TROSSocialCombat

Social Combat

This system is designed to give more mechanical detail to non-Combat conflicts between characters in TROS, adding a layer of game tactics to those situations roughly equivalent to the TROS combat system.

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers

This system owes a great debt to two other games; Burning Wheel by Luke Crane (whose Duel of Wits was the initial model for this system) and the Shadow of Yesterday by Clinton R. Nixon (whose Bringing Down the Pain mechanic is actually closer in style to this system).

This system has NOT been playtested, so use at your own risk. Let me know (at skalchemist@yahoo.com or on the discussion page) if you have feedback or do use it.

Procedures

At the beginning of any Social Combat, each participant must choose a goal and write it on the Social Combat record. This goal is some action you want your opponent to take, behaviour you want them to adopt, information you want them to provide, etc. A goal should not be the changing of some internal attitude of the character; this is not under the control of anyone but the player of that character. For example: a goal could be “the bartender gives me a steep discount on a room for the night”, but it cannot be “the bartender likes me”. This is very important, so much so that it deserves making it bold:

Social Combat CANNOT alter the interior attitudes of a character, it can only make them do something, provide some information, or behave in certain ways. Only the player of a character can decide what that characters attitudes are.

You must determine who will speak first. This is usually self evident, but if it isn’t, roll Wits vs. the other persons Sociality as a TN in an opposed roll. The starting Argument Pools (AP) are:

Speaker: Wits+Sociality Non-Speaker: Wits+Sociality+Willpower

The non-speaker rolls any number of AP dice against a target number of 7. This is called a Position roll. Keep all successful dice on the table; don’t move them aside.

The speaker then chooses a maneuver, and narrates it. He then refreshes into his dice pool the appropriate number of dice based on the maneuver, chooses the number of dice he will roll for the maneuver from his pool, chooses the appropriate skill, and rolls the dice versus that skill TN. Compare the number of successes to the number of dice sitting in front of the opponent. If this is the start of the social combat, this will be the Position roll. The player with the most successes wins, with a MoS equal to the difference in successes. If the speaker wins, certain effects occur, typically a willpower roll to see whether or not the non-speaker is Convinced. If the non-speaker is Convinced, the social combat is over. See Resolution, below.

The non-speaker now becomes the speaker, and the process continues. The speaker throws out his last maneuvers successful dice before rolling new dice (unless he chooses the repeat maneuver, see below).

Each round you always record the successes from the most recent roll. This is always what the next roll is compared to. In other words, you are always responding to your opponents last social action.

Resolution

As soon as one character is Convinced, the Social Combat is over. The character who is Convinced will act in accordance with the Goal that their opponent specified. However, resolution can be somewhat more complicated than that. Compare the number of blows taken between the two characters and consult the following table.

	Convinced Character Blows Taken
Unconvinced Character Blows Taken	1	>1
0	Quick victory: if the Goal requires a lot of activity, the Convinced character may have 2nd thoughts before it is entirely complete.	Complete victory
>1 but less than or equal to Convinced Character	Victory – Unconvinced character must provide some minor concession.
More than Convinced Character	Slim Victory - Unconvinced character must provide a major concession.

A minor concession is some action/behaviour on the Unconvinced characters part that either a) makes the Goal less onerous on the part of the Convinced character or b) gives the Convinced character at least a portion of what the Convinced character wanted as their goal.

A major concession is some action/behaviour of the Unconvinced characters part that either a) makes both the Goal less onerous on the part of the Convinced character AND gives them at least a portion of what the Convinced character wanted as their goal or b) gives the Convinced character MOST of what they wanted from their goal, but not all.

Maneuvers

Reason/Rebut

Refresh: Wits

Role-play: Make a logical, factual, or reasoned point or statement that is intended to convince your opponent that your way of thinking is the best.

Skills: Persuasion, Diplomacy (in a political situation), Diplomacy +2 (in a non-political situation), Orate (if the point or statement is made as part of a speech or other formal setting), Orate +2 (if made outside the context of a speech or formal situation), Leadership (if dealing with a subordinate), Leadership +2 (if not dealing with a subordinate).

Mechanic: Roll assigned AP dice vs. skill TN. Compare to successes from opponents last maneuver. If win, opponent takes a blow and rolls WP vs. (Blows + MoS) or is Convinced. If tie or loss, nothing happens.

Insult

Refresh: Wits

Role-play: Say something bad about your opponent, or insinuate something bad about them, in order to put them off their guard.

Skills: Ridicule, Intrigue (if the insult has to do with gossip), Intrigue +2 (if it has nothing to do with gossip), Sincerity +1 or Acting +1 (if the insult is contrary to your own feelings about the person), Sincerity +2 (if you know the insult is a complete lie)

Mechanic: Roll assigned AP dice vs. skill TN. Compare to successes from opponents last maneuver. If win, opponent loses MoS from his AP, and cannot use Reason/Rebut or Obfuscate next maneuver. If tie or loss, nothing happens.

