Does "Influence the target" have a specific game meaning?

By r_b_bergstrom, in WFRP Rules Questions

Another thing that I'm puzzled about concerns a bunch of the social actions. Many of them say "you influence the target", sometimes with "if appropriate".

Does influencing someone have any specific game meaning that I've missed?

Does it refer to the progress tracker?

Or is it just short-hand for "the GM should come up with a reasonable affect based on the situation"?

r_b_bergstrom said:

Another thing that I'm puzzled about concerns a bunch of the social actions. Many of them say "you influence the target", sometimes with "if appropriate".

Does influencing someone have any specific game meaning that I've missed?

Does it refer to the progress tracker?

Or is it just short-hand for "the GM should come up with a reasonable affect based on the situation"?

That basically means that you have an effect on the target of the action, leaving the actual effect up to the GM / Group. Since social situations are quite varied the effect itself is just as different. In a social conflict you might be trying to dissuade, convince, coerce, charm, intimidate, bargain or just in general "influence" the target with your actions and rhetoric.

The special in game meaning would be that things go the character's way if they influence the target. So they either convince the target, get him to lower prices, etc...

It can also refer to the progress tracker, meaning they get to move their tracker or delay the opponents tracker. This in the case of social encounters where the tracker is being used. An example of this can be found in the sample Demo adventure One day late, One Schilling Short.

Lexicanum said:

That basically means that you have an effect on the target of the action, leaving the actual effect up to the GM / Group. Since social situations are quite varied the effect itself is just as different. In a social conflict you might be trying to dissuade, convince, coerce, charm, intimidate, bargain or just in general "influence" the target with your actions and rhetoric.

The special in game meaning would be that things go the character's way if they influence the target. So they either convince the target, get him to lower prices, etc...

It can also refer to the progress tracker, meaning they get to move their tracker or delay the opponents tracker. This in the case of social encounters where the tracker is being used. An example of this can be found in the sample Demo adventure One day late, One Schilling Short.

That's basically what I expected, and I'm glad to hear it. I was a little worried I might be overlooking an explicit definition somewhere in the rules, and it's a relief to know I haven't missed something else.