From:	Damion Milliken <adm82@***.EDU.AU>
Subject:	Re: POLL--PLEASE REPLY
Date:	Mon, 14 Aug 1995 17:06:14 +1000

Eve Forward writes:

> > This brings up another point. I, as a GM, would never force a player to
> > follow the results of a die roll in how the player should respond to
> > another character (PC or NPC).
>
> 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.
> :)

I generally agree, but remember that there is a HUGE difference between the
situation the character is in, and the situation the player is in, so their
states of mind are likely to vastly different. Sitting in the living room
munching pizza is a tad different to trying to flog off an automatic weapon
to Mr. Sleazy Jr the Fixer in a rat infested garbage littered back alley.
Not to mention that the player is a very different person to the character.

I wouldn't force them to do something drastic that they didn't want to (like
give all their equipment to the charasmatic bum they met on the sidewalk),
but if an NPC with a suitable skill makes the neccessary roll, I'll usually
abide by it. Like, for example, negotiation tests. If Ala Fasta Talka
Johnson manages to get 6 successes on the bargaining test with the teams
chosen negotiator, then the team gets paid less. He has, by making his skill
roll, convinced the team, and the made them see the "truth", of the value of
their actions. And if the team member chosen had a low Willpower, then the
character will be prone to this kind of conning. The player and GM might
well know that the character has been ripped off so badly he'd cry if he
knew, but the character still reckon's he's doing a fair days work fair a
fair days pay.

As for things like seduction, or the situation described where the player
was giving his brand new Ares Alpha Combat gun away to Sammy the Sleaze,
then I'd probably allow the player to right out refuse. Unless the character
had a particularily low Willpower, and the person made an unusually good
roll, in which case I might enforce it.

The thing I always get annoyed at is stuff like the Fear power. (That and
illusions.) In this case, while the player may well know the real situation,
and will want to say "fuckit, no way am I runing away from that!", the
character well does not (I do allow bonuses if the player is going to be
persistent in his claims of "I'm not moving" though).

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au

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