NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6205562" data-attributes="member: 6696971">What you're seeing there is:- PCs framed directly into a scene with conflict whereby the chamberlain is adversarial to them being there (we haven't even broached the subject of the king at that point).  - However, his obstinance is not set in stone.  He is predisposed toward adversarialism with the PCs and wanting them gone, but ultimately, his malleability/ultimate position on the PCs (their legitimacy as protagonissts and right to audience with the king and ultimate support) up for grabs via mechanical resolution.  To that end:A:  The Paladin speaks (literally) with the divine voice of Bahamut, cowing the chamberlain.B:  PCs successfully read the anxious chamberlain, expose the situation, and put him in a spot due to the macabre nature of the ordeal he is overseenig.C:  The drakes arrive immediately thereafter, putting him into a further spot as the drakes enragte at the impudence and lack of fealty on display here.D:  Within the nested combat skill challenge, the PCs (i) save the chamberlain (the most important part), (ii) lay easy waste to the drakes thus proving their mettle, (iii) take measures to ensure that the remaining drake will be discinclined toward retribution against the chamberlain/kingdom.At that point the chamberlain's disposition is determined...by the marriage of mechanical resolution and the fictional positioning.The stunning success of the Skill Challenge is extremely anomalous (my PCs succeed at maybe 3 of every 4 and I've seen a "flawless victory" perhaps 3 other time).  Lots of things could have changed: - The actual complicating event on the portico balcony could have been different and thus the decision-points and evolution of fiction would have been starkly different.- Failures could have been accrued in multiple, key areas that would have changed things.- The Paladin could have failed his Endurance check which would have meant a gravely hurt chamberlain and thus opened it up for a possible Heal effort by the Ranger or Paladin in the future which would have again changed the fictional positioning and possibly the overall results.- The PCs could have failed the nested skill challenge in total which would have meant a failure in the overall challenge, but more importantly, a chamberlain who is neither obstinate nor receptive...but rather dead!- The PCs could have lost the skill challenge overall which could have meant any number of things depending on the aggregate fictional positioning to that point; eg refusal by the king to help or refusal by the chamberlain to even see the king.  That could have led to a physical confrontation or the PCs resolving themselves to save the kingdom despite the lack of sponsorship fromt the king.In summation, what you're seeing is exactly what we've been talking about; (i) GM framed conflict with a lack of fixed, preset fictional positioning, (ii) player resource scheme that empowers everyone to express their thematics and protagonism and impose their will upon the fiction by (iii) deploying resources to mechanically resolve an evolving narrative...(iv) establishing backstory and setting the formerly malleable fictional positioning.</blockquote>

Verification