From:	Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Seducing PC's
Date:	Fri, 11 Aug 1995 11:39:03 -0400

On Thu, 10 Aug 1995, Eve Forward wrote:

> I agree totally. A spell, that's fair game (though uncool), but I don't
> care HOW good you roll, the character's player knows their character best
> and should be given full control over their actions, stupid or whatever.
> :)

To a point this is true. But keep in mind that you are not
necessarily the same as your character. You may be headstrong,
intelligent, or even honest and forthright. Your character may not. A
character with a low willpower is susceptible to temptation. I as
a GM will never *force* a player to go with just a die roll. What I will
do is one of two things, depending on the situation. I will either a)
let the role-playing of the encounter influence the die roll (usually by
adding target # modifiers), or b) let the die roll influence the
role-playing. This offers the best of both worlds.
The second method is more fun, and encounters will often have several
rolls throughout key points of the interaction. It's also a good
role-playing challenge for the players. I won't say things like,
"You're smitten. You'd jump off a cliff for her." But I will say
things like, "Her scent is very distracting, as is her stance. You're
finding it hard to keep your eyes on her face and not elsewhere," and let
the role-playing continue from there. Most of my player can keep this
stuff in mind fairly well, and some of the interactions have been
very...entertaining.
On the whole I think this blends the best of both worlds,
rewarding both good skills/attributes and good role-playing. It's also a
lot less arbitrary and annoying.

Marc