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hcp111
2012-05-20, 12:13 PM
Heyya today i was writing up the intro and first quest to a campaign i'm starting (The world will soon go up in the world building section as its getting to the point where i need help to make it huge!) and i decide that i was going to lead the players into the town and give them the illusion of free will until a little boy runs past and snatches a bag full of there cash... dun dun dun

And at this point i decided to switch up from the basic 8 wins before 3 loses but i wanted to change that so instead i make them take a fake Dex check to see if they catch the boy (this is fake because i don't want them catching the boy this early but i want them to feel like they could have) they then have to roll initiative...

So heres how it works the person with the highest initiative find themselves 4 squares (20ft) behind the boy and the others players find themselves consecutively behind him i then roll a d6 and consult this table
1. “Jump wall” athletics DC6 fail -2 win +1
2. “knock over fruit baskets” +3 vs. Reflex fail -1
3. “Improvise” Initiative DC 12 player gets to do an improvised action
4. “burst sprint” athletics DC10 win +1
5. “Short cut” Perception DC14 win +2 Fail -1
6. “jump obstacle” athletics DC6 fail -1 win +1

the plus 1's and minus 1's are all the players gaining or loosing ground on the boy. So i roll the die tell them which one of these things they all have to do (they all have to do the same one because there chasing the same person) and then i tell them who has gained or lost how much ground. if they don't catch the boy before ten of these rounds they loose him.

The thing is its quite simple and i want to make the dice chart at least for a d10 but i couldn't think of much more.

Later i'm going to do more interesting things with the rules like incorporate the two player puzzle master mind into my game as a arcane combination lock and give them on of those little wooden puzzle to complete and when they complete it i'm going to give them some great reward (a great reward because the ones i have are really hard. but id really like to know what ideas for doing this you guys have? how to vary from "roll this many high numbers before you roll this many low ones"

plus if your interested here is the whole quest that that skill challenge came from all of the monsters are my home-brews on my power2ool account. tell me what you think? i want the PC's to level up pretty quick at first and to have quite abit of money because the campaing is going to be about them fighting huge bosses from the deck of there floating ship. (things that would be silly at low level because they would have nothing to look forward to)

The game intro XP TOTAL SO FAR 1600 +

The great pit was has been around for near 200 years say the wise men. And with the earthquake or meteor or demon rising from the ground that caused this bottomless rupture in the earth’s service came the dawn of this new era. In this new era a war raged for 100 years as the infrastructure of the world was torn apart, evil and magic where scattered across the land and the laws of gravity where re written. Yet this war came to an end and order was restored to the world and with peace the eyes of the great warriors and the hearts of the brave adventurers all pointed toward the great pit as it was and still is a expansive space filled with uncharted islands and unnumbered opportunities for wealth fame and adventure.

You as adventurers find yourself traveling up the north road toward one of the many trade towns that have built up along the affectionately name ‘edge’ were merchant and other companies send out crews manning floating sail ships to discover and retrieve lost artifacts and to harvest the crystals used to make the levitation of the ships possible.

You are in a carriage pulled by one large horse and driven by a gruff looking dwarf. He doesn’t say much and only answers with yes or no. He has a long ornate green pipe which he has been smoking since he left off. He never seems to have re filled this pipe.

You are sitting in the back among a large array of good from the fantastic to the mundane the road is long and you are getting weary.

All of a sudden a crossbow bolt sprouts from his right temple and he dies with a morbidly comical grunt. A second later another arrow thuds into the wood two inched from Shahun’s (Leo) head. A burley man with a crude goblin Morningstar jumps out from behind a rock to the left of the carriage and you see a scrawny looking woman on top of a 6foot tall rock with a crossbow and a scrawny dog circling at the foot of the rock.

“Get them dear,” she scream as she looses another bolt strait towards Lados (James).

The first encounter begins…

250xp
1 highwayman
1 highway woman
1 minion dog
Reward: they are both carrying strange coins that would be normal if they didn’t both have them in a bag around there neck. You also find yourselves with a carriage and all the loot within.



Traveling along the road the players encounter a roadside shrine. A history religion check (DC 8) tells them that it is a shrine of Pelor and if they roll over 12 they also know that praying at this shrine supposedly will grant them safe travel and good fortune on there journey ahead. If they choose to prey the clerics in Worldend will know they are coming.

The players can then get to worldend uneventfully once they are there they can do anything they want but as they are going to do it… a young boy runs past one of them and snatches the moneybag (fake DC to see if player grabs boy but the player will always fail) all players then take an initiative check the results determine how far behind each player is (highest initiative 4 squares behindw and one less as it goes down) the players have to perform DC’s to get closer to the boy until they catch him

Encounter two “Catch That Boy!”

d6 check chart…

1. “Jump wall” athletics DC6 fail -2 win +1
2. “knock over fruit baskets” +3 vs. Reflex fail -1
3. “Improvise” Initiative DC 12 player gets to do an improvised action
4. “burst sprint” athletics DC10 win +1
5. “Short cut” Perception DC14 win +2 Fail -1
6. “jump obstacle” athletics DC6 fail -1 win +1

win xp 300
fail XP 150

If they haven’t caught him after 10 turns he gets away. And they find themselves standing with the sheriff of the town laughing at them saying something like: “ahh it’s the thieves guild, they are a damn pest!” And through convocation you find out that the thief’s guild has been plaguing the near by roads for a while and they sometimes come into the town they also always wear a funny pendant. The sheriff says he has been forced to put out a price for information or elimination of the guild. He says that the stable master knows more and that it would be good to talk to him if you wanted to know more.

