Searching
"You see a 15' square room. The floor is covered by a red twill rug, a bed sits in the northwest corner, with a night table and a lit lamp lighting the room. To the east is a desk with drawers, with a book and candle on top. To your immediate right is a shelf covered with books. What do you do?"
"I make a search skill roll, what do I find?"
The physical act of searching should be an iterative process between the referee and the players. The players should ask for a description of the scene, and figure things out by saying what they search and how they search it. If they are clever enough, they should find the object they need 100% of the time. If they are hasty, ignore descriptions, or don't check the object completely, they should miss the object 100% of the time. Recommendation: eliminate search skills from the game, and make the process completely roleplaying based.
Traps
"After searching the hall, you spot a copper plate embedded into the floor. It looks like some sort of pressure-activated plate, possibly a trap. A small copper panel is on the right wall, at about waist height, with a round hole in the panel. What do you do?"
"I make a Disable Device skill roll, did I defeat the trap?"
Similar to searching, traps should be taken apart with roleplaying descriptions, mixed in with skill and ability rolls. In the above case, we could break the trap down like this:
- Remove the panel with an insulated tool [fail, 3d6 electrical damage, save for half]
- INT check to figure out the three gears and lock [fail and -4 to all further trap disarm rolls]
- Cut the wire between the sphere and coil [fail and panel electrical trap is active]
- DEX check to jam the lever [fail and hall trap goes off, etc...]
Puzzles
"You see a wood panel with nine shifting squares inlaid into it. One square is missing so the others can slide around. The remaining pieces seem to make a picture (the referee lays out nine paper squares, meant to be slid around and solved). What do you do?"
"I make an INT check, do I figure it out?"
Puzzles are mental exercises meant for the players to figure out - not their dice. In old-school gaming, adventures were full of these challenges, and they were a part of the fun. No matter what the INT of your character, if you could figure out the puzzle, you were given the prize. These sort of things did break the 'fourth wall' of roleplaying, but hey - they were fun, and intended to challenge the players wits, not their characters. Removing puzzles from the game takes all of the 'parlor game' fun out of the shared experience, and lessens the old-school feel. Recommendation: disallow INT or skill checks from solving puzzles, and make all puzzle solving live and roleplayed at the table using the wits of the players.
Lore
"You find an ancient tablet detailing a lost magic empire, destroyed thousands of years ago. On this tablet is a map of the lost mage towers of this civilization, and you see several landmarks on the map as well - some of which seem familiar. You need to find these towers, what do you do?"
"I make a lore skill check, modified by INT. Do I know where the towers are?"
Lore is going to be a controversial addition to the deadly skills list, but this type of 'do I know that?' skill robs some of the magic from the game. If a princess is kidnapped, and the players immediately start making lore checks to figure out where the princess could be, something is wrong here. Based on what their players could know, and the information they have gathered up until this point, the players should figure things out for themselves. In the above example, the referee should provide them with a map with landmarks that sort of line up with what the players already know, and the players should take it from there. If there is a question about 'does my character know that?' use common sense and rule it at the table, a wizard would generally know about spells, the location of magic schools, and other information important to their class. Recommendation: remove lore checks from the game, let players figure things out, and use common sense for everything else.
Intimidate
"The last surviving Orc shaman drops his staff and surrenders, backing into the corner. What do you do?"
"I make an intimidate roll, and get him to tell us where the princess is."
The success or failure of intimidation attempts should be ruled between the effectiveness of the player's roleplaying, and the NPC being intimidated. These sorts of checks always vary wildly with the participants, situation, threat, and information desired - so it should be 100% determined by the referee, with the deciding factor being how the player roleplays the intimidation attempt. Recommendation: eliminate intimidate skill, and make the success or failure dependent on the player's roleplaying and the referee's judgment of the situation.
Charm
"The guard steadfastly refuses to let you into the town, the gates are closed on the god's holiday. What do you do?"
"I make a charm skill roll to get him to let us in."
Charming is another of those situations that should be roleplayed between the referee and the players. If the player doing the charming is charming enough - let the player have it. Bad roleplaying should yield worse results, and there is an argument for the role of charisma here. My ruling would be to let charisma affect the magnitude of the result, but not the chance of success. A high charisma character could be granted a greater result or better outcome, but they should rely on what the player said at the time to determine if the charm attempt succeeds or fails. Do not take away from the roleplaying with the dice or a modifier - let the players play. Recommendation: remove the charm skill from the game, and let the players natural charisma determine the base chance of success.
Trickery
"The guard holds his sword on you, pointing to the stolen purse on the ground. What do you do?"
"I tell him someone else did it, I make a CHR check."
This is another of those purely social activities that should depend on roleplaying alone to determine the success chance. Charisma can affect what happens as a degree of success or failure in the game; but the player needs to think, be crafty, and put on a good show for the group. Why remove some of the most memorable shenanigans of the thief player by letting the dice play the game for them? Recommendation: remove deception and trickery skills from the game, and let the players roleplay the attempt in-character.
Negotiate
"This is my last set of platemail, the shopowner says, the price is 800 gold!"
"I make a barter skill roll to get the price down."
Bartering and negotiation should be done between the player and the referee, with no skills involved. Charisma can affect the final outcome, such as the magnitude of the discount, but it should never replace the one-on-one roleplaying during the negotiating process. The player could try all sorts of thing, like making an offer to sell their salave at that shop alone, for a good deal, trade in a valuable item, or do some other favor to get the price of the platemail down. Recommendation: eliminate all negotiation and barter skills from the game, let player-referee interaction determine success chance, and let the players wheel and deal on their own.
This feels like a pretty comprehensive list of skills negatively impacting roleplaying, and furthers my thoughts on what should be moved to the roleplaying side, and the rest can be played with the normal game rules. This isn't a 'don't do that' type list, but more of an open thought into how we can return the entertaining parts of the game to the table, enhance roleplaying, and let the players play.
Too many modern games put everything on skills, attributes, and success chances - and they leave the game cold with no player input. At that point, you are just rolling dice against a spreadsheet, and the player has minimal involvement with what is happening. Older games never had that luxury, and encouraged players to be wild, make things up, and play creatively. The innocence of the times mandated the players could play, and that creativity affected the outcome of the game. It is important to step back, and look for parts of the game that are 'over ruled.'
The goal is to return roleplaying to its roots, and capture the original feel of the game. I do feel that some rules systems go to far, and simulate everything - to the point of removing the fun from the game. We have to recapture the original feel of our games, let the rules part cover mechanical actions only, and return the spontaneity and player input to the game. Roleplaying is not mathematical simulation, it is a simulation guided by player input - with a strong emphasis on ad-lib and improvisation.
You want people to walk away from the game saying, "That was fun and my input mattered."
You don't want people to walk away from the game saying, "I didn't know the rules, so I didn't do well."
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