Not all Social Conflicts Should be Scaled

That said, sometimes a one-roll social roll should be used when suitable. Just as it could get tedious to have 10 rolls to climb up a 10m wall, having to roll so many times just to get a discount, or to persuade a guard to look the other way is overkill. This disclaimer being made, let’s move on to…

How to get a stubborn ox to move

Weapons of the Gods introduces a system of relationships into social conflicts. A character has relationships with other characters and factions, and each type of relationship has ways of improving and degrading. For example, in Chinese culture honouring one’s parents is important, so if a character’s parents is drawn into a social conflict, it becomes more complicated. The character may stands his ground to ignore what his elderly grey mother wants, but their relationship will suffer, which may have other consequences. A simple example would be if an inn-keeper’s grandmother is around, and you need to stay at the inn despite it being full, you can try to appeal to his grandmother’s sympathy so that the grandmother would convince the innkeeper to go beyond the call of duty (and the lure of gold). This can be easily slapped into existing games as a modifier, stunt or an Aspect.

Weapons of the Gods’ social mechanics introduce many type of relationships. Father and son, siblings, friends, lieges and vassals and so on. Such a system could be adapted to other games. Dwarves, for example, could place emphasis on their clan (take a Babylon 5 example – how Delenn managed to convince her clan that she is allowed to marry a non-Minbari); if you get his clan to pressure a Dwarven smith to produce the weapons for your armies, he is more likely to comply.

There may be a scholar who refused to translate a tome. Money don’t move him; he doesn’t need anything. However, he may have a rivalry with another scholar in the same town, and by dropping hints that you would go over to him may move things to your favour. Or he may have a mentor – you can go to the mentor, invoke an old favour (assuming he does owe you one) and add pressure on the scholar. However, relationships doesn’t work for you all the time. The scholar’s religious affiliation may prohibit him to touch a forbidden tome (perhaps you need to convince his religious leaders that reading a pagan tome is ‘for the greater good’). He may have promised his romantic love a trip and does not want to spend the time. Including all these factors would make social conflict more than just a single roll.

Upping the Stakes

Tapping into a NPC’s relationships with his friends, families and enemies to get him to act the way you want can be overkilled if all you want is to have a sword at 25% discount (or even just to get him to give it away for free). The suggestion is to only involve those factors for plot significant arcs, and for something to be significant, it must be something worth fighting for.  In the above example, it is assumed that the tome contains a powerful ritual to bind a demon. One can easily up the stake more. Examples include: persuading an entire village to flee before a band of goblin invaders come (in real life many won’t leave their homes despite impending disasters), getting an alliance of small city states to send armies against a threat, or even asking another nation into an alliance.

By extending the scale of the conflict, you get to involve more players. One player could be on a diplomatic mission to secure an army, while the other will try to get an informant to part with information about the foe. Each of them influence each other. Succeed at securing an army, and the informant may be cowed into giving the information. Get the information first, and the allies may be more willing to send out their warriors. Other acts would sway things in your favour. Sneaking into the enemy’s camp, and returning with one of their leaders’ head could become a forceful factor in a negotiation!  This allows combat characters to lend aid in a social conflict, be it his impressive battle records, history of being fair to others, his religious affiliation, providing some piece of obscure lore or even defeating the other party’s champion in a duel. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang debated with the scholars and sages of the Kingdom of Wu prior to the Battle of Chibi. He then incited Zhou Yu by saying that Cao Cao desired his wife (which didn’t happen in history).

An Example of a Large Scale Social Conflict

The political arena is often the best stage for a large scale social conflict, though a war with shifting allegiances is one too. This example contains massive spoiler from the Chinese manhua The Ravages of Time (mentioned earlier and elsewhere in my blog). Though the storyline is that of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the comic changes the details significantly. The situation is thus: Cao Cao has met defeat at the hand of Zhang Xiu and is surrounded. Meanwhile, to exploit his weakness, numerous foes begin to march on Cao Cao’s base, Xuchang and those includes Liu Biao, Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, plus Liu Yong, a scion of the Han Imperial Family (no, not Liu Bei; he was recently defeated by Lu Bu, got his ass kicked to the small city elsewhere in Xuzhou).

