Intriguing idea: roleplay after your roll

[Anders]

Here's an intriguing idea for roleplaying social skill - roll first and roleplay later. That way, you know if you made a complete arse of yourself and can tailor your roleplaying accordingly.

[Ts_]

Hmm, while starting to read it, I thought "but how do you give a bonus for roll roleplay?" Well, the answers are also in the article, actually 3 possible variants.

However ...
* The first version (giving a bonus for good RP after the roll allows players to succeed retroactively) seems to discourage RP because you only need it when you miss by a little.
* The second version (the player describes everything as "I try to" before the roll) is actually what I thought was the implicit assumption in all RP ...
* The third version, giving out fate points or some such for good RP after the roll, is pretty much independent of whether you give it out before or after the roll ...

So, while I think it's a nice idea, it doesn't really achieve much mechanically, I think. (It might still feel better.) If your players like RPing, they can already describe their failed actions after the roll themselves. Otherwise you won't get much more RP out of the players. That you can try to get more RP by giving out fate points should be clear ...

Still an interesting idea.
Ts

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

... roll first and roleplay later.

Recent editions of Paranoia have an interesting twist on this. Rather than having big realistic tables of task modifiers, players have a pool of "perversity points" they can spend to get bonuses to tasks. This allows them to narrate the circumstances that make things easier, or harder for their opponents. This being Paranoia, said opponents are often the other party members.

[alexondria]

I do this a lot in white wolf games. I make the roll for the social thing the character is trying to do- or often for the combat thing the character is trying to do. Then I post a narrative that matches the roll.

Lie: 1, 2, 9, 1 (fail) IC post: "Uhm yeah" looking around- everything seems more interesting than his eyes. "Everything's uhm fine, I uhm I just felt a little faint is all." the words flow poorly from one to another as she tries to string them together and convince him of her rather unconvincing lie.

Otherwise you get a post that's a fabulous lie, a roll that says you failed to tell a good lie, and then a post that back peddles from what the first said. I find that far more jarring than the possibility that I might not get as many bonuses. I mostly play online now so posts are what I deal with, but the same issue would still be an issue in a spoken medium.

"Oh no everything's fine. I was just feeling a little faint is all, but I'm fine now." A warm smile on her lips and appreciation for his concern as she talks to him. Roll: 2, 3, 1, 1, 1, 5 oops I botched, hmmm I guess that wasn't as convincing as what I typed...

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Here's an intriguing idea for roleplaying social skill - roll first and roleplay later. That way, you know if you made a complete arse of yourself and can tailor your roleplaying accordingly.

It's not their unique idea - it's been used as the default mode in several published RPG's. The most notable is Brute Squad by Mike Whitehead (Dating to 2007) where it's the sole mechanical mode, but I've seen it in several other RPGs that suggest it as an option