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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tymophil" data-source="post: 5382670" data-attributes="member: 46923">It seems quite a good guideline. I'll keep that one in mind.Here is what I have in mind : 1. The PCs receive a summoning from the King. The idea is that players can ignore the skill challenge and simply ask “What's next ?” Or they can say “What do I know about the King ?”, “Do I know of someone that went to the palace ?”, “How one should behave in front of the King ?”, “Who's this Garlon that signed the letter ?”, etc. The latter attitude/action/questions trigger skill checks. The skill checks are arranged in a simple skill challenge for the DM to “frame” the scene : control the outcome, and maybe, limit the duration of this part. Then, as a skill challenge can produce several outcomes (one for a success, one for a failure), I wanted to take advantage of this feature to have the players choices and PC skills impact the next scenes. For this one... Success +1 for all subsequent interaction skills involving the King or its administration. Failure : -1 on such tests. 2. They are taken to the court by Royal Guards Once again, the players can simply wait for the following scene or interact with the Royal Guards to roleplay and/or learn more about the King Court, politics, etc. This scene is a single encounter with the first scene. If the PC don”'t want to interact, then it's not even an encounter... Once again the scene is a simple skill challenge. The success triggers another +1 when interacting with the Royal Guards and their boss : Garlon. A failure triggers a -1 for the same interactions. Those results are cumulative and so, can nullify each other. Those two first scenes could form a single encounter or no encounter at all, depending on the mood of the players. 3. They take a boat to get to the capital city of the kingdom (set on an island). The players can choose to interact with the captain and the sailors. In fact, I planned some interactions, and it would be difficult for the players not to interact. For example, one sailor will challenge one PC on a race on the stays. Another will try to play dice. Etc. If the PC succeeded in the previous challenges, the Royal Guards will be on their side. If the challenges were failures, they will side the sailors. If they did not interact, then the Guards will be indifferent. Success : +1 in subsequent tests with the Royal Navy/Army members (can also negate a previous malus). Failure : -1 for such tests. This scene IS an encounter. 4. They meet Garlon and another VIP and have to solve a puzzle They have to interact with those two characters, and will with all the bonus/malus they garnered so far. Their main goal is to solve a puzzle, but they can use the knowledge of the two NPC to get some help. The successes/failures of previous challenges impact on the attitude of Garlon toward the PC (the tone could be friendly or sarcastic). This scene IS an encounter. 5. The PC are sent on a mission only them can accomplish... They have to take the boat once again and can choose a Royal Navy one or a Merchant ship. They get an escort of a few Royal Guards. Unfortunately the boat will sink and  most guards will die... Unless the PCs take action to help them. The PCs could also receive special help from the sailors if the scene 3 Skill Challenge was a success. If the players did interact with Guards and sailors in the previous scenes/encounters this would set a very different mood to this scene. But I don't want to force the players to interact if they don't want to.  So, as you can see, I think the Skill Challenge structure is an opportunity to strengthen the scenario. But, I need to have the Skill Challenges go “invisible” to keep the whole thing interesting for players.</blockquote>

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