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Skill Challenges
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5662034" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>Okay, cool. I think most of that is descriptive detailing as you go. Be careful with one thing: although a certain amount of "going around in circles" is a good thing, too much will lead to player frustration which is, of course, a bad thing.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Fair enough. I like the use of Insight here.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I would be inclined to not lock this down ahead of time, and see what they come up with. If they come up with something really clever, probably best to allow it to count as a success!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's pretty cool.</p><p></p><p>A similar suggestion: after the first turn, I would make a point of describing the rotted corpse of a previous adventurer, now thoroughly looted. Make a point of noting how he died (tie this in to the monsters they're going to meet next).</p><p></p><p>After the second failure, then, describe how they turn the corner, and find the rotted corpse of a previous adventurer, now thoroughly looted. Make a point of noting that he died in <em>exactly</em> the same way as the previous corpse, and that there's a reason for that...</p><p></p><p>That way, not only do the characters get a sense of going in circles (because you've told them that), but the <em>players</em> also get a sense of going around in circles.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yep, fair enough. Alternately, call for this after the first failure, as despair starts to set in...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Fair enough.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>For Challenges of this type, I'm generally inclined not to do that "X successes before Y failures" thing. Instead, have them count up to "X successes" in the same way, but don't put a cap on the number of failures. Instead, have the cost of success depend on the number of failures.</p><p></p><p>For example, if they get X successes with 0 failures, they take the opposition by surprise in the next encounter. If they have 1 failure, they don't get surprise, but are otherwise fine. For 2 failures, they lose a healing surge. At 3 successes, the enemy surprise them. And so on...</p><p></p><p>The effect is much the same (they get out anyway), but for Challenges of this type I've always found the "before 3 failures" bit to be really artificial and to hurt versimilitude.</p><p></p><p>Plus, that way you can make "X successes" really large, requiring 10 or 12 successes or something equally large.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's well on the way. I think I would also add two more possible complications:</p><p></p><p><em>If the party have a really good turn</em> (gaining 3 or more successes in one hour), have them stumble on a hidden cache of treasure abandoned in the maze. Give them a bonus treasure parcel at this time.</p><p></p><p><em>If the party have a really bad turn</em> (suffering 2 or more failures in one hour), have them run into 'wandering' monsters, facing them off against a fairly easy group of opponents. Primarily, this should serve to break up the tension, especially at a point when the players may be getting frustrated. (I wouldn't give out any treasure for this encounter... and perhaps not even any XP, since it's a 'punishment' for doing poorly in the Skill Challenge. What I would do though, if any player thinks to ask, is allow them to interrogate a captured enemy after the fight, and so add Intimidate to the list of Key Skills.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 5662034, member: 22424"] Okay, cool. I think most of that is descriptive detailing as you go. Be careful with one thing: although a certain amount of "going around in circles" is a good thing, too much will lead to player frustration which is, of course, a bad thing. Fair enough. I like the use of Insight here. I would be inclined to not lock this down ahead of time, and see what they come up with. If they come up with something really clever, probably best to allow it to count as a success! That's pretty cool. A similar suggestion: after the first turn, I would make a point of describing the rotted corpse of a previous adventurer, now thoroughly looted. Make a point of noting how he died (tie this in to the monsters they're going to meet next). After the second failure, then, describe how they turn the corner, and find the rotted corpse of a previous adventurer, now thoroughly looted. Make a point of noting that he died in [i]exactly[/i] the same way as the previous corpse, and that there's a reason for that... That way, not only do the characters get a sense of going in circles (because you've told them that), but the [i]players[/i] also get a sense of going around in circles. Yep, fair enough. Alternately, call for this after the first failure, as despair starts to set in... Fair enough. For Challenges of this type, I'm generally inclined not to do that "X successes before Y failures" thing. Instead, have them count up to "X successes" in the same way, but don't put a cap on the number of failures. Instead, have the cost of success depend on the number of failures. For example, if they get X successes with 0 failures, they take the opposition by surprise in the next encounter. If they have 1 failure, they don't get surprise, but are otherwise fine. For 2 failures, they lose a healing surge. At 3 successes, the enemy surprise them. And so on... The effect is much the same (they get out anyway), but for Challenges of this type I've always found the "before 3 failures" bit to be really artificial and to hurt versimilitude. Plus, that way you can make "X successes" really large, requiring 10 or 12 successes or something equally large. It's well on the way. I think I would also add two more possible complications: [i]If the party have a really good turn[/i] (gaining 3 or more successes in one hour), have them stumble on a hidden cache of treasure abandoned in the maze. Give them a bonus treasure parcel at this time. [i]If the party have a really bad turn[/i] (suffering 2 or more failures in one hour), have them run into 'wandering' monsters, facing them off against a fairly easy group of opponents. Primarily, this should serve to break up the tension, especially at a point when the players may be getting frustrated. (I wouldn't give out any treasure for this encounter... and perhaps not even any XP, since it's a 'punishment' for doing poorly in the Skill Challenge. What I would do though, if any player thinks to ask, is allow them to interrogate a captured enemy after the fight, and so add Intimidate to the list of Key Skills.) [/QUOTE]
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