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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7742320" data-attributes="member: 29398">I guess I don't see it as being all that complicated...I'll explain a bit further below, after another quote...And this is what makes it all more complicated than it needs to be: letting yourself be bound to the mechanics, and leaving those mechanics open to the players.Secret rolls are your friend (thus the player retains the uncertainty born from not knowing the reason for the narration - did a "nothing there" narration arise from a good roll proving there's nothing there or a bad roll completely missing something?).  False alarms are your friend (sometimes the rustling in the bushes really is just a raccoon).  And most important, varying and changing up your narration is your friend.  It's easy (and I'm guilty of this) to slip into a habit of using one narration for true results and another for false-true, and to no surprise the players pick up on this real fast. <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=":)" />Hard-coded mechanics for resolving social interactions really aren't anybody's friend, whether it's a PC trying to persuade or intimidate an NPC or vice versa; that's what role-playing at the table is for, yet there's nothing wrong with using an informal roll* to guide one's reactions when uncertain.  But even when they're not explicitly used as such, formal hard-coded mechanics for this stuff just look from a distance like the game providing means of short-cutting or short-circuiting role-play at the table - which seems rather counterproductive to a game which in theory has role-playing as its raison d'etre.* - I do this as DM all the time if I'm unsure what an NPC's reaction might be, particularly if a PC just said or revealed something s/he shouldn't have; a common occurrence.  I also sometimes do it as a player, particularly if I-as-player have thought of something my character might not have, or if I'm considering doing something probably very stupid (but fun!) and checking to see if my character is as unwise as I am. <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=":)" />It's only complicated if you're a slave to game mechanics that IMO either shouldn't be there (social) or should be much nore nuanced (perception/hiding/etc.).Lanefan</blockquote>

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