Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Idea for social encounters in RPGs
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="GlaziusF" data-source="post: 4466429" data-attributes="member: 74166"><p>Well, there's free reign and then there's analysis paralysis. Social skill challenges are already gamey, but if you want to paint some sim on top of the original skill roll, you could say something like:</p><p></p><p>"The skill you choose represents your posture, or your initial approach to a large-scale social encounter. The draw gives you character archetypes that might respond to that posture. You don't have to only use that skill when interacting with those characters, and you're free not to use any of them if you had another idea in mind. The social skills reflect five different approaches:</p><p></p><p>Canny and manipulative (bluff)</p><p>Cordial but reserved (diplomacy)</p><p>Contemplative and reactive (insight)</p><p>Confrontational and aggressive (intimidation)</p><p><s>C</s>Gregarious and proactive (streetwise)"</p><p></p><p>The idea of the cards is to give you some seeds for social interaction in the first place, right? So a rogue at the annual palace ball who rolls bluff to get his cards and pulls, say, a "Patsy" card, would just flash it to you and say "I walk over to the ale kegs, looking for someone who's a bit in his cups". What you want this system to do is provide both DM and player with a little information beforehand to help them play the role, right? As the DM you create the cards, so you know what your players could pull out, and players can freely look over their cards as well. I'm assuming the rogue wants to accomplish something at the ball, and you want to be able to gen up an appropriate NPC; so, with the card, the rogue can start thinking up a con to get what he wants, and you have a seed personality. If he'd pulled, say, "Baron Munchausen" he'd instead think of a way to get what he wants with a pompous blowhard: impressing him with a series of outrageous counterboasts, say, or forcibly inserting himself into the tales of grandeur and then, in a quiet corner, threatening to expose him as a fraud.</p><p></p><p>This doesn't mean you can't freeform it the way you would have done without it, it just makes the process quicker to get into if you use the cards, like that casserole Alton Brown prepares ahead of time because the real one needs to bake for an hour.</p><p></p><p>Also they could feed into combat in a really interesting way if you use that feat or just allow an action point to try and get a social seed going in the middle of a fight or just prior, with a -5 to -10 "having your torso punctured often offends" penalty on the roll. Bluff or Intimidate would give you an automatic success on their in-combat uses, while the rest could be used in more interesting ways. Imagine a paladin rolling Insight and drawing a "Sob Story" card. You point to the medusa in the back and the paladin gets over there, grabs a handful of snakes that are trying to bite him, and says "look, don't insult me. I can tell you're not really trying. What's going on here?" </p><p></p><p>If you're feeling very adventurous you wouldn't even need to disallow them during what would ordinarily be a boss fight. The red dragon commanding an army of salamanders is really just a patsy for... ???</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GlaziusF, post: 4466429, member: 74166"] Well, there's free reign and then there's analysis paralysis. Social skill challenges are already gamey, but if you want to paint some sim on top of the original skill roll, you could say something like: "The skill you choose represents your posture, or your initial approach to a large-scale social encounter. The draw gives you character archetypes that might respond to that posture. You don't have to only use that skill when interacting with those characters, and you're free not to use any of them if you had another idea in mind. The social skills reflect five different approaches: Canny and manipulative (bluff) Cordial but reserved (diplomacy) Contemplative and reactive (insight) Confrontational and aggressive (intimidation) [s]C[/s]Gregarious and proactive (streetwise)" The idea of the cards is to give you some seeds for social interaction in the first place, right? So a rogue at the annual palace ball who rolls bluff to get his cards and pulls, say, a "Patsy" card, would just flash it to you and say "I walk over to the ale kegs, looking for someone who's a bit in his cups". What you want this system to do is provide both DM and player with a little information beforehand to help them play the role, right? As the DM you create the cards, so you know what your players could pull out, and players can freely look over their cards as well. I'm assuming the rogue wants to accomplish something at the ball, and you want to be able to gen up an appropriate NPC; so, with the card, the rogue can start thinking up a con to get what he wants, and you have a seed personality. If he'd pulled, say, "Baron Munchausen" he'd instead think of a way to get what he wants with a pompous blowhard: impressing him with a series of outrageous counterboasts, say, or forcibly inserting himself into the tales of grandeur and then, in a quiet corner, threatening to expose him as a fraud. This doesn't mean you can't freeform it the way you would have done without it, it just makes the process quicker to get into if you use the cards, like that casserole Alton Brown prepares ahead of time because the real one needs to bake for an hour. Also they could feed into combat in a really interesting way if you use that feat or just allow an action point to try and get a social seed going in the middle of a fight or just prior, with a -5 to -10 "having your torso punctured often offends" penalty on the roll. Bluff or Intimidate would give you an automatic success on their in-combat uses, while the rest could be used in more interesting ways. Imagine a paladin rolling Insight and drawing a "Sob Story" card. You point to the medusa in the back and the paladin gets over there, grabs a handful of snakes that are trying to bite him, and says "look, don't insult me. I can tell you're not really trying. What's going on here?" If you're feeling very adventurous you wouldn't even need to disallow them during what would ordinarily be a boss fight. The red dragon commanding an army of salamanders is really just a patsy for... ??? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Idea for social encounters in RPGs
Top