Social Skills, starting to bug me.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Why in-game combat can challenge the players' tactical skill, but social encounters must never challenge the players' social skill, is an attitude I just can't understand.

A player with a PC in combat may suck at tactics, but he can ALWAYS fall back on the roll of the die & the combat rules to help bail him out*. A player in a RPG without a system for simulating social skills has no such safety net.

I mean, I know jack all about the practice of martial arts beyond what media (movies, documentaries, books, comics, etc.) and a single day in a karate class have taught me, but I can still play a really cool martial artist in most game systems. Were combat handled the way some treat social skills, I'd be limited to playing brainy wallflowers with artistic talent.







* unless there's some RPG out there that bases combat results entirely upon what players actually know about combat.

 

[Elf Witch]

Honestly if someone is that socially inept they can't even roleplay a simple conversation with a guard or whomever then they really should find a new hobby. RPGS are face to face social experiences to being with.

Hell you don't have to give the worlds most perfect lie to bluff the guard, just TRY. Effort is rewarded. If you show up for a game with no intention of ever roleplaying then you should have stayed home on the computer.

It is not about being socially inept at all but thank you for deciding some people should not be able to play in the game because they don't come up to your standards.

Some shy people get all tongue tied when trying to role play out an encounter and then they say the wrong thing and the encounter goes bad because of it.

For me I have a form of aphasia from a traumatic brain injury there are times I can't remember the right word or I have trouble spitting out just what I am trying to say. I am grateful for the chance to play a charismatic character and not have to depend on my faulty brain all the time.

 

[dagger]

Do you expect people you are mean to to game with you?

We have never lacked for players whether I am the DM or the other guy, and that's why I DM AD&D so I don't have to worry about the skills.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Honestly if someone is that socially inept they can't even roleplay a simple conversation with a guard or whomever then they really should find a new hobby.

As Elf Witch pointed out, it's not necessarily ineptitude that would be the stumbling block.

It could be physical- a stutter, Tourettes, EW's aphasia, Steven Hawking's affliction, etc. It could be genre unfamiliarity. It could be a number of things.

And as I implied...how are your HTH combat skills? I'm not talking about your understanding of tactics, I'm talking about your ability to wear period armor and swing a period weapon with skill & accuracy.

For that matter, how are you on your heraldry? Or your etiquette skills? What is the proper form of address for meeting a Duke? A Bishop? A Shogun? What is the course that follows fish?

Have you ever participated in a mediation between international parties?

 

[BryonD]

We have never lacked for players whether I am the DM or the other guy, and that's why I DM AD&D so I don't have to worry about the skills.

Are you suggesting that no one is excluded? Or are you simply stating you don't miss those that you are excluding?

 

[dagger]

I am simply stating we have never lacked for players but we try to keep it 6-8 max. You are trolling me now right? lol

 

[Mark CMG]

As long as I've DMed, I've always prescribed to giving bonuses for good RPing but allowing any character built toward a goal to potentially succeed. If a character has a high intelligence, then he has a chance to succeed at something where that would help. So, too, for a character with high charisma. Even a quiet player's character is going to do well without RPing to the hilt though they will be encouraged to do their best. Likewise, good RPing will enhance their chances and possibly gain a bonus. It's a roleplaying game and if someone brings the goods I'm not going to negate that or level the field against them. However, playing the character sometimes means curbing an innate or acquired ability to roleplay, and someone who uses charisma for a dump stat but tries to play the smooth operator is just as likely going to get a penalty from me as DM for bad RPing. It's a double edged sword.

 

[BryonD]

I am simply stating we have never lacked for players but we try to keep it 6-8 max. You are trolling me now right? lol

Nope, just trying to understand. By all means, play what you like!!!

But as I described before, I think hosing a select group is just the tip of the iceberg of why I'd be underwhelmed by playing as you describe. Letting players get away with stuff despite the character they should be playing seems even worse to me. And not getting to play a character that exceeds me nor have the challenge of playing a character that is inferior to me both sound like major loses to me.

But that's just me.

 

[dagger]

Don't worry, I am not going to raise anything to the other players at the game table, but mostly because I can direct my ire at game mechanics to the fellow DM since we are long time friends.

Something Saturday night set me off involving a Sense Motive check, but the sad part is I can't even remember what the situation was.

I am just one player (and sometime DM) and if everyone else is fine with things then its cool. I guess my therapy is playing 1e and fantasizing how I would cut (or 'fix') PF.

I get annoyed at the way certain things are done across all the editions and they build up and I need to vent.

Some of the folks at the table obsesses about some new video game or a new TV show, I obsess about pen and paper rpgs.

 

[dagger]

But as I described before, I think hosing a select group is just the tip of the iceberg of why I'd be underwhelmed by playing as you describe. Letting players get away with stuff despite the character they should be playing seems even worse to me. And not getting to play a character that exceeds me nor have the challenge of playing a character that is inferior to me both sound like major loses to me.
.

But we don't really let anyone get away with any thing and we don't play like that. Actually you don't need social skills to do any of that...trust me we have been since 1e.