Resultados y Conclusiones del Seminario Internacional

Persuade

Skill: Influence, Commerce, Deceit, Insight  Conflict Pool: CHA

Damage: 1d6

Round length: 1 minute

This is a common situation that can easily be turned into an ex- tended conflict. The one to reach zero first loses the argument.  For social conflicts in general, supporting skills can sometimes

Opponent Rating

The values of an opponent’s conflict pool & skills are not always obvi- ous. The easiest way to think about them is as a toughness rating of the situation. For non-living opponents (a storm, a book, etcetera), think of the skill value as the chance the op- ponent has to win or to damage the character. The pool will show how persistent it is. Use the values be- low as a guideline. Effortless, Nor- mal and Difficult will be the values used most.

Effortless Pool 6 Skill 30%

Normal Pool 11 Skill 50%

Difficult Pool 16 Skill 70%

Ver y

Difficult Pool 20 Skill 90%

Heroic Pool 24 Skill 110%

Impossible Pool 28 Skill 130%

You can also keep the skill levels from above, but roll 3d6 for pool values. That opens up a more com- plex galler y of NPCs that will be harder for the players to adapt to. This way, someone with a low skill but a high pool, can have a lucky strike and outperform a more expe- rienced character.

47 E X TENDED CONFLICTS be used. These should either relate to the subject being dis-

cussed or something like Acting, Culture, Knowledge (Psychol- ogy), etcetera. They will add 1_{/5 of their value to the main com-}

munication skill, but only one at a time.  Sneak

Skill: Stealth vs Perception Conflict Pool: DEX vs INT Damage: 1d6

Round length: 1-5 minutes

Sneaking past guards is a favorite theme of many roleplaying games. Turning those situations into extended conflicts can make them even more exciting.  If the character reaches zero before the guard, she is detected. 

Poker Game Skill: Gambling

Conflict Pool: (INT+POW)/2

Damage: 1d6, rolled once per round by the winner. All partici- pants but the round winner takes the same amount of damage. Round length: 15 minutes

A typical conflict only takes 3-4 rounds to resolve - use INT+POW straight for the conflict to last longer. 

Note: In a high-level gaming environment, a successful Gam- bling roll may be needed to be allowed to even participate.  Determine the “gambling stats” of NPCs as follows (if you don’t already know them): 

Low-level/Casual/Beginner: Gambling 30%, Conflict pool 6. Mid-level/Regular: Gambling 50%, Conflict pool 11. 

High-level/Professional: Gambling 70%, Conflict pool 16.  Ever yone place their bets. The GM and players come to an agree- ment about the size of the bets. 

Start playing! Use opposed rolls, with the highest success in Gambling skill winning the round. The winner deals 1d6 damage

Quick Combat

For really quick combat, tr y these alternate rules.

Skill: Any combat style Conflict pool: (CON+SIZ)/2 Damage:

1d4 for unarmed combat and im- promptu weapons.

1d6 for melee weapons, martial arts and old-style ranged weapons like bows.

1d8 for firearms and energy weap- ons.

Round length: 5 seconds

Run the combat as any other con- flict. Each roll is a combined attack, parr y and dodge roll. It is recom- mended to use this type of simpli- fied combat for non-lethal situa- tions mainly. This means a conflict pool of zero only results in uncon- sciousness – not death. Optionally, ever y time the pool reaches zero, reduce regular hit points by 1d4.

Cheating in Poker

To be able to cheat, the skill Sleight is required. For ever y successful Sleight roll, the cheater gets a +10% bonus on her Gambling skill the same round. Failure gives no bonus and the other card players will de- tect the cheating with a successful Perception roll. For more elaborate setups prepared beforehand, a larg- er bonus may be used. 

48 E X TENDED CONFLICTS

to ever y other participant (only roll damage once per round – ev- er yone takes the same amount of damage). 

When a PC/NPC is reduced to a conflict pool of zero, she is out of the game. 

The last PC/NPC to have a conflict pool left wins the game. Now, either the winner takes it all, or the money is divided according to how many rounds each player won. Example: Four players bet 100 Cr each; 400 Cr in total. The game lasted four rounds, with player 1 winning three (and winning the entire game) and player 2 winning one round. Player one gets 300 Cr and player 2 100 Cr. Or player 1 wins all 400 Cr. 

Playing an unknown game halves the Gambling skill for the first 3-10 games, depending on the complexity of the game. 

Chase (Running)

Skill: Athletics. Complement with Climb & Acrobatics if needed. Additionally, Stealth can be used

Conflict Pool: The average of CON & DEX Damage: 1d6

Round length: 10 seconds

The person being followed determines the route and if any other skills than Athletics are needed. The follower must make the same skill rolls to keep up. 

If the person being followed is down to zero pool points, the fol- lower has caught up. A successful Unarmed roll is needed to actually stop the person. In many cases an Influence, Commerce or Deceit roll at Hard will do the trick too. 

Fumble: The runner trips, slips or runs into an object, taking 1d4 hit point damage in addition to the regular Pool damage.

Chase (Driving)

Skill: Drive (any vehicle)

Pool: DEX or the average of SPEED & HANDLING (see vehicle rules).  Damage: 1d6

Round length: 10 seconds

The first vehicle to reach a conflict pool of zero has lost. Either the ve- hicle being followed gets away or the follower has caught up. To force the other vehicle to stop, a Drive roll at Hard is needed. If the roll fails, the vehicles continue side by side, and new tries can be made the following rounds. 

Fumble: Both vehicle and passengers takes 1d4 hit point damage (rolled in- dividually), in addition to the reduced pool. For detailed vehicle damage ef- fects, see malfunction rules in Vehi- cles chapter. 

Shooting while driving: All handgun firing between moving vehicles are at a difficulty grade of Formidable. Criti- cals will hit random passenger. 

