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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7027551" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Stuff!What to always keep in mind: 1)  What is the goal (we have that here it seems)?2)  What is at stake?3)  The situation needs to change dynamically at each stage of resolution.  It should open up new decision-points for the PCs.  Keep things charged with conflict, but with new stuff for the PCs to digest/orient toward/and act upon.4)  Failure needs to snowball.  It should change the situation adversely and more dramatically than success (although success needs to change the situation dynamically).  Obstacles/setbacks mount/converge as the PCs fail to overcome them.5)  Maintain dramatic momentum until the scene fully resolves itself.  Remember, ultimate failure is not an endpoint in 4e.  While it may outright deny the PCs their goal (make them lose what is at stake), it still needs to propel play forward, opening up new fronts of conflict or significantly escalating current events. Always keep 1 and 2 as the focus for 3, 4, and 5.  You need to malleable as the situation will inevitably change beyond your ability to project.  However, if you're not particularly trusting of your improv skills, get a couple of flash cards and jot down some broad situation-headers for: a)  Success which changes the situation and leads to an interesting decision-point.b)  Failures that adversely sets the PCs back or escalates the situation.  There is also:  c)  How ultimate failure in the challenge might emerge, what that would mean to the fiction and what the fallout would be for the PCs and their goal. However (c) is difficult to conjure at this point because it will be a combination of many emergent properties of the evolved fiction. Just a couple of quick examples for (a) and (b) (with the PC goal being "discover the identities of masked/unknown leadership of some organization"...infiltration merely being a means here).  So... (a) Intelligence gathered reveals an unwelcome truth?  By way of a successful Streetwise check, the party's Fighter arranges a back-alley seduction of the organization's book-keeper with a prost/pick-pocket who owes him a favor.  She lifts a folded cargo manifest with some illicit goods on it commonly deployed by this uprising, the name of the ship/bootlegger, and the name of the fence.  Turns out, the bootlegger or the fence is actually a well-known, close personal relation (friend or family) of the noble that hired them!  (b) The situation is turned back on them.  A new enemy emerges or...the PCs put a target on their own backs rather than uncovering leadership identities!   So perhaps the Streetwise check fails.  The seduction and lift still goes off without a hitch.  However, as she is about to hand it off in the alley-way/tavern (wherever) after the deed is done, she falls over dead (some spell) and a dark figure from across the way or on top of the roof snatches the manifest with Mage Hand.  A second spellcaster erects a wall (maybe Fire if they're in a tavern - leading to all hell breaking loose - or Stone if they're in the alleyway). Maybe a monster is summoned.  Regardless, the two figures dash off in opposite directions, one with the manifest!  This could lead to a nested C1 Skill Challenge (success or failure rewarding another success or failure in the overarching SC).  If its in the inn, perhaps the PCs decide to save the tavern-goers from the fire.  They've lost the intelligence and gained an enemy...but perhaps that success opens things up with a new ally (leading to alternative intelligence) gained...perhaps with a price.</blockquote>

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