Skills and Gambits

“Is mayonnaise an instrument?”

The Role of Skills

Two Guidances

As you read through this guide, you may find specific examples of what a given DC represents, or what counts as a gambit or a stakes/flaws die. We would give you two pieces of advice:

Internal consistency is more important than orthodoxy; your gambits may be different in difficulty, or in usage, or players can use their skills in novel ways, or your idea of the difficulty classes deviates from here. Whatever you do, just be consistent about it.
Stakes dice only come into play in checks and gambits, and those only come into play where uncertainty is involved. If something that counts for stakes or flaws would also remove the uncertainty to begin with, reconsider needing any rolling to begin with.

How do I Shot Web

Not everything needs a skill check. Be sparse with them when possible. If you’re unsure when you should prompt a check, ask yourself the following.

Is there a challenge to be overcome? And is the outcome reasonably uncertain?
Is there a cost for failing?

If the answer to both questions is no, it does not need a skill check or a gambit.

How do I Not Shot Web

Sometimes, a check isn’t required. For example, a DC 5 skill check to someone with a +12 modifier would be pointless, as would asking a DC 40 check to someone with +3 to the modifier. If a player uses overwhelming, irrefutable evidence and logical reasoning to convince someone of their position, consider bypassing the check; if there is no meaningful chance of failure, then in most cases a check should not be called for. If a failed check would cause the other party to act in illogical ways or contrary to their character, similarly consider bypassing the check.

Additionally, there are some barriers that cannot be crossed by social expertise alone. For example, a stranger cannot be convinced to go on a murderous rampage just by words. Or a player with a fear of needles to step into an iron maiden. If a task is physically impossible, a natural 20 won’t work either.

There is also another case when you wouldn’t want to prompt a skill check, or are recommended not to do so; if it’s something you need the player to pass in order to proceed with their adventure, either do not prompt a check, allow other methods by which it can be done if they fail, or change the failure condition to include a complication, a partial success, or something that lets them get on with it while still having failed and dealing with the consequences.

Skills, In-Depth

The skills are fairly straightforward, but let’s look a bit deeper into what fields of activity could be encompassed by them. Not all skills will be discussed here: some are just that intuitively straightforward.

