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<blockquote data-quote="chaochou" data-source="post: 5436111" data-attributes="member: 99817">I don't think the fact that D&amp;D has peripheral 'talking skills' which people then find redundant makes the concept of social mechanics irrelevant. It just highlight how little they achieve in D&amp;D.As I said before other systems have created rich, interesting mechanics which support and enhance social encounters.For example, in HeroWars my group were desperate to borrow some horses from a neighbouring clan. They used Persuade as the base skill, but throughout the scene said and did other things to augment that with Intimidate, Relationship: PCs Clan, Relationship: Neighbours Clan, Horsemanship, Hate Lunars, Steady Gaze, Leadership and Diplomacy.By the end of that scene we'd knew that the tradition was for borrowed goods to be returned in five days or be considered stolen, that the steadholder had a missing brother, that there had been cattle raids in the woods close the two clans' border which were being blamed on the PCs clan, and that the steadholder was fiercely opposed to the Lunar occupying forces and might co-operate with the PCs in activity against them. All from talking round the table - no prep, just then and there.No-one is going to tell me that that wasn't 'actual roleplaying' simply by virtue of the fact that it was supported by numerically defined skills, traits, abilities and relationships - and the mechanics for how they enhance one another.The skills and numbers didn't reduce the situation to a dice roll - they created a framework which allowed every character to contribute, to generate arguments, threats and counters and create a whole load of new knowledge about the world into the bargain.That's what a good social system does.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="chaochou, post: 5436111, member: 99817"] I don't think the fact that D&D has peripheral 'talking skills' which people then find redundant makes the concept of social mechanics irrelevant. It just highlight how little they achieve in D&D. As I said before other systems have created rich, interesting mechanics which support and enhance social encounters. For example, in HeroWars my group were desperate to borrow some horses from a neighbouring clan. They used Persuade as the base skill, but throughout the scene said and did other things to augment that with Intimidate, Relationship: PCs Clan, Relationship: Neighbours Clan, Horsemanship, Hate Lunars, Steady Gaze, Leadership and Diplomacy. By the end of that scene we'd knew that the tradition was for borrowed goods to be returned in five days or be considered stolen, that the steadholder had a missing brother, that there had been cattle raids in the woods close the two clans' border which were being blamed on the PCs clan, and that the steadholder was fiercely opposed to the Lunar occupying forces and might co-operate with the PCs in activity against them. All from talking round the table - no prep, just then and there. No-one is going to tell me that that wasn't 'actual roleplaying' simply by virtue of the fact that it was supported by numerically defined skills, traits, abilities and relationships - and the mechanics for how they enhance one another. The skills and numbers didn't reduce the situation to a dice roll - they created a framework which allowed every character to contribute, to generate arguments, threats and counters and create a whole load of new knowledge about the world into the bargain. That's what a good social system does. [/QUOTE]

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