Comments on: Failure is an Option: When to Use Skill Challenges.

By: 1001 Bobs » The Fourth Week of March in the Year 2009

1001 Bobs » The Fourth Week of March in the Year 2009 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:18:10 +0000

[...] Paul Tevis talks about failure forward which was covered in one of the blogs from last week by At Will. I was also keenly interested in what the Gamer Traveler had to say about Kobe Japan. Daniel Perez [...]

By: Mais uma coletânea de Links | Rolando 20 - D&D 4ª edição

Mais uma coletânea de Links | Rolando 20 - D&D 4ª edição — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 10:16:24 +0000

[...] O fracasso é uma opção, mais uma bela matéria sobre desafios de perícias no At-Will; [...]

By: gamefiend

gamefiend — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:45:12 +0000

@daniel I definitely agree with that.

@kingworks It’s a lot like life, with dice! Another thing to note is that the higher the level you’re at, the more epic failures should be. When you raise the bar, you also raise the stakes.

By: 1001 Bobs » The Third Week of March in the Year 2009

1001 Bobs » The Third Week of March in the Year 2009 — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:35:38 +0000

[...] At-Will – Failure is an Option [...]

By: kingworks

kingworks — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:53:22 +0000

It’s like life, really: We don’t grow or mature unless we are tried and tested. If everything came easy, we’d never truly grow and, even worse, we’d have no idea of our limitations and weaknesses. The true test of a person’s (or hero, in this context) character is what they do after they’ve failed miserably.

Now you’ve got me looking for ways to make my PC’s fail!

By: Daniel M. Perez, The Gamer Traveler

Daniel M. Perez, The Gamer Traveler — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:35:07 +0000

The biggest thing I came out of that episode of HGWT in regards to Skill Challenges is that a SC is not about the PCs failing, but about how well they succeed. If they are going to “fail” a SC, the result should be a failure that drives the story forward anyway, so in essence is not a failure but a not-as-great-success. SCs should not stop play dead cold if they are failed, but rather offer different options as to how the PCs proceed based on the results.

By: gamefiend

gamefiend — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:16:36 +0000

Hey guys!

@daniel -will definitely give that a listen.

@kenneth -that sounds like a badass challenge. Would have loved to sit in on that one. Yeah failure can drive whole plotlines! the implications, they are profound. If we gave our poor players what they wanted when they wanted it, they wouldn’t want it. Failure generates need which generates desire which generates a damng good story. It’s the great narrative truth.

@chris -glad you liked! How are you dealing with the variance of skills in 3.5? Every time I’ve wrapped by pathetic little brain around that it popped. I’m curious as to what you’re doing with it. Has it been difficult thus far, or is the conversion easier than I’ve been making it out to be in my head?

By: Chris Cumming

Chris Cumming — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:21:10 +0000

Great article! I’ve put a lot of effort into converting a 3.5 adventure into a large skill challenge that when failed sets up difficult encounters and makes the final fight more difficult. I’ll need to rethink it to make sure that tension is obvious. I like the idea of not only making success worth something, but making failure worth avoiding without killing the plot.

By: Kenneth Newquist

Kenneth Newquist — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:36:13 +0000

I agree — failure in skill challenges can be a great story mechanic. I recently ran one for Star Wars in which our heroes found themselves emerging from hyperspace in the depths of a nebula filled with proto-stars and super-hot plasma streams.

The skill challenge involved them escaping from the nebula, and required everything from Pilot checks to evade stellar obstacles to Use Computer checks to plot a safe course through the nebula to Mechanics checks to reinforce buckling bulkheads.

They failed the skill challenge, at which point the Jedi Master traveling with them pulled off a Yoda-style use of the Force to hold the ship together long enough for them to escape. The end result? The ship is badly damaged and can’t be repaired outside of a spaceport.

It created a great backstory as our heroes finally limped into the frontier world they’d been trying to reach, and the ship’s crew started the repairs needed to make the ship spaceworthy again. The effects of the failure will come into play again when they return to civilized space and have to fend off a pirate attack (flying/fighting with a damaged ship applies some serious negative modifiers).

It also plays into the longer term storyline: half of the players are paid crew on this ship, but want a ship of their own. The skill challenge failure (and the damage to the ship) sets up a situation where the ship may become unsalvageable, and the crew decides to buy a ship of their own.

It’s amazing how many many story consequences you can glean from one failure.

By: Daniel M. Perez, The Gamer Traveler

Daniel M. Perez, The Gamer Traveler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:43:12 +0000

Check out Episode 37 of Have Games, Will Travel: For A Few Games More for more thoughts on failure and skill challenges. I know it made me get a better grasp of them.
http://havegameswilltravel.net/index.php?post_id=441265