E-216: Merchant Freighter Spanial (Docked at Zarg’s World Highport), Engineering Stations
All The World’s a Stage
First, with regard to the question of Can she tell he’s acting? let’s make sure the players and GM are all on the same page.
Here’s a link to the Acting skill reproduced from the GURPS rules.
So I find the Acting skill ambiguously written, in the main description it’s clearly talking about counterfeiting moods and lying. However, the list of modifiers suggests that this skill is not always intended to be deceptive, which I find at odds with the description.
Additionally, I have general issue with the GURPS Rules around social interaction in that the skill of being genuine and nice to people is Diplomacy, which is a Hard skill, whereas almost all the other social skills that involve being actively deceptive are Average or Easy. There is a game balance thing that Diplomacy is difficult to screw up, which is why it’s Hard, but it doesn’t sit correctly with me that it’s more difficult to convince people with honesty than lies.
By way of comparison, it is clear to me that the Fast Talk skill (linked for comparison) is only intended to be convincing, not necessarily deceptive (though it can be.) But it clearly is intended to apply in the moment, whereas ‘Acting is used for long-term dissimulation.‘
So when I suggested Acting as an option, I was thinking that Oliver might try to fake it, or might simply be trying to present the best version of himself in the hopes of forging long-term trust. I didn’t give an option to use Fast-Talk because of its short term nature, though I’m open to argument. From a game mechanics risk perspective, I was also thinking that Acting is easier to use, but carries a greater risk in the event of failure than Diplomacy and that’s also an interesting choice of risks for a player to have.
So
- My interpretation of Acting is not necessarily compatible with some interpretations of Rules-As-Written though I think the skill is ambiguous to a degree
- What are your thoughts on whether Acting requires deception, or do you think it’s reasonable to use it to ‘portray yourself in the best light’ without being intentionally deceptive?
- Or is that a form of deception (one person’s lie is another’s understanding of social graces)?
My specific thinking around the question Can she tell he’s acting? is, in addition to the above:
- Lia has the specific skill required to determine if someone is lying (the other Hard social skill) and she can make an opposed test against his roll to determine that
- We’ll need to know Oliver’s intent – is he deliberately schmoozing the stupid, weird alien or is he trying to find a way to build trust with Prri?
- If we’re happy that intentional deception is not required to use the Acting skill, and Oliver’s intention was not to deceive, Lia is good enough with people that she may be able to discern that.
Engineering Stations
Prrri’s ears do a little forward-flat-forward dance, “Elextrricity?”
I believe acting requires levels of finesse, rather than deception. However, deliberately leaving things out of certain conversations by using acting rather than diplomacy suggests a level of deception.
On a Lia level she is currently interested in how Oliver is choosing to present himself to the rest of the crew. Given that she has a truckload of secrets and is rarely forthcoming, it’s more of a professional interest. Although she is somewhat protective of the crew…
Oliver is mostly just trying to keep the Vizierate side out of it, one because he’s undercover and two because he thinks it’ll earn him a bad wrap. He’s just trying to be friendly and not impose any Vizierate authority into his conversations.
“Yeah, sensors, computers or terminals, locks, communications, you name it. If it has wires I can probably work with it, if it has a digital interface I can definitely work with it.”