Okay, I'm just going to say it; I hate the Personal's Section.
Every RPing session I've ever been in there's always been artistic license, and whether it's the Ref or the Players "getting into character" or "hamming it up", it's always been the case of where it's either the Ref/DM or the players who are determining the course of the adventure through their own interpersonal skills, and not some die roll.
Back to my Marooned Alone example; the Ref, playing the NPC who found my character out on the planes of the planet asked me "How did you get here?" I gave what I thought was a funny tongue in cheek response; "Would you believe I fell out of my ship?", at which point the Ref rolled for a reaction to that. It was negative. And suddenly my character's facing down the barrel of a shotgun.
You tell me. Is that over-usage? Or is that in the spirit of game mechanics?
If you know the adventure (by Loren Weisman) then you know that there's some intrigue with the PCs in the game who escape a vessel that's fallen under attack.
If the interaction had gone on, then the Ref would have continued to roll for every exchange my character had with the NPC; i.e.
NPC; "Are you hungry or thirsty?"
PC; "I could use a meal and something to drink."
Die Roll; negative;
NPC *cocks weapon* "What the hell did you say?"
PC; "I mean I'm good! I'm good! I don't need anything to eat or drink!"
Die Roll; negative;
NPC; "What?! My grub ain't good enough for ya?!"
PC; "Okay! I'll eat! I'll eat!"
Die Roll; positive
NPC *smiles, puts away weapon*; "Now, that's more like it."
And so it goes. Truly and honestly that's the potential for a fiasco like personals as I see them.
The rest of the rules, well, the personal combat section could use some clarification.
