Demands and Escalation

 A Procedural Alternative to the Random Reaction Roll

Intro


You’re probably doing something like this already if you're rolling classic 2d6 reaction rolls. I’ve always struggled with converting the usual 2d6 table into something playable, often having to fill in the table myself on a per-encounter basis, especially when it seems like often players want to talk their way past encounters. The reaction table doesn't give me enough to go on for the majority of encounters, and so, it's not very helpful. Here are some things I’ve been doing to remedy the reaction rolls, and I’d like to get them down as a proper procedure that I can fall back on when I’m feeling a little lost during an encounter. 


I've whittled it down to 3 key stats, that should be pretty easy to insert/substitute into any OSR game. 

  • A Demand (list of examples at the end)

  • Disposition, a stat ranging from 0-5

  • Patience, a health-bar of sorts, ranging from 0-5

  • Escalation, 3 distinct steps: sheathed, weapons drawn, and combat. 


OD&D's Reaction Chart
Also, reading Castle Kelpsprot’s Player’s Guide is what inspired me to write this post. Go check it out here.

Demand


Whenever you roll a random encounter, you should ask this question: Why are these creatures risking their lives in such a dangerous area?


Every group has a Demand, otherwise they wouldn’t be in the Dungeon. If your npc’s don’t have a Demand, well, it's probably not worthy of an encounter. Unless, however, your players have a Demand themselves. There's a chance that an encounter will immediately devolve into combat, but combat is almost always more interesting as a fail condition. So in order to capture the interesting and tense moment where two parties that are at odds meet, one side makes their Demand clear, and Negotiations begin.


Negotiations and Counteroffers


When a group encounters a Demand, they may decide to Counter it with a new offer. When you make an offer, roll 1d6 + Disposition. 3 or less, the offer is accepted. 4 or 5, Patience decreases. On a 6+ or a natural 6, Patience decreases and Escalation increases 1 step.


If the Counter is insulting, annoying, or nonsensical, or if it benefits the Countering party, decrease Patience.


If the Counter is flattering or if it benefits the Demanding party, increase Patience.


The Countering party may make their own Demand during Negotiations, but this will require Drawing Weapons. If this happens, Patience drops to 0, Escalation increases, and another Negotiation starts.


Conceding

At any point during Negotiations or Combat, the Countering side may agree to the Demand and Concede. Patience is restored by 1. Escalation lowers 1 step. Note: Concession must be unanimous. If players take too long, lower Patience. Give them a warning, but don’t let them take too long.

Escalation

Patience is how willing the Demanding party is to negotiate. Some groups won’t allow any negotiation at all, but others may be willing to entertain offers from the Countering party. When Patience is at 0, any other decreases instead increase Escalation.  Always give a hint that Patience is running low. Grunts of annoyance, red faced anger, grimaces, etc.

 

If the Demanding party thinks they will win (which if we have gotten to this point, they probably believe they can) they will Draw Weapons. Once Weapons are Drawn, the Countering party only has two options: Concede (they still get the benefits of Conceding during a Negotiation), or Draw Weapons, which immediately begins Combat. 


The Countering party may Draw Weapons at any time during Negotiations, but they must also make a Demand. If at any point both parties have Drawn Weapons, combat ensues.


The party with Weapons Drawn first will gets to Strike First, as they are already in a powerful position. Use whatever version of surprise is appropriate for your game. Drawing Weapons first is a gamble. On one hand, you can attack your opponent before they can draw their own, but on the other, a fight is almost certainly guaranteed at this point, so you better be prepared for blood.

Combat

Important to keep two things in mind during combat: Goals and Morale.


If something happens so that the goal may no longer be reached, consider if Combat should continue. This is very situationally dependent, so always remember that people need a reason to risk their lives. If the Demand can no longer be fulfilled, they should have another reason to keep fighting; otherwise they will surrender or flee. This will also help prevent boring combat slogs, as knock-down drag-out fights are rarely interesting.


The other half of the equation to keep Combat interesting is Morale. The Demanding side will fight for the goal, but only as long as they believe they can win. The common OSR rule is to make morale saves when the first enemy is killed, and when half the enemies are killed. This generally works well, but I have found exceptions. Consider things like a beloved (or feared) commander falling in battle. Would their followers flee or fight back in retribution? Or, what if its just one big monster that you’re fighting, at what point does it draw back? 


