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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5132608" data-attributes="member: 4937">So, several times in my career I've tried to run non-combat event based encounters.&nbsp; These are the sort of things that 4e would call a 'skill challenge' and a movie would call an 'action scene'.&nbsp; They can be weather events, disasters of various sorts, chase scenes, or basically whatever you might do in a movie instead of or in addition to a fistfight/gunfight with the bad guys.&nbsp;Basically, as the game master, you set up several things to happen.&nbsp; Each thing involves a certain amount of narration and then an anticipated saving throw or skill check.&nbsp; In my experience, these seldom go as well as I want them to go.&nbsp; The tension isn't there.&nbsp; I don't feel I know how to pace them, and even when they go fairly well, they are still basically alot more railroady than I usually do.&nbsp; Does anyone have any tips on making one of these run smoothly and keeping player's interested?&nbsp; How exactly do you map them out?&nbsp; Do you plan branching paths, or is the scene really on rails?&nbsp; Is the resultant map more like a tree or more like a chain were things keep folding back in on each other?&nbsp; Do you keep careful track of time so that events occur on tight schedule, or are the events under narrative control and happen when as soon as the last scene plays out?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5132608, member: 4937"] So, several times in my career I've tried to run non-combat event based encounters. These are the sort of things that 4e would call a 'skill challenge' and a movie would call an 'action scene'. They can be weather events, disasters of various sorts, chase scenes, or basically whatever you might do in a movie instead of or in addition to a fistfight/gunfight with the bad guys. Basically, as the game master, you set up several things to happen. Each thing involves a certain amount of narration and then an anticipated saving throw or skill check. In my experience, these seldom go as well as I want them to go. The tension isn't there. I don't feel I know how to pace them, and even when they go fairly well, they are still basically alot more railroady than I usually do. Does anyone have any tips on making one of these run smoothly and keeping player's interested? How exactly do you map them out? Do you plan branching paths, or is the scene really on rails? Is the resultant map more like a tree or more like a chain were things keep folding back in on each other? Do you keep careful track of time so that events occur on tight schedule, or are the events under narrative control and happen when as soon as the last scene plays out? [/QUOTE]

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