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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 9868457" data-attributes="member: 7031982">For the record, if the GM wants to roll for the NPC's performance just to give the GM's roleplaying some color that their acting ability might not have conveyed, I think that's totally fine.   Some players might lean into it, others might not.  As long as there's no expectation of how they choose to respond to that.To me that's no different from describing a feature of the environment..."and you catch a twinkling of light reflecting off something in the bottom of the pool"...which a player would be free to totally ignore without being required to justify their actions according to their character.In fact, I'm going to run with that thought: if the player ignores the twinkling light, or the thin straight crack in the floor, or the ominous rumble they can hear, or the whiff of decay coming up the tunnel...well, that's their mistake.  "FAFO" or whatever that term is, right?  It's probably a mistake.So why should social interaction telegraphs be any different?  You describe your NPC as threatening, or sympathetic, or whatever, and you want the players to respond.  If they don't respond in the way you expect there should be a related consequence.  As I said up-thread, if the players don't believe the orc chieftain is intimidating and declare actions accordingly, he should probably kick their @$$es.  If he can't, then you sent a false telegraph.  Whose fault is that?And that thing about "declare actions accordingly" is central: players should not have to state whether they are intimidated or persuaded or deceived: they only declare actions.  Maybe the character really is intimidated, but concludes that violence is still their best bet?  (Striking first might even the odds.). Or isn't intimidated, but still wants to make peace, for whatever reasons?  Why does the internal state of mind matter?</blockquote>

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