Athletics: The difference between a simple Strength check and an Athletics check relies on whether any form of finesse is required. A simple push, or pull, or some other simple motion might be done with a Strength check, but as any bodybuilder will tell you, even simple motions have technique behind them. Regardless, let’s look at some examples that might not be immediately apparent.
- The player is climbing a rocky wall, when they lose their grip and they begin falling. The player checks to see if they can catch themselves while falling. Or perhaps someone else falls, and they check to see if they can catch the falling ally. Or they think of this, decide not to risk it, and accept a higher DC in exchange for climbing faster.
The player decides to reenact a movie they once saw and swing from vine to vine in a jungle. Or rope to rope in a dungeon. Or they just jump the distances required instead. In the case of the last one, they refrain from making a check for every jump, as that would be tedious.
Acrobatics: Acrobatics covers attempts to stay on one’s feet, as well as maneuvers that require agility more than strength. Let’s look at some examples.
- The player must jump from a great height, and they see if they can dive into the water below safely, or roll upon landing to avoid taking damage.
- The player must move through a small vent in order to infiltrate a building. Or perhaps they tried, got caught, and now must slip their bonds to escape.
Sleight of Hand: other actions that require fine finger control, such as playing a stringed instrument, disabling traps, crafting a minute object, performing a medical operation, or the obvious, picking a lock, use Sleight of Hand as well.
- Note that most of these cAn be justified with other skills, and often are. Instruments may, and often do, require a Performance check instead. Disabling traps and crafting objects can call for Engineering instead. And medical operations almost always calls for Medicine instead, the manual control required often being assumed.
- As a rule of thumb, if the check requires knowledge, it often won’t use Sleight of Hand.
  - Gambits, however, not being limited to a single check, can make good use of this.
Engineering: Note that engineering in real life encompasses a wide variety of fields, and thus so can this. Let’s look at a few examples.
- Chemical engineering is a popular field. The key to differentiating between this and Medicine is the nature of the chemicals; organic ones are more for Medicine, while non-organic is firmly Engineering.
- The player needs to design and create a cybernetic arm. This one is straightforward, but one with basis in canon.
- The player lost the plans for the not totally a death star, and must recreate the plans from memory and physics knowledge. Or perhaps it’s too late, the star is already here, and the player must discern a weakness within the vessel.
Investigation: While piecing together clues and deducing from them is obvious, sometimes the circumstances for which Investigation can be used aren’t so clear. Let’s look at a few.
- The player is currently playing shopkeeper, and is offered an item of unknown value. Clearly, there is appraising to be done. And if it is magical, to identify it. Or perhaps the scrutiny reveals that it’s a forgery.
- The player has spent the last several hours learning about the life of a consort they really, really don’t care about, but they hid a treasure and the player intends to find it. They check to deduce if they can discern where they would’ve hid this treasure from their knowledge of the consort’s habits and thinking.
Occult: Occult is a catch-all skill for all sorts of phenomena, whether it be psionic, actually magical, grimdark, or what have you. Let’s see an example or two.
- The player baits and triggers a trap, and a spell is performed, incinerating the hallway where they might’ve been, were they less wary. They check to see if they can identify the nature of the spell and its original caster.
- There is a magical artifact, or a magical individual, and the player checks to determine exactly how powerful they are.
Animal Handling: This is relatively straightforward, but the applications are numerous.
- The player trains several guard dogs to accompany them as hunting dogs, using their superior sense of smell to seek out targets. They are taught to fetch, to bury objects, to back off from a fight, sneak, track and flank quarry, obey only the player, and a dozen other things.
- The player, across multiple encounters with a non-sentient antagonist, realizes their psychology is more like a beast’s than a human’s or troll’s. They then use this knowledge against them, playing to their instincts to get the upper hand.
Insight: Let’s take the trope of the social expert and expound on that. Insight, more than just being an anti-Deception check akin to Perception for Stealth, is the ability to read people, social situations, power dynamics, and anything to do with emotions or psychology. All of the following examples use Insight.
- After studying an enemy’s childhood and what makes them tick, the player feels they understand the enemy intimately, and can play off their personality. Break them by reminding them of past failures, dredge up childhood phobias, appeal to long-lost ideals and memories, among others.
- The player walks into a room with several staff members. The player reads each staff member to learn the social and power dynamics in the room. Who is in charge, who is subordinate, who gossips, who is popular in the group, who is disliked in the group, how they feel about the nature of their work.
- The player follows someone around. They observe how they act, and through it, how they think. What they value, how they approach a problem, what they don’t think, what they like and don’t like, their strong points and weak points, who they like and dislike.
- There is a spy in the agency, and the player has their hunches. They follow on their hunches, make a check, and realize that the spy is not voluntarily doing so, but has been mind controlled in some way.
