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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 5429210" data-attributes="member: 87792">Welcome to the 1980s and the Dragonlance Saga.&nbsp; Also to hexcrawling - seriously, the Isle of Dread may have been officially a sandbox, but because the damn place was so big and we weren't trying to civilise it or otherwise really alter it then the island itself was barely affected by players' choices.&nbsp; It was just discrete encounters.&nbsp; As was any 'non-living' dungeon, of which I've seen more than a few in all editions.&nbsp;It is and they do.&nbsp; The reason I love skill challenges is that to me they are a superb mechanic for evaluating Daft PC Plans ™ - very easy to whip up on the fly, provide an appropriate amount of difficulty for both the plan and individual actions, and indication for temporary reverses (and how much suspicion/how many mistakes PCs can attract before the house of cards comes down) and take a decent amount of time to resolve - long enough for the players to get their teeth into and short enough to keep the game's pace up.&nbsp;&nbsp;That certainly isn't how I use them.&nbsp; But then I use DMG advice rather than WoTC modules (and have been planning to write my own guidance for them).&nbsp; The published skill challenges as opposed to the skill challenge rules make me feel like I'm visiting a zoo; those animals belong out in the wild.&nbsp; What's written down in them is too nailed down for what is essentially an excellent improvised tool that fits in the gap between skill/ability check and session-consuming (or longer) quest.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 5429210, member: 87792"] Welcome to the 1980s and the Dragonlance Saga. Also to hexcrawling - seriously, the Isle of Dread may have been officially a sandbox, but because the damn place was so big and we weren't trying to civilise it or otherwise really alter it then the island itself was barely affected by players' choices. It was just discrete encounters. As was any 'non-living' dungeon, of which I've seen more than a few in all editions. It is and they do. The reason I love skill challenges is that to me they are a superb mechanic for evaluating Daft PC Plans ™ - very easy to whip up on the fly, provide an appropriate amount of difficulty for both the plan and individual actions, and indication for temporary reverses (and how much suspicion/how many mistakes PCs can attract before the house of cards comes down) and take a decent amount of time to resolve - long enough for the players to get their teeth into and short enough to keep the game's pace up. That certainly isn't how I use them. But then I use DMG advice rather than WoTC modules (and have been planning to write my own guidance for them). The published skill challenges as opposed to the skill challenge rules make me feel like I'm visiting a zoo; those animals belong out in the wild. What's written down in them is too nailed down for what is essentially an excellent improvised tool that fits in the gap between skill/ability check and session-consuming (or longer) quest. [/QUOTE]

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