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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7341489" data-attributes="member: 82106">What 'variables' are there here? There is no challenge which does not involve the PCs! This is bedrock fundamental in my method of play, and it is reflected in the mechanics of HoML, which literally has no mechanical system to handle things outside of the scope of the characters. Any such goings-on are either unrelated to the PCs and their concerns, in which case they are merely setting detail, color essentially; or they are things which DO bear upon the conflicts that the PCs are engaged in, in which case the players play them out. Since no PC is acting directly in a 'scene' between the Assassin and the King, there are no checks to be made at that point in the narrative. It is sufficient that the players have achieved execution of the mission to a sufficiently high level of success, the rest is already encompassed within that. When the characters execute their last actions in the process, the last check is cast and success (or failure) is achieved. The end results will then be narrated, probably by the GM. Perhaps the players will be treated to a dramatic vignette, or maybe they'll just get a message later on or a pounding at their door telling them the King's Men have arrived to bring them in. The DM tossing extra dice at the end of a challenge and giving the players no more input into it is IMHO pointless. The wager has been made, fate has already decreed the outcome based on the skill, luck, and willingness to wager the necessary stakes (or not). In my conception of D&D it isn't a process sim. Dice are not used to simulate some sort of 'world', they are used as they would be in any gamble of skill and chance, to introduce uncertainty and transform the exercise into one where the outcomes are not forgone conclusions, but have an element of tension. Now, perhaps a better story would include some way for the PCs to actually engage in the assassination itself? Yeah, maybe! Perhaps if they can scry and help the assassin, or if they actually do it themselves. Well, then that would be a different thing. Obviously the challenge would then extend beyond preparation, or it could be reframed into several challenges, etc. Again, this is all a matter of how central the element is to the story, is it climactic or is it merely one more link in a chain of plot elements leading to some greater climax? I tend to structure things so that the pacing slows in the highest stakes and most dramatic aspects of the adventure or story arc.</blockquote>

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