forums.cubicle7.co.uk
archive

That's how I do it as well. I suppose I look at Preliminary Rolls as a sort of meta 'Pause the game and figure out some bonus dice' mechanic, though I do allow players to gain AP for them. I don't think I've typically counted them towards Eye Awareness either, though I'm not sure on that one.

But I don't count any failed rolls against the Tolerance. I suppose I could, as my players usually breeze through Encounters. I'm pretty sure they've never failed one as a group, though individuals have flubbed things up, embarrassed themselves, and bowed out of speaking any more.

Majestic wrote:Let's suppose the Encounter at the beginning has a Tolerance of 3. All failures then count towards that number, and when three is reached, the Encounter is effectively over.

I checked this with Francesco a while ago. The number of failures must exceed Tolerance to end the encounter, not just equal it.

Stormcrow wrote:

Majestic wrote:Let's suppose the Encounter at the beginning has a Tolerance of 3. All failures then count towards that number, and when three is reached, the Encounter is effectively over.

I checked this with Francesco a while ago. The number of failures must exceed Tolerance to end the encounter, not just equal it.

You're absolutely correct, Stormcrow. I simply mistyped that. Otherwise, Encounters with Tolerance 0 would be over before they started!

mica wrote:Introduction - in principle seems straight forward - but what of the roll? It explains that a failed roll in courtesy usually prevents a character speaking but that's about it.
What happens when the spokesman fails his Awe check? Everybody fails courtesy checks? Does it effect tolerance? Has the encounter failed before it starts? Does it make everything harder?
Or somebody gets a great or extraordinary success? Do these count towards total success? Make the encounter TN's lower? Increase tolerance? What happens if multiple characters get great/extraordinary success?

Seems oddly lacking in mechanics (unless I have missed something) leaving it all to house rules or the roll effectively counting for nothing.

So, I would think if the party had a spokesman who failed his Awe roll, someone else would simply have to make introductions. Also, don't forget, traits are your friend in Encounters; I had some players who kept flubbing up their Introduction rolls, because they forgot they could usually use a trait to swing an automatic success; Introductions are a good place for that, since it's often better to trade the chance for great or extraordinary success for a guarantee that you can be involved in the encounter. It also states that, if a character fails to be properly Introduced, they can still make rolls such as Insight and Riddle to aid/figure things out, just that they can't play a DIRECT role in the Encounter (so probably no Persuade, Awe, Inspire, etc)

As LM it is up to you to decide what happens if the players 'stuff up', i.e "0-1" successes only. If there are dangerous consequences then you should warn the players beforehand:

"Let me do the talking, as he can be fearful if angered..."

You will note that in the published adventures they have all this written up for you, and in the Fan Supplement (see link in my sig) there are many examples of Encounters in Adventures that fans have written up.

In my "A Kidnapping in Umbar" (see link in my sig) the players did indeed 'stuff up' so they were thrown into prison, just like the dwarves were! (but were released the following morning).

Also in the Fan Supplement were specific suggestions on how to deal with 'Encounter Gaffes' by jamerbrown.

Remember also that these guidelines are only for important Encounters or where the Players want something, you don't need to use these for everyone they meet...

Robin S.