Some systems have morale stats, but if we want to keep it all in one place, we can take a quick look at Disposition to have a rough idea of how long Combat will last. High Disposition enemies have a strong reason for fighting. They may be driving by certain ideals like honor or bravery, or strong feelings like fear or anger, or they may be driven by intense and desperate situations. Even if their goal is removed, they may fall back on one of these reasons to fight. Lower dispositions won’t have such strong reasons to fight, or may just have survival as a greater priority. They may also think that winning in the here and now may be less important than coming back to fight another day.


This also gives us an easy way to do Morale saves, by rolling 1d6 vs Disposition. Roll higher than Disposition, Morale save is passed and the fight continues. Roll less, and its time to surrender or flee. Since disposition goes from 0-5, some enemies may find it impossible to pass a morale save, and even those with the strongest of ideals may falter at the sight of blood.

Fallout

It is important that every encounter changes the world, otherwise the dungeon does not feel like a place and its denizens do not feel like people. This is the hardest, but most important feeling to capture. Here are a few ways to do it.


There will almost always be Survivors. Consider how their Disposition and Patience change after they encounter the players. How much bullshit will they put up with in the future, how much goodwill did they bring to the table? Consider their Demand, and whether they achieved it or were thwarted. Will they have the same Demand the next time players are encountered?


Survivors report back to their Factions. Do they speak of allies gained, or of enemies made. If there are no Survivors, what does the Faction do when they don’t return? Search parties? More patrols? Factions will react to adventurers encroaching on their territory, but they only have the information that is reported back to them. They may not know what adventurers look like, but they will act on the information that they do have.


The last thing is to think about the Loot the players get. Small treasures and amounts of coins are not going to have a huge impact on anyone, but with large treasures or hoards are going to be important to the people that gathered them. They will be using these items to survive in the dangerous dungeon, just like the players are doing. When they get their dirty little paws on those treasures, players will fundamentally change the ecology of the dungeon.

Skills

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve thoughts of lots of fun little skills that players could earn to manipulate this system further. The fun part is that its easy to imagine these skills in diegetic and cinematic ways. Here’s a few I’ve thought of. They would also work with magic items, and would be easily modifiable on the fly as players come up with new ideas to tackle encounters. 


  • Bard classes may make one negotiation roll even after weapons are drawn. Their charisma lets them talk their way out of tense situations that others wouldn’t be able to slip out of.

  • Trader classes take a -1 on one negotiation roll per encounter. People with experience trading know what wheels to grease and when to do it.

  • Fighter classes can intimidate enemies to make them ignore an insult or decrease escalation by 1.

  • Rogue or Thief classes that are hidden may always Strike First, as long as they remain hidden throughout the encounter. 

Communication and Language

There are often quite a few languages being spoken at any one time in the dungeon. Based off my personal experience, this isn’t always a huge barrier to communication. It may make things a little more difficult, make misunderstandings a little more likely, etc., but it won’t fully prevent communication. Consider lowering Patience, or altering Disposition, but let them try.


List of Example Demands

  1. Food

    1. Starving

      1. won’t take no for an answer, will pay extra, or with blood

      2. Disposition 5

    2. Prepping

      1. Give us some, just in case

      2. Disposition 2

    3. Hunting

      1. desired prey? can you take it?

      2. Disposition 4

  2. Riches

    1. Desperate

      1. Debt owed, scary master

      2. Disposition 5

    2. Greedy

      1. take candy from babies

      2. Disposition 3

    3. Tricky

      1. may look like a favor, but intention is failure

      2. Disposition 2

  3. Power

    1. Fealty

      1. who doesn’t want passive income, duels

      2. Disposition 5

    2. Territorial

      1. religious reasons, or taxation reasons, or just plain protection

      2. Disposition 5

    3. Bully

      1. make someone do what you want, but for fun

      2. Disposition 3

  4. Safety

    1. Flee

      1. just want to pass, one side must leave

      2. Disposition 4

    2. Chased

      1. fight with us, or run with us, or just let us go

      2. Disposition 4

    3. Protection

      1. guard me plz

      2. Disposition 2

  5. Knowledge

    1. Secret

      1. Door, room, treasure

    2. Password

      1. rune combination, required trinket trade,

    3. Weakness

      1. what scale on the dragon is loose?

  6. Favor

    1. Friendship

      1. come sit by the fire and share our food, brother

    2. Assassinate

      1. Kill my enemy, for pay

    3. Macguffin

      1. Grab me an item, for pay


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