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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rpgHQ" data-source="post: 1202284" data-attributes="member: 12219">O didnt vote as I felt none of the options was close enough to what we do in my playgroups.We use rolls and roleplay but the players dont do the rolling, always a secret roll by the GM. We roll for npc reaction, the npc gets rolls and opposing rolls. I base the conversation or actions of the NPC on those rolls, and during the conversation if its more than a sentance or two will make ongoing rolls for both the players and npc's. If the player happens to really be making a real effort, catches on to  something the NPC is doing(I tend to describe amount/detail of  body langauge, facial expression, where the NPC is looking, the manner of their speech and such based on the players rolls for innuendo, spot and such with bonuses for various knowledge skills and ranks if lanaguge skill), or maybe the player is just inspired that day, they dont get any bonuses to the rolls they get some bonus xp for the session. And of course rolls get fudged by me as needed to move the plot along, but its not the players bad or good role-play that effects the outcome, its a role-playing game, their suppose to be role-playing anyhow, they get extra xp for their effort or inspired role-playing, for role-playing their character, just because the player figures out something doesnt mean their character would, I love the players who have chars with low INT and/or WIS and you SEE they have caught on to something or know what to do but they have decided that their character wouldnt have caught on to something or known something and so they role-play accordingly, going with the flow, enjoying the role-play and letting the dice do their thing.Depending on how bad/good the rolls are the conversation/situation being played out with the NPC might make it obvious they are succeeding or failing, or might not. They might think they bluffed, fast-talked, bribed themselves past a guard only to find themselves setup in an ambush a little bit later or hear an alarm going off a few seconds later. Maybe they think they have whiddled, bullied, cajoaled, or listened in unseen and gotten some bit of information needed from a smuggler or low-life type, only later to find out it was false information, or that they got reported, be it city watch, mob enforcers or whatnot. The rolls are there because its a game, and the roleplay is there because thats what you do in this kind of game, but the rolls determine the tone and direction of role-play on my part as the GM acting as the NPCs. Bonus xp is what I reward the players for good role-play not mods to their rolls. I fudge rolls for or against the players as I need for the moving of the plot/storyline. Every GM fudges the rolls when needed to keep a players character alive if it is going to mess things up, we do it for various reasons all the time, fudging rolls. By mmaking rolls all the time for 'social' skill checks and keeping them hidden from the players keeps them on their toes, and its up to me to role-play in a manner to reflect those rolls on the NPC side, allowing the players to role-play in their own manner. Fudging the die rolls would be along the lines of I want the players to think they have 'succeeded' in a situation though they havent, maybe they do succeed, but I want them to feel like they might have blown it. Or maybe its as simple as the players made some crappy rolls but I need them to 'survive' the situation. I might still use the rolls to determine the tone of the role-play for the encounter though.My two cents worth, rambled as usual <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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