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Notes -
It is a tricky one. But consider this, the fighter picked his tactic, which square he was going to move into before he attacked, which weapon he was going to use, etc. In social combat, that might translate into which avenue are you taking to persuade the king. Appeal to his honor? his empathy? his pride? Are you portraying yourself as his equal or his subject? Appealing to the time you saved his daughter from orcs?
And that's normally how I run it when I am GM, I won't necessarily require a full speech, but I will want to know what weapon you are using and where you are metaphorically planting your feet. However someone who struggles with social skills, may even struggle with identifying those options. and that can be a bit of a quandary.
Depending on the group, there definitely can be expectations that you roleplay your character when you speak which helps with the shared fantasy.
In "Storming the Wizard's Tower" D. Vincent Baker came up with a neat mechanic for this. I can't find my copy of the manuscript, but in "Apocalypse World" the mechanics are similar:
READ A SITCH
When you read a charged situation, roll+sharp. On a hit, you can ask the MC
questions. Whenever you act on one of the MC’s answers, take +1. On a 10+, ask 3.
On a 7–9, ask 1:
Where’s my best escape route / way in / way past?
Which enemy is most vulnerable to me?
Which enemy is the biggest threat?
What should I be on the lookout for?
What’s my enemy’s true position?
Who’s in control here?
On a miss, ask 1 anyway, but be prepared for the worst.
READ A PERSON
When you read a person in a charged interaction, roll+sharp. On a 10+, hold 3.
On a 7–9, hold 1. While you’re interacting with them, spend your hold to ask their
player questions, 1 for 1:
Is your character telling the truth?
What’s your character really feeling?
What does your character intend to do?
What does your character wish I’d do?
How could I get your character to —?
On a miss, ask 1 anyway, but be prepared for the worst.
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I agree with that. When I GM, I'm looking for a general approach to the situation. You need to tell me are you trying flattery, or a bribe, and so on. And I then let you roll your social skill, with me determining how easy or hard it is to succeed using the stated approach. Depending on the situation I might nudge a player if they pick an inappropriate approach (e.g. a player trained in an insight sort of skill might get a note "with your practice in reading people, you think bribery may not work on this guard").
What I object to here is the GMs who just throw the rules out the window and want to hear you say exactly what your character says, and then judge by that. I've had GMs do that to me and it's bullshit. I'm not a persuasive person, don't ask me to actually persuade unless you're asking the fighter to actually win a sword fight.
Yeah it's a continuum I guess. If you just reduce everything to dice rolls then it's a board game not a roleplaying game almost, but if you base it on actual performance, then you are basically doing improv with not much of the game part. You have to balance those (and every group and individuals preferred balance will probably be somewhat different).
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