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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9701565" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think this is separate from the issue of rolling dice.I'm sure in the history of human beings there have been cases where a single conversation changed someone's mind about a deeply held belief. Religious conversions would probably figure in here, but I'm sure there have been other examples too. I agree, though, that it's not common.But that is about what counts as a permissible action declaration: just as "I punch through the wall with my fist" is probably not going to get off the ground in most RPGs (unless the character has superstrength etc) so "I change their mind about their core belief by saying 'Hey, howaboutit?'" is not going to get off the ground either (unless the would-be persuader has superhuman charisma or mesmerism or whatever).But if the action declaration is "I spend the next several months in intense convesation, explaining why <whatever> is the better view to have", then rolling a die might be a perfectly good way to resolve that action, even though the process that is occurring in the fiction is nothing like a die roll. Just as we might resolve "I spend a month doing my best to make a whole through the wall" can be resolved by a die roll, even though the process of poking and digging and carrying away rubble is not much like a die roll.I want to know more about the game, I guess.In Classic Traveller (1977), the morale rules are presented expressly as applying to PCs (Book 1, p 33):A party of adventurers (player or non-player) which sustains casualties in an encounter will ultimately break or rout if it does not achieve victory. At the point in which 25% of a party are unconscious or killed, the party must begin throwing for morale. Average morale throw is 7+ to stand, or not break. Valiant parties may have a higher throw. D[ice ]M[odifier]s are allowed: +1 if the party is a military unit, +1 if a leader (leader expertise) is present, +1 if the leader has any tactical expertise; –2 if the leader is killed (for two combat rounds, and then until a new leader takes control), –2 if casualties exceed 50%.So the game rules simply rule out a player making it a core trait of their PC, I will never break or flee in battle. In Pendragon, some of a PC's core beliefs are mechanised as Passions. These are not fully under the player's control. For instance, as the rules state (5.2 ed, p 93),a character is almost certain, at some time, to receive a failed Passion roll in time of a crisis. This failure may cause an immediate loss of 1 point in the associated Passion. Always ask the Gamemaster before you subtract the point, however (some circumstances may not warrant the reduction).And Passion rolls can dictate certain actions on the part of the PC, and the player does not always get to choose to make the roll. From p 91:The Gamemaster may call for a Passion roll, possibly with a modifier for the particular situation. This roll is handled as any other unopposed resolution (see Chapter 5), but uses the results found on Table 4.2: Standard Passion Results. At other times the player may request a roll, with the Gamemaster’s approval. Remember that the Gamemaster has final word on the appropriateness of attempting to use a Passion for Inspiration. Players are warned that Passion rolls can be extremely risky as well as rewarding, for they may subject a knight to several unusual states of mind, including Disheartened, Melancholy, and Madness.These games are, in my view, as playable as conventional D&D, even though they don't give the player full control over who the character is and what they do.</blockquote>

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