So there's likely to be an auction in an upcoming game of mine, and I'm kicking around the right skill to use.

Negotiate seems like the obvious... but there's no give and take...

What about comparative Cool checks between bidders with the winner setting the bid? Sort of like the chase mechanic...

Or discipline... would that be better?

What would you do?

The Jewel of Yavin adventure offers some guidance on this. Basically, the GM should establish a default order for when people drop out of the bidding. The PCs can then use social-influence checks on opponents to convince them to either bid higher or lower while the auction is running, with Success and Triumph bumping people up or down in the bidding order, depending on what the PCs want. They get Boosts to these rolls if they've done their homework and know the motivations of individual bidders. Alternatively, I could see calling for a PC to roll Cool or Discipline to hide the fact that he or she is reaching his upper limit on the bids, to let them try to convince their rival bidders that they can keep going. Each round of bidding, check to see who has the current highest bid (rank in the bidding order) to see who's the highest bidder, and drop the lowest bidder (or few bidders) from the contest. You may also call for Charm, Cool, or Deception rolls if people suspect the PCs are up to underhanded tactics.

Assuming this is an in-person auction, you might also run this as a reskin of the sabacc rules from Under a Black Sun . The current bid is set at whatever, and participants use Cool for the basic dice pool, ignore the Force Die part, and "cheat" with Deception, Skullduggery, and Computers (you'd have to work out what each of these would mean in an auction).

I have players going through the Jewel of Yavin right now, and they were able to influence bidders before the auction even started. The object in this module is to drive the bidding up, but if you want to win, you want to discourage anyone from bidding against you. Figure out who the other bidders are, and allow time for interaction.

Let the players find out details about the other bidders. If it's a big open auction, single out the few high rollers who are likely to be opposing them for the item they want. They don't need to learn about everyone then, figuring most will drop out in the first few rounds, if they bid at all.

Let them use various tactics to get the win.

If it's fast moving, then perhaps the Sabacc rules are a good choice, but let them decide their approach and decide the skill check.

Stare the other bidders down in a "you can't win this" way = Coerce

Start a rumor that the item is a forgery = Skulduggery or Deception.

Cajole and flatter, while trying to seem more deserving "You wouldn't bid against little ol' me, would you?"= charm/deception

Feign disinterest (not valuing the item as highly as you do) = Cool

Jewel of Yavin uses blind bidding, that's why you have time to chat them up between bids made a fixed intervals. If you're doing an open bid, then opposed Cool checks seem to be the way to go.

I like the idea of Cool. It's a really good catch-all skill for this. Alternatively, you could call for a knowledge-based check to allow the PCs to price a specific item and know exactly where to stop bidding. Or perhaps use social skills to convince fellow bidders that the items is worth more or less than it really is to control their bidding or scare them away.

I have had a hard time grasping the bidding process in JoY. Seems to me the Hutt is going to be the obvious winner based on the mechanics, so you just need to convince him to increase his bids

Totally forgot about Jewel, I haven't even had a chance to really sit down and read it all the way through yet. From the sounds of it though that's not really what I want. It's going to be an open bidding among people that really aren't open to being chatted up. So it looks like I'll go with Cool, though since only the "coolest" player will need to roll that I don't see a problem with allowing the other players to do other things to manipulate the other bidders. A (Deception Check) chuckle and warning that the merchandise is probably fake should function...

I have had a hard time grasping the bidding process in JoY. Seems to me the Hutt is going to be the obvious winner based on the mechanics, so you just need to convince him to increase his bids

The Hutt isn’t going to pay one red credit more than he absolutely has to, and he’s going to use every dirty (and clean) trick in the book to try to convince everyone else to drop out or way-underbid.

And even then, if the price goes too high, then he’s more likely to drop out himself and let someone else win the bid. Then he hires someone else to go steal it for him. And he’s not going to pay them one red credit more than he has to, and he’ll use every dirty (and clean) trick in the book to try and get that price lowered as much as possible.

So, my guess is that the Hutt has already run all the various probabilities and scenarios in his head, and he will have an exact price above which he absolutely will not go. And he will make it apparent that his absolute limit is actually a lot lower than the real absolute limit that he has.

Moreover, he’ll play up bitching and pissing and moaning up a storm, so as to try to keep that price even just one red credit lower.

IMO, you can never be too melodramatic or over-Machiavellian when GM’ing a Hutt.

For placing actual bids I like Cool, as in keeping your wits about you, not overextending and making calculated guesses about how far the other bidders are willing to go. If you want to involve more players, you could also have someone else in the crowd making Deception or Coercion checks to psych out the other bidders in some way.

Depending on the auction, attempting to influence the other bidders directly (as opposed to influencing through bidding) is going to be highly frowned upon. It might get you booted from the auction, or it might get you dead.

I was thinking more about letting other bidders "accidentally" overhear conversations between two other parties that make them think bidding isn't a good idea after all, not walking up and threatening them directly.

Ran it last night. Here's what I used:

The players rolled straight Cool kinda like initiative.

I broke down the opposition into only a couple slots to keep the rolls from getting silly.

Success=success

Advantage = tie breaking

Triumph = bidder drops out.

If the players came out on top they got to set the price (with me moderating to avoid "we raise the bid by 1 credit").

After a couple bids and a drop, the players coerced the primary opposition bidder into backing out, and won, resolving the adventure and leaving some credits left over for ship repairs and other odds and ends.

Was unexpected, but kinda nice to see the player NOT blast their way out for once.