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Message: <blockquote data-quote="keterys" data-source="post: 5024465" data-attributes="member: 43019">I'm currently running a game that heavily uses skill challenges, though in a more freeform manner than the default DMG method. This is at odds to the previous home game I ran that barely had skill challenges at all - I wanted to try something different this time around.It's been going extremely well so far, with much praise from the players and one of them being ecstatic that being a 'skill monkey bard' is useful. The skill challenges have included:* Gathering information about a crimelord they were tasked with dispatching* Convincing slaves of the crime lord not to attack them and eventually rebel* Escorting a rescued group of people to a shelter in the middle of riots and fire* Saving a dying ranger and his mount* Getting across the city in the middle of that riot/fire* Putting out a fire on a house* Tracking down someone who stole a body and sold it to a necromancer, intimidating/tricking that person, then getting to the necromancer's lair* Dealing with traps in the middle of a fight* Deanimating the body since it was partially reanimatedAll but the 'getting through the riots' were completely optional - basically I don't say they're in a skill challenge nor treat it as one unless they make skill checks, and those checks advance the challenge or create complications. They mostly did all of them to a certain degree without me needing to suggest anything, and the investigation one they actually did a lot more than was 'required' just cause they got into it, though they had the option to use divination magic if they didn't want to use skills. The deanimating the body they skipped, though - they failed the first check and just chopped it up and put it away after that. Which is fine <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />That said, in another game where I'm playing, the DM doesn't really get skill challenges so mostly just says 'Everyone make Endurance checks. Okay, Athletics. Anyone got Nature? Okay, make one of those...' and then summarizes what happened. At which point I'd be fine skipping them entirely. I have had some DMs do some good ones and some bad ones. Some are screwed up by design, some are run poorly. So much variance. But oh well.</blockquote>

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