Taking 20 Podcast - Ep 199 - Running Social Encounters

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

While combat encounters are fun, there are two other pillars to tabletop RPGs that can turn a good game into a great one.  In this episode I talk about social encounters and how DMs can get better at running them.   #dnd #pf2e #DMTips #SocialEncounters Resources: Matt Mercer:  Building RPG Social Encounters - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNoR-CcOtqI

This week on the Taking20 Podcast. One bullet for each is plenty for basic roleplay, so it's not that much work to come up with for your character. And if you're struggling, ask your character why three to five times to get to something substantial. Thank you so much for listening to the Taking20 Podcast, episode 199. Part one of running the other Two Pillars of RPGs, this week focusing on social encounters. I want to thank our sponsor, 3D Crafts and Curios. Head over to 3D Crafts and Curios on Etsy and check out the dice towers, the initiative trackers, coin banks, DM screens, and so many other things they have for sale at the Etsy store. Search for 3D Crafts and Curios on Etsy or follow the link from their Instagram.

Why? Because you can still enter the contest, but the deadline is tonight when I'm releasing this episode. Take two minutes and just email me up to 10 three-bullet NPCs to contest at taking20podcast.com for a chance to win three gorgeous 3D printed mugs. But if that's too much for you, you can always follow 3D Crafts and Curios on Instagram for an additional five chances to win. I've gotten, honestly, so few entries, and I'd love for one of you to win these three gorgeous mugs. Please send me some three-bullet NPCs and follow them on Instagram for chances to win. That's it. You're not going to be entered into any sort of mailing list. We're not going to harass you for money or anything. The email address that you submit with is only used to notify the winner, so get those NPCs into me tonight. Thank you again, Brenton

from 3D Crafts and Curios for sponsoring the giveaway and supporting the podcast. Speaking of which, you can also use the coupon code TAKING20, no space, TAKING20 to get 20% off your order through the end of the year. Head there, buy some awesome 3D printed stuff from Brenton because he has been so generous with his time and materials. I also want to thank our other sponsor, Horses. Did I ever tell you about my friend who's half horse? She's always the centaur of attention. Do you have a topic for me? Send it to me at feedback at taking20podcast.com and I'll try to get the episode scheduled for the near future. In a lot of game systems out there, D&D, for the near future. In a lot of game systems out there, D&D, Pathfinder, Blades in the Dark,

Starfinder, many, many others, it's a common build practice that RPG games are built on three different pillars. Combat, social encounters, and exploration. The importance of these three different pillars will wax and wane depending on what game system you're using and what your table likes. If we all hop onto the Wayback Machine and go back to the 1970s and 80s in the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, combat was by far the most important pillar. D&D arose out of tabletop war gaming where armies and ships and units fought each other using miniatures to represent them. Gygax and Jeff Perrin published a medieval tabletop wargaming for miniatures called Chainmail in 1971. There's a lot more to the history involving such people as Don Lowry and too many others to name. But in those early days, most adventures were wall-to-wall combat because the game D&D was based on wall-to-wall combat. Don't think I'm being

disparaging at all, by the way. I cut my teeth on the D&D bread box on wall-to-wall combat. Don't think I'm being disparaging at all, by the way. I cut my teeth on the D&D breadbox back a thousand years ago, and most adventures written for it, like Horror on the Hill or Keep on the Borderlands or Journey to the Rock, adventures that I adored in my youth, they're almost straight combat with very limited rules for social interaction, and most exploration was just hex-based. More on that next week, by the way. As the hobby has aged, matured, improved, combat still gets the glory at most tables, and rightly so.

Combat highlights the moments of danger where there's the greatest risk of death. It's exciting to get into combat with attack rolls and spells flying and magical abilities being slung across the battlefield as the wizard raises a blade barrier for protection and battlefield control while the cleric destroys undead using just their holy symbol. Most players remember that close fight that almost resulted in a TPK, that combat in an interesting environment like around lava or on a skied bridge, or that dramatic moment when the paladin uses Shield Other to take the damage for the blow that would have killed the druid, and that allows the

druid to wild shape and rally the party to victory. I love combat and I work hard when I'm running games to make sure the combat is fun. Players generally love it, GMs can get into it, but this episode, my beloved DMs out there, I want to take a breath and talk about one of the other two pillars, social encounters. When you're sitting behind the screen, one thing you never need to lose sight of is that combat may be the major part of it, but we as GMs are responsible for the other two pillars as well, social and exploration encounters. And while not as viscerally exciting, these other pillars, social that we're going to talk about this week and exploration that we'll talk about next week, offers the players

