As some may know, I've got lots of historical and political games on my mind. One of the settings I've pretty much finished working on is a Roman Republic game. Next on my list is a Warlords of Alexander game (based on the super-excellent fan-made PDF by one of the main writers of BRP, Paul Elliot) set in an ancient Greek city-state, where politicking will happen. In both cases, I'd like players to be of the sort that will try to push through laws and such, or get large scale agreements with government, such as it is.
First off, I REALLY like the social encounter rules; fills a hole which sadly many RPGs have, and since I like politics and the like in games, I love such mechanics and ideas. In general, for what I need, they'll work splendidly since the "social encounters" will be one off things (canvasing for election on election day, pushing through a contentious, emergency measure in the Senate; both of those are "in the moment" things, or encapsulate a lot of background things into one main roll, in my opinion).
However, one thing I noticed is that the part where it talks about "defeating" the opponents or reaching compromises is based on Strain (or Strain/Wounds for NPC faceless crowds). There will be times when debates really will be over time; a law can have several discussions, over time, as details are hammered out and feathers unruffled. Perhaps a measure is so unpopular (and opposition so fierce) that it'll be a lengthy battle to get it done (say, arguing the Senate around to going to war with Carthage). In these cases, the Strain rules for social encounters don't really work, since, surely, Strain would be healed with a day or so. The rules don't really say what to do about healing in the case of "minions", since they don't encapsulate ever needing them past the initial encounter they're in. Like, I've visions of a demagogue type PC haranguing crowds for days on end before finally working them up enough to storm the King's palace or whatever.
So, how to deal with this? As far as I read it, the Social Encounter rules don't. The only fix I've in mind, at the moment, is to declare that the strain (hah!) of dealing with trying to pass contentious legislation doesn't allow proper rest, and so Strain stays between encounter "rounds" of passing said legislation. Only problem is, that leaves the door open to engaging a character in, say, a fist fight, knocking off some Strain, and that guy getting taken out the next day in the council chamber from a searing bon mot. Doesn't seem fair (and before you say it, yes, i know there's a direct link between one's stress and one's ability to give attention to things - I've read Kahneman as well, but still...).
Thoughts folks? How to simulate what I'm trying to? Or am I pushing too far?

So, recently, I went to a LFGS in London and bought Shadow of the Beanstalk. Is it policy with FFG to give a pdf with purchase, or is that a separate cost?
(For the record, I bought Genesys through Amazon, so, didn’t expect anything there; the FLGS told me FFG is part of the Bits and Mortar scheme).

Is true, I know, but I have folks in my group that also care about such, and will look at "official" things if we play a game and I use Terrinoth. They'll look at the art especially and judged based on it. Like, we did a Forgotten Realms game a while ago and two of my players REALLY wanted "non-white" characters. Just something they had in their heads (for the record, one guy was Hungarian and wanted to play something "Arabian-esque" and the other guy Chinese and wanted, well, someone Chinese looking). Pouring over the Sword Coast Guide helped in that regard (as did the main D&D 5e book; just having such pictures there was enough to push/help their imaginations and such not).

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

Yes, that helps quite a bit, actually. Very good to know. As I don't have the book yet, I didn't know there were other settings implies (such as Al Kalim). That's the analog place I'm looking for. Thanks for that!

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

As a long time GURPSer and FUDGE/Fate person, I have to disagree. FUDGE (and Fate to a lesser degree, though this changed in Core somewhat) left an incredible amount up to the GM. In FUDGE, you had to make up EVERYTHING, including the names of the stats or skills you'd have in the game (should we talk about vehicles or magic?). All you got with that book was a "here's a rolling system and some ideas about different genres; good luck!", and that's only if you got the 20th Anniversary edition. Cybernetics? Supers? Hahahahaha...
Fate Core is not complete. Again, lots of decisions about weapons and gear (and if so, there are no guidelines in the book on how to do it except "Make it an Aspect" or "You can have numbers for weapons; no, we have no inclination to guide you on whether or not a pistol should equal a bazooka". In both games (and GURPS, and Genesys for that matter) they don't have mass combat rules unless you buy them separately (for GURPS; for Fate/Fudge, good luck with that, though the Fate Toolkit does outline two different system for fights involving mass groups, so, you'd have to get it separately; to their credit, you can download the PDF for it for free). And again, Supers; anything I ever tried to come up with was a mess. Venture City fixed that, but again, it's a separate supplement.
In almost all cases, you have to define what your magic system smells like. GURPS does this for you, as long as you like spells as skills and like the idea of spells working better the more you know particular spell; you want anything else, you gotta get a supplement book, or figure it out as Advantages; possible, but harder without the Powers book). Also, there are wacky point-break places in GURPS where it's hard to model certain fictional abilities in terms of their "difficulty"; in Star Wars, telekinesis is had by everyone and their grandmother; in GURPS, that's expensive (I remember, very clearly, trying to figure out how to get a starting character at Yoda's ability to lift a tie fighter; and Yoda's implication that Luke could have done so with just the right mindset...).
So, to me, Genesys is as complete as anything else. Savage Worlds is pretty good in these terms; it touches, at least, everything you might expect to some small degree, even social contests and such, which I think GURPS misses out on. Though I'm not a fan of SW die system, but that's a thread for another day.

