Reputation and Trading

This subsystem uses figures, scores and terms form this post on Reputation and Grace.

A man lives by his word and deeds not simply by the weight of his coin. Trading and the related Haggling is most certainly influenced by Reputation. Presented here is a simple system for trading based on Reputation that gives a little room for wheeling and dealing without dominating too much table time.

Trading is handled by a roll on Reputation Table IV: Trading/Haggling. To conduct a bout of Trading over the price of a good the customer offers a Bargain Price against the Asking Price of the seller. Differences in the price are compared, modifiers applied to a roll of 2d6 and the table consulted.
Merchant Trading Score is required for a merchant. This is simply a score of 0 to 5 that describes how hard a merchant haggles a 0 is inexperience or poor skill while a 5 is a very skilled and wily tradesman.

Modifiers to Roll:
Apply Customer Reputation Reaction Modifier.
Apply Customer CHA Reaction Modifier.
Subtract Merchant Trading Score.
If Bargain Price is approximately 75% of asking price subtract 1 from the roll
If Bargain Price is approximately 50% of asking price subtract 2 from the roll
If Bargain Price is approximately 30% of asking price subtract 4 from the roll
If Bargain Price is approximately 10% of asking price subtract 8 from the roll

If a player is trying to sell goods one may apply their reputation based reaction modifier as the Merchant Trading Score. If the merchants other scores are unknown simply double the Merchants Trading Score and then add to roll.

A player is never compelled to buy an item but refusing the deal can result in a loss of Reputation Points now and again. The "Snookered" result compels purchase at the cost of Rep Pts for refusal.

If one refuses a Bargain Priced result a Grace Save may be required by the DM or the customer faces a loss of 1d3 Rep pts.

Refusing a gift may or may not have further complications at the DMs whim and the situation at hand.

Failure to buy more (at 50% or more of asking price) in a year (or next time identical goods are purchased if sooner) costs the customer 1d6 Rep Pts. No save allowed.

Accepting 3 or more gifts without offering a noteworthy gift in return costs 2d6 reputation, a Grace Save will halve this loss.

There is a 1-3 chance (in d6) an Insulted Merchant may call upon guards or other help to eject a customer. Active roleplay and a Grace Save will mitigate this result.

There is a 1-4 chance (in d6) an Outraged Merchant may call upon guards or other help to eject a customer and even react with violence. Active roleplay and a Grace Save at -4 will mitigate this result.

Merchants are usually clever or cautious enough to avoid harm so a DM is cautioned to gauge Merchant reaction carefully.

If a confrontation with a merchant results in harm to the merchant, his property or guards the offender may face legal issues and a loss of reputation of 6d6 if a Grace save (half on save) is failed following the incident.
Trading/Haggling is presented as an option and clearly wouldn't fit every campaign or every shopping trip in play. It's up to the DM to determine when this subsystem will see use.

Reputation and Grace

Reputation and Grace

Here is the framework for a mechanical social condition and conflict system for FRPGs.

Reputation is the opinion and social evaluation of an individual. It is an important factor in many areas, such as academia, business and social status. The reputation of a character is expressed by a Reputation Grade (R.G.) and Description based on the current score of Reputation Points. The actions of a character and others in society directed at them will
impact the current score of Reputation Points.

The Grace Save is instrumental is offsetting or diminishing the impact of possible loss of Rep. Pts. When a Grace Save is called for it is rolled as any other saving throw. It reflects ones ability to react in style to insult and slander as well as rebuffing the slights of others along with shaking off social faux-pas.

The Grace Save modifier is modified by the Charisma score and is based upon societies attitude towards ones character class. Reputation Table I indicated the Grace modifiers as per Charisma score. Each campaign or society will hold different classes in different degrees of regard. The DM should establish these degrees of favor and may vary them from region to region and even situation to situation if so desired. Grace saves as they relate to the favorability of a character class is determined by Reputation Table II.





Additional Modifiers to Grace saves:
Non Noble-Born Dwarf....-1
High Elf................+2
Half-Orc................-3
Noble Background........+1
Lowly Background........-2*
Barbarians..............-2

*This may be disregarded if one maintains R.G. of 1 or higher for two years time)


The initial Reputation Points of a character are determined by rolling 2d4 and subtracting 5 to yield -3 to 3 Reputation Points. Ones' Reputation Grade as determined by reputation points and associated modifiers are found on Reputation Table III.

