NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4170216" data-attributes="member: 5143">Sorry, that isn't my job.  My job is to run a fun game, not write down a map of a city with guard patrol numbers and times.When I run a game and the PCs enter a city, assuming I'm not running out of a published adventure or campaign setting, it is likely all I know about the city is its name and approximate size.  I might also know that somewhere within the city is an NPC the PCs are supposed to talk to and he is hanging out at an inn.If I anticipate that the PCs are likely to get into a fight in the inn and need to leave town quickly, I may go as far as stating up some guards for them to fight.  But more than likely, I'll have decided if they are going to escape or not in advance.  If they are going to escape, I just say "You have guards coming after you...what do you do?" and if they give me any answer whatsoever I'll let it succeed.The difference is that with the Skill Challenge mechanics, it allows me to reconceptualize this entire situation.  Instead of saying "Well, non-combat situations only give out XP optionally and I was going to let them get out of the city no matter what they did, so I'm certainly not giving out XP for that...so what's the point is rolling more than a single roll then moving onward?"  I am instead saying "Alright, if this is actually going to be a challenge I give XP out for then it needs to have a risk of failing.  However, failing doesn't necessarily mean not getting out of the city.  So, what is the consequence of failure?  How difficult should it be to succeed?  What is the benefit of succeeding?  What skills are useful in order to accomplish it?  And probably some more stuff as well."I never gave out XP for non-combat situations in 3e.  The guidelines for doing so were way too vague and abuseable.  Plus, it seemed like there wasn't any real risk involved.  If I wanted my plot to continue and you didn't succeed in the diplomacy check to get the vital clue...I was going to tell you any way or change the plot so there was another way for you to continue.However, I've been opened to the possibility of something as simple as "You are chasing enemies overland.  If you succeed in a skill challenge to catch them then they don't have time to prepare their defenses.  If you fail the skill challenge then they are prepared for you and have time to recall their scouts making the combat against them harder."</blockquote>

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