With Cao Cao isolated at Danyang, defeated by Zhang Xiu, and four armies approaching, what is he to do?  Troops have been stationed south to fight off Liu Biao, and an assassin finished off Liu Yong, but there’s still Lu Bu (who is smarter than how the original novel protrayed him) and Yuan Shu. One of Cao Cao’s best advisors, Xun Yun, managed to get them to fight each other. But how?

Sometimes ago, when Lu Bu was defeated by Li Si and other (shortly after killing Dong Zhou), he fled to Chenliu, and tried to take Puyang from Cao Cao, and failed. He then sought refuge from Liu Bei. Liu Bei kindly gave him a small city to dwell in, Xiaopei. However, when Liu Bei was away once fighting Yuan Shu (by the Emperor’s decreed, which was of course manipulated by Cao Cao), a group of bandits and displaced soliders invaded Xuzhou. Now, it was Zhang Fei who secretly liased with them (he’s not stupid in the comics too), as to lure Lu Bu to attack and be ambushed. However, Lu Bu knew of it and his advisor Chen Gong, paid another large sum of money to buy those brigands over, and in the end it was Lu Bu who succeeded in kicking Zhang Fei out from the city (but it’s more complex than that). Finally, Lu Bu absorbed those brigands as part of his army.

Okay, let’s return to how Xun Yun managed to get Lu Bu and Yuan Shu to fight each other. Xun Yun arrived on a diplmatic mission to Xuzhou and confered on him the General of the Left. He hinted that the people of Xuzhou loved Liu Bei, and Lu Bu’s rule may not be welcomed (working on Lu Bu’s relationship with his citizens), then confer a title which make his occupation of Xuzhou official (hence improving relationship with Cao Cao). At the same time, Xun Yun’s nephew, Xun You, went to meet Yuan Shu and said Lu Bu was coming to attack him. The latter, of course, did not believe – after all, weren’t they going after Cao Cao?

So here’s the final move in this social conflict. Xun Yun was the one who ultimately arranged the brigands to invade Xu Zhou, and joined Lu Bu. On his orders, the brigands took up Lu Bu’s banners and impersonated as his soldiers, attacked Yuan Shu. With this, Yuan Shu believed Xun You, and fought with Lu Bu, leaving Cao Cao safe. Liu Biao, seeing that he was alone in the whole affair, called off the attack. If you could, try to imagine the whole situation as a map with each character/faction as a circle, with lines linked to each other. That could be akin to a tactical map for physical combat.

Hopefully this will give more ideas for social conflicts; next time, I will try to come up with some Fate 3.0 mechanics and rules to formalize this.

So far, conflicts in RPG has been largely physical in scope – combat and mass battles. Combat in RPG is a very well developed area – from D&D’s tactical take to more cinematic offerings such as Fengshui, Weapons of the God and the upcoming Spellbound Kingdoms.  Recently, another form of conflict has entered the fray – social conflicts.  Instead of armour and physical weakness, you look out for secrets which will give you an edge-up over your opponent – who has the most influence on him? What does he value the most?

Those conflicts, however, are largely tactical. When I read Romance of the Three Kingdoms and a Song of Ice and Fire,  I am wondering if there is a way to have political conflicts, a match in strategies and so on. Conflicts that take place over a vast area, instead of being confined to an area.

Two games promise that…REIGN and House of the Blooded; I have to admit I have yet to read them, but they give me a feeling of “hands-off, top-down”, which I am not sure if it is the mood I want. If players are going to role-play as emperors, rulers or guild leaders, maybe they should be playing RISK, Age of Empire (the board game) or something else? What good does role-playing add to these types of large scale conflicts?

One idea to consider is what if the player goes against each other?

For another project, I have been charged with the task of a prototyping a real-time strategy game. One of the important feature about such games is usually the fog of war, and more so in this project. How do I go about preparing a board-game prototype with a fog of war? When it is the next player’s turn, even if he putting down some tokens face down, you know that he is doing something. Worse still, without computers, you don’t even know if he is cheating.

