Skill-based role playing games have a tendency to emphasize “useful” skills (such as combat or magic) while ignoring skills that help the character interact with his society. Harnmaster is better than most in that it include things like Rhetoric or Oratory. This is a start, but most players consciously or not try to give their characters advantages in relation to the game world setting. This is called min-maxing and is often ridiculed by players. However it is the equivalent of calling greed a “sin”, it is simply a part of human nature that when taken to the extreme is distasteful to all that observe it.

Thus I propose a mechanism that requires a portion of players “option points” be reserved for social activities that most humans in the real world use to relax and interact with their fellow humans. It would gives every character an extra (+1) option point to be used for one of the following social skills…

Musical Skills:
Singing
Whistling
Playing an instrument
Physical Skills:
Drinking
Dancing
Arm Wrestling
Lovemaking
Intellectual Skills:
Seduction
Gambling
Storytelling
Poetry
Jokes (Verbal & Practical)

(Please feel free to add to this list. Be careful about letting players convincing you about that something like Wrestling or Boxing is social skill, as these can also be used as more than just entertainment!)

In many cases these skills are already enumerated in Harnmaster but are woefully under used. This bonus option point can be used either for the OML or to increase one of these skills +1SB if they have already been opened. A prime example would be a Halean priestess who has already opened Lovemaking and then increases it by 1SB.

Note that this also gives the GM an idea of what the character might do in his “down” time or when the party is involved in a celebration with the local villagers. It also cajoles the player to use his character in a more well rounded (realistic) way.

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...and I'm not dead yet...

Drinking as a skill? More like acquired poison resistance if you ask me..

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

In a game that I play from time to time, Drinking is a skill. It is a skill that you don't want to improved, at least not to much, because, if you have a high skill level, you can take a lot of alcohol, but at a certain point, your body starts to degenerate.

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"Corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur" - Tacitus
Fenhorn's Hârnpage

Usually, failed skill rolls with social skills should have enough negative effect(s) so the players wants to have them. I usually tries to think about scenes that such skills can be used. I admit that in a fantasy scenario it can be easy for the players to ignore such skills, especially if playing low status characters. I play a cyberpunk game from time to time and in that game, the social skills are not ignored (very important to be able to bribe, fixing illegal weapons, etc).

Edit: Sorry for DPing

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"Corpora lente augescent cito extinguuntur" - Tacitus
Fenhorn's Hârnpage

I like the idea, Gronks.

It seems if I'm getting at right, these are social events the players might participate in. And aptitude in these areas improves the rhetoric or other social skills. Am I getting it right?

I'd also think there would be cultural mods. A Kuboran tribesman, serf and knight may all be able to whistle, but how they approach it and what they are whistling about are a different matter.

For a non-harnic example - A Klingon may be good at Klingon Opera, but this will not mesh well with most terrans.

Another example - A Kuboran story may not be appreciated by the townspeople, it could very well refer to the superiority of the Kuboran way of life and also talk about the weak southerners.

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Hmm Gurthang. What a nice name for a sword....

There are two ways to look at this.

First you may want to inverse the results if the subject matter was antithetical to the target audience. Your example of the Kuboran telling a story from his homeland to a group of "southerners" would be such a case. He might muddle it up so bad (CF result) that he gets a laugh from his audience for portraying a "stupid savage" so well. He might get a lynch mob from protraying the Kuborans so magnificantly (CS result) that the southerners are totally outraged by the comparison.

The second way would be respect for the performance itself, regardless of the content of the piece itself. I suspect that this would apply to other performers that use the "skill" or perhaps the educated leaders (nobles?) of the audience. In this case the performer could reasonably expect praise and assistance in case the local community decided that their pride was wounded.

Now I must admit that whistling might not be high on my list of things that people would take offense to. However I could see how a Halean priestess seducing the local lord to her cause would easily enrage the Laranian Chaplain of that household into a violent response.

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...and I'm not dead yet...

Being educated, a leader or Noble does not make one more open minded to a Kuboran story.

As a matter of fact, I could almost see the opposite. A Kuboran structure portrayed as HMG is a lot more democratic of a society than a feudal one. The educated nobility may look upon the Kuboran as bringing in ideas that are contrary to the feudal norm. It is certainly alien to the Larani thoughts of "everyone knows their place".

History is full of educated leaders or nobility being biased and not being open minded. Some of the leading educated nobles of England had Joan of arc burned at the stake for example.

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Hmm Gurthang. What a nice name for a sword....

She clearly was a heretic...

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

Ah, Joan of Arc. Successful war leader and a female to boot, which must of enraged the misogynist patriarchs of England to no end. They where going to off the b*tch regardless, they simply pinned it on heresy as the easiest out. She could (and probably was) an elegant orator for her cause, the English nobility simply had already made up their minds.

I proposed this idea primary as a way to intergrate the PCs into the background that is Harn. They can also be used as plot hooks. After all if the GM knows that his PCs are going to be singing three part harmony in the next tavern they visit, it should be easy to plot a lead in to the next adventure!!!

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...and I'm not dead yet...

You are missing the point. She was not executed merely for being a succesful female war leader with heretical appearences...she was executed for being a successful French female war leader

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Plots and schemes are the same thing..

Technically, she was tried and executed for witchcraft.

Obviously, any woman who could be successful in leading troops against you just *had* to be a witch.

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-- Jim Chokey

"Argent, chief embattled tenne. A coney of the field and crossed carrots proper"

Of course, this had nothing to do with the fact the were getting rid of the most effective French war leader of the time.

AND, perhaps more importantly, by condemning her as a heretic, was an attempt to undermine the coronation of the French King in which Joan had a big part.

But technically, she was executed for heresy, not witchcraft, whcih is not an executable offense the first time.

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Hmm Gurthang. What a nice name for a sword....

While the idea has same merit, I think that where the PC spends their skills is based on their in game experiences.
After years of gaming I think this is logical and rightful.
While this can be seen as min-maxing it's also a fault of GMs of not be able to present valid alternatives to combat.

Start playing situations where weapons aren't an option and social interactions can bring disaster, and you'll see yor players speding train and OP on the involved skills.

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Si vis pacem, para bellum
I Signori della Guerra: http://www.isignoridellaguerra.com

While I agree with your basic philosophy, we are talking about trying to change the habits acquired during thirty five years of RPG history. This is why I suggested that we give them an additional +1 OP for social skills instead of forcing them to spend an OP that they would of previously devoted to combat, magic, ritual, etc. If the player doesn't want to spend the OP on a social skill than fine, he doesn't have to but than again he doesn't get the OP.

Basically I'm trying to encourage both players and GMs to think of non-combat situations as an intergral part of role-playing. Harn does this very well, but trying to change the habits of hard-core gamers is the equivalent of carving Sitting Bull into the side of a Dakota mountain. Possible, but it takes a while...

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...and I'm not dead yet...

That makes a lot more sense, OP's for social skills as a seperate entity.

There could even be social skills that are normally acquired by certain professions, and others that would take GM discretion.

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Hmm Gurthang. What a nice name for a sword....

I can tell you from experience, this works exceptionally well. After losing two or three drinking contests, even the most dedicated hack-n-slasher will put some development time into "Alcohol Tolerance". Good role-player's after a single opportunity to plead at court will spend some focus on Rhetoric, or law. It is a simple rule of GMing. Players have choices and they will do whatever they get rewarded for and what they enjoy.

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There is no truth to the vile rumor that I am a fireball throwing Peonian Priest!