Jack99
Adventurer
To provide some context, here is an ultrashort resume of the campaign so far.
[sblock=Recap of campaign so far, for the curious]
Yes, I am indeed running Revenge of the Giants, although very tweaked to fit my own vision/campaign
[/sblock]
So, tonight, unless my players does things I do not expect, this is how things will go.
- They will Shadowwalk most of the way to where they have been told to go.
- In the fungus-forest, they will have an encounter with some sentient fungi
- they will find Bliss, the small village of goliaths controlled by a demon and the dragon he dominates.
- The demon will instruct them (this is the guy whom they were sent to help by the Silent Swords) to find the run-away goliaths and either convince them to come home or kill them and bring him their heads as proof.
- He will also tell them that they are hiding in a maze of small corridors, where the dragon can’t reach them.
- The Godsends will head out, looking for them.
- The Godsends will be ambushed by goliaths but will convince them they do not seek their death
- The Godsends will get to talk to the goliath shaman and convince him to bring his people back in Argent, where he is needed.
- They will also find out that the demon is very powerful, and he has the 3rd Sky Gem now.
- At this point, they might try to sneak back into Bliss and break the charm effect the demon has over the dragon, so that they might be able to get the third gem, or they might decide to wait.
- If they do not attempt to free the dragon and thus face the demon, they will also need to dupe him somehow, making him believe they have killed all the goliaths. The shaman will probably sacrifise his own head, if he can be convinced that they can truly save his tribe.
The Skill Challenges:
This is how it looks in my google doc::
SC: Searching the Maze
Perception (2), Dungeoneering (3), Stealth
Perception: notices sign of goliath presence, like an extinguished fireplace
Perception: notices sign of goliath presence, like a dropped dagger
Dungeoneering: find the way (2)
Dungeoneering: find the most likely places to live
Stealth: Be stealthy
Win: stumble over goliaths (stealth determines who has surprise)
Fail: lose 1 surge
As they arrive to the maze of corridors, I would tell them that we run the search as a skill challenge, with 2x perception, 3x dungeoneering and 1x stealth. They would know (by now) that
1- all players must participate
2- in the case of us being less than 6 players present, 1 player can not make more than 2 checks, and never of the same skill
They state which skill(s) they take and roll.
My normal baseline is 20 at this level (lvl 13). In order to win the skill challenge, they must have more wins that fails.
Lets say the distribution is as follows.
Rolen (perception - pass), Grum (perception - pass), GrobKu (Dungeoneering - pass), Calos (Dungeoneering - fail), Eric (Dungeoneering - pass) and Hwygar (Stealth- fail)
Then I will narrate something like this:
As you enter the crooked corridors, you realize that when the demon said maze, he actually meant it. There must be thousands of small corridors and tunnels, all interconnected by small chambers. Few tunnels seem to be straight or easy to navigate. GrobKu and Calos take point to find your way, but it quickly becomes clear that Calos has no idea what is up and what is down in this maze. Still, GrobKu’s dwarven senses seem right at home. As he leads you around, Eric points out that even down here, basic necessities such as water or food must be met. GrobKu takes that into account when choosing which way to go. As you continue to explore dozens of tunnels and caves, Rolen spots an extinguished but still hot fireplace and Grum finds a recently used fork, suggesting that they must be near. You proceed with care, but suddenly a large shadow jumps out of the shadows, screaming in broken Deep Speech, as he plunges his spear into Rolen: Die you murderous drow!
Had the rolls come up differently, I would simply have changed it based on the results. A total fail will result as noted above in a loss of surge, and redoing the skill challenge.
Once they encounter the goliaths, it will be time for the next skill challenge. If they failed the stealth part of the last one, they will be engaged in combat, otherwise not.
SC: Convince the Goliaths (if combat is engaged, 1/round, use minor)
Diplomacy (3), Nature, History, Intimidate
Diplomacy: We are not enemies (+5 if remove drow mask)
Diplomacy: We work undercover, but have no intention to help the demon who holds your tribe enslaved.
Diplomacy: Stop fighting us and we will help free your tribe
History: Remind them of similar situations in the history of goliaths, where the goliaths have had to trust others. (The Battle of Luram in 457)
Nature: Goliaths are honorable people
Intimidate: We can kill you easily - stop fighting or it will end badly for you.
Note: All checks become hard if the players are hitting back, instead of merely defending themselves.
Win: No combat/combat stops
Fail: Combat
Later, when they have found the shaman (one way or the other), they will need to convince him to bring those that have escaped from Bliss back to Argent.