the chance to engage deeply with the game world and its NPC inhabitants in a way other than, you know, the pointy end of the weapon goes into the other guy. Plus, these other two pillars can build just as much tension as combat can when handled correctly. It does require a little storytelling, improvisation, and understanding of the way your players like to engage with your world, though. But today, I want to explore... No, wait, sorry. Today, I want to socially talk about the social encounter aspect. So what are social encounters? Social encounters are interactions between PCs and NPCs, usually, where the weapons are charisma and wit and guile and intimidation and intelligence and flattery. More interrogation and investigation, less sword and spear.

Social encounters can be handled multiple ways. They can become almost combat-like as the player declares what skill they want to use, rolls a die, the DM compares it to a determined difficulty class, and voila, the social encounter is on. It'll continue on depending on successes or failures until a resolution is reached whether giving the PCs what they want or need, or not.

But there's another way of handling social encounters in RPGs that can turn them into one of the backbones of character development and world building. It involves more role-playing by both the player and the DM, but each side can introduce some flair to the participating character or NPC to make the interaction memorable. Whether negotiating with a cunning merchant, charming an attendee at a masquerade ball, intimidating a city guard, or behaving properly on a diplomatic mission, I consider social encounters the yin to the yang of combat. While combat tends to end with one side or the other bleeding out on the ground,

social encounters only occasionally do. And that's usually because the PCs realize they've been had and choose violence. I like social encounters because most of the time, the losers, if such a thing exists, are still alive to decide their next steps, be they plotting revenge, undercutting the other group, slinking off with their tail between their legs, or even supporting the winning group having been won over by the foe's arguments. In a way, social encounters harness the realistic essence, I mean the very heart of immersive storytelling, because it's not all murder, because half the people don't die at the end of it. For example, in the real world, we have social encounters almost

every day at home, work, school, on our commute, getting food, etc. Very rarely do these encounters result in combat. I mean, it's been days, maybe even weeks since I last punched someone at a restaurant. Look, all I'm saying is, if I ask for ranch on my salad, not blue cheese, don't bring me blue cheese. Blue cheese contains mold. How could you possibly tell if blue cheese goes bad? Does it start to smell fresh or something? At this point in the episode, I've been asked to read a prepared statement. We here at the Taking20 Podcast do not condone violence of any sort, even violence against that incompetent waiter Sarah who brought me fucking blue cheese dressing. No, I am not eating this. It has chunks of stuff in it. You know what? That's how you can tell it's

blue cheese, Sarah. It's got chunks in it. Or there's something very, very wrong with your ranch dressing if it has chunks in it. Even if you don't roleplay them out, social encounters are opportunities for your more charismatic characters to show off their prowess, including giving an opportunity for more varied types of characters to contribute to the success of the party. If you ignore or neglect social encounters, then every player is going to bring a combat oriented PC because that's what success will look like at the table. If you have four meaty beefhead fighters and one charismatic weaker character, that last one will feel somehow useless in a combat type of adventure. But throw in the occasional social encounter like a state

dinner and watch that last character shine. So that's my first tip to you DMs and GMs out there. Include the occasional social encounter at your table. I've listed some already and I'm sure I'll duplicate them here, but here are some of my favorite. Like a lost child comes up for help. Negotiations, especially between two powerful factions. A fancy upper crust gathering like a state dinner or other important social gathering. Want to watch pure combat PCs blanch from nervousness? Tell them they're expected to attend the local crime boss's birthday party like an elven version of a quinceañera. Investigations like crime scenes or looking for additional information.

