(OOC) Scourge of Daggerford (Full)

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm going to formalise a Challenge so you know what I'm looking for. I'm going to make it a three-part (like rounds, but with greater and abstract time intervals) challenge, where everyone gives me some relevant skill-checks, and I adjudicate based on rolls. It's a bit like how we did Downtime, but with one roll (each) per segment.

Give me a little story about what it is you're trying to do, along with an ability (skill) check. You could row yourself, encourage (intimidate or persuade) others, keep an eye out for the riverfolk's boat up ahead, etc. After the first segment (like round) is done, I will add complications based on rolls (or my story whims) and make a goal for the second segment, and so on (for three segments).

Any questions?

 

[River Song]

Well Lionel is not much chop at rowing, so can he use a shortbow and try and pepper the pursuers with arrows in an attempt to slow them down?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Maybe in the second segment if you screw up the first and they get within bow-range. The goal is to keep them out of bow-range at the moment. You don't want to get shot again! Try encouraging the old man with a joke or something.

 

[Kobold Stew]

cool mechanism. fun!

 

[gargoyleking]

Hope that was worthy of a persuasion check. If not, just subtract 2 for an intimidation.

Squirrels are evil!

 

[KahlessNestor]

Ah, a good, old-fashioned 4e skill check! Nice!

 

[gargoyleking]

Darkvision is only 60' they'll probably have disadvantage anyways unless they get to within that range first. We should probably do our best to light ourselves up anyways. We don't want the guard to decide that we're the enemy and start shooting into the boat.

Squirrels are evil!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Ah, a good, old-fashioned 4e skill check! Nice!

Yeah, kind of. When I first heard of 4e skill challenges, I ran a ton of them that were really great. Then the 4e books came out, and I read how they worked, and for some reason, I never quite fully understood them anymore. The more of them I ran, the worse I felt the system worked. Hopefully, this will start to bring back the glory days.

One of the things that this is NOT, is you having to get X number of passes before Y number of failures. You have a "Challenge Goal" (for the whole thing) and each segment has a "Segment Goal" (for each "round") The more "successes", the closer you get to achieving "full victory" on the goals.

Individual failures by individual characters MAY result in setbacks (which will probably just make the story more interesting), but they WON'T stop the overall victory, unless there is more of them all told than there are successes. (Which mathematically should be very unlikely).

So everyone don't sweat the possibility of failure. They should be fun. Just do what you think you'd do, and roll a check related to it. Don't try too hard to make sure it's "perfect". Oh, and if you want to "pass" on the segment (like, for example, just sitting in the boat and keeping your head down), that's okay too. You just won't be involved. I'd like to know you're doing that, though.

Darkvision is only 60' they'll probably have disadvantage anyways unless they get to within that range first. We should probably do our best to light ourselves up anyways. We don't want the guard to decide that we're the enemy and start shooting into the boat.

Enough shots at disadvantage can still kill you. Good idea about the light.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Enseth's turn is a good example of something where he technically "passed" on working toward the segment's goal, but he anticipated a possible upcoming segment and got ready for that. (Also got ready in case this segment's goal fails, so he worked toward the goal kind of backwards). THIS IS GREAT. No problem with it.

I mentioned some of my problems with 4e skill challenges above. One of the troubles I had is that I had a few players that were really, really resistant to them and ALWAYS over-thought everything. Always tried to find a way to excuse using their best skills, even when it made no sense. That sort of thing.

Don't over-think it, gang. Just do what you're gonna do. If you can't think of anything, don't worry about it. (Give me a post about what you're doing, even if what you're doing amounts to nothing, though. I want everyone to at least have the CHANCE to be involved. Maybe your character will shine in a later segment.)

It's like a round of combat. Not everyone does anything useful every round.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I should also point out...

On the flipside to me saying "it's okay if you 'pass' or do something not 'perfect' (toward the challenge)" and something that goes hand-in-hand with "don't overthink it"...

If the challenge is "row like you've never rowed before!" then an 8 Strength (Rowing!) check is going to go a lot further than a 22 Arcana check. Just because I've said you can roll "any skill" doesn't mean that they all apply equally. I just trust you all to be able to come up with creative checks that apply to "escape by boat" without telling you that you all have to roll strength.

That said, if NO ONE rows, I might have a hard time justifying you escaping. For example, you currently have four goblins rowing, and a hobgoblin not-really-beating the beat. And an old man on the tiller. The boat chasing you has a mixture of goblins and hobgoblins rowing (on 8 oars) and a disciplined hobgoblin calling time and steering. They absolutely WILL catch you, as the scenario stands. That's okay, though, there's a few more tricks you can try...

(Also, someone could help row.)