Learning: First Impression

[Nudge]

Rapport can be used to actively make an First Impression.  Presence can passively make a First Impression.

If I were to have a social conflict involving a PC, an NPC, and First Impression (and I like the idea of throwing an aspect into the start of a conflict to help set the tone when strangers are conflicting), should I:

1) Have a quick contest vs the NPC resistance and give the PC either a positive or negative Aspect based on the result
2) Have a quick contest of their respective First Impression-making skills and give the winner a positive Aspect
3) Have a quick contest of their respective First Impression-making skills and give the PC the choice of whether the winner gets a positive Aspect or the loser a negative
4) Have both sides make their roll and their defense and give both positive or negative aspects as appropriate based on their skill succeeding
5) Not do any of these and force the characters to take exchanges after the conflict has started if they want to go for a First Impression

Notes: I realize I can play it anyway I want and I realize I need not use dice for every interaction.  I'm going for what the general expectation would be (or author's intentions) in such a situation when I was using dice

#1 leaves out the NPC's Impression making skills
#2 & #3 leave out the PC's resistance
#4 seems like a large number of potential aspects
#5 defies the concept of "passive" First Impressions

I'm currently leaning towards #4, but I don't have any real examples of First Impression. 

Thanks!

[arentol]

Well, the books says this:

Page 155: Rapport Stunts: Best Foot Forward: People just like you, especially when you’re deliberately trying to make a good first impression (page 138). You gain a +1 on your roll to make a good first impression, and failing that roll cannot give you a negative temporary aspect or make the situation worse.

To me the use of the word "failing" implies that you can't "lose" the roll with someone else as the "winner". Otherwise it would just say "losing that roll cannot give...". So to me this means option 2 and 3 are right out since there is a winner and loser in that scenario. I would say 5 is out for the reason you describe as well.

So that leaves 1 and 4, and I would suggest 1 should be treated like 4, with the NPC making an impression as well.

So the only question is whether it is a simple action with the others social defense as the difficulty, or a contest with the other person rolling their social defense against the "attackers" currently active first-impression skill.

To me 4 makes the most sense if the other person is also actively trying to impress, while 1 makes more sense if they are not (basically those trying to make a first impression are in the right head-space to actively resist others first impressions while those who are not trying to impress are caught off guard, so they don't actively resist).

So basically if PC is trying to impress and NPC is not then the PC rolls a simple action against the NPCs Presence and applies an aspect based on this. Then the NPC rolls a contested action against he PCs active skill using his Presence (default first impression skill). If both were active then both would be contested rolls against the others active skill, and if both were not trying to impress then both would be simple rolls of presence against a difficulty of the other persons presence.

There is one other situation, when only one person is able to receive a first impression, but what to roll there is the same as above, just pointing out that can happen (It is hard to give a first impression to the PI that has been secretly watching you for the last week, but he can impress you).