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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5606156" data-attributes="member: 8835">The threat to the guard has little to do with it in my mind.  The party chose to impersonate that which has recently been contradicted.  A con works when you appear to be exactly what the NPC expects.  Sans threat, the guard was going to be confused because he was not expecting another diplomat, and thus is likely to summon his boss.  This is what happens at any guardpost when something unexpected happens.If I can't get into the castle, then the bluf failed.  it was the point of forging the papers, buying the expensive suit, and practicing my lines.  Geting routed to the supervisor is increasing my risk as further scrutiny increases my chances of geting caught.Did the party have a chance to get their before the real Diplomat did?  Obviously, there's enough backstory that the party probably could have done the research to find out the relationship about this diplomat.In the text you quoted, I was clearly talking about how I prefer to roll to prevent myself from railroading the outcome. Since I wasn't there, nor was I privvy to your notes, I can't call it railroading.  But I am asking clarifying questions as to how you ran it to determine if the players had a chance to do it right or if the coincidence of a scared guard who follows his orders and the prior arrival of the real diplomat was a fair setup.Nor do I think that I would wire up the encounter any better.  I very well may adapt to the players' spontaneous idea of "hey, let's impersonate a diplomat to get into the castle!" the same way (actually, I doubt mine would be as well thought out on back story).That's actually quite a challenge with social skills.  They tend to be used on the spur of the moment.  Sure, combat skills get whipped out on random NPCs all the time, but it's pretty obvious how to resolve them (determine some stats, roll init, and start fighting).  When players decided to do a social skill, odds are good it was not an anticipated action by the GM.The reason I'm curious, is because JC seemed against the very idea of being able to get past a guard with a bluff.  His example was one that clearly blocks a bluff from working.  What I wanted was verification that a bluff CAN be used in his game to get past the guard, or was his intent to block all bluffs.I'm satisfied that his example was intended as "here's how a bluff can be impossible" rather than "here's why bluffs will never work in my game".</blockquote>

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