Medicine: Some examples of Medicine beyond triage.
- The player is investigating a possible poisoning, and their leads have led them to the kitchens as one possible source. The player inspects the utensils, the kitchen’s habits, grills the staff, checks the cleaners used, and searches for any source of contamination.
- There is a giant, rampaging monster tearing up the land, and the player realizes it could be weakened enough to fight by feeding infected livestock to it. The monster, likely an underling, is not wholly human, but poison is poison, and the player aims to create a concentrated, targeted dose tailored against this particular threat.
- Hysteria from a rumor that a dead man walking haunts the town is dispelled by the player, who understands how a body can act while decomposing, and seeks to replicate it to disprove the rumor to the consorts of the town and end the mass hysteria. Or perhaps they find the bodies of one of the supposed victims, and perform an autopsy.
Perception: Perception is a well-known skill, and its applications are numerous and well-known. However, it can be stretched just a bit further.
- The player is spying on a meeting of diplomats with the intention to eavesdrop. However, their bug malfunctioned, and they have no audio. So the player pulls out binoculars and proceeds to lipread both parties.
- Acoustic cryptanalysis is a side channel attack on encrypted systems that relies on hearing what sort of noise a computer makes. The player decides to listen to someone entering their information into an ATM, to remember it and repeat it to hack into their accounts.
Sanity: While the uses for Sanity seem obvious, let’s see a few examples.
- The Noble Circle of Horrorterrors has taken an interest in the player, and is gaslighting them with double images and auditory hallucinations, slowly and subtly. They must make one daily or the gaslighting worsens until reality and illusion are indistinguishable.
- The player is stuck in line at the bank, and the customer in front of them is an old lady making a deposit. She takes out a jar of pennies and begins counting, one at a time.
Survival: as seen in its description, encompasses a wide variety of talents that don’t necessarily all fall under the umbrella of being nature and rural based only.
- The player is leading an expedition into an unknown land. They use a gambit to represent overall navigation, supplies, and other factors of a journey with large groups over the long term.
- Let’s say there is a cave. Or there is a mineshaft. Or a quarry in the distance. Or the player is currently under the earth. The player checks to see how deep it might go, or how far away a target is, how deep they are, or figure out direction and where they are in the world.
Deception: If an approach does not rely on the truth, it usually uses Deception. This does not always rely on the verbal truth; body language has always been a thing. Let’s look at some examples of Deception, with that in mind.
- At a diplomatic meeting, the player must signal to a visiting diplomat without alerting anyone else that a message is being sent. Perhaps they use language in a particular way that only the intended person understands.
- There is a party, but the player is not invited. Not being one to shy from crashing parties, the player disguises themselves. Then the party also has a no weapons policy, so the player disguises theirs as an ornament or a toy.
- There is a death sentence on the player’s head, and the police have sent bounty hunters after them. The player feigns a weakness to draw them in for the kill. Or perhaps they go more extreme and just feign death.
- There is an NPC the player must court in some way, but they have a terrible Persuasion skill. So they use Deception to seduce the target.
- There is a dignitary visiting the town soon and the player intends to ensure the town gives them a cold reception. So they go into local watering holes to spread rumors. Or perhaps they meet with the mayor, present the idea of snubbing the dignitary in a subtle manner, and put the idea into their head without realizing that they were the one to suggest it.
Intimidation: Threatening someone is not always verbal, nor does it need to be overt to the onlooker. Let’s look at some examples.
- Stuck in a butcher’s shop for some reason, the player dons a bloody apron, smears their face, and grabs a knife. The police walk in, and the player puts on the appearance and mannerisms of a bloodthirsty slaughterer, down to the twitches of eyes and fingers and the too-wide smile. All without saying a word.
- In real life, torture doesn’t actually work. However, this is a game, and the player amps up the psychological factor of their interrogation without actually increasing the harm inflicted.
Performance: Performance aims to elicit some sort of emotion from the other party. Let’s look at a few examples.
- Not so much an example as a list. Acting, comedy, dance, keyboard, oratory, percussion, string, wind, singing. Perhaps these can gain the player boondollars or spare grist, somehow. Or more likely, gain the attention of a more plot-relevant patron.
- The player decides to run a misinformation campaign against the rulers of the land in order to begin a rebellion. So to that end, they host a performance with tunes and lyrics shaped to influence its listeners.
Persuasion: Let’s look at some examples of Persuasion.
- The player correctly appraised and bought the item used in the Investigation example, and is now bartering a price on the resale.
- Following the Investigation example, the player elicits to gather information directly from the people, using their words instead of their detective acuity. Perhaps even a bribe here and there when the normal words fail.
- At yet another diplomatic summit, the player must delay as long as possible, yet do so without being caught. Unable or unwilling to lie, the player instead uses existing information to bring the sides to argue, bicker, waste time, or otherwise complicate the summit.

