Re: (TFT) Re: Cheap talents

["Dave Seagraves" <dseagraves@austin.rr.com>]

Michael writes . . .

>I'm not really talking about punishing the player when he doesn't
>roleplay, but roleplaying really is in the games title! You shouldnt
>punish him for not roleplaying. You should punish him for not TRYING
>to roleplay!

   Thanks for the clarification, and I mostly agree with what you're saying.
However, I will also accept instead a flat statement from the player that he
feels (at least) uncomfortable roleplaying a particular scene (such as a
romantic encounter) or facet of the character's personality (such as
leadership).  I equate Uncomfortable with Not Fun, which means as a GM I
will /not/ pressure the player into roleplaying in this situation -- this is
supposed to be a fun game after all.  Instead I'll allow him to simply lean
on his talents and -- where appropriate -- roll dice to determine the
outcome without any penalties to the roll.
   I ran into this situation at least twice; both of them recently.  The
first was when one of my TFT players had to use Diplomacy in some fashion,
and I was about to punish his character with a penalty to his reaction roll
because the player didn't roleplay it at all.  He got upset and explained
that he took Diplomacy talent because he /as a player/ did not have it at
all and because his character /should/ have it.  So I cancelled the penalty
and just made a straight reaction roll for the NPC.
   The latest was when /I/ was the player.  I wanted to do a bit of romance
with an NPC, but I could tell that the GM was /very/ reluctant to roleplay
her in that way.  I settled for just normal conversation with the female NPC
to avoid making the GM uncomfortable . . .  so that /he/ could continue
having fun.  Besides, an uncomfortable GM is bad for character health.  8^)

Dave Seagraves
Seagraves Design Bureau   dseagraves@austin.rr.com   1 (512) 255-2760
Taco Bell: Go there and get ripped.

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