How to avoid killing your player characters as GM

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Outlaw

I GM from those maps and descriptions so if they miss anything, it's on them.

And in what way are those maps useful in a social encounter? Do they show the tactical situation of whom is allied with whom, who has what likes, dislikes, what might cause instant aggression in the Don?

See, I mention battle maps because we can all imagine how much tactical information is readily present, info that is usually absent from a GM's 'theatre of the mind' description of the scene. But you're not dropping a "social battle map", so 99% of what a good socializer will pick up on is missing. That's what I mean when I say "the Players will almost never have anywhere near as much information as the PCs should have, unless it's combat and you've dropped a battle map..."