49 E X TENDED CONFLICTS Dinner Party

Skills: Any communication skills Conflict Pool: CHA

Damage: 1d6, rolled once per round. All participants failing their rolls take the same damage.

Round length: 30 minutes

Pick 1-6 NPCs as the main participators. If there are more peo- ple attending the dinner, treat them as subordinates to the main NPCs (and ignore them to simplify the setup). 

Define the NPCs conflict values as follows (if you don’t already have them):

Low-level: Any social skill at 30%, CHA 6 Mid-level: Any social skill at 50%, CHA 11 High-level: Any social skill at 75%, CHA 16 Decide how long the party will last. 

Play the dinner! All involved makes a skill roll ever y half hour the dinner party lasts. Only those failing their rolls takes dam- age. The person with the highest success rolls the damage (1d6).   When the time is up, participants have made it through the ban- quette according to the points they have left in their pools: Zero. The character made a lousy impression. She won’t be in- vited again, will have a bad reputation in these circles and won’t easily get a job or information from these people. Will be at -10% in communication skills in these circles (Dislike on the Social Disposition Table on the next page). 

Below half their pool. The outcome is neutral. Nothing special happens. Social disposition +/-0.

More than half the pool left. She made a good impression. She will be invited again and will be favorably met in the future (Friendly on the Social Disposition Table). 

Social Disposition Table Social Disposition Deceit skill modifier Influence or other skill modifier Affectionate -10% +25% Friendly -5% +15% Amiable 0 +5% Indifferent 0 0 Dislike +10% -10% Unfriendly +20% -20% Malicious +30% -30%

Use this table to modify social skills when characters interact with NPCs. All social skills but Deceit use the right column; modifiers for Deceit are (mostly) inverted.

For important NPCs, you will prob- ably want to keep notes on how the Social Disposition changes over time. And make sure to update it after each session, to reflect the repercussions of the character’s doings.

Social Skills

Standard: Deceit, Influence, Insight Professional: Bureaucracy, Com- merce, Courtesy, Orator y, Politics, Seduction, Streetwise, Teach

Supporting skills: Acting, Customs, Gambling, Knowledge (Psychology), Culture

50 E X TENDED CONFLICTS

In addition, for ever y successful roll the character makes, there is a chance that something interesting and useful is revealed. It can be related to the scenario or not, and can be secrets over- heard, rumors, new business relations presented, love affairs implicitly indicated, etcetera. The GM may want to prepare be- forehand what tidbits are revealed and how many successful rolls it takes to get each of them.

Example: Nedra is invited to a fancy dinner held by a criminal network in Glimminge. Earlier that day she had ran into an old enemy, Egil Hermstad. The GM decides that if Nedra makes three successful rolls (out of five), she will overhear a conversation about what her old enemy is up to these days. Nedras’ player is lucky with the dice, and makes the three rolls (with an Influence at 60%). This information will eventually lead to a new scenario, with Nedra getting help from a psionic to stop an alien portal from opening. 

Boating Through a Storm Skill: Boating or Seamanship

Conflict Pool: The character can use (DEX+INT) divided by two, vessel SIZE (if the vehicle rules are used) or a combination of both. For the storm, first decide what chance it has to damage a vessel – that is the skill percentage equivalent. Set the pool ac- cording to the general rules on opponent rating (see sidebar on page 46).

Damage: 1d6

Round length: 30 minutes

Fumble: Passengers & crew takes 1d4 hit point damage. Long journey on foot

Skills: Athletics, Endurance, Sur vival Conflict Pool: CON

Damage: 1d6

Round length: 24 hours

Secrets & Threats

In social conflicts, you may want to add optional bonuses to skill rolls, when the following powerful levers are used. 

Threats. Benign threats are common-

place in most social conflicts, but a threat of ample physical violence will make a communication roll Easy; or even Ver y Easy when used against regular people. The person making the threat must be able to back it up though (at least seemingly), other- wise it can have the reverse effect. Also, for targets with a high Willpow- er skill or relevant Passion, threats will be less effective: the GM must judge this based on the specific cir- cumstances. 

As soon as a threat is included in a conflict, the target’s Social Disposi- tion towards the person making the threat is reduced to a minimum for a longer period of time. 

Secrets. Threatening to reveal an op- ponent’s well-kept secret will make communication rolls Easy or Ver y Easy. Ever ything from tax evasion and romantic lapses, to a literal dead body in a closet can be used. To uncover a secret, the character must have made some research on the opponent be- forehand though (or perhaps payed or threatened someone else to tell them about it). As for threats, Social Dis- position will plummet as soon as Se- crets are brought into a conflict. 

51 E X TENDED CONFLICTS Decide how many days the journey will last and roll once a day

for each character, plus the opposing force. Use the following difficulties:

Light terrain, good conditions*: 30%, pool 6 Mixed terrain & conditions: 50%, pool 11

Difficult terrain, tough conditions**: 75%, pool 16

* =  for example sleeping in a bed at night, plenty of rations, light backpacks, beautiful weather.

** = for example too cold or hot, rain or snow, rocky or moun- tainous, thin or harsh atmosphere, heav y packs, wetlands, gear unsuited for conditions, no time to prepare for the journey.  Conflict pools are not fully regained until the journey is over. The journey is over if the characters manage to keep their pools above zero until all the rolls are made. If any character’s pool drops to zero, the party will have to rest at least one full day, regaining one fourth of their original pools per day resting. 1d4 hit points are lost ever y time the CON pool drops to zero.  Optional: Tempo can be allowed to affect pool damage.  Hard tempo: 1d8, 40 km per day

Normal tempo: 1d6, 20 km per day Easy tempo: 1d4, 10 km per day

53 E X TENDED CONFLICTS

54 COMBAT