There is a problem with such a players vs. players RPG with an epic scope is that  the GM has to hide secrets. This may be acceptable for play by email, but how much more fun is this than Diplomacy? Is the GM just the piece of barrier like in a Battleship game? Secondly, if the players are present and they are the enemies of each other — well, is this the way people want to spend an evening relaxing? There’s a fine line in presenting a challenge and grieving when it comes to the game table, especially for a RPG where there more actions possible than a board game.

One idea I have been toying with is to mix board game mechanics with RPG resolution.  Actions made on a marco level influences the players while they are role-playing, and those high-level decisions may generate random encounters, influences reactions of NPCs and avaliability of allies. Of course, the GM must be quick to adapt as well! If the board game level indicate that the city which the party is supposed to be visiting is under siege, and it wasn’t so before the campagin start, then the GM must be fast enough to adapt to the new environment.

1. Surrounding the Lower City are fertile farmlands, vineyards and orchards, and the people there engage mainly in industry. They sell their wares to travelling merchants and thus earn their living. The Upper City is next to a river, which used to be part of a trade route. But about a dozen years ago, a new route was found and trade in the Upper City declined. The people there end up jobless, homeless and idle. Yet dwellers of the city both pay the same taxes and recently, for repairs of the city wall, the folks of the Lower City has to come up with much more gold than the Upper City. Could there be a way to resolve this problem before it really comes to the blow, or would the players gain from if there is actually trouble?
2. The city used to be two small towns which grow outwards eventually till they almost meet each other at the ridge. The Lower City consists a river which is part of a well-used trade route while the Upper City is a mining settlement. Recently, the mines have run dried and the people of the Lower City, being merchants, find it undesirable to be in an alliance with the Upper City anymore. They have cut off supply to the Upper City, which they usually give to trade for the metals. Now there are words that those in the Upper City, unhappy with the treatment, are considering violence as their mines run dry and their one-time allies are forsaking them.
3. Religious difference is the heart of the divide here. A new religion, though some refers to it as a cult, has enter the city, splitting it into half. Some still follow the old gods where temples housing them are mainly on the Upper City; many follow the new one, which promised prosperity and good fortune without the usual costly sacrifices and oaths of duty. The questions are many: is the new religion harmless? Is there a need for hostility? Or are the priests of the old gods stirring up trouble for some ambitions of their own?

1. An Earth Elementalist, vowing to sweep clean the land occupied by foreign powers, has used a long-lost rite to replace his heart with one that of enchanted runic stone. His magical powers increase hundredfold, his determination is sharpened like the edge of sword. Yet his crusade is emotionless, having no regard for the lives of others, even for his loved ones or his own race.
2. A warrior-king, in search of purging his emotions, which he regarded as a weakness, has sought out an Earth Elementalist to replace his heart with one of stone. The Elementalist had warned of the unforeseen consequences but the warrior-king is adamant. The rite was performed and a radical change comes over the former warrior. He became indomitable, impervious to all form of mind magic and felt no pain. But all ambition died with him and he languished within his castle. Till this day, there is the tale of a king with a heart of stone hidden away in a remote castle, waiting for something, anything, to move him to action.
3. Once there lived a sorcerer, who by some twist of fate during a mis-casting of a spell, has his lifespan extended but become hideously deformed. His adventuring friends died off one by one, and lonely, the sorcerer began to create automatons. Finding them to be just soulless servants who only follow instructions, he turned his attention to that of golems crafting. After several less-than-satisfactory results, he created a golem in which via a Amulet of Soul Trapping, imbued a part of himself into the golem. The golem thus become sentinel but however the sorcerer, losing a part of his soul, beaome diminished in spirit and in mind, losing the need for bonding and friendship which drove him to craft the golem in the first place. Hence if one does visit the Fellhorn Tower, he may come across a strange sight – a golem waiting on and taking care of an emotionless, expressionless old man. However, as the golem has parts of his master’s soul, the two of them essentially function as one…

