Social Shotgun

[mrsleep]

Okay, I ran my first Dresden Game yesterday (not counting City and Character Creation, or the test game which we used Rick Neil's excellent "Night Fears"http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=90998&affiliate_id=24139).  Anyway, I've been following the DFRPG for a few years now and have been trying to wrap my brittle mind around the mechanics, but a few situations came up anyway. 

The one that I want to bring up is the Social Shotgun or Social Spray attack.

There ended up being a fight between the PCs a 1/2 Ogre thug and 2 Pure Mortal gang-bangers.  Now, one of the PCs, who is very much not a fighter, decided to use his Social Skills to effect the two Pure Mortals.  This is where the problem came up.  He was attempting to affect two different targets.  Now, I could have just said, "No.  One action, one target."  Rules wise, this would have been easiest, no not reality wise as both gang-bangers could hear him.

After thinking about it, I suppose that he could have put a Maneuver, say "Untrustworthy", on the 1/2 Ogre and tagged for effect.

The rules for Social Conflict are pretty much just guidelines.  I'm not complaining, but there isn't a lot in the way of explaining how to adapt normal combat rules to certain social settings.  As such, I'd like to get feedback on how other people would handle something like this.

Please give as much feedback as possible, as I'd like to have as many tools in my GM box as possible.

And, as always, thanks in advance.

[InFerrumVeritas]

I'd run it exactly like a regular spray attack.  Split up the attack roll.

I also allow zone wide social attacks, typically at either a -2 or requiring an aspect invocation (suck as Mic'd Up).

[Vargo Teras]

I'd run it exactly like a regular spray attack.  Split up the attack roll.

I also allow zone wide social attacks, typically at either a -2 or requiring an aspect invocation (suck as Mic'd Up).

Agreed, while we're talking about Intimidate.  Presence and Performance are also well-suited to multiple targets; Deceit can probably spray, but under normal circumstances not make a zone attack (I can see it for something like feigning an emotion or injury, but not for passing off a lie in a speech; that's Deceit modifying Performance).  Rapport seems like it should be quite personal.

[Sanctaphrax]

I generally do as InferrumVeritas does, though I have Performance modify social zone attacks as per the public speaking rules.

I'm not sure that this is the best approach. Given the excessive power of numbers in social combat, allowing unrestricted free multiple targeting might be fair.

[mrsleep]

Interesting.  My first instinct was to do a Spray Attack, but I figured that the speaker would need a Stunt (as both Weapons and Brawl do), but I'm tempted to revise that opinion.

Thanks again guys.

[beachhead1973]

Yeah, but what is actually happening in the context of the attack? Name calling? This I never got as an "Active" or combat-time function

The only idea I came up with for a social attack was things like rumours and stuff, a social shotgun being like getting someone investigated for a shudder-worthy crime like pedophila in which case anyone coming to the target's defence or trying to get their name cleared could be potentially targeted for other negative effects or even painted with the same brush.

[Sanctaphrax]

Suppose there's an argument going on around here about the First Law and whether killing White Court Vampires breaks it. Three guys say it does, I'm trying to convince them that it doesn't. When I post an argument explaining why it shouldn't, I'm making a social attack against all three of those guys.

(I don't actually have an opinion on the matter, I'm just making up an example.)

[Mr. Death]

It seems kind of odd to me, though, that such a social attack would have to split its "effort" up between whoever you're trying to target. Maybe it's best as a zone attack, since social things are often said and done to be seen by many, rather than specific targets--it makes little sense to me that a grand gesture or argument would be less effective because more people heard it.

[Sanctaphrax]

It's easier to convince someone when you can get right up in their face. Plus, you can tailor arguments to your audience.

/semi-plausible justification.

[ways and means]

I personally slap on a +2 penalty to trying to persuade a group of people something as oratory to a group could be said to be a harder skill than personal persuasion (this penalty can be ignored with an oratory stunt). 

[Mr. Death]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, similarly to how spells need that extra two shifts to be full-zone effects.

[Becq]

Another thing to consider is that a 'zone' might well have different meanings in physical vs social contexts.  I don't think this is really addressed in DFRPG, but it has been looked at is other Fate-based games (Diaspora being one, I think?)

Applying that kind of thinking to this, you might consider a mob (who are engaging in a sort of group-think) to be in the same social 'zone' and could therefore be attacked all at once using a zone attack -- whether or not they happened to be in the same physical zone.  Technically, this might be more a matter of convincing a small number of leaders, with the rest just following along.  On the other hand, if several individuals happened to be sitting together at a bus stop, they might be a completely different social zones, and therefore would have to be dealt with individually or with a spray attack.

(Note: this is based on a possibly faulty understanding of another game's rules, and should not be taken as RAW!)