He says pretty much the same thing if you catch the kid but after kicking him to the floor and telling one of the nearby guardsman to take him to the stocks. He also gives the players their money back.

They then speak to the stable master and he tells them that the HQ is reported to be somewhere north of some ruins to the west of the town. The ruins are in a glade in the centre of small woods. He may be reluctant and so they need to make a small skill challenge 4 wins before 2 fails in diplomacy history intimidate and so fourth. For 150xp

The players set off to the woods and the journey is un eventful but when they get to the wood there is a skill challenge

6 wins before 3 fails

-Nature DC10 every other check
-Athletics DC8 to climb a tree and look around if they fail they take 1d4 damage
-Nature DC10 every other check
-A large snake attacks it is a minion.
speed: 6
Attack: +4 vs. reflex
Hit: 1d4+2, the target is poisoned for 6 turns at 1d4 dam per turn. The poison can be treated with an anti venom taken form the snakes corps with nature DC14 and heal DC8.
50xp
-Nature DC10 every other check
- A branch falls +1 vs. reflex DAM 1d4
-Nature DC10 every other check
-History DC14 to recognise a historical carving in a tree that suggests the direction they need to go.
-Nature DC10 every other check

win xp 250
Fail xp 50 and they can try again the next day but will only get 50 more XP

When they get two the ruins it is a ruined watchtower in the tower there is a ruined arcane ballista that they may use against the Gryphon if they fix it with and arcane check DC16 they can also search a heap of barrels with perception DC15 and they will get one item from the random search list.

At the ruins they hear a screech and a shadow passes over them perception DC6 they see the griffon and the encounter starts if they don’t see it the gryphon has combat advantage for it first attack.

Win xp 650 + 25 for every action point someone earns.

Ater this they continue on doing another smaller skill check for 3 wins before 2 fails for 100 xp if they succeed two before one they come across another shrine of Pelor.

In there next extended rest thee hear a rustling they can investigate but nothing comes of it.

When they get there they think that they have come to the wrong place as it is just a cliff edge looking out into the pit and there is no obvious entrance they can search around DC10 they find a rock with strange symbols on that look familiar they remember that its like what’s on the coin DC14 and they see a cave entrance 30 foot below the cliff edge as well. They decide that the symbol looks magical arcane DC6 they activate it but the alarm is sounded and two guard rush out from a hidden staircase DC14 and they activate it without the alarm and a purple path emblazons itself in the ground towards the edge of the cliff as when they look over they see a translucent purple stairway going down to a cliff.

At the cave entrance there are two sleeping guard (if they haven’t already come up to stop them) if the guards aren’t there no one else will be alert and so the rest of the dungeon pans out the same. There is a door to the right and in the far center

The door on the right leads to a small barracks with four beds and some other misc bits they may take a masterwork dagger that’s on the table and three daily rations. There is also an orphan boy sleeping there if he wakes you can interrogate him or if he gets the masterwork dagger you will have to fight him to the death.

Glimbur
2012-05-20, 01:24 PM
I consider it poor form to offer the players a roll they have no chance of succeeding at.

Consider an interaction skill choice which gets help from bystanders.

Have you considered starting the players at a higher level, rather than rushing them through the low levels? Ask for a longer and more impressive background, encourage them to have met before... if you're lucky they will come up with hooks you can shamelessly use.

Legend (http://www.ruleofcool.com/get-the-game/) has some ideas for skill challenges. Check them out.

Midwoka
2012-05-21, 12:17 AM
I haven't read the whole thing, but for the thiefy boy I'd take out either "jump wall" or "jump obstacle", since one's just a version of the other. I'd probably replace it with "weave through crowd", but I don't know about the skill or DC 'cause I'm not familiar with the system.

hcp111
2012-05-24, 09:03 AM
Okay cheers :smallbiggrin:

hcp111
2012-05-26, 05:41 AM
Hi Glim yeah i would have loved to start my players at level 5 but they had already created level 1 characters and being new to the game where not keen to make more as they rant fully up to grips with the rules. They have also only played two sessions with these characters (on the red box adventure) and didn't want to abandon them so soon.

sadly i feel my players are not nearly as into and as me (although i hope this will change after a few sessions of this adventure as they have shown a keen interest in the law and history of the world I'm building) they also refused to come up with back stories collectively agreeing that they where going to have amnesia :-(

if i write up this campaign world and adventure as one for someone els to use i will start the players at level 5 for sure

I like the idea of bystander interaction though i think i will replace jump obstacle with it.

Oh and the i see what your saying with the un makable DC but it would almost be more unfair to let them get the boy strait away because then they can't have the chase and the xp reward