Gambit, In-Depth

Of all the events and actions for which gambits might be used, there are a few recurring types that deserve special mention. Stealth, Exploration, and Social, as described in the previous chapter, encompass a wide variety of gambits. Additionally, Chases and Research will be discussed in some small part.

Keep in mind that these types are not exclusive. Let’s go over a few examples.

Stealth, Deception. The player wants to walk into Derse’s parliamentary building and filch some papers. They’d prefer not to be detected at all, but if they are, they intend to talk their way through.
Engineering, Perception, Survival. The player believes a quest macguffin is located inside the hold of a fallen carapacian ship, since overgrown with flora. They will navigate via their knowledge of botany where the ship is overgrown, and their knowledge of ship designs where not.
Persuasion, Athletics, Acrobatics. The player is chasing down a reticent NPC through a busy city market. They want to convince them to stop the chase, but they’ll catch the slippery little twerp by force if they have to.

Stealth Gambits

Stealth gambits are straightforward; the player wants to sneak across some sort of obstacle between them and their goal, except said obstacle might be eleven dead man’s switch-wired guards, eight cameras, and a small robot dog. Alternatively, a gauntlet where there is significantly higher tolerance for detection, which is implied in the gambit framework to begin with; the hidden/detected binary is not enough when neutral and pass/fail with complication/saving grace outcomes are possible.

Stealth and Perception are the primary drivers here, but other skills can be of tangential use:

Investigation in place of Perception, if the avenues of movement are limited and the emphasis is on following, not searching. One could argue for Insight, if the one using it knows the Stealth side very well, though this is a long shot.
Survival in place of Stealth, concerning the wilderness, though this would be more concerned with blending into the environment and concealing one’s tracks than actually stealthily moving.

Exploration Gambits

Exploration gambits can help fill in the downtime that transitory episodes tend to be, compared to social or combative matters. It also helps worldbuild-heavy SMs make full use of their maps and figures.

There are multiple ways an exploration gambit can go, usually dependent on the type of environment being explored.

Survival is the go-to for anything out in the wilderness.
Engineering is the reverse, often good for anything made by hands or machines, carapacian, consort, or otherwise.
Occult and Investigation are more specific, when their skills might apply. If the locale is particularly mystical, or cleaves strongly to some sort of paradigm, then those skills might take prominence.
Perception can substitute for any of these, but might not be as suited as those skills, depending on the circumstances.

Social gambits are one of the most common types of challenges and goals around, if the countless pesterlogs in Homestuck are any indication. This is one of the more intuitive gambits, able to rely only on the player and the NPC(s).

All the Charisma skills are equally suitable for this, but Insight is also a defense.

Deception comes in when any sort of lies or deceit is involved. A rule of thumb is that if Insight or Perception seeing through it would hinder it, Deception is used.
Intimidation does not need to be overt; it represents some show of force to coerce or command another into acting differently, whether said show be overt or subtle.
Persuasion is used when attempting to sway another’s thoughts, motives, or actions. It can be said to cover whatever the two above skills would not.
Performance is fairly straightforward, and can do any of the other skills, though its application has more requirements.
Insight is for a player on the other end, if they wish to determine the truth of what someone is telling them. Pure Insight gambits can be a bit unwieldy, however.

There is an important distinction to be made concerning social gambits, whether it should be against a DC or an opposed roll. If a player wanted to convince an NPC, that would be a DC check, except Insight to oppose a Deception gambit. An opposed gambit with Charisma on both sides would not be to convince each other, but to convince a third party. The go-to example would be a debate.

Other Gambits and Dice

Chases are also easily modeled with gambits: at its simplest, opposed Athletics checks to simulate a chase scene works well enough. Add in more skills to suit it to the environment, such as Acrobatics where parkour and obstacles are involved, and just about any chase can be simulated.

Research, or investigative, is also straightforward, and simple enough that it did not merit a section of its own. Research also does not tend to be opposed, for the simple fact that it begs a lot of unnecessary questions, if the goal is simply to find some fact(s). There is one nuance, however, in that research/investigative partial successes will often yield some of the facts, but not all; lay out their partial facts such that a savvy player might be able to piece together the clues despite the missing info. This engages the player and rewards them for deductive thinking. Feeling good about crits comes every time a crit is rolled, but feeling vindicated by being smart is far rarer and accordingly valuable.

To round out this section, here are some more examples of gambit dice. Remember that conditions that would ask for three dice of either kind, if it would be the only condition given, should almost seem guaranteed and not worth using a gambit for. Do remember that in cases like these, story beat XP exists to still reward players if gambits wouldn’t make sense.

