Image by Howie Muzika via Flickr
This is an easy to use, easy to track system to determine how the players and their allies, or enemies, interact over time.
The real reason to determine NPC reactions to a character is to see how likely that NPC is to help or hinder them. A common method is to just roll some dice, modify is by a skill or statistic the character has, and determine the NPC’s reaction for that game.
Terrific idea for a one-shot appearance but if you have recurring allies and enemies that aren’t central to your plot you need something more.
To track NPC reactions over time, rate them +100% to -100%. When an ally first enters the game, give them a rating of +50%; a new enemy, -50%.
This rating is how likely the non-player character is to act for or against the player. In this case, that ally has a 50% chance of acting in the character’s favor or doing nothing at all. Then each interaction can affect that score.
For example, Wokold hires the party to retrieve an item. The 2 most obvious outcomes are that the party succeeds or the party fails. I determine how important this item is to Wokold then when they’ve finished the adventure, modify his rating accordingly. In this case, I’ve decided he doesn’t really care about the item so the outcome will affect Wokold by +/- 1d6 percent. Read the rest of this entry »
