Skill Challenges

The question of roleplaying comes up often in those horrid edition wars, often under the assumption that there is no roleplaying in 4E. This is, of course a fallacy, one usually offered by the guy who is so against 4E that he hasn't even tried to play it. However, Skill Challenges appear to make this statement true. An organized method of using one's skills to overcome some obstacle would seem to imply that you just roll dice and move on to the next encounter. My friends, this couldn't be any further from the truth.

Running a successful Skill Challenge (SC) is a lot more involved than just rolling some dice. I mean, who wants to do that? Just sit, and roll, mechanical-like... Yeah, no-one. Of course, first and foremost it is the DM's duty to make sure that this isn't what the SC becomes. The first thing you do when you're about to spring an SC on your PC's is don't tell them they're about to begin an SC! The best way to begin an SC to let it evolve.

When an SC is about to begin, give the PC's an idea or reminder of their surroundings, and if they seem confused remind of what they had been planning to do. Example: DM - "...So, you're left in cramped townsquare with eight other individuals; witnesses perhaps. That assassin was after you but why? Maybe somebody saw where he came from..." It's even better if a player utters that last sentence.

You as DM know what skills the player needs to accomplish successes. To promote roleplaying, don't tell the PC's what skills they should use to get past this; ask them what they want to do. If any of them say something like, "I want to make an Insight check," you have permission to physically beat the player until he learns right! No, no you don't, please, do not do that. If one does say that, ask them what they want to accomplish by doing it, and how does the character go about performing the action. With Insight, I would think that some degree of interaction would be needed beforehand in most situations. You're not going to know if someone is being dishonest if you don't talk to them, nor would you be able to put the pieces together about clues you've found, determining how they link together per say. Using Insight in these ways requires other things, generally Diplomacy or Perception as per the two previous examples. Of course, you don't want the player saying, "I want to use Diplomacy," or, "I want to use Athletics," either! "I'm going to ask the old man about the dagger," is a good start, but, "Sir, what can you tell me about this dagger," is a better one.

On the other hand, telling them what skills are most useful might be alright because then it forces players to think of ways to use a skill. Just don't let them keep using it the same way every time, that's just as bad as just rolling the dice. Keep the players engaged and thinking like their characters, not like some guys staring at a sheet of numbers. Perhaps doing something your PC isn't good at is the best option. Or maybe you can come up with ways to use the skills your PC is good with in ways that they were not originally designed for.

Next time on 1d4+5...
I'll probably have to elaborate more on this topic, but at the moment I'm leaving you with the above. You should be able to smoothly start your next SC. Next time in this topic we'll discuss different ways to use those skills in an SC, and some creative ways of using them. Readers: feel free to offer up your ideas for creative skill use, either in comments or pm's! Later!