Question to fellow GMs.

Situation - the NPC has his agenda/view (part of his background story) on something and NO WAY he is going to change it. PC of course approach him and wants to convince him. Should I tell the PC that he does clearly see that he cannot convince the NPC and there is no roll even OR should I allow him a roll giving a lot of setback etc.?

Easy - if it's important to the story (like say, "If we dont get past this locked door, the game grinds to a halt") then don't roll. Either they unlock the door, find the hidden plans or - in this case - are unable to sway the agenda despite their best efforts.

Thanks guys for all the comments, really good. I will switch from "always give a chance to roll" to "NO because of the story". This way I wont have to explain 2 Despairs which I've got on the last session. In the end I decided that a character has really bad luck and a chandelier fell down on a player's head .

Love the creative input in this thread, but in regards to the original query, I say always go with a strong story, even if it's just meant for a mission or two as it improves Player interaction and makes them think (a little bit more) about their character's motivation and (maybe) about how they can better work within the confines of a group.

Throwing cuthroats and scallywags together for random missions is fun sometimes, but usually never promotes anything but but murderhobos sessions that only get more and more pintless as the group continues. (this is only in my personal expierence btw)

Make a story even if its simple, craft a motivation, set a goal, this will help tie the players together and work as a team.