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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6178366" data-attributes="member: 42582">The answer to that question is - "What are you doing with Athletics? How is it helping you achieve your goal?" I gave an example upthread of how the situation might be developed by another PC so that Athletics became applicable to persuading the duke. (It's not just theorycraft, either -  more-or-less that thing happened in a skill challenge I ran.) Adding to what D'karr said: a module, in offering information for a combat encounter, typically will list some monter stats, set out some terrain, and perhaps make a few remarks about how the monsters might fight. But there is an expectation that a GM will fill in a lot of detail during play, such as "Which PC does monster X attack in round Z?" or "Is monster X going to stand still, or move away?"Information for a skill challenge in a module is a bit like that - it is some basic advice on the starting situation, the range of likely end points, and the sorts of technqiues the players might use to get from A to B (or B' or B'' or . . .). But the GM has to actually make the situation come alive during play and resolution.That said, I think that Robin Laws, in his sample adventures in the HeroWars Narrator's Book, does a better job of setting out skill-challenge-style encounters and making it clear to the GM that what is suggested is a tentative template for how things might unfold, and offering the GM a wider range of suggestions on the directions in which the resolution might head, and how the GM might handle that.As far as DCs, they shouldn't depend very much on the "narrative state" - they are taken from the DCs by level chart, and default to Medium. What the narrative does is open up or close of opportunities to make meaningful use of skills.In my own case, skill challenges as a mechanic add a lot. They impose finality, and also provide a structure for the resolution that obliges me to keep the scene alive (if more rolls have to be made) or to bring it to a close (if they don't), thereby ensuring that interesting complications and opportunities are narrated. I've had outcomes in skill challenges - compromises, changes of mind, etc, by both PCs and NPCs - that I wouldn't have achieved under GM fiat resolution.</blockquote>

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