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Best resources for non combat encounters/skill challenges?
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6265429" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>I usually get my major plots and inspiration from modules or the connective tissue I create between the modules. I also do not use Skill Challenges as they've been set up in the DMG2, I tend to just use narration and the actions of the players to drive scenes. More improvised give-and-take, and we'll only roll dice when it's appropriate to get the possibility of a change in action/attitude.</p><p></p><p>So for social interactions... all NPCs have attitudes and needs. How they feel about things, and what they want. And that drives their interaction with the PCs-- how does the group help the NPC get what he or she wants? Oftentimes, that never even needs to involve the dice, if the interactions are rather obvious and both sides come to mutually beneficial agreements. It's only if the PCs need to drastically change an attitude or make an NPC forsake their needs/desires that the roll of the dice might come into play (on top of how the players actually roleplay the situation.)</p><p></p><p>For other stuff... chases, climbing a mountain or whatnot... it comes down to whether I feel like it needs to be a "set piece", or just an obstacle to overcome on the way to the true action of the story. If its just an obstacle... a couple skill checks will cover it-- and rather than worry about or count "successes" and "failures" like in a true Skill Challenge, things will go typically unless there's an <em>obvious</em> massive success or massive failure on the part of those rolls. And then I'll just make crap up to illustrate the massive success or failure.</p><p></p><p>But if it's a "set piece" encounter... those tend to already be written into the modules which I am adapting-- a mining cart chase, a runaway white water rafting journey etc.-- and I'll follow some of the instructions that the module gives. But again... I don't focus or worry about counting the successes and failures because that makes the encounter feel a little too rote to me and my players. The narrative no longer has focus, the dice rolls do-- having to continually add in dice rolls in order to reach a certain number of successes or three failures... even if the narrative doesn't really feel like it needs them. I instead just ask for the checks if it feels like the story needs them and narrate what feels right based on what the dice show. But a lot of that just comes down to experience.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 6265429, member: 7006"] I usually get my major plots and inspiration from modules or the connective tissue I create between the modules. I also do not use Skill Challenges as they've been set up in the DMG2, I tend to just use narration and the actions of the players to drive scenes. More improvised give-and-take, and we'll only roll dice when it's appropriate to get the possibility of a change in action/attitude. So for social interactions... all NPCs have attitudes and needs. How they feel about things, and what they want. And that drives their interaction with the PCs-- how does the group help the NPC get what he or she wants? Oftentimes, that never even needs to involve the dice, if the interactions are rather obvious and both sides come to mutually beneficial agreements. It's only if the PCs need to drastically change an attitude or make an NPC forsake their needs/desires that the roll of the dice might come into play (on top of how the players actually roleplay the situation.) For other stuff... chases, climbing a mountain or whatnot... it comes down to whether I feel like it needs to be a "set piece", or just an obstacle to overcome on the way to the true action of the story. If its just an obstacle... a couple skill checks will cover it-- and rather than worry about or count "successes" and "failures" like in a true Skill Challenge, things will go typically unless there's an [I]obvious[/I] massive success or massive failure on the part of those rolls. And then I'll just make crap up to illustrate the massive success or failure. But if it's a "set piece" encounter... those tend to already be written into the modules which I am adapting-- a mining cart chase, a runaway white water rafting journey etc.-- and I'll follow some of the instructions that the module gives. But again... I don't focus or worry about counting the successes and failures because that makes the encounter feel a little too rote to me and my players. The narrative no longer has focus, the dice rolls do-- having to continually add in dice rolls in order to reach a certain number of successes or three failures... even if the narrative doesn't really feel like it needs them. I instead just ask for the checks if it feels like the story needs them and narrate what feels right based on what the dice show. But a lot of that just comes down to experience. [/QUOTE]
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