Playing the Social Game

This post is part of my series on supporting player skills, which also includes Let’s Talk About Player Skill and Equipment, Let’s Talk about Player Skill and Notes, and Let’s Talk About Player Skill and Planning. As many people have said, roleplaying games are a conversation. Social situations are one of the fundamental building blocks of ventures. Yet, you may have the situation where the players attend a ball or a negotiation or other social situation, and the players just freeze. You may even be such a player. Without the help of a turn procedure or a combat procedure, when the situation turns most to free-form RPG, some players struggle. After all, not all of us are comfortable with social situations in real life either or have experience in convincing people or engaging in high-powered negotiations for the fate of the world. But, just like combat, social situations in RPGs are something that players can learn to play better, and there are ways to support that. At this point I…