Exciting Changes! (part 2)

Another change that is coming in the Player's Guide update involves the dialogue system for the game. Our previous system is still intact, but I kept running into situations during conventions where I had to improvise and ad-lib the system a little when players wanted to question someone in the game. The previous dialogue system works perfectly for encounters where characters are trying to convince someone of something. For instance, in a situation where characters were trying to convince a guard to let them into a secure area, they just needed to make a Persuasion check against a set number. By making several Persuasion checks and using diplomacy, bluff, or intimidate, they could potentially raise the guard's Posture score enough to that set number if the checks were successful, and then he would do what they asked. However, in situations that involved an interrogation, suddenly the system didn't feel quite right—the interrogated subject should be able to lie to the characters, using his Persuasion skill against them. There are even talents, such as Convincing Lie or Fast Talker, that could be used against the characters. The new dialogue system adds a challenge where characters and non-player characters (NPC) can use diplomacy, bluff, or intimidate each-other, back and forth against each other. The characters win if they succeed at enough checks to raise the NPC's posture to the target number. The NPC's win if they can lower their own posture to 1. Once someone is at a posture of 1, they are totally hostile, won't cooperate, and will even attack!