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<blockquote data-quote="Matthias" data-source="post: 6125712" data-attributes="member: 3625">In the context of, for example, a night spent gambling or a single game of chess, the narrative would follow the 'tug of war' in the sense that &quot;the cards are starting to like you again&quot; or &quot;you made a brilliant combination just then, and took your enemy's queen&quot;. The Dramatic Skill Check isn't meant to represent a single isolated action such as leaping over a chasm or appraising a beautiful and possibly valuable piece of artwork. It should be used to encapsulate a continuous string of related actions, possibly repetitive behaviors, which do not by themselves count as a &quot;success&quot; for the acting PC. You might think of them as representing a non-combat encounter, where instead of two opponents laying the smack down, they are each trying to outmaneuver or outplay the other person...or else it is an encounter with some impersonal force or obstacle which must be overcome in steps or a little bit at a time, rather than all at once.While I did not specifically mention Craft checks, a Dramatic Skill Check is similar in principle to the creation of some item which takes more than one day's work to complete (or more than one Craft skill check, at any rate). There is a measurement of progress in the standard rules for Craft checks (silver pieces). Consider how a good GM could narrate the process of reforging of Narsil/Anduril. Tolkien as a GM could have just said, &quot;Okay, the elf NPC crafters make their Craft skill checks. &lt;rolls&gt; Yep, they all passed. Good job, crafter elves! Aragorn gets a new sword.&quot;One could probably adapt these rules for Craft checks (and Spellcraft checks, if any) to draw out the drama of crafting some fancy gear or a magic item or something, if that's a significant part of a PC's backstory and if that's &quot;his thing&quot; to be an item crafter. I decided not to go there, but maybe someone else could.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Matthias, post: 6125712, member: 3625"] In the context of, for example, a night spent gambling or a single game of chess, the narrative would follow the 'tug of war' in the sense that "the cards are starting to like you again" or "you made a brilliant combination just then, and took your enemy's queen". The Dramatic Skill Check isn't meant to represent a single isolated action such as leaping over a chasm or appraising a beautiful and possibly valuable piece of artwork. It should be used to encapsulate a continuous string of related actions, possibly repetitive behaviors, which do not by themselves count as a "success" for the acting PC. You might think of them as representing a non-combat encounter, where instead of two opponents laying the smack down, they are each trying to outmaneuver or outplay the other person...or else it is an encounter with some impersonal force or obstacle which must be overcome in steps or a little bit at a time, rather than all at once. While I did not specifically mention Craft checks, a Dramatic Skill Check is similar in principle to the creation of some item which takes more than one day's work to complete (or more than one Craft skill check, at any rate). There is a measurement of progress in the standard rules for Craft checks (silver pieces). Consider how a good GM could narrate the process of reforging of Narsil/Anduril. Tolkien as a GM could have just said, "Okay, the elf NPC crafters make their Craft skill checks. <rolls> Yep, they all passed. Good job, crafter elves! Aragorn gets a new sword." One could probably adapt these rules for Craft checks (and Spellcraft checks, if any) to draw out the drama of crafting some fancy gear or a magic item or something, if that's a significant part of a PC's backstory and if that's "his thing" to be an item crafter. I decided not to go there, but maybe someone else could. [/QUOTE]

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