03-26-2011, 03:26 PM | #131 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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An example would be an elaborate con that is run as an adventure, with the characters striving to convince allies of the target of their authenticity for an eventual bonus to the target's roll, with multiple bit players making Acting rolls to give a bonus to the primary Influence skill, with a section on what skills to use to construct a believable 'set' for the performance of the con and what bonuses this grants, etc.?
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03-26-2011, 03:27 PM | #132 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
Of course that only applies to actual attempts to get them into bed. The use of sex appeal to fluster people and penalize their perception rolls or skill use is another matter. Then a roll is appropriate. But so are situational modifiers. It's easier to use sex appeal to penalize IQ/Perception rolls on the guy who is actually hoping to meet women even if he isn't lecherous, than the police officer who there to interrogate you about the string of dead male tourists who have been seen in your company.
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03-26-2011, 03:30 PM | #133 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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Bill Stoddard |
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03-26-2011, 03:32 PM | #134 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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Last edited by NineDaysDead; 03-26-2011 at 03:42 PM. |
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03-26-2011, 03:32 PM | #135 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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The idea that PCs exist on some different plane of existence than NPCs without such differences being explicit on the character sheet has always seemed like sloppy game design to me. If players want their characters to be paragons of courage, resilience and indomitability, let them take the appropriate traits. Otherwise, their characters are as vulnerable to being deceived, tricked, seduced, scared or bluffed as any other character with the same traits in the game world. This is not to say that I believe that a single Quick Contest of Sex Appeal vs. Will ought to be enough to bed anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, social position or compatibility. Let such concerns penalise attempts or even make it impossible to roll unless supporting skills are used to take care of those concerns first. But I believe that such rules ought to exist, if only for those who prefer to prioritise versimilitude over players' supposed need for empowerment.
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03-26-2011, 03:34 PM | #136 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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Oh, and there's an illustrative discussion of several of the classic cons, both short and long. Bill Stoddard |
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03-26-2011, 03:40 PM | #137 | |
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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Sex Appeal is about more than just sex. It's about using sexual attraction to earn a favor. It CAN be used to get sex, but it can also be used to convince a guard to let you through a security checkpoint, or a priest to let you sleep in the church on a cold night, or a soldier to let slip confidential information during a barroom conversation. Sex is just another favor. It's a much harder favor to get from someone with Vow: Chastity, because they're much more reluctant to give it. Just like it would be harder to get a soldier with Fanaticism to betray his duty. Or to convince a victorious opponent with Bloodlust to spare your life. |
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03-26-2011, 03:42 PM | #138 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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I ask because I do quite a lot of things in play like determining the result of an election, negotiating a large business deal or running an elaborate con. It always involves multiple characters and skills and it is generally the focus of many sessions. The present mechanics are woefully inaquate for it, but I could see how mechanics for it could be written. A book dedicated to Social Engineering would seem the place to write such rules. I would even go so far to say that if the book were to lack such rules or only feature vague suggestions that boil down to 'use a Quick Contest, but possibly with modifiers for X or Y', I wonder what is in it. A book called GURPS Social Engineering needs to be much more like GURPS Martial Arts than GURPS Fantasy. It needs to be dense with innovative new rules that make social engineering focused adventures equally interesting and mechanically distinct as combat focused ones. As for the difficulty of writing rules for small-unit tactics, I refer you to GURPS Tactical Shooting. There are a lot of new rules there. One of the problems with the playtest manuscript, though, was that it was heavy on 'this is how things work in the real world' and much lighter on having these things have game effects. That was fixed during playtest and the result is one of the finest game books I've seen.
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03-26-2011, 03:47 PM | #139 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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We might differ in that I would not accept a simple successful Influence roll as good enough reason for someone with a Vow to break it. Influence rolls are basically for short-term persuasion and agreements; if you take a Vow seriously you don't make a short-term decision to break it . . . that's the same thing as not having a Vow, not really. I might look at it otherwise if the person roleplayed the reluctance to break the Vow, and the decreased rolls based on the Influence roll penalty, and the exploitation of those decreases by the seducer . . . in other words, if it were played out as a real fight and not a simple Quick Contest. A Vow should make it hard to act against the Vow. The struggle with yourself over whether to give in should be like the struggle of the alcoholic to put the whiskey away unopened. Would you call it good roleplaying if an alcoholic just put the bottle away whenever his friends made their Influence rolls? Bill Stoddard |
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03-26-2011, 03:48 PM | #140 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: Resistance to Sex Appeal
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Tags |
heterosexuality, homosexuality, kromm explanation, new skill, sex appeal, social engineering |
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