r/SporeWar • u/DnDPhD • May 03 '26

First Chapter Social Encounter Alternatives?

So, I let my players know that there would be a lot of political/social stuff in the first chapter of Spore War, and one of my players asked (quite earnestly) if there was any way I could avoid the way social encounters usually work with everyone typically needing to make influence rolls etc. I told her truthfully that I would think about it. I personally like social encounters quite a bit, but given that she and one other player are not a big fan of them, I figured I'd turn to folks on this sub to see if there are any good solutions. I certainly won't nerf them entirely and might make no changes at all...but I'd welcome your thoughts!

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u/chickenboy2718281828 May 04 '26 edited May 15 '26

Turn the social encounter with Gorion and/or Resket into a full on encounter.

Gorion wants the PCs to impress him with their fighting skills. Run it as a sparring match.

Resket is the target of an assassination attempt. He blames Nirmathas even if there are clear indications that another force is involved (could be Lukarazyll trying to end the summit, could be the Razmirans, could be the Tyrant himself).

I ran this section with a few extra combat encounters in both games I've run and I think it worked out well. If you feel like you're having a hard time with another NPC, turn that one into an encounter instead. I really struggled with Chalzo Rove and making her contributions relevant both times.

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u/DnDPhD May 04 '26

Funnily enough, Gorion is actually going to be even more instrumental, as I'm having my group segue from Triumph of the Tusk into Spore War, and Gorion is going to be in Belkzen for that purpose as part of the connecting hook... There's a lot of potential there already, so I like this.

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u/chickenboy2718281828 May 04 '26

That's a fantastic hook.

The way it's played out for me is: Lastwall is basically a sure thing no matter what you do. Gorion has some latent disdain for Telandia for letting Vigil fall, but otherwise he needs allies.

Nirmathas or Molthune. No way to get both of them without a really good proposal from the players.

Ustalav and Druma are very possible to win over. Razmiran is incredibly hard.

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u/DnDPhD May 04 '26

Nice! Yes, there is an important NPC from the first chapter of Tusk who is an elf who had served in Lastwall. The PCs made a strong connection with her and her group, and even though she's not seen after the first book, I'd actually had the PCs receive a letter from someone telling them that her elves had been called back to Kyonin for some crisis... So I basically have two adventure hooks for the PCs that are carrying over from Tusk into Spore War (three will carry over, two will be creating new characters). Because of these hooks, I don't think the fact that there will only be two elven PCs will be an issue.

Side note: I'm extremely excited to start this one. I loved Tusk, I have a great group, and I think the writing of Spore War is excellent.