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<blockquote data-quote="Gorgon Zee" data-source="post: 8321159" data-attributes="member: 75787">For modern systems, I'd argue that most modern systems handle this intrinsically. If you play a few of them (FATE and DramaSystem / Hillfolk would be a great start), you'll see it in action.For older systems, there are two main ways of making it happen. The &quot;Aid Another&quot; aka &quot;Create an Advantage&quot; action is a technique that can be applied on-the-fly and works well. It basically gives a bonus to the lead actors based on how well you do at a different task. So if asked to persuade the king that you need to borrow his army, a non-social character might shows his physical strength (Athletics check) to give a +2 bonus to the main diplomat. The biggest problem with this in D&amp;D style games is that the bonus is not great -- the two points on the roll are dwarfed by the difference in skill levels, with is not the case in Fate, so my recommendation is simply to double that number for social encounters. A better way, but one requiring prep, was popularized in D&amp;D 4E -- the &quot;Skill Challenge&quot;. This requires the GM to prep ahead of time (or be good at doing it on the fly!) a list of core skills that can be used to gain a success, and a list of potential other skills. A fun variant is that the skill lists are not known upfront, and so you must use a third set of skills to work out which skills will work.A full version of this might look like (for the persuade the king example):DC 20 Diplomacy, Intimidate (He's heard diplomats every day for his whole life and knows their ways)DC 15 Any Lore/Knowledge/Profession skill: His kingdom needs cash!DC 10 Lore - Games: He believes that the measure of person shows when she plays a tactical gameDC 15 Perception: His library has a lot fo game books; he must love tactical gamesDC 15 Perception, Empathy: Talking to him about ways to make cash (using Lore skills) will appeal to himDC 10 Perception, Empathy: He is resistant to usual social blandishments</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gorgon Zee, post: 8321159, member: 75787"] For modern systems, I'd argue that most modern systems handle this intrinsically. If you play a few of them (FATE and DramaSystem / Hillfolk would be a great start), you'll see it in action. For older systems, there are two main ways of making it happen. The "Aid Another" aka "Create an Advantage" action is a technique that can be applied on-the-fly and works well. It basically gives a bonus to the lead actors based on how well you do at a different task. So if asked to persuade the king that you need to borrow his army, a non-social character might shows his physical strength (Athletics check) to give a +2 bonus to the main diplomat. The biggest problem with this in D&D style games is that the bonus is not great -- the two points on the roll are dwarfed by the difference in skill levels, with is not the case in Fate, so my recommendation is simply to double that number for social encounters. A better way, but one requiring prep, was popularized in D&D 4E -- the "Skill Challenge". This requires the GM to prep ahead of time (or be good at doing it on the fly!) a list of core skills that can be used to gain a success, and a list of potential other skills. A fun variant is that the skill lists are not known upfront, and so you must use a third set of skills to work out which skills will work. A full version of this might look like (for the persuade the king example): DC 20 Diplomacy, Intimidate (He's heard diplomats every day for his whole life and knows their ways) DC 15 Any Lore/Knowledge/Profession skill: His kingdom needs cash! DC 10 Lore - Games: He believes that the measure of person shows when she plays a tactical game DC 15 Perception: His library has a lot fo game books; he must love tactical games DC 15 Perception, Empathy: Talking to him about ways to make cash (using Lore skills) will appeal to him DC 10 Perception, Empathy: He is resistant to usual social blandishments [/QUOTE]

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