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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 2700401" data-attributes="member: 18549">I dunno.  I started in D&D, went through AD&D 1 & 2, and now I play 3.5.  I remember that in earlier editions before there was a social mechanic (aside from the NPC reaction chart), you essentially played yourself as a mage or yourself as a fighter.  Which isn't too far from the earliest ideas of D&D as an offshoot of a tactical wargame.  The original concept was that you made the best decision you could come up with and that's what the character did.  Eventually, someone realized that they could have their character decide to do something other than what they would do in the same situation, because the character is different than they, and role-playing was born.  Then there came the issue of "well, my fighter wouldn't say it in the same words I would.  He'd say it in medieval language."  And then came "well, my bard wouldn't say it like I would.  He'd say it better."GURPS has for a very long time had a skill-based mechanic for determining the outcome of social situations.  It meant you could play someone who was good at (or bad at) those things.  D&D just picked up on the concept fairly late in the game.</blockquote>