Social encounters can be tricky, and not just because I used to unironically wear fedoras all the way through high school and even thereafter had a pair of mutton chops that were impressive in the same way as a seven-lane pileup.
No, social encounters are tricky because they often are flattened along a single vector in a way combat oriented encounters aren't.
It's not unusual for an RPG system to have a personal-scale set of combat mechanics which are distinct from a warband or army-scale set of combat mechanics. The scale was recognized as dramatically changing the context of the fight, such that it needed to be reframed with a more appropriate resolution structure. Scale matters! If you owe the bank $10,000 you have a problem, if you owe the bank $10 million they have a problem.
I don't often see social encounters suitably scaled up. There are exceptions-- Miseries & Misfortunes has a clever reframing of social encounters which accounts for scale. For example, an intimate seductive approach to convincing someone works very well when it's just you two in the room with one another, and very poorly if you're publishing it in the newspaper.
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| "To the Editor of the London Times: you up?" |
For "The Promise of the Eastmark", I wanted to try and capture a scale of social encounter that isn't uncommon in a lot of fantasy fiction-- the audience with the king. Gandalf before the Steward of Gondor asking to light the beacons, Malini entreating Aditya to take up the revolutionary cause, Tyrion Lannister on trial before the Iron Throne. Basically anything that could tick the following:
- There is a hierarchy, figure of authority, or significant power dynamic at play. The Steward of Gondor rules, well, Gondor. Aditya has legitimate claim to the Imperial throne, etc. I'd use this system for parlaying on a battlefield with an opposing general, or speaking with some eldritch entity's squid-faced envoy.
- There is a definite, explicit, or material request to be made. Tyrion wants a verdict of innocence, Malini wants Aditya to lead the rebellion, my mother wanted me to stop eating so many crayons. The more vague the PC desires, the less apt this subsystem is; they must want something, and their audience must be with the person or court which can give it to them.
- The request's benefits/drawbacks extend beyond the mere actors present. Tyrion's verdict has public and notorious consequence, Gondor really needs Rohan's aid in the days to come. In some way, the people present are not just themselves-- they may be emblems, representatives, or beholden to some constituency. Alternatively, the request is made on behalf of a nation, a group, an army, a school. It's not just two people jawbonin'.
Having a subsystem for this kind of thing will allow me to add a vectors not present in the West Marches formula, namely the social dungeons and the advancement of safe havens thereby. By finding new cities and cajoling their local authorities, players have the opportunity to open up new and more convenient havens at which to start adventure sessions.
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| "Hell yeah, grubby strangers, rob my dad's tomb lmao." |
Procedure
1. Establish Request & Resistance
2. Perform Introduction
3. Make Arguments
4. Determine Outcome
1. Establish Request & Resistance
One of the prerequisites to using this subsystem is the idea that there is a material, tangible Thing to be granted. It could be an object, permission to use something, go somewhere, it could be material aid in terms of men or money or food or magic. What's important is that the PCs outline what they want in the best of all worlds and articulate that clearly. This is not a negotiation in the sense that it involves a lot of back-and-forth-- this is more formal, more drenched in ritual and hierarchy and protocol and social standing.
Once the PCs do that, the GM must decide what the "Resistance" to the request and therefore how many successes the PCs will need to accrue in order to get it. Below are the benchmarks I've use.
- Reasonable (Resistance 3): The grantor stands to lose nothing from the request, there is no real risk to granting it, or there is conspicuous and equivalent value being exchanged.
- Bold (Resistance 6): The grantor does not stand to gain much, gains less than the requester, or must make some small sacrifice/take some moderate risk.
- Outrageous (Resistance 9): The request involves significant danger or sacrifice on the grantor's part; they have nothing to gain and much to lose.
If the request is too small, or the grantor doesn't have the power to grant the request, don't bother with this subsystem.
2. Perform Introduction
As I keep saying, this is meant to frame a very formal event-- this is not a casual social encounter. One of the PCs must be nominated to introduce the group and what their request. You don't have to make this diegetic but you also don't not have to make this diegetic. Follow your bliss. There are only so many ways to make this kind of formal address, so have the PC select one of the following options to roll.
The outcome of this roll--the success of the introduction--will determine how many attempts the PCs have to overcome the Resistance. A poor introduction may beget no leeway for the party.
- Awe (Charisma/Lead): The PC invokes majesty, inspiration, heroism. The emphasis is on how impressive they are, their titles and deeds, their holdings, their friends in high places, their bravado and chutzpah. You cannot obscure, hide, or misled as to your identity or intentions.
- Courtesy (Intelligence/Connect): The PC leans heavily on the rituals and protocols of the situation; formal etiquette and proper observances. The emphasis is on doing things by the letter, by absolute social expectation. While you can't lie directly, you can omit and maybe elide. Unfortunately being super duper formal will make you sound insincere to a hostile audience.
- Riddle (Wisdom/Perform): The PC invokes an aura of mystery, enigma, or uncertainty. The emphasis is on spinning a good story, an intriguing veneer, as to your identity and intentions. This kind of introduction can be baldfaced lying! But its disingenuous nature means you must treat a Partial (see Outcome) as though it were a Disaster.
On a result of 2-5, the PCs only have as many attempts as the Resistance of the request. 6-7, they have Resistance+1, 8-9 they have Resistance+2, 10+ they have Resistance+3.
3. Make Arguments
This is the most freeform part of the scene. Players take turns describing how their character contributes towards the request-- what are they doing that would influence the grantor? From this, the GM will decide an appropriate Ability Score / Skill pairing to test. There's a lot you can do in this step, like framing someone's test as a flashback to earlier actions. A strict rhetorical argument might call for Intelligence/Convince, while singing an appropriate song for the occasion could be Charisma/Perform.
- Everyone in the party must contribute once before anyone can contribute twice.
- No Ability Score / Skill pairing may be used twice in a row. Note, however, that you could use the same Ability Score with a different Skill, or vice versa.
On a 2-5, no successes are accrued. On 6-9 one success, 10-11 two success, 12+ three successes.
4. Outcomes
There are essentially only three ways this scene can end.
- Full - Players scored successes equal or higher than the Resistance - The grantor gives the PCs what they requested, largely in the manner they requested it. Give yourself some wiggle room if you need to either temper expectations or reward particularly clever play.
- Partial - Players scored at least half Resistance in successes - The grantor imposes conditions on the request, or counter-offers with a mitigated version of the request. Alternatively, the grantor gracefully declines the request, allowing the PCs to attempt again when some circumstance has changed or time has passed.
- Disaster - Players did not even manage half Resistance - The grantor tells them to pound sand, suck eggs, eat dirt, make like a tree, or fuck off. No counter-offer, no grace, full prejudice.
Something important to note is that you should resist a back-and-forth negotiation in the case of a Partial. Remember that no one in this scene is just themselves-- they are authorities, proxies, envoys, or emblems of something larger. At the end of the day, PCs need to either take the counter-offer or leave it. It would be entirely inappropriate to try to wheedle and weasel the King after they've made up their mind.
And that's that! Next post I'm going to tackle how I'm structuring Downtime, between-session activity, and the passage of time in my West March.
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