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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5188715" data-attributes="member: 42582">I'm sure there are such people. But in my view this is not an issue about depth of non-combat resolution. It is about method of non-combat resolution. I suspect that such people wouldn't like games like HeroQuest or Burning Wheel, which use mechanics broadly comparable to skill challenges to resolve non-combat encounters. But these other games are hardly ones that can be described as being shallow in their non-combat encounter resolution.What I think is an issue directly relevant to encounter design is that WotC seems to have great difficulties in presenting published examples of non-shallow skill challenges. I'm not a subscriber to Insider, so haven't seen more recent examples in the magazines, but even the examples in the DMG2 are somewhat underbaked. Of the adventures I've seen, the best developed skill challenges in thematic and narrative terms are probably in Heathen, an adventure in one of the early free 4e Dungeon magazines. But these could also use work.OK, but I wouldn't share the view that 3E or PF is that better game. Certainly, that's not the experience at my gaming table - features of 4e (which include as a minor contributer, but are cetaily not limited to, its stat blocks) make it a much better vehicle for achieving tactical flexibility and interesting tactical play in a fantasy RPG.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5188715, member: 42582"] I'm sure there are such people. But in my view this is not an issue about depth of non-combat resolution. It is about method of non-combat resolution. I suspect that such people wouldn't like games like HeroQuest or Burning Wheel, which use mechanics broadly comparable to skill challenges to resolve non-combat encounters. But these other games are hardly ones that can be described as being shallow in their non-combat encounter resolution. What I think [I]is[/I] an issue directly relevant to encounter design is that WotC seems to have great difficulties in presenting published examples of non-shallow skill challenges. I'm not a subscriber to Insider, so haven't seen more recent examples in the magazines, but even the examples in the DMG2 are somewhat underbaked. Of the adventures I've seen, the best developed skill challenges in thematic and narrative terms are probably in Heathen, an adventure in one of the early free 4e Dungeon magazines. But these could also use work. OK, but I wouldn't share the view that 3E or PF is that better game. Certainly, that's not the experience at my gaming table - features of 4e (which include as a minor contributer, but are cetaily not limited to, its stat blocks) make it a much better vehicle for achieving tactical flexibility and interesting tactical play in a fantasy RPG. [/QUOTE]

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