PLOT POINT OPTIONS: SOCIAL CONFLICT TWEAKS
Players may find it harder to come up with Tweaks for social traits than for combat-oriented traits, though social traits can be just as important, if not moreso. To ease the burden of creating operationalized tweaks for social traits, the following list can be used either verbatim or as a starting point for player inspiration.
- make them want what you're offering
- make fear what you're threatening
- establish credibility -- prove that whatever you're tempting them with is real
- establish trust -- make them believe you'll follow through on your end
- fix prices -- establish how much each side's part is worth to the other side
- convincingly relay true info
- convincingly relay false info
- provide evidence
- create urgency -- get them to commit before gathering other info
- control the focus of the conversation
- distract
- obfuscate
- dismiss
- make them look good for whoever else is there, if they do what you want
- make them look good for whoever else is there, period
- make them look bad for whoever else is there, if they don't do what you want
- make them look bad for whoever else is there, period
- diffuse a grudge or animosity
- calm them so they deal with you rationally
- shock or alarm them so they deal with you confusedly
- fluster them so they make mistakes
- get them to like you -- bring a positive disposition into future dealings
- get them to value your favor -- act for, not against, your interests in the future
- set it in stone -- make it harder to back out of an arrangement
- put it on the books -- create policy that governs others
- notice when they lie
- learn their values
- learn their goals and priorities
- learn their secrets -- what don't they want generally known?
- establish confidentiality -- make them believe you'll safeguard their secrets
- act covertly -- avoid giving away their secrets
- evoke in them a certain emotion
- mesmerize them
- get them aroused
- get them to fall in love
- get them to discard protection and leverage -- e.g. in a room alone
- get them to like your side -- party, faction, nation, whoever you represent
- get them to hate your enemies/competitors
- create the desired image of yourself -- e.g. you may want to seem incompetent
- learn all they know
- crush their spirit
- coerce
- bribe
- control your body language
- control your facial expressions
- control your voice -- pitch, timber, accent, cadence, diction, everything
- impersonate -- locale, role, rank, specific person