One die.
- Stakes: Muffled shoes, a compass and binoculars, or some simple, mundane equipment.
- Flaws: The lack of equipment thereof. Trying to sway someone who you cut off in traffic earlier that day.
Two dice.
- Stakes: Well-made, high quality equipment. Sneaking in the dead of night. Chasing someone while intangible.
- Flaws: The opposite, comically poor gear or trying to sneak about in the noonday sun. Using an incomplete codec for translation. Running in stiletto heels.
Three dice.
- Stakes: Using robotic surgery tools, chasing down someone on foot with a hoverboard, cowing half an army into fleeing right after slaying their leader and the other half first.
- Flaws: Sneaking into a military base with clown shoes and glowing clothes. Swaying an audience to vote for you right after eating a baby in front of them.

Additional Gambit Types

Overclock Gambits

In an overclock gambit, the number of skill checks made is fixed, with checks still made if the player accrues the five successes necessary. If they achieve ten successes, they gain an additional benefit as designated by the SM.

Consequences can be inverted for some examples.

Inverted harm. Everyone loves healing. Consider it an adrenaline rush or the thrill of victory.
Inverted resource and price. The player gains something they didn’t expect. Their spent resources are refilled. A spare jeweled ring was found during the work. A lesser slot is refilled by the spirits.
Inverted surprise. It’s still not anticipated, but is positive. The target of your private party infiltration is conveniently heading to the basement alone.
You gain control, and proceeding with your next steps becomes easier. The combination for the lock turns out to be the combination for every lock in the facility.
An anticipated future obstacle resolves itself. You snuck out of the house, your cool neighbor offers to drive you to the party.
You gain a new opportunity that unlocks a new avenue of approach. You got into the jewelry shop with the quest macguffin you need, but the villain of the week who wears armor necessitating said macguffin is vulnerably shopping inside.

Then of course, there are other benefits that can be granted.

Reduce the gambit bar/clock of a catastrophe gambit.
Reduce the difficulty of an upcoming strife in some way.
Simply grant extra experience, grist, boondollars, or something else.

Catastrophe Gambits

A catastrophe gambit is the least like a gambit, able to be unbound to a singular narrative event that would require a gambit. Consider it a ticking doom counter that promises dire consequences, called the catastrophe, if the counter ever fills.

Consequences can be made as normal, but should be particularly heinous. If the gambit bar fills for a catastrophe gambit, it can be emptied and reused if the nature of the catastrophe makes it repeatable or can be escalated.

Catastrophe gambits can be used to count up failed gambits in lieu of other consequences. In particular, the Fivefold Framework scenariostuck ticks up the bar whenever the player falls to 0 HP and would otherwise be defeated.

Modifying Gambits

A gambit typically requires 5 successes in 3 checks and a 4th at disadvantage. There are several ways to modify it.

Increase or decrease the number of successes required.
Increase or decrease the number of checks that can be made.
Impose a default number of stakes or flaws dice on the gambit.
Introduce a complication, which is an unanticipated event that occurs some time during the gambit, typically after a check is made and its associated narrative event resolved.
- The complication itself can be as simple as requiring an additional check or suffering its consequences (like damage), something more sinister like reducing the successes earned from the preceding check, or esoteric like precluding the ability to rest until after the next check of the gambit.
- On the flip side, you can grant a reward for successfully resolving the event, like a stakes die on the rest of the gambit.
Introduce demeanor for an opponent in an opposed gambit. Use this sparingly.

Scenariostuck Sample

This is an example of a gambit template used in scenariostuck.

Self-Aware Colony
Overclock Gambit
Gambit Clock: 4 (starts at 0)
Stakes/Flaws: 2 flaws
Complication: 1
DC: 20
Description:
The denizens of the Third City of the New Commandment, and most cities of the Bloodbrine, are home to the vast majority of remaining grimdark, those who survived the Century’s End. They concern themselves with their own affairs, with outward-facing forces limited to the Hosts and minorities within the Drowned Assembly. This is not to say its inhabitants are unable to fight. Just happens this lot will only be able to fight one, not both.

[Optional theme for the Scene]

(Opportunities) Actions: The overclock gambit concludes after each of the four have been done. They can be done in any order.

