What is a Social Conflict?
• Two or more opposing agendas
• Resolving without violence
• Requires participants to be very clear about the nature of the conflict and what is at stake
What's possibly stake?
• instilling a false sense of security
• ruining public reputation
• damaging personal relationships
• still, mostly transient
Which skills can I use?
Depends on the nature of the conflict. Some examples:
o Facedown (Intimidation versus Conviction/Presence; Rapport for Maneuvers, such as to win allies in the crowd)
o Assault on someone's reputation (Contacts and Deceit for attack; Presence and Rapport for defense; Resources and Contacts for maneuvers
o Bribery (Rapport and Resources versus Conviction/Deceit)
What can I do?
Attack
Deceit, Intimidation, Rapport; other skills as contextually warranted
options:
Cat and Mouse:
Use Deceit to place Aspects on unwitting targets reflecting misinformation; social attack - convincing lies; can be revealed if you lose the conflict
Active: inflict consequences on a target which favor you in later exchanges)
Intimidation:
Interrogation (active: "bad cop"): can use in conjunction with a "good cop" with Deceit/Rapport
Social Attacks (active: deal Social stress): blunt, ugly and expedient; can use any justifiable Social skill as defense
Provocation (active: get target to lose their cool):
Threats (active: can theoretically deal Mental stress): works in both physical and social situations; depends on relative power and relative ability to control the situation - targets with more power enjoy a +2 versus the roll, or actual immunity to the threat
Presence
Charisma (active: can complement Rapport to make a deliberate impression)
Command (active: maneuver to place Well Coordinated or similar aspects on a group; command a mob): can be modified be Performance if applicable
Chit-Chat: Rapport to roll maneuvers and attacks to subtly get information; Rapport to grab and keep someone's attention
Maneuver
Empathy, Deceit - other skills as contextually warranted
options
Cat and Mouse
use Deceit to place Aspects on unwitting targets reflecting misinformation
Opening Up
use Rapport to make a good impression - the first time you meet someone; may interact with Presence
• success = temporary, favorable Aspect for that scene
• failure= temporary, detrimental Aspect for that scene
False Face Forward
use Deceit (modified by Rapport skill); Deceit versus Empathy
• success allows you to provide a false Aspect to the reader
• later attempts to tag that aspect will fail
o may cost deceived person a FP
o may return that FP to place a "snookered" aspect on the target (p 114)
Defend
Empathy, Rapport - other skills as contextually warranted
options
Social Defense
Rapport versus Deceit - sort truth from fiction
Closing Down
Rapport for a full defensive action (+2) against Empathy reads
• clearly obvious defensive strategy: stone-faced
• opting to reveal nothing at all
Emotional Control
Discipline versus Intimidation
False Face Forward
use Deceit (modified by Rapport skill)
Deceit versus Rapport: foil attempts to read you; encourage an opponent to underestimate you; success means your defense only appears to be a failure
Deceit versus Empathy: success allows you to provide a false Aspect to the reader; later attempts to tag that aspect will fail
o may cost deceived person a FP
o may return that FP to place a "snookered" aspect on the target (p 114)
Presence
Reputation versus social attacks and maneuvers in appropriate circumstances
Charisma as a passive means of making an impression
Block
• not usually appropriate
• reflects a pre-emptive attempt to defend against something
• still, there can be justifiable situations for a social block
Assessments
learn opponent's Aspects
options
Reading People
Active: Rapport vs target's Rapport/Deceit
one or more shifts = successful Assessment of a previously unknown Aspect
requires ten minutes of intense, personal interaction
can be repeated: # = your skill value
Other skills may require the player to make these Assessments ahead of time, rather than in the middle of the Social Conflict
Resources or Investigation to unearth financial woes
Contacts to learn what others may know about your opponent
Stress and Consequences
• negative emotional fallout
• tarnished reputation
• character-specific reversals or troubles/doubts