NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5613259" data-attributes="member: 42582">I said "towards the goal, of victory by their PCs in the combat" - in Janx's terms, this is success within the microcosm of the immediate conflict, ie the combat.In the bluff guard, what's the relevant microcosm? Making the guard believe the untruth? Or having the guard act a certain way in respect of it? In my experience, normally the latter.I know. My point was, Why not use the player's successful Bluff check instead? Ie why not treat that check as having a metagame as well as an ingame significance?The only answer given to this, so far, in this thread, has been from JamesonCourage, who has said it's too narrativist an approach.This gives rise to another playstyle issue (related to the one I flagged quite a way upthread, of "gritty" vs "gonzo").What's more fun - to pretend to be a turnip deliverer, or a diplomat? And which of these is more viable, overall for a first level knigh? a 9th level wizard? a 12th level thief? Does the castle have aura reading or detect magic? If it does, a high level PC would do better posing as a diplomat than a farmer.There are a lot of variables here. Even if the turnip farmer is the most realistic in some realworld situations, it may not be the best way to push in game, for a range of reasons. (Including consequences - discovery and a resulting showdown in the throne room might be more exciting than discovery and a resulting showdown in the kitchen.)Well, yes, but is this a flip of the switch from "good" to "overpowered", or from "mostly useless" to "good"? In my personal play experience with social skills, I think it's the latter.I agree about the need for some description - if the GM doesn't know what the PC is doing, s/he can't adjudicate the outcome.As to "bypassing" encounters - whether or not that is a problem depends heavily on the preferences of those at the table. After all, one way of railroading can be to prevent the players' bypassing encounters. And for some players, bluffing the guard isn't bypassing an encounter but engaging with it and succeeding at it.But this only gives rise to the question, what is the GM's role in relation to moving the game along? Different posters in this thread clearly have different views on that.</blockquote>

Verification