Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="zakael19" data-source="post: 9758885" data-attributes="member: 7044099">Are you playing the playtest adventure (based on the encounters you described it sounds like it)? The Delian tomb "Start Here" packet pregens all have an excellent assortment of skills. Also, I wonder if a GM coming from a more narratively open game or who has experience running later design 4e SCs would've done a better job creating opportunities. When I read the playtest adventure it did feel a little constrained (same way the Daggerheart playtest doesn't really show the potential of its system off that well).However, looking at the Delian Tomb's presented Negotiations, there's no set skill list or anything, and the framework for the whole thing is actually really robust! Lots of space to use Reason/Intuition/Presence rolls to try and uncover motivations or pitfalls; plus you can just RP asking flat out what people want/need to get hints. It's actually a really cool (if pretty lengthy in the rules) framework for weighty councils/conflicts with a lot of solid guidance:"Negotiation is not a process that changes an NPC’s character. Rather, the heroes are trying to make an NPC understand how behaving differently would be in character. You might well be able to get the hitherto loyal lieutenant of an evil boss to reconsider the error of their ways. That’s a classic dramatic trope. But even then, you’re not changing their character—you’re convincing them that their current evil ways are out of character. “Is this who you are? Is this how you want to be remembered?!”If some players want to use the negotiation system as a means to an end by having their characters say, “Just do what we tell you, or else!”, you can remind them that that’s not how most people, including NPCs, work. Any heroes who open with that attitude are likely to lose the negotiation before it begins.The Threat of ViolenceIn the real world, negotiations rarely come with a threat of immediate violence. Ambassadors don’t usually get into fistfights. But this is a heroic fantasy RPG, featuring heroes who are armed to the teeth and able to alter reality with their minds. The threat of violence is already implied. Everyone involved knows that the characters could draw steel at any moment.The Director typically assumes that the underlying potential for events to turn violent is already factored into every negotiation. However, if the heroes decide to bring that threat to the forefront, then they’ve exited the realm of negotiation and have entered into a different type of relationship—and it’s probably time to draw steel.Negotiation is about persuading someone to help you willingly because you’ve convinced them that meeting your objectives is a good idea. Working with you is wise or logical, or might make them look good. "</blockquote>

Verification