Notes on Reputation Table III entries:
Reaction is a modifier to reaction rolls made in situations where ones reputation may have impact such as at city gates, visiting inns, when caught in indelicate situations and on well traveled roads.
Intimidation is a modifier applied to situations where the character attempts to sway the actions of other through intimidation.
Notice is the chance of having one identity noted by others when not announced or obvious.
Invitation is a modifier to roll required to determine attendance of feasts and balls being hosted.
(rules for Intimidation, Feasts, etc... to follow in future post)

The Reputation Points and Reputation Grade of a Character will rise and fall based on their actions and the reactions of others.

Suggested Reputation Point Gains and Losses:
Completing Quest for
Minor Lord.....+1d6
Duke...........+2d6
Prince.........+3d6
King/Emperor...+4d6

Being part of a successful expedition....+2d6
Being part of a failed expedition........-1d6
Leading a successful expedition..........+5d6
Leading a failed expedition..............-2d6

Fought at Battle
Skirmish............+1d6
Small Battle........+2d6
Large Battle........+3d6
Major Battle........+4d6
Epic Battle.........+5d6
Commanding a Squadron in battle.....+1
Commanding a Company in battle.....+1d4
Commanding a Battalion in battle...+1d6
Commanding an Army in battle.......+2d6


Fleeing Combat and Leaving Allies on the Field of Battle
Duel....................-4d6
Skirmish................-3d6
Melee...................-2d6
Small/Large Battle......-1d6
Major Battle............-2d6
Epic Battle.............-3d6
A Grace Save can halve the loss for fleeing combat.

Slaying a foe with 3-4 HD/levels greater +2d6
Slaying a foe with 5 + HD/levels greater +4d6

Insults
Insulting another so as to damage their reputation is a Social Attack.
It is made by roleplaying and a a successful Grace Check.

A failed attack against someone with a positive R.G. results in a loss to the attacker in Rep Pts equal to the targets R.G.

If one is the victim of a successful insult they must make a Grace save to shake it off or they suffer a loss of Rep Pts as follows.

Insult towards personal capacities......-1d4
Insult towards associates...............-1d3
Insult towards family/clan..............-1d6
Insult towards political affiliations...-1d3
Insult towards lover or mate............-1d8
Insult towards mother...................-2d6
Insult towards a womans honor...........-2d8

In any case Failing to challenge insult of equals inflicts a debit of 1 Rep. Pts.

Rules for Feasting, Balls, Trading and Dueling to follow in future posts.

Well, let's put his corpse over there in the corner...

I've been using a variety of character detail and background charts I've glommed off the internet for my current campaign. One of my players sees these little bits of detail as waste and the others love them. I suspect the player who doesn't care for them doesn't seem to think the backgrounds bits will matter much , he'd be very wrong.

One of the players ended up with a young adolescent thief as an underling "Jimmy the Shimmy" he was known as. He was slain last night by a magical trap on a door that transformed the door handle into a snake and poisoned him to death (there was a growing number of snake clues so no one was terribly surprised). The reaction of the player who Jimmy the Shimmy served was..."Well, let's put his corpse over there in the corner and I'll search him for those 2 g.p. I gave him". The player was a little upset but not too much, he just figures he lost a little background and an extra roll for thieving tasks. He hasn't stopped to wonder how Jimmy's mother and older brother will take the news of his untimely death being towed around by a callous mage down into goblin tunnels.

Jimmy didn't have the 2 g.p., "darn, I wonder what he spent them on?" said his former boss.

They shouldn't be leaving bodies laying around after fighting a bunch of kobold skeletons while hunting down goblins, one of the goblins just might be able to animate the dead. Possibly the players have forgotten about this table - What Happens with the body? .

Killer DM, Killer DM !

Ever been called a Killer DM or heard it said like it was a slur?

A PC died last session and I enjoyed it immensely as DM.

