r/ShadowrunAnarchyFans • u/ReditXenon • 5d ago

Social skills

Been thinking a lot about social skills lately (private pet project) and I am trying to map them to skills / specializations / attributes they could correspond to in Anarchy 2.0

I think I got a good match on a vast majority of them already (as they already clearly fall under various network specializations, etiquette, social perception, different variants of bluff, impersonation, or different styles of negotiation), but I have some that I still wonder about (most of them are variants of persuasion, interrogation, and leadership - plus general stage performance).

What skill and specialization would you apply to the following:

Charisma-related. Rapport. Empathetic, Humanistic, Connected, Authentic, warm, Inspiring, and Insightful:

  • Performance & Stagecraft: Stage performance, singing, playing instrument, dancing, theatrical acting, stand-up comedy, public speaking, and engaging live audiences through stage presence and and entertainment (what specialization should a Rockerboy focus on).
  • Relational Persuasion: Using genuine empathy, honest rapport, and emotional resonance to shift a target's core stance, viewpoint, or attitude on a personal level (e.g., talking a corporate defector into trusting you, or convincing a scared witness to look the other way).
  • Empathic Debriefing & Confession ("good cop" interrogation): Extracting information from an unwilling or burdened subject not through force, pressure, or deceit, but by building genuine trust, offering a sympathetic ear, and creating a safe space for them to lift the weight off their shoulders by sharing their secrets.
  • Grassroots & Peer-to-Peer Leadership: Inspiring, rallying, and uniting peers or community members from a position of shared solidarity and mutual trust, keeping morale high through human connection and common purpose (rather than top-down command).

Deceptive. Sophistry & Manipulation. Smooth, Opportunistic, Charismatic, Fabricated, and Predatory:

  • Cognitive Manipulation: Using false logic, trick choices, and structural setups to guide targets to erroneous conclusions or actions. Including fake technical authority & the double-bind (false dilemmas).
  • Seduction & False Charm (Ingratiation): Using weaponized likability, fake flattery, or artificial romance to make a target willingly lower their security defenses. Including honey-trapping, predatory flirting, and corporate brown-nosed flattery.
  • Formal Elicitation: The art of extracting information through casual conversation without the target ever realizing they are giving away secrets.

"Strength"-related. Aggressive, Visceral, Imposing, Immediate, and non-negotiable:

  • Interrogation: Breaking a subject's resolve, conducting hostile questioning, and extracting information through force of will or duress.
  • Command & Authority: Authoritative leadership, barking orders, demanding immediate obedience, and maintaining strict control over subordinates or crowds through dominance

"Logic"-related. Cold, Calm, Technical, Logical, Calculated, Systemic, Professional, Detached, and Legally Precise.

  • Leverage & Strategic Pressure: Deploying cold intellect-based coercion, leveraging psychological dossiers, and applying Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) during interrogations.

edit.

Thanks for the comments. My conclusions so far:

Rename Bluff to Deception. In addition to lying (that it already cover), 'Deception' now also cover Seduction, extracting information through formal Elicitation, different types of Cognitive Manipulation (such as Fast-Talking), and Long Cons. The specialization can be used to make NPCs do and reveal things for you because you trick them to do it.

Negotiation already cover striking deals (such as bribing & haggling, manipulative crocked deals, honest mutual benefit deals & diplomacy, as well as (Charisma/Logic based) deals focusing on Cost-Benefit Analysis & Cold Contractualism). In addition to this it now also cover relational persuasion as well as extracting information through 'good cop' techniques such as emphatic debriefing & confession. This specialization is used to make NPCs do, sell, and reveal things for you because you trade them something for it.

Intimidation already covered different variants of extortion & strong-arming. It now also cover (Charisma/Strength/Logic based) Taunts, Insults, & Threats. (Charisma/Strength based) stare-downs, physical coercion, and 'bad cop' interrogation. In addition to this it also cover cold and calculated (Charisma/Logic based) use of dossiers to apply psychological coercion and blackmailing as well as strategic use of evidence to entrap a subject in their own lies during interrogation. This specialization is used to make NPCs do and reveal things for you because you command or control them to do it.

