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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8156787">My point is you wanting to be the fastest gun in the west, isn't about agency, it is about you wanting to author a character who is the fastest gun in the west. Agency, it I think, is more about the character being able to make meaningful choices (i.e. not be railroaded) in the game. In terms of smooth talker, I think this is actually a very complicated area of play. It is also one where I have been talking separately about my own personal preference in terms of what I like, and what it means for agency. Whether having a smooth talker skill, or having the player simply roleplay being a smooth talker adds agency is going to vary a lot. On the one hand, giving me a skill, means I can consistently perform as a smooth talker through the mechanics. On the other hand, if I, the player, realize this would be a good argument to convince Hawkeye's character about my character's views on agency, and I make that good argument, but then I roll a smooth talk skill and fail horribly.....I think that would be giving me less agency. When it comes to skills like "smooth talker", I get my preference is a little outside the box. The point I have tried to make here, just in terms of my preference, not in terms of agency, is that I really prefer play where the words the players speak in character matter more than their skill roll. And I like for players to interact with the setting and the NPCs as directly as possible. On the other hand, I also understand that these kinds of skills, for the time being, are the norm. So the solution I have come to, both in terms of my own game design, but also in terms of how I run games with social skills, is for the players words to always matter. If the players talk to a guard and ask a question, I respond based on what they said. But if I have some doubt (or feel that their characters exceptional social talents, or weak social talents, should weight the outcome, I will call for a roll). My general rule of thumb is when I have doubt about the outcome, I ask for a social skill roll (and players don't ask to make social skill rolls).</blockquote>

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