Hostility between two neighbouring countries is still fresh in everyone’s mind despite the conflict’s recent resolution. The border guards often take out their pent up frustration on foreigners with legitimate reasons for crossing the border.
The PCs need to move through the check-point without delay and without arousing any unwarranted attention. Each PC needs to identify himself to the border guard, show appropriate travel papers, and state his reason for crossing.
Ethan the rogue worked patiently on the lock. Never before had he experienced a lock of this complexity. Adjusting his thieves tools slightly he disabled one of the magical wards. With sweat dripped from his brow he was aware of Braddoc standing over his shoulder ready to break the door down with brute force. “Back off Braddoc” the rogue said, “if this wizard has half the treasure we’ve been told of we can’t risk you setting off an explosion!” With that said Ethan made a few final adjustments and click. Turning the door handle Ethan opened the door of the chamber. Inside stacked on shelves were the wizard’s tomes, countless millennia of knowledge.
Before you begin the quest of designing your own campaign world it would be wise to equip yourself with the appropriate resources. Just as your Fighter wouldn’t go into battle without his armour and trusty sword, neither should you wade into the task of campaign design without an arsenal of tools to assist you.
I think it’s fair to say that everyone who plays D&D has experienced character death at some point. Hopefully your character has gone down swinging or sacrificed himself in such a way that people will be telling and retelling the story for years to come. But in reality I think we all know that more often than not character death is the result of someone (often the character himself) doing something stupid.
The PCs acquire an old treasure map. They are determined to find the lost treasure. However, the map is really old and it’s quit difficult to read.
Presented below are three possible reasons for the PCs to be engaged in this skill challenge.
The PCs are to rendezvous with an escaped prisoner and get him safely across the boarder.
This Skill Challenge can easily be adapted for any scenario where the PCs need to wait in hostile territory for the delivery of any item, person, hostage, etc.
The lord’s nephew was arrested on trumped up charges and imprisoned while visiting the neighboring country. He is to be executed as a political statement. The PCs are part of a coordinated escape plan. Their job is to meet the prisoner in a remote location and transport him safely and secretly across the nearby boarder.
The prison break is supposed to happen at sundown. The PCs have been instructed to get back across the boarder undetected by sunrise with or without out the prisoner.
At sundown, the DM should roll 2d4 to determine how many hours the PCs wait before the prisoner shows up. If the result is 8 then the escape attempt was unsuccessful. Do not inform the PCs if this happens. Let them decide what course of action to take at sunrise.
Welcome to the Dungeon’s Master series on Campaign Design. This series will be available on a weekly basis to help new and experienced Dungeon Masters to design their own Campaign Settings. Throughout this series we’ll look at the various challenges and complexities associated with creating your campaign world.
The PCs need to travel cross county as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence.
Presented below are three possible reasons for the PCs to be engaged in this skill challenge.
As I look forward to the release of the Players Handbook 2 and the Complete Arcane, I find it useful to look back at the content that was already released for 4e. By identifying the gaps I can try to guess what will be released in the future. One of the most prominent gaps that I see missing is the Wizard specialization by school. Gone are Illusionists, Conjurers, Necromancers and Invokers. Gone is the plentiful array of Wizard spells. Now we are left with a limited selection of four or five powers per level. We are left with an arcane controller class that has some elements of the specialists, but is really a generalist Wizard.
The PCs are at the scene of a crime (robbery, accident involving injury, bar brawl, etc). When the Watch arrives the PCs need to think quick of they may be implicated in the crime.
Presented below are three possible reasons for the PCs to be engaged in this skill challenge.
For all the above scenarios, should you flee or choose not to cooperate you may be seen as guilty and thrown in prison.
D&D has always been a combat-heavy game and adding skill challenges with 4e has brought much needed balance to the game. Players are encouraged to role play and can earn as much XP for a skill challenge as they can for defeating a monster. It’s created a good balance between roll-playing and role-playing. The skill challenge has quickly become an important and integral part of 4e D&D.
