Social Encounters
Not every scenario will be settled by a clash of steel and magic as heroes and villains. Sometimes the most dangerous weapons of all are words...
These encounters don't include every trip to Ye Olde Magic Craft Shop or the like but should include any scene that will have a significant impact on the story as a whole or the character's journey. Confessing to their childhood sweetheart or standing up to an abusive parent may have a limited impact on the story (unless they happen to be the Queen and Princess) but are important to the character, after all.
|
Table of Contents
The Basics Running a Social Encounter Reputation Consequences Positive Consequences Negative Consequences |
Social Encounters and Combat
Not every combat can be avoided. This doesn't mean that they can't talk down some opponents, but some enemies are more scared of their current than the party, or are too mindless, or are simply more interested in violence than not. For foes that can be talked down run them as a social encounter as normal, with a failure resulting in a fight. For others, you may wish to let the party attempt to have some influence on the rest of the encounter. Perhaps it means the enemy will surrender instead of fighting to the death, or only attack reluctantly and with a penalty. |
While you probably don't need to go into huge detail for every shopkeeper you meet, the players should put a little effort into doing something, such as begging for the aid of a King, trying to defuse a war between two sides and the like should not be, 'Yeah, I tell 'em they're all being dumb. I rolled a 12 and my Fellowship is 45, plus 10 from Diplomacy Talent bonuses. Did I win?' Unless that is how you and your group prefer to play, of course.
Instead, players that give a rousing speech or make a heartfelt plea should make the check easier, making it Simple or even Easy. Note that the opposite should not be true - that a poor speech should not make it harder - as this has too much potential to ruin the experience for those who are new to roleplay, or are simply too shy to make a minute-long deceleration before other people.
Generally, a single test should be reserved for a minor encounter - bartering with a stubborn shopkeeper, for example. More tests should be used for more dramatic and important encounters - convincing the possessed daemon dragon that destroying those who tortured him and bound hateful souls to their heart is going to take a lot of work, and a lot of convincing.
Just like losing a fight, failing at such an encounter will have negative consequences. In this case, a character will lose Reputation. Unlike with Hit Points, it is entirely possible to go into a negative number in terms of Reputation. It's probably not a good thing, however.
|
Running a Social Encounter
Social encounters operate a little like fights. First, the GM should establish how many successes the party will need to win - that is, achieve their goal For something simple, this will only be two or three tests, but for a major encounter, it can be many more.
The second part is how many times they will get to roll to convince the other party. Generally, the longer you have the easier it is, as you have more chances to succeed.
Generally, the party should go first, each making an opposed social roll of whichever type they are trying for. A success counts towards the goal, a failure does not.
For every 3 party members, the opponent should then get a rebuttal - that is, a social roll of their own. Success erases one of the party's success. This will help even out the natural advantage the party will tend to have if multiple party members are present, as again, the more chances to roll they have the better their chance of success.
|
On a success the party should gain Reputation equal to their level each - on a failure the opposite is true. In addition, if it was an especially impressive success or notable failure, they should earn a consequence as well.
Reputation
As has been mentioned in Character Creation, Base Reputation is your Fellowship modifier for each level. Your total reputation at any one time is a far less static number, however. Failure in social situations will deplete your reputation as word gets around that you were mocked by Lady Whatchamacallher and couldn't come up with a witty retort, or that you tried (and failed) to bribe a guard.
Secondly, a significant success or failure may have temporary consequences. Thankfully (or not) people eventually forget, or at least an old situation becomes more normal. These changes will not be permanent. Generally, reputation should increase and decrease towards the character's Base Reputation by 5 points each week.
|
Please note, it is possible to have both Positive and Negative reputations at the same time. Good deeds do not erase evil ones, after all, nor vice versa. Therefore, your current reputation will be your Positive reputation minus your Negative reputation.
A significant enough Reputation will grant a modifier in many social situations. Your total score will apply a modifier or penalty as seen on the chart below. Occasionally this may get swapped - interacting with criminal elements might view a negative reputation as a positive, for example, and swap the positive and negative modifiers around.
Multiple Factions
Some GM's may have need for a more complex reputation with several factions - such as the town guard, thieves' guild, etc - each of which will have their own reputation score. These work the same as the more general reputation for the most part, but factions who oppose each other will view association with other factions as a negative. Any score over 10 will impose a -1 penalty to an opposing faction's score, for each 10 it goes up making it possible but difficult to rise in the ranks of two opposing groups, and having a negative reputation will equally increase your reputation with the other faction in the same way.
|
Current Reputation
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
20
40
60
80
100
|
Modifier
-30
-25
-20
-10
-5
5
10
20
25
30
|
Consequences
Consequences (both positive and negative) are temporary modifiers that players can earn, one way or another, for their actions.
Consequences have three ranks depending on how major an event the actions that inspired it was. A relatively minor event will last for one week. A more major event will stay in the minds of the public for a month. And finally a nation shaking event will be the talk of the country for a year.
The effects are generally in one of three ranks.
Rank I would mean the effect is limited to a small group - a village, a district within a town, a gang or a single military unit, perhaps.
Rank II would see the gratitude, or hate, of a town, a large criminal organisation or a rural region.
Rank III would involve a city, a province, a royal figure, a large force or a significant religious group.