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Skill challenges: action resolution that centres the fiction
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8738917" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>But then 4e really should have your back here, as EVERY SINGLE skill has an associated action that is appropriate for use in combat or similar situations, or which would quite often come up in an SC and could quite easily produce an outsized impact. For instance, Intimidate lets you force the surrender of an opponent who's bloodied. Now, granted, you have to come up with some SC fiction that equates to bloodied, but I'd say if the bad guy has got no successes and the PCs are halfway to winning, why not? All of a sudden he capitulates! Now, that might not win the challenge outright, but it doesn't explicitly win a whole combat encounter outright either. It could very easily provide a bonus on later checks, or justify the use of a different set of skills though. Additionally 4e has Skill Powers, which you can get using a feat and swap for other utilities. These are often almost tailor made for use in SCs. There are also rituals and practices, which key off skills generally, and are of course quite useful, and again pretty much begging to be brought to bear in an SC.</p><p></p><p></p><p>4e skills are generally pretty explicit about what they do. They don't overlap much, since there are only 19 of them. This does mean that each one is a broad 'knack' or generalized area of talent, and could apply in a bunch of situations, but usually its pretty clear which one you would use. The descriptions are also pretty clear.</p><p></p><p>Huh? Read the actual DMG description of how an SC works... I mean, DMG1 really is rather lackluster in its presentation, but it says "You describe the environment, listen to the players’ responses, let them make their skill checks, and narrate the results." Its a pretty straightforward loop, the GM describes the situation, the player describes a skill they will apply and how it applies, dice are rolled, and the GM describes the 'results', which is a new situation which follows from the old one and the action. What you call "actually abandoning the framework" is literally the description of how the framework works! </p><p></p><p>Now, if you go look at DMG2, and admittedly you wouldn't be expected to have to do so in order to play, obviously, it talks about 'progression' and 'branching' as elements of SCs, meaning that the situation doesn't simply follow a linear path, nor even necessarily end at the same outcome simply because the result was success or failure, it could go in a variety of directions. Still, I was never very satisfied with even DMG2's write up in terms of sufficiently emphasizing the contingent and extemporaneous nature of most challenges. The write up in my own game, which is pretty close kin to 4e, IMHO introduces a better way to think about them, much more akin to the way things like BitD and Dungeon World describe their game play loops.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8738917, member: 82106"] But then 4e really should have your back here, as EVERY SINGLE skill has an associated action that is appropriate for use in combat or similar situations, or which would quite often come up in an SC and could quite easily produce an outsized impact. For instance, Intimidate lets you force the surrender of an opponent who's bloodied. Now, granted, you have to come up with some SC fiction that equates to bloodied, but I'd say if the bad guy has got no successes and the PCs are halfway to winning, why not? All of a sudden he capitulates! Now, that might not win the challenge outright, but it doesn't explicitly win a whole combat encounter outright either. It could very easily provide a bonus on later checks, or justify the use of a different set of skills though. Additionally 4e has Skill Powers, which you can get using a feat and swap for other utilities. These are often almost tailor made for use in SCs. There are also rituals and practices, which key off skills generally, and are of course quite useful, and again pretty much begging to be brought to bear in an SC. 4e skills are generally pretty explicit about what they do. They don't overlap much, since there are only 19 of them. This does mean that each one is a broad 'knack' or generalized area of talent, and could apply in a bunch of situations, but usually its pretty clear which one you would use. The descriptions are also pretty clear. Huh? Read the actual DMG description of how an SC works... I mean, DMG1 really is rather lackluster in its presentation, but it says "You describe the environment, listen to the players’ responses, let them make their skill checks, and narrate the results." Its a pretty straightforward loop, the GM describes the situation, the player describes a skill they will apply and how it applies, dice are rolled, and the GM describes the 'results', which is a new situation which follows from the old one and the action. What you call "actually abandoning the framework" is literally the description of how the framework works! Now, if you go look at DMG2, and admittedly you wouldn't be expected to have to do so in order to play, obviously, it talks about 'progression' and 'branching' as elements of SCs, meaning that the situation doesn't simply follow a linear path, nor even necessarily end at the same outcome simply because the result was success or failure, it could go in a variety of directions. Still, I was never very satisfied with even DMG2's write up in terms of sufficiently emphasizing the contingent and extemporaneous nature of most challenges. The write up in my own game, which is pretty close kin to 4e, IMHO introduces a better way to think about them, much more akin to the way things like BitD and Dungeon World describe their game play loops. [/QUOTE]
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