Non-Combat encounters should be fun, not frustrating!
I'm a veteran (AD&D) DM running D&D 4e, and my first-time players really enjoy the game I'm running for them. Though, the skill-challenge mechanic is frustrating for all of us – DM and player alike.
Specifically, the pure pass-fail mechanic is demoralizing (even though combat doesn't seem to feel that way to them.) A player thinks up a clever way to overcome a portion of the challenge as-written, I give a +2 for cleverness, the party helps for another +2 and BAM, a bad role or untrained skill means it didn't work.
I know this is an old complaint, and entire RPGs have been designed around this very problem. But I don't want to play another system, I just want skill challenges to feel a little more "yes-and" or "yes-but".
What existing systems have you seen (and played) that are successfully adapted for play with D&D 4e? A big bonus to any system that doesn't penalize player agency heavily just because the appropriate character-skill is untrained…
Please: Don't just name a system and call it "better", describe it and explain how it fits with D&D 4e.
Clarification: The frustration isn't with the entire challenge being failed, that seems to never happen – the problem is with the pass-fail nature of each individual skill roll… For counter-example, I've heard of systems that have trinary logic: Pass/Pass-with-complication/Pass-with-benefits…
Best Answer
Know that Skill Challenges aren't "pass-fail" in the traditional sense
One of the common mistakes about D&D 4e Skill Challenges (and arguably one perpetuated by many of the early printed materials) is that a skill challenge must be passed for the adventure to continue. Some early adventures included skill challenges and didn't even explain what happens when you fail. Do you try again? Does the game just end?
A skill challenge isn't meant to describe whether or not the players succeed at a task; the success is presupposed. The purpose of the challenge is to determine how the players succeed at the task.
For example, if there is a skill challenge to get through a door locked with arcane seals, alchemical traps, and ancient dwarven plating, then the players will get through the door, no matter how they progress through the challenge. The question is how they get through the door. The how generally describes the consequences of the action. It doesn't say whether or not they succeed, but what happens as a result of or during this course of action.
Do they dispel the seals with arcane knowledge, thereby gaining knowledge of arcane locks (and learning a new ritual) or did they merely scuff off the runes, destroying the locks and the knowledge behind them? Did they disarm the alchemical traps carefully, or did they trigger them and take lots of damage from acid sprays and fire jets? Did they carefully pry off the dwarven plates, gaining some rare treasure to sell back in town, or did they smash them to pieces, perhaps breaking a weapon in the process?
Think of skill challenges as opportunities to spice up the story, adding rewards or penalties that are meaningful because they are tied to an epic accomplishment the players achieve. The accomplishment itself is a given: it's needed to progress the story, so you're not rolling for that. You're rolling for the embellishment: the story flavour, whether good or bad.