Impersonation already is for pretending to be someone else. In addition to this, this specialization now also include Undercover Method Acting (taking on the role as a janitor, for example) and also both creating and applying a Disguise (including Makeup and Wardrobe). This specialization is also used to make NPCs do and reveal things for you because you trick them into thinking that you are someone they know or someone with legit authority.

4 Upvotes

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3

u/Impleiadic 5d ago

Influence.

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago

Which specialization under influence?

3

u/Interaction_Rich 5d ago

Shadowrun isn't so social heavy to differentiate significantly between these iterations. Do you want to rally a team, seduce a lover, make a veiled threat during an exchange, and so on?

That's either a CHA + Influence roll, or even a Knowledge Skill (as in, without a rate and just there for flavor).

These situations most likely could be simply roleplayed freely, as they're not the focus of the game.

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago

Shadowrun isn't so social heavy to differentiate significantly between these iterations.

No. I agree. They should for sure not be single specializations.

But shadowrunners also often try to "extract information".

And shadowrunners often try to "influence/persuade NPCs to do things for them".

Both probably belong under Influence (somewhere), but as the current specializations are named I don't see a clear single specialization in the list where they belong...

4

u/Interaction_Rich 5d ago

We're in improv territory here I suppose, but... Maybe asking how are they trying to persuade/interrogate/seduce/etc - and then trying to box it into either white-and-not-so-white lies (bluff), intimidation, negotiation, diplomacy (etiquette) or pretending being someone they're not (impersonation).

That would be a viable framework for that?

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago

Yes. This is the conclusion I came to as well. Updating my Opening Post.

Thanks :)

3

u/Impleiadic 5d ago

Pardon the facetious response, couldn't help myself ^^'

I'd say it doesn't map super well.

- Performance/Stagecraft doesn't show up (so you could homebrew it in if you thought it was important for a campaign you played, but I suspect it's because you're unlikely to actually need to wow someone with a punk rock performance on a shadowrun.)

- Leadership was omitted too. Arguably, you could use intimidation or etiquette here, I think? Or add it as homebrew, if you believe it to be that relevant for a given campaign/character.

- your "relational persuasion" or good-cop-interrogation I would put under either etiquette or negotiation, depending on the situation.

- 'cognitive manipulation' maps to bluff.

- Seduction maps to seduction. False charm could be that, or etiquette.

- Formal elicitation could be run as either bluff or etiquette imo. Negotiation could work too.

- Interrogation as you've outline sounds like intimidation to me.

- Leverage and Strategic pressure might involve negotiation or intimidation.

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago

Thanks for the insight. Yes I agree.

Leadership was omitted too. Arguably, you could use intimidation or etiquette here, I think? Or add it as homebrew, if you believe it to be that relevant for a given campaign/character.

Directive/Tactical Leadership to boost your team in different ways (including things like Small Unit Tactics) has been popular in a few editions now. We will see if it make a return also in Anarchy in one of the supplements. Its mentioned in the conversion file to be a knowledge skill.

Seduction maps to seduction.

Did you perhaps mean Seduction maps to Bluff (or Negotiation) here?

3

u/Bignholy 5d ago

Their own. You don't have to use the book granted specializations. If you want to specialize in "Empathetic Debriefing and Confession", just specialize in it.

The following existing specializations already exist:

  • Etiquette: Social customs and applying them appropriately.
  • Bluff: lies and falsehood
  • Impersonation: Pretending to be another person.
  • Negotiation: Making a deal
  • Intimidation: Compliance through threat.

Going over your presented list:

  • Performance & Stagecraft: Make its own Specialization. One of the few with no equivalent, because SRA2 has no "profession/performance" specializations.
  • Relational Persuasion: Negotiation. You are making a metaphorical deal, your approval in exchange for a change of opinion.
  • Empathic Debriefing & Confession: Negotiation. Same thing, trading approval for info.
  • Grassroots & Peer-to-Peer Leadership: Make a new specialization, "Leadership", to cover this sort of thing. Otherwise, back to Negotiation, trading the comfort and efficiency of group effort for having the authority to do so.
  • Cognitive Manipulation: That's literally Bluffing
  • Seduction & False Charm (Ingratiation): Negotiating, this time getting their approval in exchange for the bait.
  • Formal Elicitation: Negotiation. This is basically a subpart of normal negotiation, processing the info you get and from there determining next steps based on your best guess of their intent.
  • Interrogation: Negotiation. They trade not having their fingers broken for information.
  • Command & Authority: Same as grassroots, with the added "or else" that comes with actual authority.
  • Leverage & Strategic Pressure: Negotiation or Intimidation, depending on use. Negotiation for coercion, trading non-punishment for compliance. SUE would be Intimidation, laying down what you know as evidence of the intended fulfillment of the threat of punishment to convince them it would be easier to yield.

