Social Interaction

Not every dramatic story event needs to involve combat. Parlaying with a pirate crew trying to take over your ship, asking the King for a boon, negotiating peace with the Reptiliod Empire, or wheedling information out of the local snitch can all be fun and exciting ways to move your story forward without killing everything sight.

In general, there are two ways to run a social interaction and commonly groups tend to blend the two methods for most social interactions.

Pure Roleplaying

By far the most difficult way to play out a social encounter, pure roleplaying can also be the most rewarding and immersive method. No dice are rolled, no game mechanics are necessary, just the players and the GM acting out their respective parts. If the players are trying to find information from a noted scholar, they have to ask the right questions and strike the right tone to succeed without the help of the dice. Asking for a boon from the King, they had best give them the proper respect and be persuasive in stating their case.

Most gaming groups do not consist of trained actors so this style of interaction can be very hard to accomplish and you may find that it only happens for short, relatively minor social interactions. That is fine and nobody is expecting award winning, improvisational acting from either the GM or the players. Depending on the interaction, it can also involve heavy emotions that people at the table are just not comfortable expressing in front of others and it might be best for everyone’s enjoyment if you do not force them to try. But, if you have a group that is open to immersing themselves in their characters this type of interaction can be a highlight of the game and a story told for years. After all, they don’t call them Role Playing Games for nothing.

Purely Mechanical

For a minor social interaction or if you are playing with a group that much prefers to let their weapons do the talking and does not enjoy the more aesthetic aspects of role playing you can always opt for a purely mechanical approach to social interactions. Using this method involves relying purely on skill checks and the luck of the dice. Players state in plain language what they want to accomplish with their interaction, the GM gives them a skill and DC and the players either succeed or fail based on that skill check.

Let it be known that there is nothing wrong with this style of play. It is hard to throw yourself fully into another persona and equally as hard to emote for an audience with no prior experience or training. Role Playing Games can incorporate a vast spectrum of play styles and the one that makes your group the happiest is the best play style.

Hybrid

Most groups tend toward a hybrid of the two play styles for social interactions. Players will lay out what they hope to accomplish and then interact as their characters with the GM for a short amount of time. At some point in the interaction the players will hit their limit of immersive role playing or the GM will have played out everything they had planned for the big speech and the GM will declare it is time for someone to roll an Insight or Persuasion check.

This mix takes the best of both worlds. Some immersive role playing is accomplished and players get to feel more connected to their characters and the world they inhabit, nobody has to strain their acting chops, and the dice roll adds in some objectivity combined with randomness to the final outcome.

To the GM, I would add that they should pay close attention during the initial role playing phase of the interaction. Did the player act appropriately for their character, did they do a good job of probing for information, did they act rashly, or did they stumble around trying to find the right questions to ask. Take their actions into consideration in determining the DC of their skill check and potentially add modifiers or ADV/DIS to their roll as appropriate.

• Larry’s character Grognar is trying to persuade the local Baron to fund his expedition to the Frost Giant Peaks. He is not the most savvy or nuanced negotiator and has no leverage to approach the Baron from a position of strength. In the initial stages of the interaction Grognar lays out his plan in a terse manner and is a bit forthright with his desires, almost making them demands. The GM rules that Baron was a bit offended and now Grognar has DIS on his Persuasion check. Conversely, Grognar could start the interaction in his usual gruff manner, but somewhere along the line he picks up the Baron’s displeasure and in a flash of brilliance he recounts the Baron’s great adventures in his youth and how this expedition hopes to follow in his glory. The GM rules that Grognar now has ADV on his Persuasion check.