Hello comrades I come to you to ask:
What is enjoyable about exploration or social type encounters in TTRPG games you have played?
Do you think there should be more mechanics or less mechanics for how a player engages in the game in those types of encounters?
What is annoying, frustrating, or boring about social or exploration type encounters?
Should there be a mechanical limit (ends after 5 rounds) or should treasure but not xp be gated on a round target (ex: if you complete the encounter in 3 rounds you get treasure, but not if you complete it in 2 or 4+ rounds)?
Thank you.
That's certainly fair, I've had my fair share of shy/inexperienced RPers come in and just be unprepared to roleplay. I think a group of understanding RPers helps a lot with that though, because if you know what you're doing you can find ways to get them that experience which leads to confidence. And I think giving them an "out" is actually helpful, like yeah you don't need to know what to say or how to navigate this social situation, because your character does, so just give it a roll and we'll let the character handle it for you. I think it helps to reduce the pressure they feel and lets them open up to RP at their own pace.
I dunno though, it's a complicated issue. I just feel like my best RPG experiences have been in the RPGs with the fewest concrete rules.
Of course, my current design is to have a player's turn split into two parts, the first they have time to say a sentence or two about their character, the environment, or an NPC. Then the second part is choosing an action. So for example a player's turn would be: "My character, Aloxes sweeps his fancy scarf to the side before confidently persuading the guard that he belongs in this restricted area" I then choose the Rhetoric action to use my Mind attribute against the Guard's Spirit attribute. The opposing stat+dice are rolled and the outcome is determined.
So I am seeking to provide many different tools that also help to prompt in role-play.