Dealing with a rowdy group like a tavern brawl or angry mob, or interrogations of captured enemies. And that's not the complete list, by the way. The choices are nearly infinite. And notice I didn't even mention shop owners or city guards yet. As you're building your games, consider sprinkling in some social encounters. Sure, the first couple may be a little rough to run and you may feel like you're struggling, but the more you do them, the better you'll get at them. My second tip, make sure your players want social encounters. Some players hate them. I have a player in one of my games who's all about min-maxing combat effectiveness, and if I don't warn him ahead of time, he completely tunes out during social encounters until he's forced to take center stage. One time the NPC's sister took a shine to this character and asked him more about

himself. I do always give the table a heads up when I think a session is going to have some social encounters so the player can be more prepared. That player thankfully was prepared for a little bit more social that particular game session. Third tip, have a purpose to the social encounter, a reason for it to be, and possible termination points where the social encounter will end. The PCs learn who the informant is or the person grows tired of the PC's questions

and tries to leave. If stopped from doing so, he calls the guards. Fourth tip, DMs. Give your NPCs just a touch of depth. Try to come up with an NPC with distinct personalities, backgrounds, and motivations if you can. A memorable NPC can transform a routine conversation into a captivating social encounter, leaving a lasting impression on your players. And if you want an example, go to YouTube and look for Matt Mercer's black powder

merchant, Victor. What could have been a simple transaction interaction, I need black powder, you sell it, I'll buy it from you, turned into one of the most memorable NPCs in any of the Critical Role campaigns. Fifth tip, GMs, practice active listening. Oh, oh, no, I heard your groan through the speakers. I get it. They say that same shit at work, active listening. You need to actively listen. What does that mean? Listen for understanding.

Listen to what the players are telling you so that you can understand. Don't just listen, waiting to respond. I know I hear you, blah, blah, blah, blah. I've heard all this before. Yeah, good, so freaking do it. Pay close attention to players' dialogues and actions during social encounters. Actively listen to their questions, responses, and intentions. This attentiveness allows you to tailor the NPC's reactions

to both what is said and what is unsaid. This simple change, by the way, will greatly enhance player immersion during social encounters. Sixth tip, GMs. Let the players use character skills in unique and creative ways. If they want to use sailing lore instead of diplomacy to make an impression on the old salt captain, that makes a ton of sense. Let them do it. Flexibility in dialogue

skills allows players to feel agency in steering the conversation and gives the characters an even greater chance for success with widely varied builds of their character. Seventh tip, describe the body language of the NPCs. Make sure the PCs can get a check for certain non-verbal cues. An NPC standing with with arms crossed is usually closed off, losing patience and not open to further dialogue. An NPC who's fidgeting or looking around is probably nervous or bored. A warm smile could indicate friendliness or someone who's being deceptively friendly. Little details like this add depth to the interaction, and players can gauge the NPC's reactions from your descriptions. Eighth tip. If you're stuck for ideas on how to

run a social encounter, run it like a skill challenge, where the players have to succeed a certain number of times on skill checks before they fail a certain number of times. They could be run as completely predetermined skill checks, and honestly, I'd have a few ready in case the players are stuck for ideas, or use the ones that the players suggest and you agree that would make sense in the moment. Ninth tip, and this one's focused on my beloved players out there. Think about your character's motivations, fears, and desires. This knowledge helps create authentic and engaging roleplay. One bullet for each is plenty for basic roleplay, so it's not that much work to come up with for your character.

And if you're struggling, ask your character why three to five times to get to something substantial. What's your character's motivation to survive the Abomination Vaults? Why? Because my character needs to live. Why? The downtrodden in Otari need my healing. Why? Without it, no one else will help. Boom! Your character is stopping the gaunt light to protect the people of Otari

so she can continue providing healing to the poor of the city. That's more motivation than 95% of the characters that will sit at a table. And you got there by asking why just a few times. Now you can ground your role-playing in that fact. She has to survive or the poor will suffer. Do the same for fears and desires and baby, you got a role-playing stew going. And much love to those of you who got that reference. Social encounters are a different type of contest, PCs and NPCs. Find out if your players want them and include them if they make sense. Have a purpose, include as much or as little roleplaying as you would like,

give your NPCs some depth, and allow your players to use creative ways to advance a social encounter, and I'd be willing to bet that you and your players would have fun doing it. Don't forget to send those NPC ideas to contest at taking20podcast.com. Winner will be announced right here next week. Speaking of which, tune in next week when I'm going to cover part two of this series and talk about how you can spruce up exploration encounters. Before I go, I want to thank this week's sponsor, Horses. Did you hear about the Shetland pony who had to drop out of the choir? Come to find out he was just a little horse. This has been episode 199, all about running social encounters.

My name is Jeremy Shelley, and I hope that your next game is your best game. The Taking 20 Podcast is a Publishing Cube Media Production. Copyright 2023. References to game system content are copyrighted by their respective publishers. best game.