We are in the third session of the campaign. The players sought out and got a contract to protect the general area of a community from goblin raids. They found a peel tower occupied by a captured old man and a band of goblins. So they set the tower on fire, the old man turned out to be a glamoured Redcap so they had a brawl with him but prevalled and then realized...oh crud most of the loot just got ruined in the fire didn't it? They almost found their way to the dungeon but managed to pass it up. They've spent a number of days wandering around the country side and camping the same spot almost every night (they hoped to ride out the terms of their contract with the town and collect the fee for protecting the area from goblins without having to do much fighting).

Then one night the sentry (one of the PCs) noticed the horses all laid down and slept on the ground, there was something burrowing in the earth in a circle around their camp and went to wake the other PCs and discovered one of the humans and the dwarf were asleep and couldn't be awoken. All of a sudden a dark furry form with red claws and fangs burst out from the ground knocking a small sigil aside. He stated his purpose in goblin as an assassin sent to avenge the destruction of the tower and his price was blood. The players were all slow to react asking questions and taking actions that gave the opponent an edge. One attempted to use a fear spell from a scroll and found it had no effect. The beast rushed forward and eviscerated the sentry (inflicting almost triple his HP in a flurry of attacks). The following round it ripped the flesh from the sentries skull in it's red toothed maw and kicked the skull at the other elf in the party. One of the players realized blood had been paid so they stood down and the foe left with the terms of it's contract complete. The party located the split sigil discovering it to be a goblin item that drew the Buggane to them.

It was fun killing the PC, I liked it. They are now really p.o.'d at the goblins and scarred of Bugganes. It was early in the campaign so the player wasn't attached to his character yet.
Did I say I liked killing the PC?

Maybe I'm a killer DM. Maybe I've manged to set the tone for this campaign being lethal and while the players are free to do as they wish they also have to deal with active foes that aren't tied to die rolls and fixed locations and the actions of the PCs will have repercussions. The PCs just might want to be a little more careful, they may be dealing with a killer DM after all.

AC by Location

I was flipping through my copy of Exquisite Corpses by Stefan Poag and couldn't help but wonder how games might play out if combat accounted for the AC of combatants Head, Torso and Legs. It is easy to get those scores for Exquisite Corpses created monsters and one can figure it out for monster with single score Ac score fairly quickly but it can be a bit tricky for armored character types.

The following has a bunch of fiddly bits that can of course be used or ignored as the campaign dictates. AC scores are all listed as a plus to AC score to work with pretty much any AC format.
I haven't tried these in play myself yet so the impact is unpredictable.

Head-Torso-Leg AC

(the chart is larger if you click on it)
Each subsection provides multiple exclusive selections for each general location.
By example: You can't wear two hauberks, or mail gloves and a gauntlets but yuo can wear a coif and a helmet or Leggings and a kilt.

Hauberk and Cotte may be combined, Hauberk and Cuiras may be combined.
Cuiras and Cotte may not be combined.

There are a number of penalties listed in each armor section. The penalties are meant to reduce the chance of success for ability check based mechanics. They would probably work fine in a d20 or save based action resolution as well.

Combat Notes-
Additional fiddly bits to combat are invited if one uses even the three simple hit locations of Head, Torso and Legs here are some suggestions.

Hitting Target in the head-
Is allowed if you have a longer weapon then your foe does.
Is allowed if you have initiative over a foe.
Is allowed if you have surprised a foe or are attacking from behind.
Missile attacks from beyond short range are made at an additional penalty of -2

Hitting a Target in the head with a die roll of 19-20 (if other scores can hit) requires many targets to make a save or be stunned until end of following round.

Hitting Target in the Torso-
Is the base default no special conditions required.

Hitting Target in the legs-
Is allowed with no penalty if you have a long weapon.
Is allowed with no penalty if you have surprise or are attacking from behind.
If in melee and you miss with a to hit die roll of 1-5 when making a leg attack (except for conditons above) your opponent gets a free melee attack against you.
Missile attacks from beyond short range are made at an additional penalty of -2

Hitting a Target in the legs with a die roll of 19-20 (if other scores can hit) requires many targets to make a save or be knocked prone (armed foes will drop weapons).

