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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Retreater" data-source="post: 5471407" data-attributes="member: 42040">In last night's session we had 2 skill challenges (though one of the skill challenges was presented in 3 stages, so it probably felt more like 4 skill challenges) as well as 4 combat encounters. The session started off with a short, almost comical skill challenge (we're playing Gamma World). Even though this wasn't our first skill challenge ever, everyone looked around, confused. No one suggested skills they could try; when I made suggestions, no one wanted to take the initiative and do anything. My wife wrote me a sign (literally) that said "I want to kill monsters. Where are they?" I took this as a hint to get the ball rolling quickly, and sped through that skill challenge. After about five minutes of narrative description (and pausing to get refills on snacks and beverages), the group was facing down a combat and having a blast. After that I started the staged skill challenge. The first was a roleplaying encounter. The group again didn't know what to do. To make matters worse (my fault), I made Interaction a primary skill - and none of the characters had Interaction [but cut me a break, some people brought in new characters that night]. The group did okay with it, but it seemed more subdued than the combat encounter. Since that skill challenge was successful, they bypassed a combat encounter and went on into the second stage of the skill challenge... Crossing difficult terrain. The group explained that (for different reasons) the terrain could be  crossed without skill checks. One character was immune to the radiation damage, another couldn't take damage from falling, another could climb on vertical surfaces, etc. It was obvious that the group didn't want to do this skill challenge, so I let their reasoning skills count as automatic successes. This led into another combat encounter, which they seemed to enjoy. They were trying all kinds of interesting manuevers, including jumping off balconies to squash opponents, pushing creatures off ledges, etc. They saved two NPCs and seemed to have a pretty good time RPing with them without the framework of a skill challenge (or any skill checks). Since they had no ranks in Interaction, I let the characters bribe them with treasure to count as successes to be able to enter their HQ for the evening (not to mention having just saved them from monsters). Once at the group HQ, the party volunteered for a side quest and ended up fighting a white dragon in a cyrogenics lab. The fight was fun, but over really quickly. (It's funny that 3rd level PCs in Gamma World can easily dish out 100 hp of damage in one round.)  The final leg of the skill challenge was over with two die rolls, and I sped through it. Another combat encounter and another roleplaying encounter (though no skill challenge) and some exploration throughout a village (though no skill challenge) and the session ended. Here's what I discovered from my last session, as far as my group is concerned. - The players think skill challenges are boring.- They prefer reasoning things out and roleplaying without the skill challenge framework.- If I include them, perhaps I should put them in a combat with a complexity 2 and make them entirely optional. - The consequences of a failed skill challenge (in the case of Gamma World, there's no point in taking away Healing Surges because they're infinte) are not usually severe enough to add any gravity to the encounter (such as granted a surprise round in a combat in the future) to warrant spending time on them. I still like the idea of skill challenges. I just think my group doesn't care for them. Therefore, I will limit how many (and what kinds) I run. Retreater</blockquote>

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