Matt Mercer DM Tips: Building RPG Social Encounters! November 3, 2022Zoltar <strong>THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”.<br /> My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast</strong>Hello! My name is Matthew Mercer. I’m a voice<br /> actor and dungeon master for Geek & Sundry’s</p> <p>Critical Role, and welcome to my fun little video<br /> series about tips and tricks for game masters and</p> <p>dungeon masters. Today, we’re talking about social<br /> non-combat encounters.</p> <p>[trumpet fanfare]</p> <p>I guess first we’ll start with that. Not all<br /> battles are fought with weapons. I think combat’s</p> <p>great, it’s a lot of fun, but there’s a lot to be<br /> had in many games about social combat and the</p> <p>dynamics in how you deal with non-player<br /> characters and either political or intense social settings.</p> <p>First and foremost, creative ways you can<br /> incorporate these in your game. Social events like</p> <p>balls, or council meetings, or diplomatic<br /> missions, or consider spy games if you’re playing</p> <p>a heavy intrigue-type RPG. Interrogations,<br /> investigations; these are all things that are</p> <p>challenges and encounters in their own right.<br /> There’s just not hit points involved and to-hit modifiers.</p> <p>One thing you want to consider when you’re<br /> deciding what kind of non-combat social encounter</p> <p>it is: What is the overall goal of the social<br /> encounter? Be very clear with the players what</p> <p>they’re supposed to be trying to achieve as part<br /> of this encounter. Otherwise it can tend to</p> <p>meander a bit and get confusing. So long as there<br /> are NPCs that put them on this mission or the</p> <p>circumstances that lead them to this encounter is<br /> very clear as to what the goal is? That helps the</p> <p>players number one: feel more comfortable in the<br /> environment; two: when they converse with</p> <p>NPCs and try and pry information or discover<br /> secrets, they know what exactly what to look for</p> <p>and what not to say; and three: it helps your<br /> preparation be a little more direct so you don’t</p> <p>end up having to be a little too lost amongst 300<br /> non-player characters you weren’t expecting to use.</p> <p>But on that note too you want definitely want to<br /> make sure that the NPCs are involved in these</p> <p>encounters are pretty well fleshed out. You<br /> understand them, you know what their goals, their</p> <p>perspectives, their needs, their fears are and<br /> what they’re looking to get out of this; and what</p> <p>they don’t want to be found. So definitely flesh<br /> them out to a degree where you feel comfortable</p> <p>getting into a conversation with the player<br /> characters.</p> <p>Keep a list of key information that each NPC may<br /> know that pertains to this circumstance. And mark</p> <p>which NPCs are willing or unwilling to share this<br /> information. Some may want to sell the information</p> <p>at the right price, some might need… less soft<br /> methods to get it out of them. But definitely keep</p> <p>note of how important this information is to each NPC<br /> and how willing they are to give it up. Also if</p> <p>there are different factions involved in this<br /> social encounter, make sure you note which NPCs</p> <p>are involved with which faction or which guild or<br /> whichever various political circles are involved</p> <p>in this encounter as well. It could be, especially<br /> if it’s a large gathering of different political</p> <p>avenues, those always go well. Those don’t get<br /> weird or awkward at all and that will allow you to</p> <p>draw those lines socially and the players can play<br /> sides if they want to, or play them against each</p> <p>other. It’s kind of cool. You may even have<br /> players choose a side, or choose multiple sides if</p> <p>they’re very careful and aren’t discovered as a<br /> double or triple or quadruple agent. That always</p> <p>ends well, if Hollywood has taught me anything.</p> <p>Another thing to consider: raising the stakes. If<br /> you’re in a party and you’re just talking, getting</p> <p>information, and you leave? We got the<br /> information, yay! That’s fine, but that’s kind of</p> <p>stagnant and stays kind of level. Find moments or<br /> points in the story where you can up the ante and</p> <p>raise the tension. Things like– imagine an NPC<br /> that you thought was dead suddenly shows up and</p> <p>you can’t go and attack them immediately because<br /> you’re in the middle of a very very tense social</p> <p>environment. Or envision how someone who’s at the<br /> party who had the info you’re looking for suddenly</p> <p>disappears and they’re found dead in one of the<br /> nearby rooms without a murder weapon. And now it</p> <p>turns into a classic whodunit which is always fun<br /> no matter what genre or time period you’re playing.</p> <p>Also consider how can these events and outcomes<br /> affect the world at large. These little</p> <p>conversations may have a very big impact on the<br /> how the story and combat outside and for the rest</p> <p>of the story may happen and occur. So don’t be<br /> afraid to think of the long-reaching repercussions</p> <p>of how the players act in this environment. Stolen<br /> objects work well, finding a hidden spy is always</p> <p>cool, someone who’s using information against the<br /> party that you discover and once again, you have</p> <p>to find that fine line between sneaking off and<br /> doing dirty dark stuff in a hallway and then have</p> <p>to act nice, James Bond-style in the middle of the<br /> environment. That’s always a fun dynamic.</p> <p>Also, there are other things you can incorporate<br /> in this that are non-combat based encounters. Not</p> <p>just social encounters, but non-combat. Things<br /> like an infiltration, like a theft, trying to</p> <p>steal something or an important object from a<br /> museum. That in itself may lead to battle and</p> <p>many of these may still lead to battle, but it doesn’t<br /> have to. That’s a series of skill checks,</p> <p>challenges, you can put traps and dangers in the<br /> way. It can feel as tense and as cool as battle</p> <p>without having to actually do battle. Also things<br /> like running a gauntlet or having a contest of</p> <p>skill that the player has to go ahead and prove<br /> themselves to a certain faction. Those are cool</p> <p>challenges and encounters that don’t necessarily<br /> involve combat or a mat or miniatures, but you can</p> <p>still build the same tension and the same stakes<br /> in those as well.</p> <p>But do keep in mind, and be ready for it, many<br /> social and non-combat encounters can very quickly</p> <p>become combat encounters, if player actions have<br /> taught me anything in previous games. You should</p> <p>know what I mean. When you create one of these,<br /> definitely have in your back pocket some idea of</p> <p>how combat would work if a fight were to break and<br /> who would be involved. Just to be prepared,</p> <p>because it’s probably going to happen.</p> <p>Anyway, thank you so much for watching. I hope<br /> this has been somewhat helpful or useful for your</p> <p>GMing and DMing pleasure. You can check out more<br /> episodes of this on geekandsundry.com. I guess</p> <p>I’ll see you guys soon one way or the other.</p> <p> Share this:TweetWhatsAppTelegramEmail