Notes on AC
Best Ac of Head
Great Helm, Metal Gorget and Mail coif gives ones head an AC of -2 (21)
cost 70 g.p. perception -6, speech -5

Best Torso Armor
Mail Hauberk, Ribbed Cuiras, Plate Bracers and Gauntlets
provide a torso AC of -6(25)
cost 350 g.p. maneuver -9, manipulation -8

Heaviest Leg Armor
Mail Leggings, Mail Kilt, Plate Taces, Plate Codpiece, Plate Greaves and Plate Saboton provide a leg AC of -6(25) with a move penalty of 30
cost 195 g.p

To buy best suit of overall armor would cost: 615 g.p.

A DM is of course free to assign a Maxiumum possible AC in a specific location as fits the rule set being used. Players should be aware of such restrictions to avoid over-buying armor.
Some folks don't like nonmagical AC better then 2,1 or 0 and I can agree.

Magical armor and the hit locations-
The best magical AC of any piece in a location improves AC, multiple magical bonuses to pieces do not add up.

LOTFPWFRPG Brief Review

I got myself the PDF version of the Lamentations Of The Flame Princess Weird Fantasy RPG today. I've been browsing through and jumping from section to section today here's a very brief review.

The rules in general are clear and explained well. The Referee book is very good and a top notch addition to old school gaming. The magic rules for spell research and manufacture of common magical goods are clearly spelled out with a random element that keeps things like scroll creation from being a fixed and well defined science. Alignments as explained in LOTFPWFRPG make sense and can't help but work in the context they are presented. Combat is simple with just a little bit of defined tactical variation. The nice and simply d6 based resolution for a lot of stuff is familiar and easy to follow. Encumbrance has some simple and playable crunch. The language rules are simple,playable and nothing I've seen before. Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy RPG has one of the absolute best Character sheets I've ever seen with an RPG; it's clear, well laid out and innovative.

There's a lot more I could say but that should follow a careful read and maybe some game play. All in all it's a solid addition to RPG land that covers familiar ground but manages to bring a lot of new, very usable and well defined wrinkles to the game that is clear, informative and easy to read, and it has one of the best character sheets I've ever seen.

EUREKA !

This morning my son was pointing at some boxes and asking "What's that?" (which is the standard statement these days), his mom said "Boxes". The little fellow shook his head no and very clearly pointed at the words on the first box "Jim Beam" replied his mother, he took a couple steps and pointed at a box on my game shelves very clearly pointing at the words on the box and his mother read out "Worlds of Wonder" and the baby chortled in glee. He's recognizing that printed words exist.

That immediately triggered my memory of being able to read. It was the summer before I started 1st grade. One of the older neighbor boys had this really cool horror comic which he let me browse at for a minute or two and it was full of lurid horror images (I don't think I ever saw anything like it to that point), I returned it too him with some disappointment but secured the location of purchase from him.

I was determined to give that comic a good solid browsing and collected my nickles and dimes and walked off the nearby store. I couldn't cross streets in those days but I was allowed to wander off the very small dead end street we lived on to play with friends who lives on adjacent dead end streets. I realized to my delight I could get all the way to the store by never technically crossing the street as one could enter a dead end street, walk to the end and walk back out on the other side without ever having to cross a street.

The store that held by quarry was a Butcher's store run by an Italian family, they'd dote over my mother when she went shopping there with my brother and I (there were few Italians in that neighborhood). The shop had one of those old fashion coolers that opened on the top full of bottle of Cokes, Orange Crush and the occasional Yoo Hoo. There was a tiny assortment of candy and a freestanding comic rack that rotated. There was my quarry with a few other comics which i didn't allow to distract me. I bought the comic with a few cheap candies and went home to enjoy my purchases.

I was sitting there chomping on some candies flipping through the comic when something amazing happened: I could read the comic. I could read some words before that and had flipped through my father's comics along with a number of Disney and Casper comics before that but this was different. All of a sudden I could read and understand what I was reading! It was a miracle and I was certainly hooked on comics from that point on.

Looking back I realize it wasn't a complete miracle as my parents had taught me my letters and numbers and had certainly taught me to read some words and had always read to me such books as Winnie the Pooh, Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland. I'd never read a whole story all by myself to that point, certainly not one I'd sought out myself. I still recall the comic; one story was about a werewolf and another was about a creepy murderer who owned a curiosities shop full of monsters that eventually did him in.

