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<blockquote data-quote="Dungeoneer" data-source="post: 6259444" data-attributes="member: 91777">Well, first of all, don't over-think it. Often if you simply describe the problem to the player they will come up with an imaginative (and sometimes over-complicated) solution. All you have to do then is nod sagely, as if this is what you had envisioned all along, and tell them a DC to roll against.Secondly, use 'fail forward'. Fail forward is an idea that works great for RP situations. In the event of a bad roll, the player doesn't fail. They succeed... but there are complications. This may seem too easy on the players at first, but if you think about it it makes sense. Take the classic situation where a PC is trying to pick a lock. The player rolls too low to pick the lock. What next?Traditionally, you tell the player they failed to pick the lock, and they try again. Since they basically get as many tries as they want, the failure is meaningless. It simply stops the action while we wait for the player to succeed on their meaningless roll. In the fail-forward version of this scenario, when the player rolls low they get the door open (that would have happened eventually).. but there's a complication. Maybe their best lock-pick broke off in the lock. Maybe they raised such a racket that they've alerted somebody nearby. Who knows. But you have kept the action moving forward and now they have to deal with this new issue.If you really want some kind of structure for your non-combat roleplaying, take a look at Skill Challenges. Critical Hits has <a href="http://www.critical-hits.com/features/skill-challenges/" target="_blank">some great ideas</a> for running them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dungeoneer, post: 6259444, member: 91777"] Well, first of all, don't over-think it. Often if you simply describe the problem to the player they will come up with an imaginative (and sometimes over-complicated) solution. All you have to do then is nod sagely, as if this is what you had envisioned all along, and tell them a DC to roll against. Secondly, use 'fail forward'. Fail forward is an idea that works great for RP situations. In the event of a bad roll, the player doesn't fail. They succeed... but there are complications. This may seem too easy on the players at first, but if you think about it it makes sense. Take the classic situation where a PC is trying to pick a lock. The player rolls too low to pick the lock. What next? Traditionally, you tell the player they failed to pick the lock, and they try again. Since they basically get as many tries as they want, the failure is meaningless. It simply stops the action while we wait for the player to succeed on their meaningless roll. In the fail-forward version of this scenario, when the player rolls low they get the door open (that would have happened eventually).. but there's a complication. Maybe their best lock-pick broke off in the lock. Maybe they raised such a racket that they've alerted somebody nearby. Who knows. But you have kept the action moving forward and now they have to deal with this new issue. If you really want some kind of structure for your non-combat roleplaying, take a look at Skill Challenges. Critical Hits has [URL="http://www.critical-hits.com/features/skill-challenges/"]some great ideas[/URL] for running them. [/QUOTE]

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