DM ex Machina: New Column from Ari Marmell

[Mouseferatu]

Hmm... So the "between paragraphs" style doesn't seem too popular so far, either.

Unfortunately, using inline parantheticals only works for short notes, not longer ones.

Morrus, is the "tool tips" option feasible without too much difficulty on either your part or mine?

 

[Morrus]

Morrus, is the "tool tips" option feasible without too much difficulty on either your part or mine?

It's not, unfortunately. Your blog entry (and my news posts) are simply messageboard posts. If you can do it in a messgaeboard post, you can do it in a blog post or the on the news page; otherwise you can't.

If anyone can figure out a decent solution using messageboard posts, you can use that in the blog.

Personally, I didn't find the footnotes at the bottom of the page too much hassle, and I think they look better. It seems some people disagree, though.

If anyone is familiar with vB code etc., and could devise an appropriate vB code, I'm happy to install one.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Okay. Well, hopefully we'll find a cool solution. In the interim, maybe I should do a poll? Determine whether more people prefer the "at the end" or "between paragraphs" model, and go with the majority?

(BTW, Morrus, I just sent you an e-mail about this column. No need to reply here, I just want to make sure you see it. )

 

[Storminator]

Just make sure the footnote's stay entertaining!

PS

 

[ruemere]

Considering available formatting, footnotes aligned to the right, served every 4-5 paragraphs should save on scrolling while minimizing the damage to the text flow.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[darjr]

How about spoiler tags? The ones without the buttons.

Spoiler

foo

As for the article...

I like it. I'd add one thing, the unrolled or non-skilled based success. Based on what the character does I'll sometimes give them a success. This way you can go totally free form outside of skills and let the player come up with solutions towards a success.

 

[lotuseater]

i am firmly in favor of the footnotes under each paragraph. i thought it worked well, especially with the humorous ones. perhaps you can get by with fewer of them though, if other people don't like them. for the more serious ones, i was always disappointed when i glanced down, as i was looking for another joke.

good article. really, what it comes down to, is good dming. poor dm's often fail because they try to micromanage everything. good dm's allow the players to push the story forward, whether in combat or outside of it.

 

[LostSoul]

Good article.

Hopefully people will read it and it will start to sink in. I've been trying to say stuff like that for a long time now.

 

[RyvenCedrylle]

Thanks for giving me a word to apply to the concept, Ari. I've been down that line myself recently and didn't have the vocabulary for it.

A couple more points that might be worth bringing in to this discussion:

1) Fallout or Consolation Prizes - rarely do I let a skill challenge be only about one thing. Not only do I let the players roll whatever skill feels appropriate to them, I like to let them define 'side bets,' so to speak, for other effects that are related but tangential to the main goal. F'rinstance, your Fighter or Ranger may actually be useless in treaty negotiations. That's not uncommon. If you want to make Endurance and Perception checks to stand guard and not be surprised in case a breakdown in negotiations leads to a sudden attack on the fort, be my guest. Conversely, maybe you think it's going to go well and you want to use Streetwise to ensure your group's proper fame among the local populace when it's over. Have players who can't directly contribute well set up "if we succeed, then" or "if we fail, then" contingencies

2) Active Opposition - I'm really keen on Skill Challenges that 'bite back' and force rolls from PCs that they may or may not have wanted to make. This is counter to your 'agency' theory, right? Well, it would be except that you now open up a second branch of effects for your off-skill players to deal with. Sometimes, you need dedicated damage control. So maybe your wizard is absolutely worthless at tracking the horrible beast through the forest. He CAN however use Arcana checks and Prestidigitation or maybe the Banish Vermin ritual to ward off the insects that are draining your group's Healing Surges. Your Warlock probably isn't fast enough to chase that gnome rogue who just stole the MacGuffin but he can Intimidate the crowds of people that the rogue runs through to make you roll extra, high-DC Perception or Acrobatics checks. Skill challenges currently assume that success or failure is entirely in the PC's court. Throwing a couple extra disadvantages at them can keep the second-stringers on their toes and involved.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I would also throw in another vote for footnotes being at the end of the article (or the bottom of the page if this was a book/magazine).

Besides that, I haven't DM'd 4E in about six months, but I generally agree with you. Interestingly, I moved straight to allowing the players to dictate the skills they used in skill challenges after using a skill challenge only once. I really wasn't pleased with the outcome and decided it really limited my players creativity.

Like you, my players really enjoyed the open ended skill challenge better than the omniscient approach. The only problem I ran into was each player tended to fall back on the same skills. My solution was putting a scaling modifier based on how many times a skill was used.

I haven't bought DMG 2 yet (waiting on getting Primal power and DMG 2 at the same time so I can save an hours drive), so I'm interested in seeing what WoTC has added to skill challenges.