Ah, I see. I had Hero (FRED, to be precise) and yeah, it was "complete" in that you could build anything (and there were LOTS of worked examples in the core book, and the genre books were good about that too; Fantasy Hero and Space Hero were gold mines). That said, for me, the problem is Mass Combat. Here we'll have to disagree, but I tend to run political games, which means mass combat shenanigans at some point. I like having at least the option to run a mass combat. In Genesys, I can use Star Wars stuff (and someone has already done a mass combat write-up for Genesys as a fan made thing, I think based on Battle of Arda or whatever that supplement was), so that suits me fine. Savage Worlds had it baked in, which is why I ended up using it as long as I did, though it isn't even close to my favorite (as you say, the dice stat vs skill system is...special). 
As always, things never quite fit us all, though I think we largely agree!

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

Yes, that helps quite a bit, actually. Very good to know. As I don't have the book yet, I didn't know there were other settings implies (such as Al Kalim). That's the analog place I'm looking for. Thanks for that!

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

Yes, that helps quite a bit, actually. Very good to know. As I don't have the book yet, I didn't know there were other settings implies (such as Al Kalim). That's the analog place I'm looking for. Thanks for that!

Is true, I know, but I have folks in my group that also care about such, and will look at "official" things if we play a game and I use Terrinoth. They'll look at the art especially and judged based on it. Like, we did a Forgotten Realms game a while ago and two of my players REALLY wanted "non-white" characters. Just something they had in their heads (for the record, one guy was Hungarian and wanted to play something "Arabian-esque" and the other guy Chinese and wanted, well, someone Chinese looking). Pouring over the Sword Coast Guide helped in that regard (as did the main D&D 5e book; just having such pictures there was enough to push/help their imaginations and such not).

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

True enough. The range (5 steps I guess?) IS pretty short. Though the item qualities add a lot.

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

Yes, that helps quite a bit, actually. Very good to know. As I don't have the book yet, I didn't know there were other settings implies (such as Al Kalim). That's the analog place I'm looking for. Thanks for that!

Okay, pardon the title, but I wasn't sure how to phrase it. Basically, according to the lore of the setting and such, are there any darker/asiatic type looking people in the setting? I've looked at some of the art/illustrations online and that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm going to be buying the book soon and, as a person of color, I always like to know, setting-wise, if there are folks that look like me in a particular setting. Probably buy it anyway for the rules and such, but FFG did SUCH a good job in this regards in the Star Wars lines that I wondered if that philosophy extended to their own fantasy setting (whereas I'm sure, by the art, it does to their sci-fi settings, for example; mind, I mostly mean from the main Genesys book, but still...).

I know no one else said anything but thanks for this! One my issues is that I'd love a sheet I could modify myself, but I haven't set it up myself, and now you have (and I agree; I find something like this a lot less hassle than a PDF reader thingy).

I know no one else said anything but thanks for this! One my issues is that I'd love a sheet I could modify myself, but I haven't set it up myself, and now you have (and I agree; I find something like this a lot less hassle than a PDF reader thingy).

(cross posted from the Big Purple by me but I'd love to here people's ideas here; I posted this over on r/genesys in Reddit as well)
What I mean is, where does it shine? For example, while it can be dialed all over the place, GURPS seems to work best when you want something "gritty" or "low cinematic", with the option to shovel in detail as you wish. You CAN make it much more cinematic (and there are rule for that both in the core and in supplementary books), but the sweet spot seems to be "real-ish" stuff. At its heart, it's a simple system; I roll the dice, maybe modified, and we roll under the skill number usually to see what happens. Everything is more or less a single roll for each instance.
Savage Worlds, on the other hand, is definitely a pulpy action game; again, you CAN dial it down to make it more gritty or whatever. Like GURPS, you do single rolls for most things, though there are rules for "dramatic" rolls, making certain things longer contests, though again, definitely pointed towards the action genre (defuse the bomb!; codify complex negotiations into three dramatic yelling matches!).
So, by comparison, where does Genesys fit? Pulpy action? Gritty? Something else? This isn't to say you can dial it to move in other places, but the die system and core are set to...what?

We may be at a place in English language where these words have converged a bit in their casual use. People use "envy" and "jealously" interchangeably even though the former is resentful desire for what someone else has (e.g. a man is envious of his neighbor's Porsche) and the latter is fear of losing something you already have (e.g. a dragon jealously guards her hoard of treasure). There might be something similar going on with (keeping your) cool, discipline, and vigilance. I don't know. I'm doubtful that's the case with these three words.
Imagine a gambler who has a perfect poker face (good Cool) and yet cannot bring himself to get up and leave the table because he's "on a lucky streak" (poor Discipline), and also may or may not notice the player across from him has marked the cards (uncertain Vigilance). Or a baseball player who paces nervously in the dugout (poor Cool) but, when at bat, sees the pitch coming outside the strike zone (good Vigilance), and doesn't swing at the bad pitch, earning ball one (good Discipline).
The three skills, especially as they are defined in the skills chapter, don't really have overlap in any situation I can imagine.

In the Star Wars game these skills are clearly different.  Cool and Vigilance are used in ambushes:  Cool is for the ambushers, and represents their ability to stay calm, not jump the gun, not get bored and start making fart noises that crack the rest of the team up; Vigilance is for the target, and represents how aware they are to changes in their surroundings.  I like that these are different, and can be developed differently, they really add in a meaningful way to a character's strengths and weaknesses.

I thought about Idea 1 (something similar happens in Diaspora for Fate; their social conflict system is neat, but seems to be set up to take lots of in-world time, and for the players to not do things in-between the hours or days long turns that can exist). So, that's my issue there.
Two is right out I think but I see where you're going for. I MIGHT think about it though; I can imagine certain sorts of social engineering are more like battles than even social encounters (say, getting people to adapt to and accept your rule as Principes Inter Pares, who's been secretly supplanting the function of the state for years...