@ganymede said in Social Stats in the World of Darkness:
This is a subject that has roiled back and forth for years. Years, you say? Yes, because I have no less than three different write-ups on how I'd manage the expectations of "social combat" and "mental combat" on a MUSH
One of the things I've been wrestling with about FATE/Fate Core, is that social and mental combat are nearly the same thing. Outsmart, outwit, outmaneuver, outshine.
--
But the problem is that players usually don't separate IC and OOC knowledge.
Let me restate this for everyone:
There is no such thing as Pure IC.
Sorry about yelling, but this is important. The work to separate the two is fun for some, but is work for others. Without making the social interaction more codified, you're asking for consistency where none should be expected.
And those people who do separate the two? They don't really; they just decide what to let cross from OOC to IC. There is no such thing as an IC/OOC divide. All characters live from our players' desires for them.
Most of the current social/mental conflict systems rely on a consistency that lies within the GM, or within the social contract of the table. Well, bad news, "the table" in a Mu* includes people with different gaming goals than you do.
Anyhow, that's all. I wanted to get that out there. The lack of central agreement social systems is the main problem of using tabletop RPGs on a Mu* setting.