I am not that experienced as a GM in DQ but...

from what I could tell in the last game I ran I
managed to intimidate the party with some of the
monsters not because the PCs couldn't handle them but
more from the situation... one of the situations was
the Giant Lizard party member was in front of the
group travelling through a narrow tunnel system where
they were about to face hobbit sized critters whom had
ok ranks of mil sci and used it to good effect, the
whole situation didn't boil down to a fight which was
my intent but rather the players managed to quickly
negotiate a way to speak to the entity in charge of
the area and eventually managed to negotiate a trade
agreement with them for the party employer, I could of
forced the encounter in fact I did every thing short
of declaring a charge with the bad guys in fact the
party was only 6 pulses away from trying to deal with
the combat but fast thinking saved them a bad fight...
Usually combat is an easy way out but as GM's we still
have to sometimes be arbitrary if nothing more than
sometimes saying yes there is going to be a fight... I
know from experience some of the most annoying RP
experiences I have had are when the GM presents
situations where the only way to solve the problem is
to kill everyone in the room who isn't a PC (that said
that sometimes has its place) even thou the PC's have
a means to communicate with the creature or
magics/uberness that allows a non-combat solution
etc... 

Also what a few people have realised from the other
games I run that not everyone is as tough as they make
out... a great defensive technique is for the world to
see you as a great warrior even if you can't lift that
sword on your hip... 

just my 2 pence worth

Zane


> PC Intimidation, bluffing, and bravado are usually
> pointless because the bad guys almost always
> call your bluff and you end up fighting.
> Probably this is for exactly the reason you raised -
> combat is resolved under the rules, which is
> easier than the GM/role-playing call required to
> resolve intimidation.
> And as GM you spent an hour putting together the
> stats on the bad guys ready for combat, damned if
> all that time is going to be wasted. :-)

"...SOmetimes the slower people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you win the race..."


		
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