FEED THE CROCODILES POISONED MEAT
The Hack & Slash post On the Creative Crocodile Conundrum nicely formulates some points against skill checks and for letting players play.
Noisms postulated a problem that could be solved creatively, in a variety of different ways. A treasure hoard is on the other side of the room with a channel in the middle, filled with crocodiles.
One of the posters responds:
“Conversely, any realistic solution to the crocodile problem is going to involve someone being fast enough or strong enough to do something at some point - it’s also a skill check scenario (even if it boils down to the good old OSR dodge of the GM rolling a percentage chance - that’s still a skill check, just a very arbitrary one).”
I do not think this point of view is uncommon - that the only solutions for problems are skill solutions. A short word about old school play.
A dice roll in an old school game is only made when the outcome of an action absolutely cannot be decided by agreement or fiat.
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