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<blockquote data-quote="Radiating Gnome" data-source="post: 5966642" data-attributes="member: 150">I think this is great -- I'd love to see a rules module that included descriptions of different structures for challenges along these lines, with examples, etc. For me, where I think this gets most interesting, is to explore the way different structures could be used to model the same basic scene.&nbsp; And this is where we get down to taste, flavor, and execution.&nbsp; Take, for example, something as 'simple' as a house fire.&nbsp; The PCs need to complete a challenge to try to save the house from complete destruction.&nbsp; There are a huge variety of options available.&nbsp; 1. Just run it as a simple challenge, maybe 6 successe/3 failures.&nbsp; Maybe each failure destroys a room and the players lose access to a resource or some loot. 2. Run it as a tug of war -- maybe the PCs need to keep the fire from reaching a specific room -- the library, perhaps.&nbsp; The fire makes it's own rolls to try to advance against the PCs efforts to control it.&nbsp; 3. Or a race -- the PCs need to put out the house fire before a cultist completes the ritual to summon the fire demon.4. Or treat the fire as an opponent -- go all backdraft on the thing, and make the fire a sort of living thing all on it's own, either reactive or oblivious to the PCs.&nbsp; and so on.&nbsp; Each variation is a different story told with the same basic ingredients -- a skill challenge about dealing with a house fire. Each has a different flavor, different intent, will mean different things in the game. This is why I really want to keep the idea of exceptions-based design at the forefront of any discussion of good challenge design.&nbsp; I think it's important to avoid the temptation to say &quot;these types of challenges should be modeled with this sort of mechanic&quot; or &quot;you have this finite set of options.&quot;I'd love to see a discussion thread about designing challenges -- what was the scene, what goals did the DM have, what choices did he make for the challenge, and how did it play out when the players sank their teeth into it? Mearls had a series of articles on DDI back in the day that were along those lines, but I think we need a lot more of it.&nbsp; -rg</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Radiating Gnome, post: 5966642, member: 150"] I think this is great -- I'd love to see a rules module that included descriptions of different structures for challenges along these lines, with examples, etc. For me, where I think this gets most interesting, is to explore the way different structures could be used to model the same basic scene. And this is where we get down to taste, flavor, and execution. Take, for example, something as 'simple' as a house fire. The PCs need to complete a challenge to try to save the house from complete destruction. There are a huge variety of options available. 1. Just run it as a simple challenge, maybe 6 successe/3 failures. Maybe each failure destroys a room and the players lose access to a resource or some loot. 2. Run it as a tug of war -- maybe the PCs need to keep the fire from reaching a specific room -- the library, perhaps. The fire makes it's own rolls to try to advance against the PCs efforts to control it. 3. Or a race -- the PCs need to put out the house fire before a cultist completes the ritual to summon the fire demon. 4. Or treat the fire as an opponent -- go all backdraft on the thing, and make the fire a sort of living thing all on it's own, either reactive or oblivious to the PCs. and so on. Each variation is a different story told with the same basic ingredients -- a skill challenge about dealing with a house fire. Each has a different flavor, different intent, will mean different things in the game. This is why I really want to keep the idea of exceptions-based design at the forefront of any discussion of good challenge design. I think it's important to avoid the temptation to say "these types of challenges should be modeled with this sort of mechanic" or "you have this finite set of options." I'd love to see a discussion thread about designing challenges -- what was the scene, what goals did the DM have, what choices did he make for the challenge, and how did it play out when the players sank their teeth into it? Mearls had a series of articles on DDI back in the day that were along those lines, but I think we need a lot more of it. -rg [/QUOTE]

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