Love the Venture Brothers. Though the only reason the Summit was resolved was due to Rusty knocking over the game board by denouncing the whole process as immature nonsense, not because of his diplomacy skills (which he has very little of, lol).
I would be interested in seeing some examples and thoughts on how one would presented to people unfamiliar with it.If you're interested, I'd be happy to discuss this in another thread. @Manbearcat should also be part of that, as he is probably the master of skill challenges.
The starting point is the 4e DMG2 discussion, and how those ideas can be built on.
I do not believe that D&D needs a specific social subsystem but I believe that D&D needs a non combat resolution system that is more complex and nuanced than the simple pass fail of the ability check
I am not sure what that would look like, the skill challenge was an attempt but I think it lacked something.
I will admit that I maybe looking for something fairly meta, so I would be happy with an optional add-on. My issue with the skill challenge was that it was still mostly pass fail.
My thoughts are that the players spend some meta currency to increase success that the DM can later use to raise complications but that may not be the best approach.
It means people want games with more role playing then roll playing, or to put it simply a game that is anything other then mindless combat.
You can find good role players and have a good role playing game. However, there will still be way too many players that just want to skip anything and get right to the combat.
The big hang up is: The rules. For too many players, unless they are using a rule, they are not "playing the game". They don't want to just sit around and talk, they want to use the rules to play the game. They want action, adventure and most of all combat.
The dream would be social rules as detailed as the combat rules, so that would be hundreds of pages. You'd have social based abilities. People and creatures would have Social Armor. Everyone would have a Base Social Bonus. Everyone would have Social Life. You'd have social backgrounds and archtypes and feats. You'd have Renown, Standing, Honor, and other such social rank rules. You would have items and equipment that had effects. And all magic would be re written to fit the social rules. The best way would to have a dual "classic combat side" and a "new social side" much like a multiclassed character. So you might be a 3rd level fighter/2nd level commoner. The social classes would get abilities per level, just like other classes. And when you defeat someone socially you'd get loot and XP.
So the 2nd level commoner, who wants to get past a toll guard for free, would attack with the "we are all in the same boat" 1st level commoner ability and attempt to get the guard to see that they are both just folk. The 3rd level guard would resist using the 2nd level guard ability "I'm just following orders". Dice are rolled, both sides attack and defend. If the commoner gets the guards social life down to zero, he gets to pass for free and gets Confidence points and XP.. If the guard gets the commoner to zero social life first then they don't get to pass for free and gets Confidante points and loyalty points if "just following orders" and XP. And so on.....
It depends on the players. If I were to say to my players "you have been charmed by the the succubus" they will role play the character being charmed. There is no need to take away control of the character from the player, because they will act in accordance with the character's magically altered perceptions.Player immunity to social rolls has always been a touchy subject. On the one hand, it makes sense to not take away someone's agency. However, if that's your goal, then why can they be charmed, dominated, or magically frightened? That doesn't make any sense!
Imagine a player and an NPC sit down at the negotiating table. The NPC could be made to make concessions with a good roll, but the reverse isn't true, allowing the PC to back out at any time?
Based on what we've seen in the One D&D playtest, I would say that they are mostly on their way out the door. Alignment likely being the one exception, mostly due to brand and traction.Soo....what are Flaws, Alignment, Ideals, Traits, and Bonds?