Using The Monster Reaction Rules as Social Interaction Rules Mechanics
by HåvardThe Monster Reaction Table in the RC p93 works like this:
| 1-2 | Monster Attacks |
| 4-6 | Monster is aggressive. Roll again in one round with -4 |
| 7-9 | Monster is cautious. Roll again in one round |
| 10-11 | Monster is neutral. Roll again in one round with +4 |
| 1-2 | Monster is friendly |
Now I have been thinking about how this mechanic can also be used with NPCs in civilized surroundings like cities and towns.
| ATTITUDE LEVEL | MONSTER REACTION ROLL | MONSTER REACTIONS | NPC ATTITUDE |
| -3 | 1-2 | Monster Attacks | Hostile* |
| -2 | 4-6 | Monster is aggressive. Roll again in one round with -4 | Very negative* |
| -1 | 7-9 | Monster is cautious. Roll again in one round | Negative |
| 0 | 10-11 | Monster is neutral. Roll again in one round with +4 | Neutral |
| +1 | 12 | Monster is friendly | Positive |
| +2 | - | N/A | Very Positive* |
| +3 | - | N/A | Deep respect or Love* |
*NPC reactions are rarely determined randomly, but rather decided by the DM. Typically, NPCs will start out either with a positive, neutral or negative attitude, but almost never of any of the more extreme levels unless they have encountered the PC earlier.
STATUS AND CULTURAL ATTITUDES
The character's social status or cultural factors may affect an NPCs initial attitude. If a PC is of a lower rank, then NPCs will likely have a more negative attitide towards the PC. Similarly, dwarves have a negative attitude towards elves and vice versa. Likewise, races or peoples associated with enemies of the realm will be viewed with extreme suspicion.
INFLUENCING ATTITUDES
Negative attitudes can be improved by roleplaying, dice rolls or both. The DM may ask for CHA checks or relevant general skills to improve the attitudes of an NPC. Having appropriate clothes, roleplaying well etc may provide a bonus to these checks at the DM's discression.
MAKING LONG LASTING CONTACTS
While these rules deal with immediate reactions from NPCs, the DM may also allow PCs to establish more long lasting connections with NPCs. With time, effort and roleplaying, NPCs may become loyal friends or romantic commitments if the player wishes. If a player decides to forego time training with weapon mastery, researching spells or other downtime activities, the DM may allow the PC to make a CHA check to see if the attitude level can be permanently improved by one level. The DM may require the player to describe or roleplay how he wishes to accomplish this before rolling and apply appropriate modifiers. At a later time, the process may be repeated. An NPC permanently fixed to the +1, +2 or +3 level will become a useful contact and friend for the PC who can help them out at a later time. Note that this NPC attitude isn't truly a permanent score and the DM may reduce the level again if the PC treats the NPC poorly or neglects them.
Thanks for reminding me about these two other charts (Retainer Reaction and NPC Party Reaction). There definitely seems to be a similar kind of logic in all of these without them having been turned into a more generalized system which was less of a priority back then.
Lets have a look at the charts:
RETAINER REACTIONS
| DIE ROLL 2D6 | RETAINER REACTION | EFFECT |
| 2 | Refuse, insulted | -1 to reactions from others in the area |
| 3-5 | Refuse | - |
| 6-8 | Roll again | - |
| 9-11 | Accept | - |
| 12 | Accept, impressed | +1 to retainer morale |
This chart is of course meant to represent a process of conducting interviews and talking to a number of NPCs to join on life threatening adventures, but I still think much can be borrowed from it.
The "Roll again" option is not explained further as I can see, but I would assume that time would pass before the PCs can conduct new interviews etc. In my version, this would correspond to a "neutral" attitude.
I do like the insulted and impressed categories and the game mechanical effects from those.
In the monster entry for the NPC party, we have this table
| DIE ROLL 2D6 | NPC REACTION |
| 2-5 | Depart in Anger |
| 6-8 | Negotiate |
| 9-12 | Offer to buy or sell information |
Obviously, an encounter in a dungeon or other dangerous area is going to be a lot more tense than the kind of long interviews one could have with retainers. The one part I really like about this last chart is the "offer to buy or sell information" which gives us something very concrete that can come out of such an encounter and can be very useful for the PCs. This also seems like a missed opportunity for Thief characters to get some bonuses on such negotiations.
Back to the Monster Reactions Chart in my OP, I agree with you that the roll again with a +4/-4 modifier is very interesting and maybe something that could be adopted elsewhere.
What I would like to have is a scale to determine the strength of a friendship between a PC and an NPC. I was originally thinking about a friendship ranging from +1 to +5 like a magical item. The idea of having a range, rather than just friend, not friend (or enemy) is that we could see the NPCs move up and down on these scales, motivating the players to work a bit on taking care of friendships if they can see some concrete values added to them. I was also thinking the same could be applied to animal companions and mounts as well, creating very loyal beast companions if the players wanted.