Ben's Game Thread
Brendan C.:
I've been saying this a lot lately, but, NEAT.
I actually very much like the idea of social combat as the primary focus for the game, the primary means of getting things done, with each character being designed to "fight" socially in a different manner. But I'm curious about how you would deal with the idea of a physical fight breaking out in the game. Right now, as I think about D&D, if a social conflict breaks out, you either solve it with a throwaway Diplomacy check, or you solve it by actually talking it out. If a physical conflict breaks out, you go to the combat rules. So in your game, I'm imagining those two things switched. Am I correct in my assumption, or are you going to be dealing with physical combat in a different way? Is it going to be set up so that physical combat is entirely undesirable, or entirely unlikely to crop up?
Jason Pitre:
Love the idea. As a follow up to Brendan C. post, the idea of a focus on social combat seems particularly rich. Have you considered including a very simple "Violence" mechanic? Treat violence with the same mechanical care in this game as D&D treats diplomacy, to emphasize the difference in focus?
Looking forward to hearing more.
David Berg:
I'm curious what socialization means in this context. Is there any core motive or goings-on that leads to all these enticement attempts? Is some fictional outcome the focus, or is it inter-player competition where he with the most thralls wins?
Ben Lehman:
To answer the repeated question: I'm not sure "what about physical combat?" My thought is twofold:
Remember that my model is not 3e, with diplomacy checks and such, but Moldvay, which has no social model whatsoever but nonetheless implies you could talk your way out of an encounter. So my thought is, when there's physical stuff, you just do it. If it seems hard, the GM might ask for an ability check. I had thought about including an analogous attribute to Charisma (some sort of dump stat that represented physical strength) but I don't think there's a need (I can't imagine a physical action that could be covered by Grace or Perseverance).
In addition, the Courtesan is going to have some random special abilities some of which will be physical.
David asks a good question, which is "why?" My thought is "you're an adventuring party! you go adventuring" but there should honestly be some reasons for it. My model game (Moldvay) has this awesome chart with 20 reasons that you might go adventuring. So here's a few.
1) Tracking down a lost love / lost husband. Someone (perhaps even one of you) has engaged the group to help find her missing beloved, who vanished suddenly a month ago while on caravan to Baghdad.
2) Escorting a princess. The Princess of the Scythians is to be married to the emperor. As it would be improper for her to have a male personal guard, you've been recruited to help her with the journey. But Al-ta-ir, the bandit captain, is in love with her. Can you protect her from him, and should you?
3) Captured! You have been captured by slavers to be sold at the slave markets in Marrakesh. Can you escape this fate?
4) A curse. One of you has been cursed by an angry jinn. Now you must travel to the flying city to try to find someone with the authority to remove the curse.
5) Conquest. The Tyrant's forces have taken over the city. Can you destroy his government from within or find a place in the new order?
6) The witch-king is interested in a truce, but it must be carried by the three most beautiful women in the realm. Naturally, that's you ...
yrs--
--Ben
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