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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oni" data-source="post: 5017003" data-attributes="member: 380">I do think it is fair to say that not everyone can roleplay with the same degree of skill or level of believability.  Hell, I've never considered myself to be spectacular roleplayer in the amateur thespian sense of the word.     Is it preferable to use a system (or lack of system) that encourages them to try harder and be better, or a system that encourages them not to try at all and instead substitutes an alternate resolution to roleplaying?This reminds me of an interesting notion that I saw floated here once some time back, that 4e had made combat too fun to the detriment of the game.  The idea is that players will gravitate toward the aspect of the game that they feel is the most enjoyable and rewarding, and if that aspect is combat then the game will become about combat.  Consider this, if you make the act of resolving social situations the most entertaining and enjoyable part of the game for the players, then they will gravitate toward it.  However if you do that by removing roleplaying and substituting it with the minigame of social combat all you've done is make the game aspect the one of primary importance in the mind of the players, while at the same time reducing the incentive to actually roleplay.  Now the stories that you might be able to hang on such a framework might be different, you've now defeated the duke with words, and not swords, but how much have you actually changed the experience at the table.  I wonder how interesting or engaging these different plots would be if they have been reduced to a series of mechanical resolutions.  I posit that the skill checks of 3/4e were never really meant to be engaging, that they are simply a tool for DM to adjudicate the situation based on the actions of the PC, not a blunt instrument for the PC's to wield in and of themselves.  Now I don't want to come across as saying you shouldn't try to innovate, but it is important to keep in mind that design decisions come with consequences at the gaming table.</blockquote>

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