Placate

Refresh: Sociality

Role-play: Make soothing statements intended to make the opponent feel good about themselves and reduce their anger against you.

Skills: Etiquette (of appropriate type), Diplomacy (in a political ), Diplomacy +2 (in a non-political situation), Sincerity +1 or Acting +1 (if the placation is contrary to your own feelings about the person)

Mechanic: Can only be used after Insult, Intimidate, or Refuse. Roll assigned CP dice vs. Skill TN. Compare to successes from opponents last maneuver. If win or tie, opponent does not refresh next round, and cannot use Intimidate, Insult, or Refuse next maneuver. If lose, nothing happens.

Intimidate

Refresh: Sociality

Role-play: Threaten someone with harm, physical or otherwise

Skills: Intimidate, Diplomacy +1 (if making political threats in a political situation), Intrigue +1 (if you are using gossip against them or are trying to threaten without actually making the threat obvious through insinuation), Sincerity +1 (if the threat is really completely beyond your power)

Mechanic: Roll assigned AP dice vs. skill TN. Compare to successes from opponents last maneuver. If win, opponent takes a blow and rolls WP vs. (Blows + MoS+2) or is Convinced. If lose, you lose your opponents MoS in AP. If tie, nothing happens.

Obfuscate

Refresh: Wits

Role-play: Lie about something that will make your opponent do what you want.

Skills: Sincerity, Acting (if you are pretending to be something that you are not as part of the lie), Intrigue +1 (if you are making up slander or gossip)

Mechanic: Roll assigned AP dice vs. skill TN. Compare to successes from opponents last maneuver. If win, opponent takes a blow and rolls WP vs. (Blows + MoS) or is Convinced, and your opponent loses half your MoS in AP. If lose, you lose half your opponent’s MoS in AP (rounded down), and if your opponent uses Reason/Rebut, Dismiss, or Insult next maneuver, they refresh 2 extra AP. If tie, nothing happens.

Avoid

Refresh: Sociality

Role-play: Avoid the topic by raising some other issue, either related or completely irrelevant.

Skills: Etiquette (if the topic raised is a polite one), Ridicule (if the topic raised is not a polite one), Diplomacy (if in a political situation), Intrigue (if the topic raised is one about gossip), Orate (if part of a formal debate, or relating some unrelated anecdote or proverb).

Mechanic: Roll assigned AP dice + 2 vs. skill TN for successes. No other effect.

Dismiss

Refresh: None

Role-play: Make a statement that attempts to close off the argument and demand a final resolution.

Skills: As Reason/Rebut (if being reasonable), Intimidate (if being threatening), Obfuscate (if lying).

Mechanic: Roll assigned AP dice vs. skill TN. Compare to successes from opponents last maneuver. If win, opponent takes a blow and rolls WP vs. (Blows + MoS + 3) or is Convinced. If lose, lose half opponents MoS in AP (rounded down).

Refuse

Refresh: Willpower

Role-play: Stubbornly cling to your own points in the face of your opponents arguments.

Skills: None.

Mechanic: Cannot be the first maneuver in Social Combat. Roll assigned CP vs. TN 6 for successes. If you make a WP roll on your opponents next maneuver, you are at +MoS to your WP.

Repeat

Refresh: None.

Role-play: Stick to the same point/insult/intimidation/whatever you made last time, and make it again, driving it home.

Skills: None

Mechanic: Can only be used if you succeed at a particular maneuver (other than Dismiss), and then your opponent fails in their response to it. Do not reroll, but instead take remove two successful dice from your last roll and treat that as your successes, as normal, for the maneuver you last rolled. All effects of the repeated maneuver occur normally.

Steal Yourself

Refresh: Willpower + 2

Role-play: Say nothing, just prepare yourself for what your opponent is about to do to you.

Skills: None

Mechanic: You cannot make use this maneuver in response to Steal Yourself, Gather Wits, or Compose Yourself. Make no roll, meaning you will be treated as having 0 successes in your opponent’s next maneuver. If your opponent uses Intimidate or Insult against you as their next maneuver, they are at -1 to their MoS.

Gather Wits

Refresh: Wits + 2

Role-play: Say nothing, just absorb what your opponent just said.

Skills: None

Mechanic: You cannot make use this maneuver in response to Steal Yourself, Gather Wits, or Compose Yourself. You may choose to assign CP and roll for successes, or make no roll, meaning you will be treated as having 0 successes in your opponent’s next maneuver. If your opponent uses Reason/Rebut or Obfuscate against you as their next maneuver, they are at -1 to their MoS.

Compose Yourself

Refresh: Sociality + 2

Role-play: Say nothing, just get yourself back together and put your game face back on

Skills: None

Mechanic: You cannot make use this maneuver in response to Steal Yourself, Gather Wits, or Compose Yourself. You may choose to assign CP and roll for successes, or make no roll, meaning you will be treated as having 0 successes in your opponent’s next maneuver. If your opponent uses Insult against you as their next maneuver, they are at -2 AP.