Intrigue and Dialogue System for TTRPG

You can download a copy of the system on itch.io for free  

Rule Tweaks for Dialogue Focused TTRPG System

The fate of the world so often henges on conversations.

Whispers in the courts of kings, rebellions fostered in taverns, intrigue in fog filled streets, glittering dances where you attempt to find love, or peaceful villages where you seek to form friendships with fairies and people. Conversations are often about far more than attempts to persuade, lie, or intimidate. They can be about forging long term bonds. This is why many quests written in the past ten years try to get around the inherent weakness of most TTRPGs in using dialogue by having characters utilize other skills based on the interests of the one they are talking to, and use a system with a series of successes, in which the players must roll 5 successful skill checks before they roll 4 failures, for example.

Other TTRPGs provide you with bonuses for thinking of creative things to say, but you aren’t your character, and just like you probably couldn’t wield a sword effectively against a giant or shoot lighting from your fingertips, you may sometimes struggle at coming up with something clever to say when your character could do so easily.

My hope is to provide you with some possible tools and information that will help you expand upon conversations and interactions with characters in TTRPGs. The ideas and information in this zine are meant to help with most types of TTRPGs, either providing you inspiration for what to say or a way to alter and tweak the TTRPG you are playing to help expand your dialogue options.

I developed this system of dialogue for TTRPGs and Journaling RPGs by studying the psychology of charisma and the archetypes from slice of life, romance, and cozy mysteries.

My goal with this book is to help you to think of new ways to play through dialogue in your campaigns. In many cases this can be used as a system neutral method, while in others it is designed to help you alter and adjust existing systems such as 5e, Pathfinder, etc. to better fit with the complexity of social situations that might arise or even be the center of the game.

As already stated, there isn’t a single absolute system offered up in this book, rather, there is information and ideas to inspire and aid you. That said, there is of course a system with rules, or rather a few systems with rules, which are meant to act as prompts and guides to the development of your own game.

 

Adding new social abilities and skills

Using psychology and novel character archetypes I have broken charisma down into three different types, each of which has multiple associated social skills. Charisma is a complex set of psychological abilities which comes in many different forms, and of which no one person is necessarily good at all of them. That said, there can be an overlap between different types of charismatic abilities and skills because there are many things that can be done with each of them.

There are numerous ways to use these social skills and different types of charisma in roleplaying. You can, for example, simply choose to use them as inspiration for storytelling and improv. That is, these social skills can help you figure out what your character or an NPC might say in a situation, depending on which ones you’ve decided you want your character to be good at. In this case this information doesn’t have to change the mechanics of your game, rather it simply acts as a way for you to build richer dialogue, and break writers/improv block when you feel stuck.

 

Alternatively, the social skills can allow you to adjust your game.

Within a 5e, Pathfinder, or similar system this means that Charisma can be replaced by 3 different abilities and the skills Diplomacy and Deception can be replaced by multiple different skills which help people in different situations and ways.

 

Each character will get as many social skills as they would regular skills. So, Wizards would get 2 social skills and bards would get 3. In this way, each character will be able to contribute to at least some social situations in different ways, even if bards and rogues remain more talented in this area than fighters and wizards.

 

 

Social Abilities  and Skills

Keep in mind that I say ‘seem’ for each skill and ability because these aren’t a reflection of a character’s personality, but rather their ability to act a certain way.

 

1: Expressiveness (Ability)

This is the ability to skillfully express your emotions, sometimes known as ‘emotional intelligence’. It is also the ability to be vibrant, to ‘light up room’ and help people feel passionate and engaged in a conversation. You can also use this ability to match the necessary emotions of the moment.

 

-Allure: (skill) The ability to use facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, dialogue, skills and more to appear approachable, attractive, friendly, etc. You can also use allure to help people let down their guard, to relax, and otherwise feel safe.

 

-Wit: (skill) Your skill at captivating your audience through storytelling, the use of narrative, to say something others perceive as amusing, beautiful, profound, intelligent or interesting.

 

2-Empathetic Concern (Ability)

The ability to seem to connect with others and help them feel they are connecting with you. This includes the ability to read other’s emotions and attitudes, and to demonstrate that you are sympathetic with them and share their interest.

 

-Gentleness: (skill) You are able to do gentle things well, act self-deprecating in an endearing way, and to seek forgiveness, and get those who enjoy helping or showing off to aid you with a task.

 

-Connection: (skill) You are skilled at appearing to adapt another’s point of view and appearing empathetic so that other’s feelings and are interested in them.

 

3: Savoir-Faire (Ability)

The ability to seem cool, to morph and fit into many social situations. Those with this ability are skilled at ‘working a room’ through verbal skill, to hold attention on themselves, seeming important, and are skilled at generally fitting in with others.

 

-Charm: (skill) You are skilled at choosing your words to charm and influence others. As part of this you are skilled at inspiring others to want to do something or to believe in something.

 

-Courteous: (skill) The ability to appear upstanding, be polite, blend into many different social contexts and appear ‘cool’ even in unfamiliar situations, while building a rapport with others. As part of this you can appear forthright and trustworthy to those you are speaking with.

 

 

Charisma as a Class Ability

The challenge with splitting Charisma into three different abilities is that in some games certain classes, such as bard and sorcerer (5e), rely on Charisma for their spell casting. To resolve this, each character can choose any one social ability to utilize for this purpose instead. This in turn could help to refine their personality in relation to their power. Are they filled with Savoir-Faire, Expressive and able to make others feel alive and vibrant, or perhaps they are more gentle in their charisma.

 

 

 I go into further detail and discuss playing through dialogue in the book.

You can download a copy of the system on itch.io for free