There were two placeholders on the page: one that related to stuck doors, that I've now written rules for (found on the action points page under "open a stuck door"), and the other for "parley & negotiation," that started off this series of posts.
For the present, I'm not going to incorporate "capital" into my game, for the reasons I gave: it is too much information to process while managing other DM's duties. I appreciate that people are making proposals for me to "fix it," when "it" doesn't even exist and was never meant to exist ... in any case, I don't see how something can be fixed if it hasn't been playtested, either by me or anyone else.
The set of rules that I've settled on for the moment are those I will playtest. I have no idea if they will work, but at present these are rules I think I might work. After playtesting, I might expand them ~ and certainly not any time soon. The rules are posted on my wiki. The rules are not randomly made or randomly considered. I'm only posting them here to close the subject so we can get onto other things ~ blazes knows what, but we'll see.
PARLEY & NEGOTIATION
Parley provides opportunity for negotiation, in which parties barter to gain benefits for themselves while giving reassurance and benefits to the other side. Negotiation is carried out almost wholly through role-play … but wise player characters will put themselves in the shoes of the other party, actively listen to what’s being said, speak with a purpose, find opportunities to act inconsistently with their own positions (bend to another’s will to gain advantage in a different way) and strive to “save face,” which is to present an assumption of strength while avoiding humiliation.
A successful parley or negotiation requires a willing listener. The most likely listener is one that shares the character’s outlook, profession, religion and background. Thus, if there is a sailor in the party, that would be the best candidate to talk with sailors; a fighter should be the choice to speak with a guard; a thief with members of the criminal element and so on. The table shown gives a list of modifiers to the character’s charisma, based on the listener’s relationship to the speaker. These modifiers are cumulative.
These modifiers are based on the “first impression” the character makes. Prior to any dialogue, it would be best for every player character to apply these modifiers to their own charisma, to know whether or not beforehand if they should speak.
To “open a conversation,” the character must succeed in making a charisma check, as modified. A failure gives a further -3 modifier to future rolls (from the speaker or other player character), so that an initial failed check can quickly ruin any chance to ask for a parley or initiation negotiations.
A charisma failure with an acquaintance, associate, hireling or follower will produce a dispute or an argument, which will escalate with each further attempt that also ends in failure. With strangers this will end all chance of negotiation, permanently, short of physical force.
Acquaintances are store clerks or other known persons where there exists no real relationship, so a series of failed checks could result in gaining an enemy. Associates are persons of equal status with shared interests and purposes, so a series of failed checks could result in a cutting off of all ties and sharing of information.
Most of the time, there is no need to make any check to have a negotiation with a Hireling. Negotiations are only opened when some part of the hireling’s status or role changes ~ they are asked to do something that is not their job, or their pay is diminished or not being made for pecuniary reasons. In such cases, a series of failed checks would result in the hireling actively quitting; add 3 to their morale. A day after the argument, the hireling can be approached with a “fresh” check (no penalties for earlier failures); if the check succeeds and the hireling succeeds in a morale check, they will come back and work for the employer. Morale will drop by 1 point but the remaining two-point penalty will remain until lost through further actions.
Checks need only be made for negotiations with Followers if they are asked to retain new responsibilities, such as leading a party off somewhere or managing an estate. Because followers are not fanatic like henchmen, they must be convinced. Note that most retainers, when gained by players, have a specific duty ~ such as acting as a standing army for clerics or fighters. These followers do not need to be negotiated with to follow these duties. A series of failed charisma checks will follow the same pattern as with hirelings, except that a week must pass before the follower can be spoken with again ~ during which time they are likely to have set off for another place, whereas a hireling is almost certain to have remained nearby.
See Adventure, The
If the modifiers apply only for first impressions, does that mean that they shouldn't be applied on subsequent negotiations after the first negotiation is concluded?
ReplyDeleteMaybe an example would help
After the first negotiation, the person previously spoken to would no longer be a stranger, right?
ReplyDeleteWhether they were now an acquaintance, an associate or a hireling would depend on how the first negotiation played out.
Subsequent negotiations, then, would build up the relationship between the character and the person in each conversation.
Obviously, the "first impression" being described here is not the first ever, period. How could it apply to followers and hirelings, if that was the case? I should be more careful about a literal interpretation.
"Initial Interaction," then.
On first impression the penalties just seem steep enough that unless you were the same age/sex/class/level/associates that only an individual with an impressive charisma seems like they have any real chance.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you make checks on 3d6 or on a d20 but either way it seems trivial to stack up a -4 or worse. That's a helluva gamble even with high charisma, though I suppose the effects of failure are pretty variable in themselves as circumstance warrants.
I can see the potential here though, even as steep as it appears. Finding a guy who knows a guy who can introduce you to the guy and so on.
Ever worked door-to-door sales, or something like it? That first hurdle is racked up pretty steep. Compare the curve with the number of possible people the player may be able to introduce themselves to in a town or city. Given a sizable population, the DM can fairly overlook the first roll, except to guess how many people you want to pass through before you get one that will listen.
ReplyDeleteYou can, however, stack the die a bit in your favor. Say you, a human fighter, start with a 12 charisma, and say you're looking for a particular tavern, The Greasy Pan, in a large city. You check in the first tavern (+/- 0), you pick someone about your age (+/- 0), your gender (+/- 0), who's also human (+/- 0), who is muscular and has a sword (perhaps -2, perhaps not), is a stranger (-3), is hopefully your religion (assuming you've declared one, and at any rate you know the likely religion of the city's inhabitants ~ we'll say you're in France and you're Catholic), wearing clothes that seem about as valued as your own (+/- 0). If he's not levelled, at worst you're -5 from your charisma; if he is levelled and he is a fighting man, your charisma is unaffected.
If he shuns you, there's probably another man very like him just 15 feet away; and perhaps a third in the corner. After pestering three guests, the bartender will come over and warn you to leave the customers alone.
So you leave, walk down to the next block, find another bar and try again.
You can probably sort out the right status/profession by looking in taverns in the right part of town. You walk about until you feel comfortable yourself; the DM ought to tell you, "This feels like the sort of bar a fighter would drink in." Like telling you it's a sports bar. There's no flat screen TVs, but there are targets on the walls or perhaps weapons hanging over the bar, plus shields and perhaps a trophy, the sort won in some archery or melee event.
Such bars would all be in the same part of town, so you'd find someone to talk soon enough.
It's really only a hazard when this is some single farmhouse isolated in the middle of nowhere, that the initial interaction really matters.
Sorry, that should read, if he's not levelled, at worst you're -7. You're -5 if he's leveled and not a fighter.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're -3 at minimum because he's a stranger. Sorry, juggling the numbers in my head isn't second-nature yet. I'll stop making mistakes when I'm used to the system, too.