By Nathan Dowdell, 2d20 System Developer
Art by Carlos Cabrera
On the frontiers of explored space and the borders between rival polities, phasers and photon torpedoes are tools limited in the ways they can be used; when you open fire on someone, you communicate only one thing, and the outcomes of that interaction are few and always messy.
Starship captains—whether they are in command of independent freighters, science ships, exploratory cruisers, or mighty battleships—often need to be diplomats in addition to their many other responsibilities, and command requires a great deal of social skill in its own right.
This article delves into the social conflict rules found in the second edition core rulebook (page 279) and provides additional guidelines and suggestions for how to use them for protracted, intense, or high-stakes diplomatic actions, negotiations, and similar situations.
TRAITS IN SOCIAL CONFLICT
As covered at length in the core rulebook, the gamemaster can make use of traits to shape and define scenes, situations, and environments. And, while long-term persistent traits on characters are typically reserved for major, definitive, and often permanent aspects of a character’s nature, that doesn’t mean characters cannot have short-term traits applied to them during a scene.
Indeed, this is a useful way for the gamemaster to call attention to specific beliefs, perceptions, strong emotions, and other factors that may affect how a character will act and react, and how they’ll respond to persuasion and coercion. Using traits in this way relies on the fact that a trait only remains in place so long as it is true, and short-term personal traits can highlight things that may only be true for that character for a single scene (or less). A Klingon may gain Enraged as a trait during a social conflict, but that trait will go away when the Klingon calms down, and there is potential to calm the Klingon down during the scene to try and salvage whatever social interaction was attempted.
This can be a valuable tool for running a social conflict—a few traits to emphasize moods, feelings, expectations, and similar “in the moment” details can serve as guidance for setting the Difficulty of Persuade tasks and the use of social tools (or even if some options are possible at that specific moment), and thus provide a rough map for how things are likely to play out. Similarly, traits can be added and removed because of actions taken within the social conflict: a failed attempt to deceive may anger the target, making them less willing to cooperate in future, while a target who becomes curious may be more amenable to further persuasion.
As a reminder, in social conflict:
- Deception is an opposed task which can create a trait that represents the lie they now believe. This may be something as simple as Deceived, or it might be more specific like Fooled by Burnham’s Disguise. Failing to lie convincingly, or having the lie uncovered later, might result in the subject gaining a different trait, representing anger or mistrust.
- Evidence itself is a trait that serves as proof of a claim or situation. It may require a task to produce evidence, or to present or explain evidence effectively so that others believe it. This could be something like Computer Logs or Clearance Codes.
- Intimidation is an opposed task which can create a trait that represents someone being threatened or fearful—the trait might be something like Scared or Coerced. However, intimidation often breeds hostility, and can result in consequences further down the line.
- Negotiation uses traits to represent both what you are offering to someone in order to secure their help or compliance and what cost or problems you’ll face as a result. This could be something as big as Supply of Rare Minerals or as small as A Favor.
Beyond that, other tasks could be attempted to inspire or provoke feelings in others. A rousing speech might inspire Confidence or Courage in wavering or doubtful allies, while you might use taunts to anger an enemy and provoke them into acting rashly.
In these situations, a character’s values can be impactful as well: as values represent the character’s most significant and most fundamental beliefs and drives, and thus should naturally have an impact upon social interactions. A character with a deep loathing for Klingons (perhaps due to their experiences during the war) may find that their value interferes with the situation: this can be a source of complications (which might take the form of traits), but also a source of Determination as a character is forced to face their biases. Notable and Major NPCs have values too, which can be used to influence social conflict: knowing that the Klingon Commander Moq’var has a value “To kill the defenseless is not true battle” could be invaluable in persuading him to agree to a ceasefire.
Of course, while some emotions, beliefs, and so forth may be obvious to anyone nearby, others may be harder to discern. The gamemaster does not have to have every personal trait of this sort known to the players immediately, particularly if they represent a belief or perception, or their target is especially good at hiding or controlling their emotional state; it can add an extra layer to a social conflict if characters need to spend time and effort trying to figure out the feelings and perspectives of their target to make progress. Attempting to discern someone’s feelings or beliefs may involve a task to try and read their body language or responses, engaging with them to try and subtly get them to reveal something, or even research based on previous encounters, any of which might require a task (Insight + Command is a good combination to use here) or even an opposed task if the target is being deliberately reserved.
Next week we’ll go into more detail on structuring social conflicts, and provide an example of using a challenge as part of a social conflict. In the meantime, how are you using the social conflict rules in your missions and campaigns? Share your insights with fellow players on Modiphius’s Discord server!
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Command):
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2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Operations):
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2nd Edition Core Rulebook PDF:
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