Hi,

I manage physical conflicts (battle), physical skills (climbing, hiding, breaking etc) and social encounters quite well in WHFRP.

How can I better make use of Folklore, Education, Nature Lore, Intuition? I would like to get these skills more integrated into critical gameplay elements, possibly using progress trackers etc?

Also, how could I make enemies / NPC more try to influence players via mental skills. Now all my enemies know is to hit the players, I'd like them to be more versatile. I've never used Cunning A/C/E trait yet. Also, my enemies tend to not have any particular use for maneuveres either.

It would be great to build such lists of options / actions similar to combat advantage / disadvantage example list. A sort of "frequently used NPC actions".

Intuition is frequently used by me as a GM. Its more of an GM tool to reward intelligent characters, i.e. giving them hints and bonuses in any type of encounter (even combat). For example hunch of an ambush grants bonus to initiative or chance to ready a weapon. Think it as an passive skill whereas Observation is somewhat more active (player driven) skill.

Folklore skill should be very important for an adventurer. Life is easy for skilled Folklorist. They find best merchants, healers, food, blacksmiths, jobs, and other contacts. Remember that life in the old world is harsh. People don't trust in strangers. Clothes and gear wear down, pickpockets quickly spot unwitted characters, food is often spoiled. Gm is free to harrass characters who don't know their way around, especially elves and men with low Folklore skill.

Nature lore is VITAL in rural setting. If you don't have it, you most likely die in wilderness, simple as that. Examples: Proper camping is necessary for recovery, avoid beasts, eat good mushrooms, don't get lost, etc. Just once in a while take your adventurers in the woods and make them suffer. They will learn.

Education can be great if player is creative. Maybe the knowledge improves a character in some way. He learns how to make potions. Construct a gadget of some sort, maybe a firearm. He learns chemistry and can make drugs, acids,explosives you name it. Also literacy can be powerful but that depends a lot on GM. For example PCs deliver love letters which are disguised communication of slaaneshi cult. Your nosey and educated (and possibly pervert) PC learns this fact and receives wonderful opportunities. He can uncover this cult or even join them!

Thanks for the tips.

In my last session I was able to utilize the skill range more extensively. The players did close to 75+ rolls of different skills in 5 hours: we love the dice.

Folklore is great for "finding things". That's good. It also works for "knowing things related to the world" very well like locations, festivals, cultures etc.

Intuition has been the hardest for me, I've mostly used it to "evaluate things". Evaluate situations and actions should be the next I guess.

Leadership is also sometimes difficult, I use it to replace Charm in some situations where it is about "to get things done" or "to get someone motivated". Any other good tips when to use Leadership?

Nature Lore I've actually used more and more and it has been used in various context in the wilderness to observe and evaluate the rural setting.

I'll try to come back to this topic later in the day (I leave for work in 4 minutes), but I use Intuition to give characters hints about actions they are about to take (If they decide to climb down a rope that I know is rotted, an Intuition check can let them know that it doesn't seem very safe.), or situations ahead such as an ambush. It also applies to NPC interactions, a merchant strikes you as shifty, you think the Baron has something he's hiding, etc.

I sometimes roll these intuition checks for the players behind the screen in order to avoid a certain amount of metagaming, but my group is generally good about that so it's not often I need to keep things hidden.

Leadership:

I let a player with Leadership make a roll to give a morale boost to the other PCs (the difficulty is less if the player uses good dialogue and roleplaying). Success generally grants extra successes on initiative, or removes recharge tokens off of certain actions etc... We just wing it, I suppose.