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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ahnehnois" data-source="post: 6302653" data-attributes="member: 17106">I believe that's exactly what I said.I doubt I ever have. Hard to do if you don't actually use such encounters.None whatsoever.If a player, say, wants to convince and NPC to do something by talking nicely, I've got a suite of options. I might:*Give them what they want and move on immediately.*Have them play the conversation out and then give them what they want.*Have them play the conversation out and then make them roll a skill check to get what they want.*Have them roll the skill check that determines whether they get what they want without talking.*Have them play out the conversation and then tell them no.*Tell them no upfront and have them do something different.All of these options are equally supported by the rules. There is no requirement that the Diplomacy skill be used, only a description of what happens when it is used. My decision will, in the mode of the discussion above, take into account context. Who are the characters? What do they know about each other? What are their motivations? How reasonable is the request to the characters, and to those of us in the real world?And then, the metagame stuff. How interesting is this conversation? What else do I have going on during this session? How much time until someone has to leave? Who's been in the spotlight a lot lately? How nice has this player been to me lately? Do I have this NPC statted? Am I interested in playing him?It doesn't take a doctorate in psychology to know that all of these factors and more affect these types of decisions, whether you want them to or not. I'm just honest about it. Several of those factors are influenced by players, some knowingly and out in the open, others less so. Moreover, I might just roll a d% just to determine what kind of mood the universe is in, and rule according to how good the result makes me feel.Ultimately, the important thing is not that the players control what happens, it's that they experience the events that their characters experience in as naturalistic a way as possible. As with life, how much control we have over things varies.</blockquote>

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