How do you actually use the Encounter rules

[Cleggster]

If this helps, the goal of an encounter in my game is accrue successes. Generally they need 2-3 for the encounter to not be a flop. Get to 5 or more and the listener will be impressed. I maxed it out at 7 since one player got really good at it. The differences that all this makes is how does the audience perceive the characters, and the subsequent rewards for the encounter. How well will they get paid for a job. How much aid will they get from their request. Will the king help them in their hour of need, or send forth a host with them. Will Radigast give them some friendly advice or offer an actual magic artifact to aid them. The only thing keeping the rolls in check is the party only get a limited number of failiers. If this is ever reached, party's over.

I find it helps if you plan ahead and have potential encounter ready with appropriate rewards based on levels of success. I usually limit it to 3. Barely tolerated, success, "I love you guys".

[zedturtle]

One underused (AFAIK) thread in this forum is zedturtle's FAQ, that's sticked up front. You can find it here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6618

Cool. I'm glad that it is of benefit! If y'all ever have suggestions for additions to the list, feel free to PM me. I try to update it as things change, but there's always the chance that something excellent will get missed.

[PencilBoy99]

Thanks ill look at the FAQ.

[Stormcrow]

When do you roll? After each thing people say? Do you rollplay the entire Encounter then roll to determine what the target does? Do you allow multiple iterations of the same roll (like attacking each round in combat) and if so how do you work hat into the roleplay?

Don't compare encounters to combat. There is no "target." Rolls are not attacks. The point of an encounter is to achieve a stated goal by interacting in detail with a Loremaster character, not to win or lose.

Setting a goal is paramount. For a conversation to be an encounter, you have to know what you're trying to achieve. "Get Gloin to hire us." "Convince Beorn to let us stay at his house." "Persuade this warlord not to attack this village." Sometimes the goal is multifaceted. "Convince Gloin to hire us, give us directions, and outfit our party." The encounter is over when the goal has been achieved to the best of your ability to achieve them, or until the encounter Tolerance has been exceeded. It helps if a player actually states out loud what the encounter goal is, so everyone's on the same page.

You make rolls in an encounter in exactly the same way you do during any other portion of the game. There must be non-negligible consequences to both success and failure, and part of the consequence of failure is that you can't try again. If the Loremaster character is going to agree with you anyway, that's an automatic action. If the Loremaster character resists what you want, that's when you have to roll, and not until then. It's important not to allow frivolous rolls for actions that are pretty much guaranteed anyway, or which would be achieved with enough repeated applications.

As for counting successes, this is only an optional rule, and its main use is to grant you bonus awards for extra success. You can achieve the encounter goal of getting Gloin to hire you, but if you get lots of successes he'll throw in a pay bonus. You can get that warlord to agree not to attack that village, but if you get lots of successes he may even decide to defend that village from a future orc attack. Counting successes never substitutes for the process of making rolls to achieve the encounter goal. It is essential that only consequential rolls that are relevant to achieving the encounter goal are counted, or else players will start using encounters as an excuse to go fishing for successes, asking for rolls that have no impact on the encounter or what they otherwise get out of it.

TLDR: Set an encounter goal, and only roll to make progress toward that goal and only when the Loremaster character resists.

[PencilBoy99]

I think the last poster rally hit on my central issue, which is when to roll.

[Majestic]

The only thing I'd add to that last excellent summary by Stormcrow, is that in the Introduction portion, things are different in Middle-earth than they are in today's Western culture.

It was customary for this entire period of "introductions" to be made at the start of the Encounter ("Balin, at your service..."), where today we don't have elaborate these elaborate customs. So while to modern sensibilities it might seem unessential or unimportant to introduce oneself, in olden days (and in Middle-earth) it is the norm, and is expected.

That doesn't mean every (or all) character(s) has/have to introduce themselves. Sometimes one PC will realize that they might do more harm than good, and not introduce themselves at all That generally means, though, that they won't take part in the Encounter later, though, and will probably not be involved the rest of the way.