RPGaDay2026 – Tact

While Tact could be a Resource, there’s room for something with a little more subtly in play. When you want to emulate a specific style or approach, and leave it in the hands of the player as to how they roll with it, you can opt for little currency, of the meta variety.

Tact asks How are you going to handle yourself? It asks how yout character shows restraint or proceeds with discretion. It could literally be something you dial in for a single session when it matters most.

Maybe the characters have turned up at a grand ball or rocked up at a retreat where they have to blend in. You could have a session that focuses on a first-contact situation or sets the characters up as ambassadors in a delicate diplomatic negotiation on the cusp of war.

In that instance, you can start the session by offering each player a small pool of tokens, perhaps three, and explain how they can spend or earn them.

Social Currency

Tact represents consideration, restraint and an awareness of consequences. A player chooses to spend it when they face a Challenge. They have the option to drop a Tact token to handle something delicately rather than simply making a Test and accepting the result.

A point of Tact might let them soften a Consequence if they Falter (Sanction, p 12); ask the GM how an activity might be received before acting; prevent an NPC’s Disposition from worsening (Sanction, pp 31-32); or, withdraw from a social Challenge before the dice are rolled without losing face.

Perhaps more interestingly, a characters could gain Tact by conceding something. Bite your tongue. Allow someone else the last word. Accept an inconvenience. Give someone space. Faced with a Challenge, the GM sets out the situation and offers the player the option to earn Tact with a display of concession. Do you bide your time and hold, or play a hand with the possibility that your rival isn’t bluff afterall?

Tact could be useful for Genre Setups or single sessions that involve courtly intrigue, espionage, or diplomacy. Part of the goal could be to handle a series of Challenges and balance Tact and success so that by the end of the session you come out with the same number of tokens you walked in with, but without giving ground.

---

How often have you pulled a punch and opted for Tact over brute force or bluster in play? I look forward to reading about it in your RPGaDay post.

#RPGaDAY2026