Rockwell’s Watching Me: The overgrown beetle, he claims to be immortal; whenever he desires, he can self-terminate and begin regeneration within the pits of any of the Cities of the New Commandment. Unfortunately, a previous encounter left him with a faerie mark that tracks his exact location. Psi skill, Occult, or Survival to undo the mark, or any Charisma skill to convince him it’s not as big a deal as he thinks.
Shelved Implication: The edgy knife robot, it carries a watermelon-sized capsule of heinous implication with the breadth of its replication. It allows the robot to wield the aspect of Space as a Child of Skaia. It is of Alternian make. It requires priming to properly recalibrate it to Paradox Space, necessary in the heart of the Furthest Ring. Spend 1 AP, or utilize any skill of player’s choice as they manipulate their aspect at a deeply abstract and unfamiliar level.
My Life as a Teenage Horrorterror: The entitled child, they have a problem; their homework has been left undone and it must be done lest their father make life difficult. Any Intelligence or Wisdom skill to get the child started on any of its sections, or any Charisma skill to convince them to stop procrastinating.
Lesson of the Held Image: The robot shell of herself, she needs preparation to use her powers properly. A held image that the shell will take into her mind for seven seconds in which she will destroy it seven times seven times seven ways. Then she will open her eyes and understand the manner in which her target will die. Endurance or Sanity to be the draft from which she creates the held image, or psi skill or Occult to aid in its creation.

Complication: When the player makes a skill check for any of the given actions above, they can run into a complication that makes the affair harder than it should’ve been.

Red Interruption (between checks): There are robot clowns running through the streets in the shape and seeming of… imps. Imps? This late into the session, at this point in the Act, in this fucking Furthest Ring, localized entirely during the player’s gambit? Yes. May they see it? Yes. Attack roll or psi check, Animal Handling, Insight, or any Charisma skill to get them to shoo, or any Intelligence skill to disable them. If failed, they still flee, but not before slapping the player with a serrated ruby claw for 10d10+45 damage.

Victory:
If the player has succeeded on the gambit when all four opportunities are completed (or ends them early after passing it), the preparation is made and the group says their farewells as they go off to deal with whichever co-player was not chosen. The player, with little else to do, goes off to deal with the chosen co-player.
Defeat:
If the player completes all four opportunities and has not passed the gambit, they still say their farewells and go off to slay the unchosen co-player. However, their imagined victory fails to materialize and they are slaughtered. In Scene 20, in The Araxes Arrangement, replace one of the encounters with the Empty Vengeance.
Overclock:
If the player passes the gambit twice or more, their Fated End gambit clock ticks down by 1 as described in that gambit.

Encounter and Journey Design

Encounter Design

Let’s define an encounter as a meeting between the player and one or more NPCs. These NPCs might be consorts, underlings, carapacians, grimdark, etc. There are a variety of means by which they can be dealt with, described in detail in the listings for that encounter.

As a general rule, the player can typically Scrutinize a situation before jumping into it, or Discerning it if they don’t have that kind of time. If specific skills are needed, using Investigation, Occult, Perception, or Insight is a good idea. The SM can respond to these inquiries with the varied ways listed for an encounter on how to proceed.

There are several ways for an encounter to resolve. Let’s list some of the most common.

Roll for initiative and start a strife.
Sneak past them, or if mobile, hide and wait till it passes.
If the encounter is sapient, converse with it.
If conversing isn’t an option, exploit its nature. Beasts can be handled, psionic creatures can be dealt with through such, machines and undead can have exploits found in their patterns.
Other means like fleeing from them, or something roleplay-based than check-based.

Ordeals and Gates

There are two notable subtypes of encounters.

Ordeals tend to be environmental hazards, arcane phenomena, or otherwise threats that can’t be fought but must be solved, mitigated, or otherwise handled to proceed. Since fighting them isn’t an option, it narrows their resolution methods accordingly. Simply suffering the consequences of the ordeal is an option as well. There are several types of ordeals.

An ordeal of Enigma, a puzzle which must be discerned.
An ordeal of Desolation, mental anguish which must be resisted.
An ordeal of Agony, physical trauma which must be endured.
An ordeal of Rhetoric, an obstacle which must be communicated with.
An ordeal of Flight, a pursuing threat which must be escaped.
An ordeal of Pursuit, an escaping obstacle which must be pursued.

Gates are more stationary versions of ordeals, where they can be retried with a different approach at no additional consequence should the first attempt fail. However, they have a higher DC to compensate. These gates typically fall into one of three (not mutually exclusive) categories.