1. The city’s slums lies over this buried graveyard, and recently, there were cases of gruesome murders on the streets. Corpses which were gnawed and half-eaten or being drained of blood litter the dead ends in the alleyways.  Wards that have been keeping the undead at the bay were broken accidentally and if not restored, the city would soon be engulfed by endless hordes of undead.
2. A noble lady, an old widow whose deceased husband was among the upper strata of the city’s society, was approached again and again to have her house bought for a generous amount. The old widow has refused every time and the buyer has began to resort to underhanded methods. The reason for the buyer’s earnestness to possess the building? It lies directly above the tomb of a wizard of old, and the buyer lusts for whatever ancient knowledge that is buried.
3. The Thieves’ Guild has been making extensive use of the abandoned  tombs and graveyards as hidden passageways to conduct their “nightly business”. Apprentices are taught routes to safe houses and to their targets, while master thieves usually know the most obscure and dangerous shortcut. In fact, many apprentices have been lost to the tunnels below that some areas are generally avoided. At times, some surprised lurk in store for them too. The adventurers may have need to use the thieves’ tunnels for an occasion, and gaining access and finding a guide are just the beginning of their problems.

1. An experienced sword-smith was following a method of forging swords from his father when he made a mistake with a blow. Instead of throwing the ruined metal away, he decides to re-heat it and bend the iron over. In the process, he created a sword sharper than any before and much durable. However, he is too proud about this accomplishment – the other traditional blacksmiths badly wants to know his method while others, wishing to maintain the status quo, wants him killed and his methods lost forever.
2. A Sorcerer who has spent years studying scraps of spells from all corners of the world and cultures have stumbled upon a common ground between them all which would allow one to cast spells with a series of basic manipulation of Mana and elements. His discovery would change the world of magic forever; that is, if his rivals does not get to him first.
3. For ages, mariners have been trying to find the route which will lead them to the inner depth of the unexplored lands of Mungoda. The ship log of the first captain to travel the route is all but lost, but his map remains, and it is with that map adventurers and traders find their way to the uncharted land. It is always believed that the original route was much safer, faster and brings one to a place laden with natural wonders. But alas, only one of the three above is correct…

1. The noble lord of a fief treats his serf extremely well; almost to the point of treating them as his extended family. This causes a scandal among the gentry and the other nobility, but the noble lord sticks to his ideal and ignore the gossips of the others. As such, he never rose in status or position, but he stuck to his ideal. Yet one fateful night a rebellion, incite by one of his rivals, turns the lord’s serfs against him. The lord’s family was slaughtered. WIth the help of an errant group of knights and adventurers, he put down the rebellion. Yet after that, the noble lord becomes a slavesmater, and treat his serfs harshly. He has also begin a campaign to make sure the rivals who started the rebellion pay for their crime, hundred times over.
2. An isolated monastery takes in escaped serfs, menials and cottars who have been driven out and let them tend to the fields allocated to the priests. One night, a previous brigand sold the idea of killing all the monks and using the monastery as a fortress. They struck on a pre-arranged date and many of the acolytes were slain. Luckily, the abbot is a high ranking Mystic and along with some of the loyal refugees, fought off the mutiny.  Though then the nature of the monastery changed. The monastery becomes a prison for those whom escape there. They suffer a life worse than slaves. And the abbot, with his heightened supernatural senses, will judge passing by travelers of their ‘purity’ and will attempt a preemptive kidnap those who aren’t pure enough.
3. A Dark Elementalist, outcast and scorned by his fellow countrymen, wander the world, seeking to bring the darkness to wherever he goes. Such strong is his hatred and malice that he would call down withering rain and summon haunting whispers to terrify townsfolk. After years of such journerys, he realised that there is already enough evil in the world without him doing anything at all. He’s just a drop of the vile river that corrputs the heart of men and the earth of the land. After much contemplating, he realises the new role of the element of Darkness. It is that of balance – where an Earth Elementalist sought to bless the soil, he will blight some other. Where an Air Elementalist sought to calm the waves, he would bring a storm to elsewhere. He believes this to be his real calling now – verdant places he would blight, but those blighted he would leave a mysterious signal to draw his brethens there.