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General Tabletop Discussion
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A thought about Social Mechanics
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<blockquote data-quote="Emberashh" data-source="post: 9191058" data-attributes="member: 7040941"><p>In cases where the player isn't utilizing player skill very directly? Sure.</p><p></p><p>But social mechanics are a specific problem because players will commonly speak directly in character when engaging in a social interaction. This then has to be blended somehow with the characters skill, if such specific skills exist, (Its a different topic if they should exist at all; this topic assumes they're there) and both have to be checked against in a way that doesn't undermine both efforts. </p><p></p><p>A character build has to be respected just as much (or at least proportionally) as good in-character roleplay, and neither should be able to be negated by a mostly disassociated mechanic. </p><p></p><p>Ergo, if the NPC has to <em>react</em> to the attempt, and roll a save that has had its difficutly defined by the Player and Player-Character, then when the NPC succeeds in spite of that, it doesn't feel like the Player just rolled and whiffed making everything they did pointless. </p><p></p><p>Instead, the NPC reacted, and invoked their own skills, and resisted the attempt. The GM then actively roleplays to illustrate <em>why</em> they resisted, which can be up to any number of things.</p><p></p><p>A parry always feels better than a miss.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emberashh, post: 9191058, member: 7040941"] In cases where the player isn't utilizing player skill very directly? Sure. But social mechanics are a specific problem because players will commonly speak directly in character when engaging in a social interaction. This then has to be blended somehow with the characters skill, if such specific skills exist, (Its a different topic if they should exist at all; this topic assumes they're there) and both have to be checked against in a way that doesn't undermine both efforts. A character build has to be respected just as much (or at least proportionally) as good in-character roleplay, and neither should be able to be negated by a mostly disassociated mechanic. Ergo, if the NPC has to [I]react[/I] to the attempt, and roll a save that has had its difficutly defined by the Player and Player-Character, then when the NPC succeeds in spite of that, it doesn't feel like the Player just rolled and whiffed making everything they did pointless. Instead, the NPC reacted, and invoked their own skills, and resisted the attempt. The GM then actively roleplays to illustrate [I]why[/I] they resisted, which can be up to any number of things. A parry always feels better than a miss. [/QUOTE]
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