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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 9275003" data-attributes="member: 4534">I’m running a Deadlands game using the Savage Worlds rules, and one of my players was trying to find information about a missing man. His character isn’t the friendly sort and doesn’t so much ask questions as he tends to threaten and bully others into giving him answers. i.e. He uses the Intimidation skill. During the session, the player tracked down the missing man’s girlfriend to ask about his whereabouts. Instead of asking politely, he slammed his hand on the table and raised his voice demanding, “Tell me where he is, dammit!” His Intimidation roll was successful, but instead of getting the answer he wanted she fled the scene.When I run a game, for most skill rolls, when the player makes a successful roll they tend to get what they want. i.e. If I ask for an Athletics roll to jump and the player rolls successful then they jump the fence. With social skills, I find I tend to handle things a little differently in that I want to know what their character is saying. For those players who aren’t smooth talkers, they’re free to give me a general idea of what they’re saying and what they’re trying to accomplish. In this particular case, the young woman was in love with the man the PCs were looking for, and knowing he was in danger, felt as though the PC meant her beau harm and would not speak to him. It dawned on me that I fundamentally handle social skills differently from other skills. Why? I’m glad you asked.When I play an NPC, I try to assign them their own motivations, strengths, and weaknesses. This NPC loved a man and felt his life was in danger, so was not predisposed to giving a stranger information about his whereabouts without proper motivation. Could Intimidation work? Yes, it could have worked had the PC been more concise in how he communicated with this NPC. Threatening her or her family might very well have worked, but just acting like a jerk wasn’t going to work no matter how well the player rolled.But that’s not exactly fair to the player, right? When a player makes an Intimidation roll, how are they supposed to know what will or won’t work based on the inner workings of an insane GM’s (mine) mind? That’s what I’m mulling over. In some cases, I try to have players make rolls to figure out what might work. After all, we tailor our arguments based on our audience in real life, right? It makes sense for a PC to do the same.How do you handle social skills in your games? Do you just have the players roll and have them get a positive effect if they roll high enough with little care for what they say?</blockquote>

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