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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8156938" data-attributes="member: 29398">An example would be cases where the player's hoped-for success condition is impossible for reasons beyond the player's control or knowledge (in other words, exactly what pemerton doesn't like!) <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.An example might be something as simple as trying to persuade (or maneuver) the Emperor to go for a walk in the sunny garden.  Unknown to the characters (or players) the Emperor is in fact a Vampire thus going out in the sun would be a bad idea.  But as DM I can't just deny the attempt without arousing undue out-of-character suspicion, so I let 'em roll (and secretly hope the roll fails, to get me off the hook!).But let's say the roll succeeds handily.  The Emperor still ain't going out in that garden, so I have to deny that success either by having the Emperor act in a manner that might give his secret away or by having him in-character try to deflect by granting the PCs something else they might like e.g. "Alas, I cannot walk with you this day but for such a kind and unexpected offer please accept my invitation to remain at court until the Highsun Ball at the end of next month".  Then if the players/PCs get suspicious we can take it from there.This is another reason I dislike social situations being decided mechanically: I'd rather rely on my own roleplaying ability to - as the Emperor - talk my way out of going for that walk, and if I mess it up and the players/PCs get suspicious, that means the Emperor messed it up too.If I allowed more player-side rolling it would come up every time they rolled success on searching for a secret door in a place where none was to be found.</blockquote>

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