A hidden gate, which must be found.
A locked gate, which must be unlocked.
A puzzle gate, which must be solved.

Journeys

Journeys refer to abstracting a long period of travel down to a series of encounters where the player faces relevant difficulties that warrant notice in an otherwise unremarkable period of travel. As journeys are a series of encounters, all information relevant to standard encounters above also applies here.

Journeys also feature attrition, which is a uniform consequence that applies to failing encounters if none are given, typically damage (use the base damage of a CR1 to CR3 creature of the relevant tier as a baseline), taken in Ordeals and Gates as creature encounters typically have consequences of starting a strife if checks fail.

Scenariostuck Samples

These are examples of encounters, ordeals, gates, and journeys used in scenariostuck.

Ordeal - Subway Map:

Inexplicable Bullshit: The subway line map is is a mess of tangled lines except only one of the lines goes anywhere, the rest possessing miniature black voids where stops ought to be. It’s as though this was put here deliberately to screw with the player, or indeed, anyone trying to gain access to the Bloodbrine. Discern skill, Investigation, or Perception to figure it out, or psi skill, Occult, or Sanity to bend the map to the player’s will.

Ordeal - Applause for the Fool:

Crucible: The ordeal is DC 25 and is made at disadvantage.
Last Chance: The threshold to the Duat is a black, inky thing of stars uncounted. Approaching it also wracks the player with incredible pain, as if to kill them now to spare them from worse fates than death, un and otherwise. The pain only abates with a display of prowess, asking the player to demonstrate their god tiered strength and prove their transfiguration into a configuration of Paradox Space has not stripped them of worth. Any skill check of choice will suffice.

Gate - Ticket Booth:

Gate: The gate is DC 25, but can be retried with a different approach, or retry the same approach with disadvantage.
Puzzle: The ticket machine is an arcane disaster that profanes the very concept of user experience, by design.
- Any Intelligence skill of choice or Perception to figure it out.
- Endurance or Sanity to power through the ruin of clunky purchasing options.
- Attack roll or psionic roll to smash the terminal until it spits out the tickets.
- Spend 1 AP to automatically succeed by paying the true price of the ticket.
Consequences: If the player fails two tries at unlocking the runes, it activates child mode and patronizes the player in an appropriately condescending manner as it walks them through ticket purchasing.

Gate - Argos’ Judgment:

Gate: The gate is DC 20, but can be retried with a different approach, or retry the same approach with disadvantage.
Puzzle: A very old, mangy, decrepit dog lies atop a pile of hay out of place in this region of Laurentia. It has been waiting for the player for a very long time.
- Pet the dog.
- Any other option is punished with psychic damage as they feel bad.
- Feeding the dog the fish from last Scene is acceptable.

Encounter - Skeletal Mob:

Description: A mob of skeletons with crossbows and… bowler hats. Why? Just why.
Default: If they see the player, they’ll tell them to shove off, what’re they doing here at this ungodly hour. Go home. Leave.
Stealth: Sneaking by them with a Stealth or Survival check seems easy enough.
Charm: They may be skeletons, but they ain’t unreasonable. Any Charisma skill to talk past them oughta work.
Consequence: If the player ops for a skill check to bypass the strife but fails, it’s like they unblurred the photo and the boys will begin rattling. A strife begins.

Encounter - Aquaveil Highlich:

Description: These bony creatures radiate power, moving in stilted motions across the city in their eternal vigil.
Default: Should they see the player, there will only be strife.
Chase: Outspeeding this dead wizard bitch is an option, fly into the city and lose it in the narrow alleyways and passages. Athletics to do so.
Patrol Patterns: They seem to follow some manner of pattern, they do not fly aimlessly. This can be exploited. Investigation, Animal Handling, or Survival to figure out the patrol pattern and fly through a blind spot.
Consequence: If they attempted a skill check and it fails, a strife ensues.

