Disco Elysium's use of inner voices to help frame options and highlight nuance in its conversations has really influenced my GM'ing recently.

Instead of trying to portray character's in a natural, acting style and hoping that people pick up on hints I am instead more directive: "He wants to say more but he's not sure how to begin.", "They want to believe what they've just told you but they know it's not true", "She pauses, you feel you are the first people to hear what she is saying", "You've broken him, if you ask now he'll probably just go along with you".

In crunchy games there may be a feeling that players should have to explicitly ask for checks to be able get that information. That's exactly how Disco Elysium works except it can run the checks and the results as your playing in a way that is impossible in tabletop play. Either the player is chipping in every other sentence to ask for checks or the GM has to assume they will use everything appropriate, dice for the results and then do the narration.

Dropping prompts and clarifications as to your portrayal seems both simpler and more powerful.

#rpg