Social Combat cards

[Wheldrake]

I just ordered a pack of these social combat cards (along with 20 other decks, most of which were on sale!!) and I'm thinking that the suggested method of using them is highly counterintuitive: laying out a random 3x3 (or larger) grid of cards to flip over. It just seems to lack a dynamic element.

What if each player got a "hand" of cards to play as he sees fit? That way he could choose various strategies and not be tied into things that could quite possibly be out of character or inappropriate to a given social situation?

I'm thinking giving each player a hand of 3 cards +1 card per +1 CHA bonus at the start of a given session. But not really sure how that would play out. Perhaps require a set number of successful rolls to reach resolution.

Would the NPC get to play his own cards to oppose the player? Do you think the design of this deck would support opposed cards?

I tried to search the forums to find other discussions of these cards, but maybe they're just too new. Any thoughts?

[KidDangerous]

I absolutely agree. And in fact have worked something similar into my games.

I tried a mixed approach - some encounters I used the cards as designed, in others I gave them out to PCs to 'play' at certain points.

I'd say experiment with methods and see which works for you.

I can't write a detailed response atm, I'll try and come back to this forum and give some more thoughts when I can

[Wheldrake]

I am sincerely curious if anyone has experimented with giving players a hand of Social Combat cards and whether the NPCs got an opposing hand, and how that worked.

May have to solitaire test, just to see how it plays out.

[Rickmeister]

Sounds very interesting :)

[Wheldrake]

<casts thread necromancy>
So am I still the only one in all of Paizo-dom that likes this deck of cards? I don't use it every session, but in social-heavy sessions, like city and investigative adventures, it seems to help spur on the players' imaginations and give them some outside-the-box solutions to their various dillemmas.

As I described above, I have tested "giving each player a hand of 3 cards +1 card per +1 CHA bonus at the start of a given session" and then each time they declare they are using a card in agiven interaction, I allow them to draw a replacement card.

Of course this doesn't prevent the players trying to do tricky stuff that isn't on the cards, or just use their diplomacy to gather information or whatever. It's simply a way of adding options that weren't planned for in the scenario or campaign and that the players wouldn't necessarily have thought of.

[Snowblind]

Going by my 3 minute google search, social combat using those cards seems like a rather painfully dissociated mechanic. Am I wrong, or is that a pretty fair assessment? If it is, then that would explain why very few people use it.

[Wheldrake]

Snowblind, I agree that the method of use proposed by the deck rules themselves is not very well integrated into game play. That's why I tested a new way to use the cards, that seems to work.

Hmmm... perhaps I should write it up in more detail to see if other people are willing to test drive it.

[pennywit]

I haven't tried a hand of cards. But I might try this. I used the "social combat" cards a couple times, and I was intensely dissatisfied, as they made the social encounters a little TOO structured, not to mention a bit too constraining. These days, I run social encounters as skill challenges (adapted from 4E), and my players seem a little happier with them.

I do like putting them into play as "idea" cards, though ...

[Seannoss]

I have used them a few times as suggested with mixed success. I like your idea on giving the players a hand to build off of.

So yes, please write up more of your ideas as I like the concept behind the cards.