equivalency is an extremely powerful tool in adjudicating such environments. I spoke of a "node structure", but I don't envisage that it will be totally mapped out in advance. Everybody misses some stuff that players can invent. But if you know the intended level of the area and relative power of the Item/Opposition in 4E, you can use level equivalency to morph the challenge into whatever it may become as it is played out.</blockquote>

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