My first exposure to a "social combat" subsystem soured me on it for more than half a decade.

Here is anecdote from some time around ~2011. I was playing The Dresden Files RPG, my very first Fate RPG. Purely out of cheekiness, the GM decided to set the game in the city of Dresden. I do not recall what the GM's precise logic was, but the GM also set the game a year or two before the bombing in World War II.

One of the character types in the game is changeling: half-human, half-fae, often born to either the Summer Court or the Winter Court. My character was the son of a malk, a type of feline fae in the setting. (For those of you who have heard the phrase "half-fae catboy" before, yes, this was the exact character. The fallout from this incident completely engulfed one little corner of the internet at the time, and spilled out from there.)

My character's fae parent was a Sidhe, a noble with more powers than the standard variety. She was a Sidhe of the Winter Court, the edgier of the two main fae factions. My character was a Winter Courtier, in turn, but refused to partake in any cruelty.

One supernatural ability I took on my character was A Few Seconds Ahead. It gives the character a passive precognition ability: "[You] may roll [your] Lore skill to defend against physical or social attacks or maneuvers." My character had virtually no social defense otherwise.

The game started. Shortly into the very first scene, one other PC, a pure mortal human, took my character inside a church. This was supposedly for the sake of protection. Churches in this setting are a type of "threshold," significantly dampening or nullifying many supernatural powers.

(Continued.)