In our last session a situation came up in which I wasn't sure how to handle it. I decided to just go with what the players wanted but would like to have options if a similar situation presents its self in the future. The scene was as follows:
The group consisting of Simon the wizard, Erik the scion and William the vampire slayer. They had fought their way into the den of a pretty influential RCV, laying havoc on his property on the way in. The find them selfs outnumbered 3:1 by the retainers of said Vampire. Knowing of his strong position the Vamp starts a social conflict with the goal of intimidating the PC into leaving without rescuing the guy kidnapped by the RCV. The players are pretty much outclassed in the social conflict and quickly take social stress by the intimidation attacks. Shortly before consequences are taken, the scion decides that there has been enough talk, auto compelling one of his Aspects and making the social into a physical conflict.
Now comes the problem I am unsure of. By changing the social conflict into a physical, the player avoided consequences to him and his allies. The NPC gets cheated out of his victory in the social conflict. Should such a situation be handled as a concession since they pretty much gave up in the social conflict? What would be appropriate here? I'm at a loss of ideas and can't find anything in the rules to help me. Any ideas guys?
Sounds to me like the conflict was already physical (breaking into the RCV den) when
you tried to change it into social combat. If the PCs played along, that's fine, but IMO it is perfectly justifiable to use a physical combat skill (say, Guns or Weapons) to "defend" against an intimidation attack,
especially if violence is already on the the table. So, when the RCV points out that "he has them outnumbered 3:1, soon you will be mine, blah, blah, blah", then the PC can reply "Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say die fledermaus" and riposte
by shooting him in the face. Like they say, a pair o' nines beats four aces.
Now, if the PCs
agreed to a battle of wits by defending with social skills and got handed their asses, then that's another story. They willingly engaged in social combat, so they have to accept the consequences (literally).
