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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 8720129" data-attributes="member: 7031982">I'm basing my view off stuff like this: <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/03/deception#" target="_blank">Deception detection</a>The basic gist is that you can't "detect lies"; the best strategy is to try to lead a suspect into an inconsistency.Now, maybe the Insight (or whatever skill the game in question uses) is really a shorthand for, "I use those techniques to try to trap the liar", but...I don't find that interesting.  I just don't know what it adds to the game to flip a coin, heads you know the NPC is lying, tails you don't.  Don't get me wrong, I've played that way for years (same with "perception checks"), and it's so common in the game that I understand why it might seem strange/unnecessary to question it.  But I can't think of a single instance, in my experience, where the outcome of one of those rolls was actually exciting, either before or after the dice were rolled.  It's just this mechanical thing we step through.  Habit?I have the same approach to secret doors.  Instead of sprinkling them around dungeons, maybe found, maybe not, but no real difference to the story either way, I use them intentionally.  If I have a secret door, it's meant to be found.  There will be clues there must be a secret door.  Once known, there will be clues to where it is.  Once found, there will be clues to how to open it.  And if you talk to my players, they will have stories about secret doors.  "Remember the one under the..."I think lying NPCs should be handled the same way: if I want something important to hinge off a lying NPC, there will be information available so that the players will have ways to trap the NPC in their lies.</blockquote>

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