What's a "charged interaction?"

  • 6 Replies
  • 4565 Views
What's a "charged interaction?"
« on: October 19, 2011, 05:02:12 PM »
I see players wanting to read people here and there when the interaction doesn't seem charged.  What do you think a charged interaction is?

Re: What's a "charged interaction?"
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2011, 05:30:35 PM »
The way I read it, is any situation where people are "on edge" or wary.  If a bunch of people are just hanging out, having fun, then it's not charged.  But if there's someone nervous about how a scenario will play out, it's then a charged sitch.

However, a PC reading a sitch/person will instantly charge the scene as suddenly the PC is "on edge" (otherwise why would they be reading anything?) So, not every sitch is charged, but as soon as a PC reads, things can start to get hairy.

Re: What's a "charged interaction?"
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2011, 06:08:00 PM »

I think you can read a person anytime you want to ask one of the questions. The questions themselves are charged. Anytime I am dealing with someone and I care if they are lying, or want to know what's really going on with them emotionally, or am trying to convince them of something, or am wondering what they want from me... then the move is appropriate. That's not a laid back interaction.

When a player rolls to read someone and gets a hit and then is like 'oh wait... nevermind' when they see the list of questions -- then the situation wasn't charged. Otherwise you're fine.

*

lumpley

  • 1293
Re: What's a "charged interaction?"
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2011, 09:08:17 AM »
Me too.

Re: What's a "charged interaction?"
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2011, 06:23:28 PM »
I supposed to "read" somebody you'd have to talk with him for at least couple of minutes, so not "everytime", right? Or I did it wrong when I actually prevented player from rolling it when all he was doing was asking a question or two?

*

noclue

  • 609
Re: What's a "charged interaction?"
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2011, 02:36:00 PM »
I see players wanting to read people here and there when the interaction doesn't seem charged.  What do you think a charged interaction is?

I would think that if you can't see how it's a charged situation, the obvious thing to do is ask the player why it's charged? Do they suspect something? They don't trust this person, why? Someone's really in control? Of what? You feel like you need to be watching out right now. What's got you spooked?

That seems like interesting and fruitful discussion.
James R.

    "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
     --HERBERT SPENCER

Re: What's a "charged interaction?"
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2011, 11:06:09 AM »
Well, I would note that reading other folks doesn't necessarily require a situation be hairy, or even at immediate risk of it. People read each other all the time in non-hairy situations, like reading people they care about (or at the very least are on fine terms with) to find out what they're really feeling or what they would want them to do. The "charge" in that case is not suspicion or hostility. Hell, in one session in the campaign where I play an angel, our faceless was turning down a perfectly good meal, so I read him to figure out what was going on. Turns out it wasn't because it was the cannibal chef doing the cooking (the food in this case was not people, as far as we were aware) or that he wasn't hungry; he just didn't want to take his helmet off to eat. I made up some bullshit favour to ask of him that would involve him going off dealing with some shit out of sight and handed him a plate, and off he went. In other situations, you may want to ask if someone is lying not because you don't trust them per se, but because they're making an extraordinary claim or asking you to take a risk. And so on.

In another thread, lumpley noted that the non-coercive, non-socially-violent move for getting people to do what you wanted them to do was read a person. So perhaps sometimes the charge really is as simple as, "I don't know how to get Person Y to do X thing, and I want to know."

Of course, the risk is that if you blow your roll in a non-hairy situation, the MC has the opportunity to make it into a situation that is as "charged" as they like, in whatever way they like.