Social Engagements

Games Sentinel Comics RPG
1

So, I've been running the system for a while and having a good deal of success over what my group was using prior, but one thing I've noticed is that social options are very limited from the previews that we've got so far. The Chapter 4 preview notes you can use Overcome actions for situations where you need to roll to determine an outcome. However, it does seem to limit the GMs ability to manage the difficulty of a situation. At present, I see there's only a few options in the RAW:
 

1. Rolling an Overcome action with standard Overcome results (Sleezy Steve needs to be persuaded to provide evidence)

2. Advising that the action being attempted isn't possible (Sleezy Steve ain't gonna turn evidence on The Alternator no matter what you suggest because he knows what that guy does to snitches)

3. Doing multiple Overcome actions ala Complex Challenges from Chapter 5. (One overcome to convince Sleezy Steve that you can protect him from the Alternator, one overcome to convince him to provide the really detailed information, etc.)

Of these options, option 1 is the default, but runs into a case where there's no way really to raise or lower the difficulty of the roll. 1-3 is always success with a major twist, 4-7 always success with a minor twist. The scared mook you're trying to get directions to the control room out of and the captured lieutenant who's not completely convinced of his boss but also a bit harder to crack have exactly the same die results for whether you make any headway in convincing them. Option 2 is possible (Baron Blade isn't just going to give up on dropping the moon just because you ask), but basically useless for allowing non-combat options. And while Option 3 seems to provide a case, in social interactions it falls short due to the potential for multiple dice rolls to screw up a work in progress. Essentially, you persuade the guy to talk to you at all, but then roll a 1 on your next challenge step, resulting in complete failure. The odds are essentially heavily stacked against a multi-step overcome working out if it takes more than two overcomes.

In a lot of other systems, you'd have something like a "target number" that went up and down based on the difficulty of what the player is attempting, and I'm just wondering if SCRPG has an option for this that I'm not finding in the rules or if not, what you've done for similar things.

 

 

2

I think there are things within the rules that you can do, or you can just make up some stuff. Here are some random thoughts, which may not even be relevant to you or your situation, in no order, but presented with the best of intentions:

- I don't think you need a Complex Challenge. I think a regular Challenge with multiple Overcome boxes will do. The risk/drama here is, "How many failures/Twists do you generate getting there?" You can add a very short Scene Tracker to ramp up the tension, even if it's basically one turn (that way, they are motivated to take Twists rather than just fail.) Each box checked can be a little bit of information revealed, or even just a dialogue bit, like, "He spits out a tooth and says, 'You'll have to do better than that!'"

- You can change the "Difficulty" by adding ad hoc bonuses or penalties to the action based on what's happening or what the PCs do. When they attempt to intimidate the info out of the criminal, you can say there's a -2 penalty called Snitches Get Stiches, or something. You can establish these penalties as "created by the Environment," and possibly add ways for them to be removed, but they are otherwise persistent. This uses the language of the game, so it will feel more natural to the rest of gameplay.

- I think, as GM, you are also just free to set bonuses or penalties for "difficulty," and give bonuses or penalties based on the players RP, or approach, or original/cliche ideas. Your group may love this or it may feel awkward - I think it probably depends on the group.

- A handy GM guideline is always, "Never give an NPC something you don't want the PCs to have." That includes information. But here's how I really think GMs should think about that rule - "Always give the NPC something you want the PCs to have." You probably know what the PCs will want to know before they do, so plan for that. Divide the information up into tidbits, or better yet, make it a story. In thise case, have the criminal tell some facts, but avoid getting to the point or leave out key details. Then give away more and more as they go on through the Overcomes. Most importantly, plan the whole thing around what you, the GM, want them to have and how it gets them to the next story beat or plot reveal.

- Just as you've planned out exactly what you want the PCs to get, you also need a sliding scale of the consequences of them getting it. Look, at the end of the scene, either way, you want the PCs to get the information. For them to hit a total brick wall is boring and frustrating (if the goon doesn't have the info, I'd say narrate that without rolling). So they're getting the information, but what does each failure or Twist cost them? Is it temporary penalties? Did they take too long, and someone in the shadow spots them? Will it come back to bite them later? Decide the scale, and then stick to it.

- Let the players know that how well they do at the Challenge will affect things. It's no breach of GM protocol to straight out say, "Depending on how many failures you take, the next fight will be harder. Twists will come up in later encounters with the Villain." You can keep it a bit mysterious, but add tension to the whole scene.

- Whatever you do, avoid the kinds of thing that D&D defaults to - "If you fail, nothing happens." If you fail the Arcana check, you never learn the wizard's secret. If you fail the Persuasion check, the Baron never helps you. (This is not the way you have to run D&D, obviously, but it's the "default" of the system, if you will.) What I like to do instead is add gradations - if you fail the Arcana check, you learn enough to know the Wizard has a secret and the general topic, but you're going to have to do more work to figure it out. If you fail the Persuasion check, the Baron asks for some favors first. And also, if you make the Persuasion check by a bunch, the Baron offers you a reward if you're successful. Either way, as the GM, you planned for the Wizard's secret to get out, or for the Baron to help, and all you're doing is flavoring how the story gets there, or what happens after.

I may have repeated myself there, and again, some of this may not be relevant to you or your case, but I figured it might be relevant to someone else who reads this thread. :D

3

OpMegs, what were you playing before trying out SCRPG? I'm in the middle of a discernment process myself for my group.  I'd love to hear about your experiences.

4

Another option is to make a multi-step challenge and if they twist (especially major), it can add a difficulty to the challenge. Or create a new overcome challenge depending on the situation.

5

Our previous primary RPG system was the FATE system, which is in many ways the opposite of SCRPG, in having a fairly flexible degree of things you can do with the social side of things but a very.... clunky overall combat system unless you want to heavily homebrew options. Particularly when running play by post on forum software which robs a lot of the immediace from the FATE point economy which causes the whole system to gum up a bit.

At least one thing we're planning to try out is basically having sufficiently skilled folks being able to roll a dice pool and using the mid as a modifier to the Overcome pool (they roll essentially a +2 on what rolls you need to manage to get the result you want, that's 2 more to get that Success with a Minor Twist), but I will look at these responses as stuff to try as well. :)

6

Funny you'd say that, I actually see how SCRPG is heavily inspired by FATE.  The core mechanic is very similar in principle: decide what you want to do, then figure out what stat you have is most appropriate.  It's definitely less combat-focused, though.

I have a homebrew system I've been working on for ages that basically treats SCRPG's Overcome thresholds as the "default" difficulty level for a somewhat challenging task.  Trivial tasks can have lower target numbers, superheroic ones can have higher target numbers.  But also the system has improvement bullt into it, so tasks where you'd need a 12 or higher to get a baseline success can be reasonable.