Hello! My name is Matthew Mercer. I'm a voice actor and dungeon master for Geek & Sundry's
Critical Role, and welcome to my fun little video series about tips and tricks for game masters and
dungeon masters. Today, we're talking about social non-combat encounters.
[trumpet fanfare]
I guess first we'll start with that. Not all battles are fought with weapons. I think combat's
great, it's a lot of fun, but there's a lot to be had in many games about social combat and the
dynamics in how you deal with non-player characters and either political or intense social settings.
First and foremost, creative ways you can incorporate these in your game. Social events like
balls, or council meetings, or diplomatic missions, or consider spy games if you're playing
a heavy intrigue-type RPG. Interrogations, investigations; these are all things that are
challenges and encounters in their own right. There's just not hit points involved and to-hit modifiers.
One thing you want to consider when you're deciding what kind of non-combat social encounter
it is: What is the overall goal of the social encounter? Be very clear with the players what
they're supposed to be trying to achieve as part of this encounter. Otherwise it can tend to
meander a bit and get confusing. So long as there are NPCs that put them on this mission or the
circumstances that lead them to this encounter is very clear as to what the goal is? That helps the
players number one: feel more comfortable in the environment; two: when they converse with
NPCs and try and pry information or discover secrets, they know what exactly what to look for
and what not to say; and three: it helps your preparation be a little more direct so you don't
end up having to be a little too lost amongst 300 non-player characters you weren't expecting to use.
But on that note too you want definitely want to make sure that the NPCs are involved in these
encounters are pretty well fleshed out. You understand them, you know what their goals, their
perspectives, their needs, their fears are and what they're looking to get out of this; and what
they don't want to be found. So definitely flesh them out to a degree where you feel comfortable
getting into a conversation with the player characters.
Keep a list of key information that each NPC may know that pertains to this circumstance. And mark
which NPCs are willing or unwilling to share this information. Some may want to sell the information
at the right price, some might need... less soft methods to get it out of them. But definitely keep
note of how important this information is to each NPC and how willing they are to give it up. Also if
there are different factions involved in this social encounter, make sure you note which NPCs
are involved with which faction or which guild or whichever various political circles are involved
in this encounter as well. It could be, especially if it's a large gathering of different political
avenues, those always go well. Those don't get weird or awkward at all and that will allow you to
draw those lines socially and the players can play sides if they want to, or play them against each
other. It's kind of cool. You may even have players choose a side, or choose multiple sides if
they're very careful and aren't discovered as a double or triple or quadruple agent. That always
ends well, if Hollywood has taught me anything.
Another thing to consider: raising the stakes. If you're in a party and you're just talking, getting
information, and you leave? We got the information, yay! That's fine, but that's kind of
stagnant and stays kind of level. Find moments or points in the story where you can up the ante and
raise the tension. Things like-- imagine an NPC that you thought was dead suddenly shows up and
you can't go and attack them immediately because you're in the middle of a very very tense social
environment. Or envision how someone who's at the party who had the info you're looking for suddenly
disappears and they're found dead in one of the nearby rooms without a murder weapon. And now it
turns into a classic whodunit which is always fun no matter what genre or time period you're playing.
Also consider how can these events and outcomes affect the world at large. These little
conversations may have a very big impact on the how the story and combat outside and for the rest
of the story may happen and occur. So don't be afraid to think of the long-reaching repercussions
of how the players act in this environment. Stolen objects work well, finding a hidden spy is always
cool, someone who's using information against the party that you discover and once again, you have
to find that fine line between sneaking off and doing dirty dark stuff in a hallway and then have
to act nice, James Bond-style in the middle of the environment. That's always a fun dynamic.
Also, there are other things you can incorporate in this that are non-combat based encounters. Not
just social encounters, but non-combat. Things like an infiltration, like a theft, trying to
steal something or an important object from a museum. That in itself may lead to battle and
many of these may still lead to battle, but it doesn't have to. That's a series of skill checks,
challenges, you can put traps and dangers in the way. It can feel as tense and as cool as battle
without having to actually do battle. Also things like running a gauntlet or having a contest of
skill that the player has to go ahead and prove themselves to a certain faction. Those are cool
challenges and encounters that don't necessarily involve combat or a mat or miniatures, but you can
still build the same tension and the same stakes in those as well.
But do keep in mind, and be ready for it, many social and non-combat encounters can very quickly
become combat encounters, if player actions have taught me anything in previous games. You should
know what I mean. When you create one of these, definitely have in your back pocket some idea of
how combat would work if a fight were to break and who would be involved. Just to be prepared,
because it's probably going to happen.
Anyway, thank you so much for watching. I hope this has been somewhat helpful or useful for your
GMing and DMing pleasure. You can check out more episodes of this on geekandsundry.com. I guess
I'll see you guys soon one way or the other.