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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 5468839" data-attributes="member: 1210">Fair enough. It sounds like a difference in tastes. However, there is- I think- an issue of missing context here. I am starting to realize, based on some of your later posts, that I haven't been clear about something. The skill challenge here goes along with other stuff. There are random encounters, as well as planned encounters, that occur as the pcs move through the swamp. They are parallel to and at the same time as the skill challenge, but not included in the skill challenge itself. So when you say:...you are missing that context. Which is my fault, because I didn't think to mention it- because it isn't part of skill challenge itself. Within the swamp there was indeed a crazy swamp hermit trading with bullywugs and lizardfolk, all of whom had been intimidated by the yuan-ti.  He wasn't part of the skill challenge, per se, but if the pcs made a good Diplomacy check and paid him 20 gp/day they could gain his aid and get an automatic success each day. There was Yngmar of the Willow, a fey spirit within a willow tree who had been hurt by the blood and venom the yuan-ti brought and, while not part of the skill challenge per se, could get the swamp to aid them, reducing random encounters and giving a bonus to skill checks. There were the aforementioned lizardfolk and bullywugs, who were potential allies against the yuan-ti (and again, creative pcs could have gotten their aid in the SC). There were other, more strictly combat encounters possible too- giant wasps, ghouls, water moccasins and other snakes (a preview of what they might find at the ziggurat), shambling mounds, etc.But see, those aren't part of the skill challenge, so I didn't mention them in that. The "find the island" skill challenge is more straightforward, not taking days to attempt and including the ghouls as a complication within the framework of the challenge itself.Again, though, I get that our tastes differ and there is nothing wrong with that. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I am fortunate to have a group that generally enjoys the rp aspect of the game approximately as much as I do, so yeah, generally they do in my group. Obviously, that's one of the things that makes a good skill challenge stand out- it flows as part of the game's narrative, if you will, rather than standing out as an exercise in dice rolling. If it's feeling clunky, we'll accelerate through it.Right- the badassitude of the swamp is one of the things I wanted to capture in that SC. Back in the 3.5 days, my group's halfling campaign had a near-tpk while wandering around in the jungle after a bunch of them got blinding sickness, and the whole jungle adventure was exceptionally memorable. If the party goes into a harsh, difficult environment, I like to make it actually harsh and difficult.And I know a lot of groups don't track food and water and arrows and stuff, finding it boring and unfun, but I like it. It doesn't come up much, but when it does, it can be a major factor. "Oh crap," the ranger says, "I'm down to 10 arrows and we're 10 days from home!" To which the paladin says, "Worse than that, we're down to only 4 days rations!" And the dwarf replies, "Worse yet, we're out of ale!"</blockquote>

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