Nose to Tail Gaming

Two weeks ago we talked about how to use the timer based powers in 4th Ed in a game of Pathfinder.  Today we'll tackle the other two pieces of 4e that I think are particularly interesting: role protection and skill challenges.

Role Protection

Role protection is the division of characters between Striker, Leader, Defender, and Controller.  D&D 4e doesn't just talk about the rules, but includes rules to help solidify them.  Almost all Strikers have the ability to add extra dice of damage to their attacks. Nearly every defender uses the Marking mechanic which makes them more 'sticky' (able to draw attacks to themselves).

I would caution you in bringing this rule module into another game because it's going to have a lot of effects on how characters are created and how the story is told.  Once these roles (or whatever roles you feel are appropriate for your game) are laid out, they will make your combat much more tactical. This will make some of your players feel they have to fill certain holes that exist in the party’s abilities.

Generally role protection is best for games which emulate the heroic fantasy, superhero, or heist genres, as those genres tend to include this idea anyway.  The roles won't always be the same; the four D&D covers are common in fantasy, while in superheroes you will often see the tank, the blaster, the psychic, the tactician, and the brawler.  Heist stories similarly will often see the fighter, the con, the thief, and the tech (see Leverage for a very clear example).

In Fate Core there are no rules for role protection, but the genres it emulates often fit well with the sort of crafted team that defined roles encourage.  If you want to introduce role protection into Fate Core you can try adding it to the aspect system.

Aspects are phrases and ideas that describe your character and affect how they spend resources.  Simply inform your players of the traditional roles in a superhero team.  Tell them that one of their aspects has to include reference to the role they've chosen.  During the game allow the players one free Invoke of that aspect each session.  Your players will quickly tailor their strategy to their place in the team.

Another more complicated, but more flavorful, option would be to create a special Invoke for each of the roles you define.  Each Invoke providing an extra action but one that has to fulfill their role in the team.  Allowing your blaster to perform an attack, your bruiser to block for an ally, and your psychic to read an opponent's mind at the cost of a fate chip will add a more dynamic exchange to your fights.  This will encourage your players to pay attention even when it's not their turn.  This does come with a cost though.  You'll have to put in a little more work to balance the encounters but it will add a more super heroic feel.

Skill Challenges

In 4e, skill challenges represent a way of playing non-combat encounters while still providing a real mechanical challenge to the characters.  There are a lot of situations these can be used to represent, from a debate with nobility to tracking across an open desert.  Where I've found the most success in the skill challenge is in emulating the film montage.  When your players have some task to complete and you don't want to just roll the dice, a skill challenge is a good way to keep it tense.  The basic idea of a skill challenge is creating a variety of tasks the players must complete.  They can choose how to complete their tasks with the skills they have available.  If they get a set number of success before they get a certain number of fails, they succeed.

This is an especially easy piece to use in other games, as it will work with anything that already has a skill system.  Let's look at an example situation in Shadowrun.  In your game a group of runners need to infiltrate a swank shindig at Mitsuhama.  You've decided that you don't want to make this a simple request from a contact.  Instead you can make getting access to the party a section of the game itself.

The first thing to do is decide what needs to be done to complete the task.   They need to find out where and when the party is.  To get in, they need their names on the guest list or for the bouncer to let them pass.  Finally because it's Shadowrun, they need to stash their weapons somewhere they can access at the party.  For this situation we're going to say that the runners need to get 6 successes on these tasks, with at least one each, before they get 3 total failures.  Dependent on how challenging you want this to be you can play around with the numbers. 

Each attempt will be a simple skill check, and here I will generally adjust the threshold based on how interesting or creative the character's attempt is.  A good level for a group of runners that will make a check risky is threshold 4, so I would start there and then adjust as needed.  By using this method rather than the standard, you can get your players more involved in the process.   It will take longer but will  make even the generally boring parts of the game more interesting.