Encounter - Crateris Servitor:

Description: An engram-guided psionic illusion given form, one of the Hydra’s tools to conduct ritual work to make up for her seeming lack of grimdark followers. The illusion is a woman who instills inexplicable insights into the player; this is a facsimile of the Hydra’s forms, or one of them. How vain.
Default: It physically cannot attack or strife, but that may be worse. Its reaction is delayed long enough for the player to quickly choose and perform one course of action. Otherwise, it blows up and its contained engram releases a thoughtform that explodes for cognitive damage against the player.
Stealth: Stealth to avoid disturbing it should give the player an opening to scatter its physical form.
Arcana: Psi skill, Occult, Sanity, or Survival reveals the circle seems incredibly fragile and can be disrupted to collapse the illusion and its work.
Charm: It purportedly has sophisticated response features, but not for players; the player might use any Charisma skill of choice to tell it they’re on the same side.
Consequence: If the player fails the check, it immediately explodes.

Encounter - The Burnished Kleptocrat, Station of the Canon:

Description: Why is it the Black King turned on the player? Are they corrupted by the grimdark, or is it a natural inclination that causes the Reckoning to occur in any session, or have they just gone mad? A question for the ages, to be buried under a dozen more.
- [you might put an optional theme here to play when the time comes]
Mandatory Strife: This strife is mandatory.

Kalahari Expedition
Journey
Trials: 3
Stakes/Flaws: 1 flaw
DC: 15
Description:
The Etsal River is a wide, angry thing that shows mercy only to the fish within it. Still, it serves as a loose landmark by which the player navigates their way across the land.

Attrition: This journey requires Persistence. For every failed Ordeal or Gate, the player takes 2d10+9 damage.

Ordeal - NOT THE BEES:

Wicker Man: No matter the scenario you cannot escape the bees. These nest in the soil, equipped with digging arms in addition to wings and stingers as though the Denizen couldn’t make up their bloody mind when creating them. This also means they’re underlings, technically. Animal Handling or Survival to placate the bees, or Athletics to try outrunning them.

Encounter - Kalahari Nomads:

Description: They are hunting for deer, in the direction of deer.
Default: They ask the player if they have seen a deer (they have not). The trick is that the deer in question is an amphibious creature that jumps out of the river, kicks one of the nomads in the groin, does not explain itself, and jumps back in.
Swim: Jumping into the water after the deer may seem foolhardy, but it’s not out of the question.
Handling: The player can invite them to fish for smaller prey. This delays them for an hour as they fish, but well, it’s fishing. Engineering, Animal Handling, or Survival to fish.
Consequence: The Wild Card will notice if the check was failed and mock them accordingly.

Gate - Cataract Passage:

Gate: The gate is DC 20, but can be retried with a different approach, or retry the same approach with disadvantage.
Hidden Passageway: The cataract in question is seven different waterfalls where the river falls over a stairway-shaped series of cliffs. The river is especially strong here, with gravity’s support.
- Athletics to endure the flow long enough to search all seven waterfalls.
- Investigation, Perception, or Survival to deduce which is the correct waterfall.
- Psi skill to detect the Mirrorshard and feel their way through.
- Spend 1 AP to automatically succeed in sensing the exact passage.
Consequences: If the player fails two tries at passing this gate, a second deer emerges from the river and bowls them over as it runs toward some apple trees.

Victory:

Conclusion: Past the waterfall lies the next Mirrorshard. The player finds its power boost immediate, granting them the Preserve power, though once the moment passes, the first surprise reveals themselves.

Upward Movement
Journey
Trials: 5
Stakes/Flaws: 2 flaws
DC: 20
Description:
The city teems with undeath, shambling carapacian corpses accompanied by their osseous constructs. The Duat itself seems extant, yet spectral and stark against the violet city stone. There is no trace of life even up here, no birds to be seen. On the horizon, great spikes of bone rise from the oceans, or are those the phalanges of some titanic defender laid low by the bloodbrine invaders?

Attrition: This journey requires Persistence. For every failed Ordeal or Gate, the player takes 8d8+25 damage.

Ordeal - Anticlimactic Ascent:

Iron Flight: The flight itself is harder than it ought to be, and not because it is unfamiliar to the player. No, there’s some enchantment in the background that enervates the player, to say nothing of the errant lightning bolts. Athletics or Acrobatics to avoid the lightning, Endurance or Medicine to shrug off the enchantment, or psi skill, Occult, or Survival to ward it off.
- [Optional theme for the Scene]