Gather Information: Player vs. Character

[Len]

I tend to concur with the use of Gather Information to represent abstract trolling for information. Ie. "My character spends the day hitting the taverns, looking to learn more about Lord Whatsisface"

This is how my DM does it. Or, I use Gather Information to find someone who can help us, then we roleplay the conversation with him. That works well as a combination of roleplaying and time-saving abstraction.

 

[Umbran]

But since he took some ranks in GI he trained himself and knows a few tricks to get the info he wants.

Yes. Gather Information helps the character figure out how to ask a question so that it will get answered. But other stats or skills are required to know what information you are actually looking for.

For example - there are an infinite number of ways to ask the general question, "Who is Count Rugen sleeping with this week?" Which way you ask depends upon the status, position, and personality of the target. GI and Charisma allows you to figure out which way to use. But figuring out that the Count's bedmate might be imortant has nothing to do with Charisma.

At 6 level with GI max out and 17 Cha for example you can have something like 10 in GI. So 70% of your skill come from training and experience. Last time I tried this way with an orc it gave me nothing, lets try another approach with this one.

Well, I don't use GI for single, fact to face encounters. For that, I use Diplomacy. GI is for "generalized" info gathering. As in, "I go out and visit a few local taverns and try to see if there's anyone has an idea who is sleeping with the Count". GI is there to make short work of a sequence of events that would take interminable time if you role-played out the whole thing.

Charisma is very important for GI. I never really trained at GI and I am pretty good at it. Very often I sit with someone I never or barely met before and I will be able to get from them information they never told to good friend or family member.

This is Diplomacy, not GI. GI is for going out and gathering information from many, unnamed sources. If you were playing Shadowrun, I'd say it was the skill you needed to do "legwork".

 

[DarkMaster]

Umbran you are correct. My use of GI was incorrect, I should have use diplomatie. In this case it doesn't matter that much since the rogue is max-out in both.

I also agree with you that GI and Charisma won't help you ask the right question. But like I said in a number of thread on social skills before I let the player define the content and the skill check represent the "container" if you want. To give a real life example: a good joke (good content) tell by a bad stand up comic (bad Container) will not be as effective as a stupid joke (Bad content) told by a outstanding artist(good container).

 

[Saeviomagy]

Gather information:

Player:"I want to know about X".

GM: "Roll."

Good result
GM: "OK. You hear about Y, who supposedly has info on what you want".

Now there's two ways that this will go. Either the info is unimportant, and Y is a nameless, faceless NPC who is just there to hand out info, or he'll be someone who's going to really contribute to the story.

If he's nameless and faceless, I just tell the player what he wanted to know.

If, on the other hand, the info was important, then Y is a real character with real motives. Visiting Y might be dangerous - Y himself might not like visitors. Y might be being watched. Y might have something he needs taken care of. Y might even be dead.

Take special note - gather information got me past all the boring stuff - following a train of unimportant NPCs to get me to a SCENE.

Also note: The SCENE is NOT essential to the game. It's a scene that gives you bonus points - info to make an encounter easier, to find more treasure, to beat the opposition somewhere etc. If it was essential to the game, then I'd be handing out NO REWARD to the player with a good gather information skill, because the PC's would find their way to the scene regardless of what they did, or the campaign would collapse.

A failed gather information roll means the PC's do not find what they're after.

As to social skills?

Start - NPC has a particular attitude ranging from hostile to helpful.

The PC decides what to ask. He even decides how to ask it. The diplomacy/bluff/sense motive roll just says how the NPC reacts, and what info the PC gleans outside of what is actually said.

Roleplaying still happens. Skills still matter. 3 hours of smalltalk is avoided.

 

[Talon5]

Saeviomagy-

I could not have said it better.