SC: Convince the Goliaths to return to Argent
Diplomacy (2), History (2), Nature, Intimidate
Diplomacy: Argent is still there, Obamar is waiting for you, he needs you
Diplomacy: The Cult of Elemental Evil is working to assemble the divine engine to release Piranoth, we need you back in Argent
History: Tales of how Argent has been important and will be again. It was for a reason that a part of the Divine Engine was placed in Argent!
History: Think about all the times your people have helped Argent stand against evil trying to destroy the world
Intimidate: If you stay here, sooner or later, the dragon will find you and bring you back to the demon.
Nature: knowledge of the goliath way
Win: The goliaths come back to Argent
Fail: They will stick around the caves, until the players kill the demon at some point
Anyway, the above skill challenges should give you an idea on how I structure and run them. Always 6 rolls (because I have 6 players), in case a skill demands more than 1 check, it has to be different players who take each check (in case we have someone who isn’t there).
Of course, this is not for everyone. I am sure a lot of people will not like the approach, as it does take some choice away from players. They can choose the skill the roll on, but it is the DM that tells them how they use it. Now, the reason that I thought I would share it with you guys, is that it has been a big hit amongst my players. I have been using this type of skill challenges for a couple of months now, and they like that it is I, the DM that knows the world and its NPC’s and has a clear “vision” of how things look and are, that put their skills into context. Using the same frame (6 skill checks, fail on 4/2) also makes it easy for the players to know what happens when I say: We are going to run this as a skill challenge.
Hope someone finds it useful,
Cheers
PS: Regarding the math: I have not run any numbers, but they win about 60-80% of all the skill challenges they enter, which is a number that works well for me.
[sblock=Recap of campaign so far, for the curious]
- The players are former demigods (lvl 30’ish) from the future.
- In the future, Tharizdun broke out of his prison, and the Dawn War 2.0 started.
- As the universe crumbled under the madness of Tharizdun, the last two gods (Asmodeus and Ioun) sent the players back in time to change the course of history.
- The players arrived in the past, but had lost most of their powers (lvl 5 now) and their memories of future events were at best hazy.
- Back in Drahar (in the past), they were quickly embroiled in a plot by the Cult of Elemental Evil, searching for some artifact.
- They stopped the cult and went on to follow the lead to the Temple of Elemental Evil, which they cleansed as well, only to learn that they were too late, and that the goal of the cult had been achieved and the info passed on, possibly down under (to the Underdark)
- Forming a shaky alliance with a drow house who shares their hatred for the Cult of Elemental Evil, they infiltrate (using magical masks that makes them look like drow) the Silent Swords, a drow mercenary band that intel indicates work for the Cult.
- During their work for the Silent Swords, they realize that the Cult is trying to assemble something called the Divine Engine in order to free Piranoth, a primordial allied with Tharizdun during both Dawn Wars (both the one in the past, and in the future).
- They also find out that 4 so-called sky gems exists, 4 tears of Piranoth that can be used to control/weaken him, and it seems the Cult is looking for those as well.
- Through sheer luck and a good deal of bluffing, the Godsends (as they have been calling themselves) are now in possession of 2 out of 4 of the Sky Gems.
- They have found Argent, buried deep in the Underdark after falling through the cracks in the earth many years ago. Argent has a connection to the Divine Engine and the Sky Gems.
- They have been sent by the Silent Swords to help an ally deal with some unruly slaves.
- However, they know now that the unruly slaves are a former guardian race of goliaths who have a connection to a magical city called Argent.
Yes, I am indeed running Revenge of the Giants, although very tweaked to fit my own vision/campaign
[/sblock]
So, tonight, unless my players does things I do not expect, this is how things will go.
- They will Shadowwalk most of the way to where they have been told to go.
- In the fungus-forest, they will have an encounter with some sentient fungi
- they will find Bliss, the small village of goliaths controlled by a demon and the dragon he dominates.
- The demon will instruct them (this is the guy whom they were sent to help by the Silent Swords) to find the run-away goliaths and either convince them to come home or kill them and bring him their heads as proof.
- He will also tell them that they are hiding in a maze of small corridors, where the dragon can’t reach them.
- The Godsends will head out, looking for them.
- The Godsends will be ambushed by goliaths but will convince them they do not seek their death
- The Godsends will get to talk to the goliath shaman and convince him to bring his people back in Argent, where he is needed.
- They will also find out that the demon is very powerful, and he has the 3rd Sky Gem now.
- At this point, they might try to sneak back into Bliss and break the charm effect the demon has over the dragon, so that they might be able to get the third gem, or they might decide to wait.
- If they do not attempt to free the dragon and thus face the demon, they will also need to dupe him somehow, making him believe they have killed all the goliaths. The shaman will probably sacrifise his own head, if he can be convinced that they can truly save his tribe.
