Social Interaction

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All adventures begin with the call to adventure, and this call usually rings from society. A queen offers titles to those who defeat a rampaging dragon. A guild delivers an order to take down a pirate ship. A church promises relic access to those capable of clearing a poisoned crypt. Social interactions create calls to adventure and thus form the foundation of a hero's story.

INTERACTING WITH INDIVIDUALS

Most social interactions take place on a person-to-person level as you argue, laugh, and cajole with peasants, barkeeps, mayors, and kings. Characters brought to life by your DM, sometimes referred to as Non-Player Characters or NPCs, will usually first recognize you based on your Reknown. After that, any memorable relationship you build with them will keep you in their minds.
Whether you earn a friend or make an enemy can be just as important as whether you get the person to give you the thing you need. When you belittle the captain of the guard, buy a meal for a starving urchin, or free a prisoner, your actions both earn your social experience and raise the stakes of your story. Like Tiny Tim to Ebenezer Scrooge, the sheriff of Nottingham to Robin Hood, and Guinevere to Lancelot, the names of those you interact deeply with will be engraved on your legend.

INTERACTING WITH ORGANIZATIONS

Through the Reknown granted to certain classes and by committing memorable deeds, you may eventually become known to your world's organizations. From guilds to religious sects to aristocracies to pirate conglomerates, your story will be aided or hindered by the relationships you hold with the powers that be.
Forging bonds for good or ill amongst organizations not only earns you social experience, but also creates a larger impact on the world. By making an enemy of a cult and becoming a hero to a guild, you may set events in motion that will bring one to its knees. By aiding revolutionaries and crippling the enterprise of an aristocracy, you may set a government up for overthrow. Like Katniss Everdeen and the Capitol, William Wallace and Scotland, or Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom, deep personal connections to organizations can bring to bear world-shattering stories.

PURCHASING INFLUENCE

Beyond the name your forge for yourself through Reknown and deed, you can earn social prestige and experience by investing in your world. Purchasing a home in a village, sponsoring an inn to change its name, giving alms to the poor, or launching a business are influential ways to leverage the wealth you earn adventuring.
When you purchase influence, your Reknown expands to include those immediately effected, such as your neighbors if you purchase a home, patrons if you sponsor an inn, the poor you give alms to, or the businesspeople your business interacts with. If you already had Reknown with these people, it is instead doubled.

Adventure Articles

Combat
Exploration
Rewards

ROLEPLAYING

Acting out the speech, mannerisms, and emotions of your hero shines the brightest in social interactions. By convincingly roleplaying your hero, your DM may allow you to succeed on all manner of social attempts. However, to add the element of chance and plumb for the unexpected, your DM may still ask you to make attempts to succeed on your social goals. Such attempts can benefit from Rank Bonuses, Advantage, or Reliability earned through your roleplaying.
If acting out your hero's personality isn't in the cards for you in a particular situation, worry not. Your hero can still heroically pursue their ends through social Skills and attempts.

SOCIAL CHALLENGES

Particularly difficult social interactions, or social interactions involving multiple parties, may require multiple attempts secure victory. Like exploration and combat challenges, your entire adventuring party may be involved in a major social challenge. However, social challenges regularly take place over days, weeks, or months as you move up or down in a person or group's esteem.
When undertaking a major social challenge, your DM may limit the number of attempts you can make in a period of time or require the accomplishment of a quest before another attempt can be made. Such social challenges are often how adventures end up connecting into a larger campaign to win a princess's favor or earn membership in a cult.

Common Activites

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COMMON ACTIVITIES

Before and during an adventure, you may undertake a variety of social activities. Some common ones are outlined here.

Bartering

If you feel you aren't getting a good deal, want to trade one item for another, or alter the terms of an offer or agreement, you can attempt to barter. Persuade is a common skill employed in bartering, but Deceive, Culture, and Insight sometimes play a part as well.

Critical Success: You adjust your deal in a manner that highly favors you. The value of the trade may be skewed 20%, you may make a friend out of the trade, or they may throw in something unexpectedly helpful.
Major Success: You adjust the deal to your favor. The value of the trade may be skewed 10%, or 5% without causing any negative feelings.
Normal Success: You earn a small concession in the trade, such as a sheath to go with a sword purchase or a 5% increase in the reward.
Limited Success: The deal remains unchanged.
Failure: The deal can only be made now in a matter that favors the other party.
Critical Failure: The other party will no longer deal with you.
Fortune Dice: Using a Fortune Die while bartering may allow you to put something on the table that wasn't available or known previously, such as a special item.

Interrogating

When trying to gain information or uncover clues from an individual or group, you can attempt to interrogate them. Persuade is the most common skill employed in interrogation, but Deceive, Insight, Perception, and Perform can sometimes play a part. Because Interrogation can involve gathering information you don't know, your DM will usually make your checks for you.

Critical Success: The other party reveal a piece of information they might not have normally been capable of, shares something they hadn't realized before, reveals a critical piece of information, or comes to see your side of things and tries to help you with an answer.
Major Success: The other party reveals a major piece of information or answers a question without ill will toward you.
Normal Success: You earn a piece of information, at the cost of some ill will.
Limited Success: You learn nothing but don't cause any ill will.
Failure: You are given a lie.
Critical Failure: You are given a lie, or a misleading truth, and the target harbors a deep grudge.
Fortune Dice: Using a Fortune Die while interrogating may allow you to keep your interrogation from antagonizing the subject or uncover information that the subject didn't have access to.

Persuading

The most common social interaction, when you are trying to change an individual or group's views, you can attempt to persuade them. Persuade is certainly the primary skill for persuading, though Deceive, Insight, and applicable knowledge skills can play a part. Because Persuading sometimes involves changing a target's inner motivations, your DM may make your checks for you.

Critical Success: The other party accepts the full breadth of your persuasion, accepts two points of your persuasion without ill will, or befriends you.
Major Success: The other party accepts a point of your persuasion without ill will toward you.
Normal Success: The other party relents a point, at the cost of some ill will.
Limited Success: The other party doesn't relent but don't cause any ill will.
Failure: The other party concedes nothing but gains ill will.
Critical Failure: The other party is completely convinced against your point of persuasion, lies about their changed intentions, or concedes nothing and harbors a deep grudge.
Fortune Dice: Using a Fortune Die while persuading may put a new option on the table or allow you to keep the subject from feeling ill will toward you.

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