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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5966326" data-attributes="member: 42582">Agreed.Agreed. And I think this and the point above are (or at least can be made to be) related. If you want a player to have his/her PC make a check or get involved, turn up the pressure on that PC. And once you've done that, the player will hopefully be engaging the situation rather than just looking for a big number (of course the player will look for ways to bring his/her big numbers to bear on the situation - but that's a natural consequence of giving players a range of resources at different degrees of capability).I like this sort of structure and have used it too. In one case, the challenge involved a ritual being undertaken by a demonic gnoll cultists. Two peasants were in the summoning circle, and I had determined in advance that on the second failure one peasant would die, and on the 3rd failure the other would, as the ritual came to its resolution.The players fought the combat very cautiously, ignoring the ritual as they worked their way piecemeal through the gnoll's frontline bodyguards. Then the first peasant died - and it was great to see the dramatic change in the players' attitude, and therefore the change in their PCs' behaviour, as they started taking steps to bring the ritual to an end and save that second peasant.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5966326, member: 42582"] Agreed. Agreed. And I think this and the point above are (or at least can be made to be) related. If you want a player to have his/her PC make a check or get involved, [I]turn up the pressure on that PC[/I]. And once you've done that, the player will hopefully be engaging the situation rather than just looking for a big number (of course the player will look for ways to bring his/her big numbers to bear on the situation - but that's a natural consequence of giving players a range of resources at different degrees of capability). I like this sort of structure and have used it too. In one case, the challenge involved a ritual being undertaken by a demonic gnoll cultists. Two peasants were in the summoning circle, and I had determined in advance that on the second failure one peasant would die, and on the 3rd failure the other would, as the ritual came to its resolution. The players fought the combat very cautiously, ignoring the ritual as they worked their way piecemeal through the gnoll's frontline bodyguards. Then the first peasant died - and it was great to see the dramatic change in the players' attitude, and therefore the change in their PCs' behaviour, as they started taking steps to bring the ritual to an end and save that second peasant. [/QUOTE]

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