The Skill Challenges:
This is how it looks in my google doc::
SC: Searching the Maze
Perception (2), Dungeoneering (3), Stealth
Perception: notices sign of goliath presence, like an extinguished fireplace
Perception: notices sign of goliath presence, like a dropped dagger
Dungeoneering: find the way (2)
Dungeoneering: find the most likely places to live
Stealth: Be stealthy
Win: stumble over goliaths (stealth determines who has surprise)
Fail: lose 1 surge
As they arrive to the maze of corridors, I would tell them that we run the search as a skill challenge, with 2x perception, 3x dungeoneering and 1x stealth. They would know (by now) that
1- all players must participate
2- in the case of us being less than 6 players present, 1 player can not make more than 2 checks, and never of the same skill
They state which skill(s) they take and roll.
My normal baseline is 20 at this level (lvl 13). In order to win the skill challenge, they must have more wins that fails.
Lets say the distribution is as follows.
Rolen (perception - pass), Grum (perception - pass), GrobKu (Dungeoneering - pass), Calos (Dungeoneering - fail), Eric (Dungeoneering - pass) and Hwygar (Stealth- fail)
Then I will narrate something like this:
As you enter the crooked corridors, you realize that when the demon said maze, he actually meant it. There must be thousands of small corridors and tunnels, all interconnected by small chambers. Few tunnels seem to be straight or easy to navigate. GrobKu and Calos take point to find your way, but it quickly becomes clear that Calos has no idea what is up and what is down in this maze. Still, GrobKu’s dwarven senses seem right at home. As he leads you around, Eric points out that even down here, basic necessities such as water or food must be met. GrobKu takes that into account when choosing which way to go. As you continue to explore dozens of tunnels and caves, Rolen spots an extinguished but still hot fireplace and Grum finds a recently used fork, suggesting that they must be near. You proceed with care, but suddenly a large shadow jumps out of the shadows, screaming in broken Deep Speech, as he plunges his spear into Rolen: Die you murderous drow!
Had the rolls come up differently, I would simply have changed it based on the results. A total fail will result as noted above in a loss of surge, and redoing the skill challenge.
Once they encounter the goliaths, it will be time for the next skill challenge. If they failed the stealth part of the last one, they will be engaged in combat, otherwise not.
SC: Convince the Goliaths (if combat is engaged, 1/round, use minor)
Diplomacy (3), Nature, History, Intimidate
Diplomacy: We are not enemies (+5 if remove drow mask)
Diplomacy: We work undercover, but have no intention to help the demon who holds your tribe enslaved.
Diplomacy: Stop fighting us and we will help free your tribe
History: Remind them of similar situations in the history of goliaths, where the goliaths have had to trust others. (The Battle of Luram in 457)
Nature: Goliaths are honorable people
Intimidate: We can kill you easily - stop fighting or it will end badly for you.
Note: All checks become hard if the players are hitting back, instead of merely defending themselves.
Win: No combat/combat stops
Fail: Combat
Later, when they have found the shaman (one way or the other), they will need to convince him to bring those that have escaped from Bliss back to Argent.
SC: Convince the Goliaths to return to Argent
Diplomacy (2), History (2), Nature, Intimidate
Diplomacy: Argent is still there, Obamar is waiting for you, he needs you
Diplomacy: The Cult of Elemental Evil is working to assemble the divine engine to release Piranoth, we need you back in Argent
History: Tales of how Argent has been important and will be again. It was for a reason that a part of the Divine Engine was placed in Argent!
History: Think about all the times your people have helped Argent stand against evil trying to destroy the world
Intimidate: If you stay here, sooner or later, the dragon will find you and bring you back to the demon.
Nature: knowledge of the goliath way
Win: The goliaths come back to Argent
Fail: They will stick around the caves, until the players kill the demon at some point
Anyway, the above skill challenges should give you an idea on how I structure and run them. Always 6 rolls (because I have 6 players), in case a skill demands more than 1 check, it has to be different players who take each check (in case we have someone who isn’t there).
Of course, this is not for everyone. I am sure a lot of people will not like the approach, as it does take some choice away from players. They can choose the skill the roll on, but it is the DM that tells them how they use it. Now, the reason that I thought I would share it with you guys, is that it has been a big hit amongst my players. I have been using this type of skill challenges for a couple of months now, and they like that it is I, the DM that knows the world and its NPC’s and has a clear “vision” of how things look and are, that put their skills into context. Using the same frame (6 skill checks, fail on 4/2) also makes it easy for the players to know what happens when I say: We are going to run this as a skill challenge.
Hope someone finds it useful,
Cheers
PS: Regarding the math: I have not run any numbers, but they win about 60-80% of all the skill challenges they enter, which is a number that works well for me.
I just use the mechanic to track their progress and success/failure.
