Encounter mechanics

[Stormcrow]

To avoid further thread-crapping elsewhere, here is a new topic regarding how encounters and successes are supposed to work.

My contention is that the rule in Tales from Wilderland regarding the counting of successes cannot be used to gauge whether you have accomplished your chosen goal for the encounter; it can only be used to evaluate the quality of whatever it is you do accomplish.

You accomplish the goal by performing tasks, and maybe even tests. Do you convince that farmer to take in a wounded comrade? Does that dwarf trust you enough to hire you for his mission? These goals are decided directly by the actions you take. You don't wait until the end of the encounter to decide these things, unless the encounter just happens to end after you make the roll that accomplishes the goal. The farmer doesn't wait until you've exhausted your supplies of bribes, entreaties, and impassioned pleas before he decides to help you; the dwarf doesn't have to sit quietly and listen to you give your entire life story reasons for noble questing before he hires you for the job. Once you successfully Persuade, Inspire, Awe, or whatever the subject, you've accomplished your goal. It may take more than one roll, or it may not.

Once you have decided the encounter is over, and all accomplished—or failed!—you can then go on to counting those successes and deciding what they mean. The farmer will provide more help and advice with more successes; the dwarf will promise higher bonuses for a successful mission. But this evaluation, these effects, only apply once the encounter is over and the party is ready to move on to another scene. The farmer, persuaded to help, brings the wounded character to (1-2) his barn/(3-4) his house/(5+) his own bed and (1-2) leaves the party alone/(3-4) brings them things they need/(5+) goes to a neighboring farm for help. The dwarf, having hired the party, promises them ([<# of successes> / 2, round up] -1 ) treasure points as a bonus if they accomplish the mission speedily.

But—and here's the point I've been harping on—the number-of-successes rule cannot be used to decide something that the players tackle directly. If, during the encounter with the farmer, the players specifically request that the farmer take them into the house, and that he go for help, these things cannot be evaluated by successes. The players roll for them as usual. If they succeed at the rolls, they accomplish them. The reward for the number of successes in the encounter must always be about the quality of their successes, not whether they accomplished a particular thing. The farmer, Persuaded to go for help, does so (1-2) reluctantly and slowly/(3-4) with reasonable speed/(5+) riding like the wind. The dwarf, Awed into promising the characters a 10-treasure bonus, (1-2) won't pay it unless they bring proof the mission was accomplished beyond all expectations/(3-4) will pay it grudgingly when the mission is complete/(5+) promises it enthusiastically and sincerely.

To repeat: the number-of-successes rule in Tales can only be used to decide the quality of response to whatever the characters accomplished with their individual rolls; it cannot be used to determine whether the characters accomplish something they specifically set out to do.

Note: the Loremaster requiring an extended task to accomplish a thing is not the same as the number-of-successes rule. If characters succeed at the extended task, they accomplish that thing; when the encounter is over the successes, including from the extended task (should that count as one or many successes?) determine as usual only the quality of their results.