Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5386980" data-attributes="member: 40177">Hussar, I generally agree with your point of view - there is no shame in announcing a skill challenge, and using this to tip off the players as to what's going on.&nbsp; Generally, everyone is fine with knowing in a metagame sense that they are in a challenge.That being said, our general favourite ones have been &quot;invisible&quot; challenges that the players didn't even know about until after the fact.&nbsp; At the time, they felt like the checks they were making were just logical extensions of the scene itself.&nbsp; A disclaimer - I do use Stalker0's Obsidian System (as mentioned upthread), so we don't do any &quot;by the book&quot; challenges whatsoever.&nbsp; And I generally play with the framework of skill challenges rather heavily - I am apt to give out auto successes or failures based on PC actions (I gave out one of each last session).So, two of our &quot;invisible&quot; skill challenges:First was during a combat scene.&nbsp; The PCs were on a rail cart as it was speeding out of a mine, while being chased by a bajillion spiders and drow abominations.&nbsp; So, there's a combat going on, but the same time, the PCs have to steer this cart, avoid obstacles, and slow it down.&nbsp; While I don't remember all the mechanics of it all, I do remember rogues trying to manipulate the cart's controls while dangling over the edge, the bard being dragged underneath the cart and banging against the tracks, and the minotaur jumping in front of the thing to slow it down.&nbsp; All while a fight was going on.No one ever thought &quot;we need to get x more successes&quot;.&nbsp; Instead, it was &quot;we need to stop this damned thing.&quot;The second &quot;invisible&quot; challenge was during an information gathering campaign in the city.&nbsp; While the PCs were splitting up getting info, I had them make skill checks and would supply minor clues along the way.&nbsp; Failures led to no information or false leads. And during their investigation, there were combats, bar fights, intimidating threats, and revolutionaries.&nbsp; The players felt like they were just taking relevant actions to achieve their goals, while in reality I was tabulating successes and failures to see what information they'd get.&nbsp; The challenge took about three days of game time, and around three days of session time.&nbsp; And the players never realized they were in one, until they got the XP for it.&nbsp; My thoughts on it?&nbsp; If the challenge exists by itself, as in, it's a scene on its lonesome, the GM is best to announce &quot;this is a challenge&quot; to focus the players and keep the suspense building.&nbsp; But if the GM is using the mechanics of a challenge to layer on top of a combat encounter or an extended set of encounters, you are best off keeping the challenge invisible.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5386980, member: 40177"] Hussar, I generally agree with your point of view - there is no shame in announcing a skill challenge, and using this to tip off the players as to what's going on. Generally, everyone is fine with knowing in a metagame sense that they are in a challenge. That being said, our general favourite ones have been "invisible" challenges that the players didn't even know about until after the fact. At the time, they felt like the checks they were making were just logical extensions of the scene itself. A disclaimer - I do use Stalker0's Obsidian System (as mentioned upthread), so we don't do any "by the book" challenges whatsoever. And I generally play with the framework of skill challenges rather heavily - I am apt to give out auto successes or failures based on PC actions (I gave out one of each last session). So, two of our "invisible" skill challenges: First was during a combat scene. The PCs were on a rail cart as it was speeding out of a mine, while being chased by a bajillion spiders and drow abominations. So, there's a combat going on, but the same time, the PCs have to steer this cart, avoid obstacles, and slow it down. While I don't remember all the mechanics of it all, I do remember rogues trying to manipulate the cart's controls while dangling over the edge, the bard being dragged underneath the cart and banging against the tracks, and the minotaur jumping in front of the thing to slow it down. All while a fight was going on. No one ever thought "we need to get x more successes". Instead, it was "we need to stop this damned thing." The second "invisible" challenge was during an information gathering campaign in the city. While the PCs were splitting up getting info, I had them make skill checks and would supply minor clues along the way. Failures led to no information or false leads. And during their investigation, there were combats, bar fights, intimidating threats, and revolutionaries. The players felt like they were just taking relevant actions to achieve their goals, while in reality I was tabulating successes and failures to see what information they'd get. The challenge took about three days of game time, and around three days of session time. And the players never realized they were in one, until they got the XP for it. My thoughts on it? If the challenge exists by itself, as in, it's a scene on its lonesome, the GM is best to announce "this is a challenge" to focus the players and keep the suspense building. But if the GM is using the mechanics of a challenge to layer on top of a combat encounter or an extended set of encounters, you are best off keeping the challenge invisible. [/QUOTE]

Verification