D&D 5E Interrogation skill challenge in 5e

[Quickleaf]

I wanted to share a thing from our game the other night that was pretty cool!

The group decided they wanted to interrogate 3 cultists they'd captured. But when they described getting to the guardhouse, getting the cultists separated into different rooms, splitting up into "good cop, bad cop" teams... I realized they were describing Law and Order: D&D Edition! They'd caught me very off guard.

Luckily, I had some time to whip something together. I used the skill challenge framework from 4th edition. And it ran great! We had a lot of cool character-defining moments, some real drama, some serious creepy cultist factor going. All in all, I was very proud of my players and of how I handled it.

I've attached a PDF of the mechanics in case anyone wants to use it as a template for their own scenes, or is just curious

 

[Azurewraith]

Pretty good unfortunately i will never get a chance to use this as it would never even cross my players minds that they don't have to kill every man women and child in the universe to complete a quest. Maybe if i start dropping some strong hints next game that they need to capture some one for info seems like a good RP experience.

 

[AverageCitizen]

Pretty good unfortunately i will never get a chance to use this as it would never even cross my players minds that they don't have to kill every man women and child in the universe to complete a quest. Maybe if i start dropping some strong hints next game that they need to capture some one for info seems like a good RP experience.

Two words: "We surrender."

Seriously though, I feel like most fights, even in a fantasy dog-eat-dog world like D&D, don't end in the annihilation of one side or the other. In my study of history I found that IRL these kind of undisciplined actions usually go until there are a few downed on each side and then both sides kind of mutually withdraw. I.E., gang-fights, early skirmishes in the civil war, race or religious riots, etc. Basically, unless there is a powerful, far-reaching force threatening to execute deserters (like a government), battles are unlikely to turn into real meat-grinders. Sane people just don't have the stomach for it.

 

[AverageCitizen]

I wanted to share a thing from our game the other night that was pretty cool!

The group decided they wanted to interrogate 3 cultists they'd captured. But when they described getting to the guardhouse, getting the cultists separated into different rooms, splitting up into "good cop, bad cop" teams... I realized they were describing Law and Order: D&D Edition! They'd caught me very off guard.

Luckily, I had some time to whip something together. I used the skill challenge framework from 4th edition. And it ran great! We had a lot of cool character-defining moments, some real drama, some serious creepy cultist factor going. All in all, I was very proud of my players and of how I handled it.

I've attached a PDF of the mechanics in case anyone wants to use it as a template for their own scenes, or is just curious

Wow, I am not a fan of the 4e skill-challenge system, but what it lacks in inspiration you have made up for in detail in your implementation. Well-done.

 

[Azurewraith]

Two words: "We surrender."

Seriously though, I feel like most fights, even in a fantasy dog-eat-dog world like D&D, don't end in the annihilation of one side or the other. In my study of history I found that IRL these kind of undisciplined actions usually go until there are a few downed on each side and then both sides kind of mutually withdraw. I.E., gang-fights, early skirmishes in the civil war, race or religious riots, etc. Basically, unless there is a powerful, far-reaching force threatening to execute deserters (like a government), battles are unlikely to turn into real meat-grinders. Sane people just don't have the stomach for it.

True i never tried the surrender thing as i didn't think they would go for it "We are over matched and surrender"*swish* sorry did you say something the sound of my blade cleaving your Armour made it hard to hear you. Ill give it a go when im next at the head of the table.

 

[AverageCitizen]

True i never tried the surrender thing as i didn't think they would go for it "We are over matched and surrender"*swish* sorry did you say something the sound of my blade cleaving your Armour made it hard to hear you. Ill give it a go when im next at the head of the table.

Ease them into it. If they have been hacking their way through, they won't appreciate you suddenly making that a bad thing. Have a group try to surrender, and if they kill them anyway, at least it gets them thinking. After that, maybe at some point you could arrange for a consequence if they cut down enemies who are trying to surrender, like an appalled ally, or it turns out one of the enemies was an ally of one of the party's allies, and the party's ally asks them why their conflict of interests turned so deadly. Something like that. In a similar vein, I once ran a few sessions where my goal was that well before the players fought a character they knew its name and had a chance to guess at its motivations. It was pretty interesting, and the characters still remember the time someone hired Gnimkin and Magok to kill them. One of the players still has "the dagger I got from Magok" and Magok was a CR 1/4 goblin.

 

[Quickleaf]

Wow, I am not a fan of the 4e skill-challenge system, but what it lacks in inspiration you have made up for in detail in your implementation. Well-done.

Thanks, mate I almost never use the "X successes before Y failures" model, but this particular situation with conditioned cultists it worked quite well!