My parents were readers and enjoyed sci-fi books so I was a lucky kid who had access to dozens of sci-fi novels to cut my reading teeth on. My dad (who was younger then most dads) also had a number of comics including titles like Tarzan, Swamp Thing, Jonah Hex and Conan. I read Lord of The Rings for the first time in second or third grade, my dad insisted I start with the Hobbit not because it was a kiddie story, he just wanted to make sure I read the whole story.

All that flashed through my mind after my one year old chortled at "Worlds of Wonder" and I just had to share the moment. I wonder what his first full read is going to be?

Random Beards Table

With no apologies at all to JB ;-).

Random Beard Table (roll 1d100)

Chance for beard- (% male/female)
Human 90%/1%, Halfling 60%/0%, Dwarf 100%/45%, Gnome 90%/3%, Half-Elf 50%/0%, Half-Orc 60%/30%

Style of Beard (1d100)
Human...Halfling...Dwarf...Gnome...Half-Elf...Half Orc....Beard
1-3........................................1-2..........1-4............................Anchor- A chin beard that is grown long into a point and styled with an accompanying mustache to resemble the shape of a ship's anchor.
4-6.......................................3-4..........5................................Balbo- a wide chin beard that covers the chin as well as a small area beyond it, accompanied by a separated mustache.
Braided beard- full beard braided into two or more strands.
7-9...........1-4.......................5-8..........6-8...........1-3.............Chinstrap – beard with long sideburns that comes forward and ends under the chin, resembling a chinstrap, hence the name.
10-12.......5-8......................................9-10..........4...............Chinstrip- narrow beard grown beneath the lip and extending at the same width to the chin. Typically no sideburns.
13-15.......9-16.....................9-12.........11-12........5-6............Chin curtain - longer beard grown only along the lower portion of the face, covering the chin and following the jawline.
16-18......17-20....................13-24.......13............7-8............Donegal – similar to the chinstrap beard but covers the entire chin.
19-22......................1-15.......25-26......................9-15..........Forked-Beard- a full beard trimmed to a fork beneath the chin.
23-50.....................16-60.....27-60.....................16-60........Full – downward flowing beard with either styled or integrated mustache
51-60......................61-65.....61-63.....14-15........61-65.......Garibaldi – wide, full beard with rounded bottom and integrated mustache
61-65......21...........66..........64-70......16-40.......66............Goatee – A tuft of hair grown on the chin, sometimes resembling a billy goat's.
66-68.....22..........67............71-75......41-55........67...........Junco – A goatee which extends upward and connects to the corners of the mouth.
69-71...................68-75.......76-85.......................68-70....Old Dutch A large, long beard, connected by sideburns, that flares outward in width at the bottom, without a mustache.
72-74...................................86-95......56-65.....................Reed – A beard with integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area that tapers towards the ears without connecting sideburns.
75-76...................................96............66-70......71-75.......Imperial – is a narrow pointed beard extending from the chin.
77-79....................................................71-75.....................Short Boxed Beard- a full beard and sideburns tightly clipped with integrated mustache.
80........................................97.............76-80.....76-85......Spade- A large, long beard, connected by sideburns, without a mustache.
81-82...23..............................................81..........86-90.....Stubble – a very short beard of only one to a few days growth.
83-84...24-28.....................................................91-95......Neard – Similar to the Chinstrap, but with the chin and jawline shaven, leaving hair to grow only on the neck.
85-90...29-95......................98.............82-83....96-97......Sideburns – hair grown from the temples down the cheeks toward the jawline. Sometimes with a mustache.
91........96-99........................................84-85...................Soul patch – a small beard just below the lower lip and above the chin
91-93....................................99............86..........................Friendly Mutton Chops – long mutton-chop type sideburns connected to a mustache, but with a shaved chin
94.......100............................................87-88...................Sparrow- a tight goatee style beard braided into a petite fork beneath the chin.
95....................76-90........................................98-100.....Spiked beard- a beard shaped into multiple "spikes" thanks to tar or wax.
96-97.............91-95............................................................Stashburns - sideburns that drop down the jaw but jut upwards across the mustache, leaving the chin exposed.
98........................................................89-90.....................Bulgan - beard with integrated mustache which wraps around the lips and continue as beard on chin. Cheeks are kept shaven.
99.......................................100...........91-98.....................Van Dyke – goatee accompanied by a mustache.
100...............96-100...........................99-100...................Verdi – Short beard with rounded bottom and slightly shaven cheeks with prominent moustache


Equipment
Straight Razor......1 s.p. (can be used in combat for 1-2 pts damage)
Beard Clipper.......5 s.p.
Shaving Brush......1 s.p.
Grooming Kit.......4 g.p. (the works with mirror, small cup, brushes, combs in a small container)

The Sandbox Works

Sandbox play works well when people realize they are not constrained. Granted many people may enjoy being constrained, sandbox play isn't for them.

