| StepYourMind |
So we've started a new story. Their characters recently hit level 2. They're confined to a tiny mountain village where they know all the NPCs, so there could be some social interactions/drama playing out. I made them pick professions so that they actually live in and are a part of the village. They pay taxes and everything. I try to make their environment feel "alive".
Now I'm trying to throw more non-combat stuff at them. They love the "Chases" as described in the GMG (and I love making them!), and I'm going to incorporate Haunts and Hazards into my dungeon crawls, and I'm using a lot more environmental challenges in general.
Inspired by the Pathfinder: Kingmaker videogame I've mapped out the valley and drawn paths from the starting village and indicated which paths have skill checks. I.e. one path they often take requires them to climb a 20ft. cliff, and they're now considering hammering pitons into that cliff so they can climb it easier in the future. Later on, they might use Craft skills, hire masons or use magic like Stone Shape to make a stairway to avoid having to do skill checks altogether.
Without giving too much away, the main storyline is going to involve a lot of planar stuff. Outsiders and extraplanar influences are getting into the valley, players are going to do some plane traveling. For reasons they still have to discover, their idyllic green valley is becoming the epicenter of some major multiplanar activity, and if they want to avoid their village getting torn apart in the process, they're going to have to influence the process.
I'm looking for some inspiration on a few things:
* Does anyone have cool ideas on how to incorporate skill checks into Boss Battles, or even replace Boss Battles with skill challenges altogether? I was thinking something like having a Super-Chase with multiple paths and players have to unlock certain points on one path to allow other to progress on another path etc. Or multi-level complex Haunts. Does anyone have experience with this? How do I add suspense to skill checks?
* I really enjoy the Dynamic Magic Item Creation rules in Pathfinder Unchained, as a sort of collaborative skill checks with multiple possible outcomes. Does anyone have ideas on how this could be extended into other aspects of playing the game?
* Incorporating portals: I want to do weird extraplanar stuff, and take weird all the way to the next level. Has anyone used portals in a way that totally flabbergasted their players and really pushed them to find creative solutions?
I try to keep things close to the core rules, but I'm very much okay with house ruling stuff if it makes play more simple/quick or more interesting.
| SorrySleeping |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvOeqDpkBm8
Skill challenges from 4e. Amazing and my players love them.
| Lady Asharah |
I second the 4e skill challenges idea. They were one of the best parts of that edition. You have to be careful with how you handle them though.
I like to make players roll initiative for skill challenges so that they have a certain order of action going on and the player whose initiative it is decides which one of their skills would serve best towards the presented scenario. It is fully player's agency to explain how their Survival skill is going to help them find the secret door that the previous player found a key for.
As for portals. I always liked how Planescape handles them. Basically anything can be a portal. If it is an enclosed space, it can be a portal. It's merely the matter of finding the right key to each one.
Climbing to a window? No problem. Climbing through a window with a lit candle? Now you're on Mount Celestia. Since you mentioned major multiplanar activity, having strangers appear seemingly out of nowhere and appearing as confused how they got there as anyone else might be a good start.
| StepYourMind |
I love the skill challenges! They remind me of the Chase system from the GMG, but more narrative-driven and I like that the party has successes and failures as a group rather than individually. Great suggestion and video, thanks!
As for portals, I was definitely thinking along the lines of Planescape, with weird keys and hidden portals everywhere. Having the party meet a really confused extraplanar stranger who just stumbled through an invisible portal does sound like a good introduction! Maybe the players have to help them get back to their original plane by trying to find out what they were doing at the moment they stumbled through. Then they can try to recreate the situation to open the portal again.
Thanks for the inspiration :)