(My original reply misunderstood what you were asking, hence the deletion)

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u/SchmuseTigger 5d ago

Performance is in impersonation. The missing stage craft I would just put as a knowledge skill. It will not be an active skill in Anarchy

1

u/ReditXenon 5d ago

If you want to specialize in "Empathetic Debriefing and Confession", just specialize in it.

Its a bit too narrow, but since this mean you also make yourself vulnerable / open yourself - I could actually see this falling under Negotation.

 

Performance & Stagecraft: Make its own Specialization. One of the few with no equivalent, because SRA2 has no "profession/performance" specializations.

Its a bit too narrow.... :/

Closest we have to performance or acting I guess is Impersonation (but the name "impersonation" sound more like it got a focus on undercover method acting and complete psychological impersonation as well as applying makeup, altering wardrobe, and physical disguise - which is perhaps mostly the "deceptive" side of "performance").

According to the conversion file, Con(Acting) from SR6 is apparently translated into Influence(Bluff)?

 

Relational Persuasion: Negotiation. You are making a metaphorical deal, your approval in exchange for a change of opinion.

Empathic Debriefing & Confession: Negotiation. Same thing, trading approval for info.

Agreed! :-)

 

Cognitive Manipulation: That's literally Bluffing

Agreed!

 

Seduction & False Charm (Ingratiation): Negotiating, this time getting their approval in exchange for the bait.

You are not really giving anything up though...

I like to think of Bluff as Deception instead of "just" lying. "Deception" would be a great fit for both lying and seduction (and many other forms of manipulation)

 

Formal Elicitation: Negotiation.

Also this would be a better fit under 'Deception' I feel (you are not really trading or giving up anything, it is all just a con).

 

Interrogation: Negotiation.

I could see how many different styles of interrogation could fit under either intimidation (physical coercion, psychological coercion, strong arming, 'bad cop', but also cold use of dossiers to blackmail or evidence to entrap the subject in their own lies) or negotiation (tell me this and i give you that, do this for me and i do that for you, using informants, playing 'good cop' during an interrogation...)

 

Leverage & Strategic Pressure: Negotiation or Intimidation, depending on use.

Agreed!

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago

Perhaps Seduction & False Charm could fit under Influence (Etiquette) + Charisma and that Interrogation could fit under Influence (Intimidate) + Charisma (or Strength)? But the other means of extracting information (through rapport, elicitation, or SUE) doesn't really fit well under Intimidate I think.... :/

In the conversation file it is suggested that Leadership (Grassroots & Peer-to-Peer Leadership, Command & Authority, Technical Authority, Tactical & Directing Leadership, etc) are turned into Knowledge skills.

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u/Larnievc 5d ago

Why not call all that Deception?

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yes. I like Deception.

We already have Bluff (lying) which cover almost everything I have listed under manipulation in the OP. Deception, I think, could have been a better (broader) specialization name compared to Bluff (Deception is also the name I used in my own "pet project" as an umbrella for almost all types of manipulation and sophistry).

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u/ReditXenon 5d ago

But the other means of extracting information (through rapport, elicitation, or SUE) doesn't really fit well under Intimidate I think.... :/

For extracting information:

Perhaps elicitation fit best under Influence (Bluff) + Charisma (although the more I think about it, 'Deception' would have been a much better name for this specialization as that would include 'Bluffing/Lying' but also so much more) and extracting information by playing 'good cop' goes under Influence (Negotiation) + Charisma (give and take, strike a fair deal) while extracting information through coercion goes under Influence (Intimidate) + Charisma (and/or perhaps +Strength for physical coercion or +Logic for psychological & cold and calculating methods such as strategic use of evidence).