There is No Social Combat; or Arming your Players with the Swords and Shields of Social Convention

My fantasy heart-breaker continues to take shape and this a hubristic post to discuss one of my favorite things to come out of it so far.

Many moons ago I was listening to WebDM's podcast, a wonderful thing I am too behind to catch up on now, and Jim mentioned his irritation with homebrew systems that attempt to solve the lack of social pillar rules in D&D 5e by making them akin to combat.

Many online homebrews attempt to map the elements of conversation and other social interactions of D&D onto a combat procedure. Whether this is in an attempt achieve either the satisfying granularity and assured outcome of a sword fight or the abstraction of it, it simply doesn’t work. Conversations do not work like fights, and words are not points of damage that wear down an enemy's conversational resolve. While perhaps a case could be made that simply badgering an NPC incessantly with alternating persuasions, taunts and insults may wear them down enough to change their opinion to discount their great axe, this does not extend meaningfully into areas of diplomacy, politics and normal conversations.

So too does "what do you say" and a roll of charisma dice often feel shallow, lacking mechanical oomph, or inaccessible to players who are more adverse to roleplay or have lower stats. An oaf should still be able to navigate social situations with some grace; that's why he's an oaf in the first place.

Instead, you need to arm your players with what they need to engage with social interactions. I call them the Unspoken Rules. They originally started as writing NPCs and cultural touchstones based on this and this to generate or apply them on the fly, respectively. I wanted there to be a set of touchstones about my fantasy world that people could utilize, morays and folkways and the like, to emulate stuff like Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files where so much of the world is based on ancient pacts, laws and fairy nonsense. I do so love faerie nonsense. My players never pay so close attention to our games as when there's a powerful Fae about. So here are the ones I use in my games. Some are historical and some are not but hopefully they'll enrich your games. As a rule of thumb they are hard rules, something everyone in the world obeys without question, usually out of fear of retribution from the hidden wandering gods, like cannibalism and the Greek myth of Tantalus and his nephew Pelops.

Xenia: Hospitality and Guest-Host Rite

An intractable law of hospitality, Xenia states you must always welcome a traveler into your home as a guest, feed them and even wash their feet before you ask them any questions. To do otherwise, even asking a name, is an affront to the gods.

Most intelligent immortal monsters almost religiously subscribe to this rule. When a vampire, dragon or fey creature refers to you as a guest, rest assured they will play exactly by the rules. Cunning monster can and will use this against you. As a guest and host you must abide by certain rules. A guest must act with respect and accord in the home of their host, even to the point of defending them if they are attacked. A guest would not offer harm nor spy on their host and would aid them and other guests. A host too, would not visit harm upon a guest and aid them in whatever manner they reasonably could.

Bastards may invoke it to sleep indoors rather than outside. Bastards also abuse it to get free food. It’s one of the reasons they’re despised so much.

Sanctuary

Anyone, including bastards and outlaws, may invoke Sanctuary at a temple, shrine or place of worship. They cannot be apprehended for crimes committed as long as they remain on church grounds. However, each week, beginning on the first day that they stay there, the outlaws must make a Save vs Guilt or acquire one stone of guilt as the priests persuade them to turn themselves in or convert.

Somewhat related, priests are to remain unharmed, especially on holy ground and holy days except from other priests. Bastard priests often use this to evade harm or to attack priests whose gold they want.

Draco Horribilis

As a bastard, in defense of town, castle or kingdom against a vile monster, especially dragons, you may invoke Draco Horribilis to request anything reasonable from the town to defeat the beast, besides boots, beer and usually some local thing that rhymes with beer. The custom is ancient but not immune to etymological change.

This is no custom on giving any of those things back...

1d8 things that rhyme with “Beer”
Deer – the meat is holy or some such
Shear – no cutting implements may be given
Ear – they lend no listening ears to your worldly troubles and you cannot lose Terror by the usual method of confession or talking to the bartender
Here – you may not request the use of the land even for rest until the quest is done
Spear – no spears are to be loaned but this may to other weapons based on ancient custom
Rear – too many bastards ahem, requested another type of booty. Fair maidens are not to be used as monster bait.
Steer – no male livestock but may refer to all domesticated animals
Chandelier – a complicated story to be sure but usually refers to heirlooms or especially valuable décor. The king's crown, while certainly sure to attract many monsters, is not permitted.

The Oath and the Bargain

To swear an oath, especially on the Great River or on one’s power is a type of ancient sacred magic. Oaths taken, even by horrid villains, can be expected to be kept and followed to the letter.

To swear on the Great River and break your oath, quarters your health. Break it thrice and die.

To swear on one’s power and break an oath is terribly detrimental to those with powers like wizards. For every oath broken on your power, lose 1 Magic Dice.

Bargains are like oaths, and amongst the powerful, mortal or otherwise, as valuable as currency. Bargains must be fulfilled but a debt or favor owed, may be passed around as currency. For example, if a king owes you a debt, you may give that debt to another who may then ask the king for the favor. The king cannot trade the favor away because he is the one who owes.

The Rule of Rats and Eyes

All outlaws can inherently recognize one another if they look each other in the eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul and the soul of a bastard is a child in armor, a bird whose momma never came back to roost and old before anything with eyes ought to be. When a bastard sees these eyes in another, one of two things happens: immutable bonds or nasty deaths.

As a rule, the player characters must like or certainly tolerate one another. The Rule of Rats is this: it is better to be many rats than one, at least until the grain’s gone dry. Without each other, you'll all be dead by winter.

The Rule of Rats can be further extended. You can tell a lot about a person by looking in their eyes; stare longer than is comfortable and roll under Wisdom. On a success, learn something about a person, an Itch, a Hunger, whether they’re a coward or a killer. It's not a lie detector and it can’t tell you facts, just truths. It's a feelin’ in your gut, like the one that got you alive this far. It tells you who this person is, what they might be willing to do and possibly what they are. This is the Rule of Eyes. You cannot force it, both parties must be consenting. 

• It's why a shape shifter will never look you in the eyes and why a vampire always does. One wants you to know exactly what it is and what you are and the other wants to make sure you never do.
• Never look a Magician in the eye. They can see right into your soul and worse, you’ll look into his. If you do, you each gain +1 Terror that never goes away and they couldn’t know each other better if they shared flesh.
• Never look a medusa in the eye. What lies there is pain and suffering enough mortals let the magic turn them cold and grey

Conclusion

Let player use these rules to their advantage. Xenia is a great way to get into a party or ball without an invite. An arrogant prince would be remiss to turn down "How kindly I have heard you are and how rich you will look to your guests feeding us. Oh are names? Food first, we're certainly no outlaws from the next town over on the run..."

Its even more fun with monsters. Afraid to break out that HD 19 Storm Giant Lord? The player's may invoke Xenia and now they're on equal footing, both clever enough to know how to play one against the other. This is basically like the entirety of the Odyssey and what makes Odysseus so cool.

These rules give player's wiggle room in deadly worlds. They can contend with faeries and vampires and deal with failure by hiding in churches while they regroup. And when a villain breaks these rules, it makes them all the more compelling. An assassin who betray the Rule of Rats at the penultimate moment to frame the players and escape? Guaranteed to make them memorable. A terrible demon that says "actually I do not recognize Xenia prepare to die" is compelling, even more so if the players know in advance.

All of these "social conventions" can create interesting situations that don't revolve around combat. Losing your disguise because the wizard insists on looking everyone in the eyes adds an interesting kink to the ballroom crash.

Go ahead, write your own social conventions! Give your players the tools they need to annoy your NPCs!