If you see a pile of blocks, a pad of paper and a few pencils or bucket full of toy soldiers and start wondering what you could do with that to have some fun then a sandbox style game is for you.

A sandbox game is right for players that can be shown a partially filled in map, given a hint of the rules and told to go explore and build. They'll discover and build the world together and learn the rules on the way. The DM builds expands and elaborates framework provided by the rules and puts a light on how the sandbox can be approached by the players and adapts to what the players do and fills in the empty corners the players decide to explore.

Real life is cold and callous and one must live with the consequences of their actions. In a sandbox one gets to hurl themselves against the world and even redefine it. Successful (read enjoyable ) sandbox play is dependent on the players ability to assess situations that are discovered by being proactive and interacting with the creations of the DM.

Maybe there is some relation to how one was raised or reacted to their upbringing. Those who were taught (or realized) that the world is a big place full of wonder and it's up to ourselves to get out there and discover what it holds may do well with sandbox play.

Playing it safe in the real world has some clear and simple rewards. Moderate comfort and a relatively clear path. Sandbox gaming gives some a chance to play beyond the real life limits or get a glimpse of things they would rather really not do in real life. In sandbox play failure sets up future adventures, real life is seemingly not so kind.

Real life is seemingly laid out for us, we live with this fiction for the illusion of comfort. We play RPGs for the illusion of adventure and companionship with other folks that enjoy the illusion. Everyday of our lives adventure is just a left turn instead of that same right turn we take everyday. play in a sandbox game is enhanced by not taking the same right turn everyday and the players and DM embracing this.

Sandbox play is a vacation from our everyday lives. A good vacation where we don't miss home and our minds wander to on a "normal" day. Our real life vacations can get dragged to the sandbox and elaborate play for everyone else at the table. Having almost drowned by being swept away while snorkeling in shallow water, building a raft and floating down a canal, hunting, getting in a fight, climbing a mountain, knowing the sense of dread when you are stuck in a tight crawl-only tunnel, feeling the rope of the sailboat cut your hands as you are the only thing keeping you and your friends from being dumped in the ocean, jumping off a rope swing to plummet just for the fun of it are all things I can share with my fellow players in a sandbox game and we all get to walk away from it whether we fail or succeed. Sandbox play succeeds if we get to smile about our exploits no matter how well they went.

Some think D&D players are all social drop-outs and I always felt such folks were really just a fraction of the players and a great many people weren't paying attention to the fact that getting together with the same people over and over again is being pretty darned social. The folks I play with have ranged through a diverse range of personality and career types even if a goodly number seem to tend towards the technical and professional end of things I've still gotten to meet and befriend people I may not have in other ways. RPGs can be a great way for people to meet and retain relationships that might not be without the game at hand.

Here are some of the professions of some of the people that have been in my D&D groups over the years a retired cartographer, a number of computer programmers and I.T. techs, an M.P., prison guard, youth-worker, landscaper, school-bus driver, psychologist, manager of a mall eatery, laser technician, an air-plane mechanic (two actually), nurse, lawyer, deli-worker, retail manager, heating/cooling tech, actors, teacher, optics manufacturer, technical illustrator, graphic designer and housewife. Getting all those people together week after week sometimes for years on end would be tricky and unusual without RPGs.

RPG play for many players is a means to escape the rut. For me (as I usually DM) it's an excuse to create things I want to create and watch people interacting with them because they want to do so. It's a grown up game of make believe. The sandbox is a great place to let ones imagination run free.

One gets plenty of chance to fail in sandbox play without screwing up the campaign for everyone else and without ruining their life. The sandbox campaign gives us room to safely build and adventure and return to the real world when we want to.

I Write like...

I write like
Isaac Asimov

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Got that from sampling a number of posts and plugging them into the analyzer.