Editing Flamepunk: Social Combat (section)

==Using Social Combat==

===When and how to use social combat===

Social combat is an acquired taste, but the general idea is it allows greater simulationism for social characters in the group. Why should the fighters and runners get all the dice-crunching fun?

The default purpose of social combat is when two or more characters are interacting with a specific goal in mind, and need to use their cunning, charm and force of personality to get their way.

Its generally not something you need to pull out for everyday conversations and day-to-day social interactions - this is best covered through just roleplaying - instead, its reserved for actual conflicts of personality, where characters want different things but can't just agree to differ.

Seduction, intimidation, persuasion, coercion and mroe can all be covered by social combat.
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===Social Combat Goals: "Defeat Conditions"===

Core to social combat is the idea that each character has a target, and has a goal to the social combat.

'''Example goals:'''

* Seduce the Hadar ganglord, so that he is willing to tell you things that he wouldn't otherwise.
* Discredit the arguments of the prosecution lawyer, so your client walks free.
* Interrogate a suspect so that he tells you where his blazer buddies are.
* Convince the inquisitor interrogating you that you know nothing, so he'll leave you alone.

Social combat always requires an extended period of time, and continuous social interaction over this time

If you succeed in social combat (i.e. you reduce your target to 0 Will Points) then you achieve your objective.
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===The Passive Social Combatant===

Sometimes, someone is trying to convince you of something, but you have no goal yourself.

In these circumstances it is reasonable to set a "passive goal", such as:

* Get this guy to leave me alone and stop harassing me.
* Walk out of here with my dignity intact, but without it looking like the other guy has won the argument.

With a little thought you can change most passive goals into active ones. The other alternative is "terminating social combat" as described below.
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===Intrinsic Resistance===

Its sensible for players and GMs to set fairly low key and attainable goals for their characters.

If the GM deems that a character is trying for a particularly difficult goal, then he can assign a degree of ''intrinsic resistance''. A lot of this is an ad hoc call by the GM.

'''Examples:'''

Intrinsic Resistance of 1
* Intimidating a ganger when he is front of his friends.
* Befriending a rich (but not especially prejudiced) Guilder, when you are the wrong social class.

Intrinsic Resistance of 2
* Convincing a heterosexual man to kiss a woman he is not at all attracted to.
* Convincing a miser to lend you money.
* Befriending a racist, when you are the wrong colour.

Intrinsic Resistance of 3
* Convincing a heterosexual man to engage in penetrative homosexual acts.
* Convincing an honourable soldier to betray his squad.
* Convincing a Church fanatic to spit on the altar of the holy flame.

Intrinsic Resistance of 4
* Convincing a happy man that he should commit suicide.
* Convincing a Church fanatic to burn down his local temple.

Intrinsic Resistance acts as a ''Dodge Defence'' on every social attack you make on that character, which is cumulative with their normal defence.

Intrinsic Resistance can be countered to some degree with tools or circumstantial factors. For example, the Church fanatic is more likely to spit on the altar if you have a gun to his head, and a character will be more likely to do things which are repugnant to him if you are holding his beloved family to ransom.

Intrinsic Resistance cannot be reduced to below 0, however.
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===Roleplaying and Social Combat===

Using the social combat rules do not preclude roleplaying!

In the same way that physical combat shouldn't just devolve into a series of dice rolls, its also important that social combat goes hand in hand with roleplaying.

Some players may find the stop-start nature of social combat impedes the natural flow of roleplaying conversations - there can be a tendency for the character whose action it is to have a little monologue before "handing over the talking stick" to the next person up. Similarly, there is an urge for players who are not natural social roleplayers to not have the same social skills their characters do.

There are ways around this:

* Players and GMS have the option of describing the gist of what is being said, or how it is being said, rather than picking the actual words. For example: ''"Skazz locks eyes and snarls, then spits out a pithy reply, daring the Paladin to argue with him."''

* GMs should allow for freeform roleplaying to break out at any time, and let people talk naturally, but occasionally call for a pause as the dice are rolled. In this way, the system fades into the background of the conversation. Skilled GMs will be able to pick the right moments, so this feels right, waiting until the active character is on the offensive before calling the next attack roll.
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