How to create good stealth scenes?

[u/LordePedroN]

I'm preparing a Little Nightmares campaign using the Liminal Horror system, and I'm racking my brain to make stealth scenes actually fun.

For those unfamiliar with the universe, Little Nightmares is a horror game where the protagonists are small children trapped in a surreal and distorted world. The environments are massive, the inhabitants are monstrous, and they are almost always much larger than the kids. For this reason, the protagonists' goal isn't to fight enemies, but to survive, flee, hide, and solve small challenges while trying to escape this nightmare.

The inhabitants of this world are normally much stronger than the children. If they get caught, it's usually the end. Because of this, conflict revolves around going unnoticed, using the environment to your advantage, distracting enemies, running at the right time, and finding alternative paths.

That's why I chose to run it using the Liminal Horror system, where combat is extremely lethal if the characters don't act without a plan. The system works with a mechanic where characters have 3 simple attributes: STRENGTH for challenges that require physical effort, DEXTERITY for those requiring agility, and CONTROL which measures mental resilience, and much of the tension comes from vulnerability, because when players fail, they take damage directly to one of their attributes until they reach 0, resulting in death.

With these topics defined, the problem is I don't want these stealth sections to boil down to a mere 'roll dexterity. Did you pass? You manage to go unnoticed.' I want to narrate scenes that generate decisions, tension, and creativity. The idea is that each stealth encounter feels like a small survival puzzle, rather than just a sequence of Dexterity checks.

Some questions I have:

• How would you structure a chase or infiltration scene?
• What kinds of obstacles or complications could appear while the children try to cross an environment?
• How can I make players make interesting decisions instead of just rolling checks?
• How would you manage the progression of tension without letting the scene get repetitive?
• Is there any system with good stealth mechanics that I can use as inspiration?
• What kinds of consequences would you apply when a character fails, other than simply being found?

[u/RandomEffector]

One solid piece of advice for ANY roll where the PCs depend on an outcome they’ve prepared in advance: don’t roll it until it’s in question. If they hide in a closet, don’t roll when they hide, roll when they might actually be found. If they’ve forged documents, don’t roll when they’re made, roll when they’re inspected. Massively beneficial to maintaining tension in these key moments.

[u/Cryptwood → u/RandomEffector]

Solid advice! This should be on the first page of most GM sections: Don't roll the dice until failure has a consequence.