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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6975403" data-attributes="member: 97077">Simply put, a skill challenge is just a structure for resolving a complex fictional obstacle - something that is going to take a little time or special effort. It consists of stakes and a set number of challenges or complications. The easy way to set it up in D&D 5e is to just make a note of a set of fictional challenges you want to present to the PCs while they are trying to accomplish some goal. If they succeed in overcoming all of the challenges, they achieve their goal and gain some kind of boon. If they succeed in overcoming most, but not all, of the challenges, they simply achieve their goal. If they fail to overcome most of the challenges, they can either achieve their goal at a significant cost or fail to achieve their goal (but the tale continues).Let's say the goal is to get through the Duskwood and to town before the Storm Unending catches up to the party and imperils their journey with bad weather. The Duskwood is a forsaken forest abandoned by the fey centuries past. You might list the following complications or obstacles: Nearly Impassible Thickets, Unseelie Trickery, Supernatural Darkness, A Wide Lake, and Sleep-Inducing Mushroom Spores. (There are just off the top of my head.) As the PCs make their way by whatever way they describe through the Duskwood, you hit them with one of those complications, describe what it is, how it affects them achieving their goal, and ask "What do you do?" The PCs formulate a plan, put it into action, and you decide what, if any, ability checks are required to resolve it into a success or failure. Repeat for each complication as it comes up on the journey through the forest. When they've gotten through all four, evaluate the result based on the parameters above, and narrate the outcome of the skill challenge.That's basically all there is to it. You could get fancier with it and there's probably a way to balance out the math to make it more of a tactical thing, but I think the above method works just fine in D&D 5e and keeps prep to a minimum and the focus on the basic conversation of the game. You should probably think about how you want to frame the challenges, too, so as to make sure everyone has a chance in the spotlight. Sometimes that's just a matter of calling on people before asking, "What do you do?" and letting them take it from there.I wish I could point you to the many skills challenges and advice on the same that I had on the WotC forums, but alas, they are gone.</blockquote>

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