Encounter clarification

[Wbweather]

I have a question about how encounters work. I realize that this shows my inexperience as a Loremaster. What I'm wondering is how to know when to end an encounter. I understand that once the tolerance limit is exceeded, the encounter ends with a negative outcome. I'm wondering more how to end a positive encounter. My thought is that the players continue rolling until they achieve as many successful rolls as they are comfortable with without risking exceeding tolerance for the encounter. This then lets the players decide how far they want to push their luck with the personality involved. It also lets the players dictate when the encounter ends, knowing that with more successful rolls, they will get more help/better outcomes. Is this how you experienced Loremasters are running things?

[zedturtle]

Yep, most Encounters seem to reach a natural conclusion, but I would certainly let the players be in control of if they want to push on and keep bugging the lord for his/her time.

[Hermes Serpent]

You might want to think of an Encounter as needing X successes, once you have achieved X successes then further successes _or_ failures just alter the disposition of the other party for future Encounters. Say the company bug the heck out of Dain II Ironfoot after succeeding in an Encounter then as LM alter his disposition to angry/annoyed for next time they turn up. If they exceed the Tolerance (and telling them the Tolerance level is another question) then have them escorted out and change his future disposition.

Continuing to roll the dice seems mechanically irrelevant and a waste of the players time. If however they want to chat and RP that should be fine and in line with what the game is trying for but further information will not be relevant.

If the person being Encountered has delivered on his part then have him tell the characters that the interview is ended.

[Stormcrow]

"But we succeeded in just one roll! Our reward for the encounter will be tiny!"

"Sucks to be successful. You should have chatted with him about the weather in a daring and dramatic manner."

This is a big problem with the encounter reward rule. Players are encouraged to avoid getting directly to their goal, so that they may make extra rolls and bump up their reward. The longer it takes to get to the point, the better.

[Rich H]

I'm wondering more how to end a positive encounter.

When using the encounter rules I always work out the format/stages of the encounter and tailor the framework (and encounter success table) accordingly. Assuming Tolerance isn't a factor, positive encounter ends when the conversation naturally concludes - ie, the players and Loremaster run out of things to do in relation to the objective of the encounter. This is therefore going to vary which is why I roughly work out the various things that could be discussed in such an encounter so as to get a feel as to how such a conversation could go and to think about what the NPC(s) could ask as part of the interaction. That way, as the PCs interact I have a fair understanding of where they are in the conversation and can help out if the players get stuck and don't know what there PCs can ask (ie, the NPC can take the encounter forward just as much as the PCs). If they aren't struggling, then great, it's something I don't need to use.

This all helps me with deciding how and when a positive encounter should end but it should be fairly obvious when an encounter has reached it's natural conclusion - eg, they introduce themselves (as does the NPC), they interact with the NPC sharing any news etc (as does the NPC), they make their request (or whatever the objective of the encounter is) and the NPC considers the 'request' (which is where I tot up the number of successes with the NPC then responding appropriately); the encounter is then over.

[aramis]

One thing I've done is that, in some encounters, the players seem to have two compatible but separate goals in mind - and so I assign the successes and 6's to one of the goals.

For example, in Words of the Wise, convincing the King to send troops and at the same time convincing the king to not be resentful of doing so. (They started out with the shame mode... then had to work him around to not being pissed at them - and half the party were his subjects.)

In another case, they were looking to buy a boat and to find maps in one town. One disposition, two separate success piles.