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Skill challenges: action resolution that centres the fiction
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8739048" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>See, I would extrapolate: Now, taken at its most basic face value 4e generally is pretty easy to construe as a fairly classic DM-centered D&D-style RPG with many classic traits (albeit not entirely). OTOH many of us who still discuss 4e have interpreted it in a much more narrativist and even Story Now kind of way. Whether or not this was an intended interpretation, one that was simply not made entirely explicit, or if it is a revisionist reading is obviously debatable. However it is a fact that 4e can be played in this sort of fashion. When you play this way, the closed scene framing kind of mechanism that SCs implement is pretty darn useful and appropriate. In fact one of its primary uses is when the PLAYERS invoke those mechanics! Now, 4e process of play doesn't really provide a super explicit mechanism for this, like there's no place in the rules that says "players can decide they are now entering into a skill challenge in order to achieve their stated goal." OTOH players DO get to declare quests, and it makes sense that the goal of an SC is likely to be something along the lines of "accomplish Quest X". Certainly the players are ALWAYS in charge of what their goals actually are, so it seems likely, given the many admonitions that fill the 4e DMGs about GMs 'saying yes', 'skipping to the action' (presumably the action the players want to get to). </p><p></p><p>So, imagine, one of the players says "we need the favor of Pelor, I will determine where the nearest ancient temple of Pelor is located, go there, and reconsecrate it!" This is a quest, no ifs, ands, or buts about it! While the DMG is a bit traditionalist and throws the GM a bone when it says he can (and should) 'approve' the quest, its pretty basically a player-side thing at this point. The player sends his Paladin to the archives of the local town temple and declares "I am going to find the location of the ancient temple which once stood atop the nearby plateau!" Now the GM COULD technically just string together skill checks, the advantage of an SC at this point is pretty obvious. It puts a scope on the whole enterprise and provides the formal structure of an encounter on it. So we can now formulate a pretty good adventure. Encounter 1 is an SC, Find the Temple! It starts in the archive and climbs up into the wilderness of the plateau above town and reaches its success when the PCs arrive at their destination. Further adventure can be prepped by the GM on the theory that the PCs will enter and try to clear the place out, etc. Or it might go other ways, but regardless, a general map of a temple complex and some inhabitants are probably a solid investment at this point. </p><p></p><p>That's kind of how I generally see 4e going, though you can definitely go even more hard core narrativist and let the players tell you what they're going to find there, or imagine finding there, etc. Naturally the SC, and maybe subsequent ones, will throw up plenty of "Oops, that's not what we hoped to find!" etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8739048, member: 82106"] See, I would extrapolate: Now, taken at its most basic face value 4e generally is pretty easy to construe as a fairly classic DM-centered D&D-style RPG with many classic traits (albeit not entirely). OTOH many of us who still discuss 4e have interpreted it in a much more narrativist and even Story Now kind of way. Whether or not this was an intended interpretation, one that was simply not made entirely explicit, or if it is a revisionist reading is obviously debatable. However it is a fact that 4e can be played in this sort of fashion. When you play this way, the closed scene framing kind of mechanism that SCs implement is pretty darn useful and appropriate. In fact one of its primary uses is when the PLAYERS invoke those mechanics! Now, 4e process of play doesn't really provide a super explicit mechanism for this, like there's no place in the rules that says "players can decide they are now entering into a skill challenge in order to achieve their stated goal." OTOH players DO get to declare quests, and it makes sense that the goal of an SC is likely to be something along the lines of "accomplish Quest X". Certainly the players are ALWAYS in charge of what their goals actually are, so it seems likely, given the many admonitions that fill the 4e DMGs about GMs 'saying yes', 'skipping to the action' (presumably the action the players want to get to). So, imagine, one of the players says "we need the favor of Pelor, I will determine where the nearest ancient temple of Pelor is located, go there, and reconsecrate it!" This is a quest, no ifs, ands, or buts about it! While the DMG is a bit traditionalist and throws the GM a bone when it says he can (and should) 'approve' the quest, its pretty basically a player-side thing at this point. The player sends his Paladin to the archives of the local town temple and declares "I am going to find the location of the ancient temple which once stood atop the nearby plateau!" Now the GM COULD technically just string together skill checks, the advantage of an SC at this point is pretty obvious. It puts a scope on the whole enterprise and provides the formal structure of an encounter on it. So we can now formulate a pretty good adventure. Encounter 1 is an SC, Find the Temple! It starts in the archive and climbs up into the wilderness of the plateau above town and reaches its success when the PCs arrive at their destination. Further adventure can be prepped by the GM on the theory that the PCs will enter and try to clear the place out, etc. Or it might go other ways, but regardless, a general map of a temple complex and some inhabitants are probably a solid investment at this point. That's kind of how I generally see 4e going, though you can definitely go even more hard core narrativist and let the players tell you what they're going to find there, or imagine finding there, etc. Naturally the SC, and maybe subsequent ones, will throw up plenty of "Oops, that's not what we hoped to find!" etc. [/QUOTE]
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