Parley

The Importance of Roleplaying

Though this game includes a system for resolving social encounters, roleplaying and player creativity is still the most essential element of your character’s success.

Parley should not become a robotic sequence of rolls; rather, it should be an exciting, dramatic experience that is assisted in its realism, impartiality, and balance between character attributes and player ingenuity by the rules included here.

The content of the Points you make, and the quality of the Strategies you use are completely determined by you and completely determine the actions of your character. The roll of the dice in comparison with your attributes simply tells you how effective your decisions were in context of your character’s and your opponent’s abilities.

Parley Step-by-Step

1.        Roll initiative

2.        Roll Wit

3.        Take Turns

Roll Initiative

To roll initiative, make an INT check. Those who succeed go before the NPCs; those who fail go after the NPCs.

If two players are engaged in Parley as opponents and they tie, whomever has the higher INT score goes first. If there is an exact tie, roll again.

Roll Wit

Roll your Wit dice and record the total for your Wit points.

Take Turns

On each turn, you can make one Point and begin, sustain, change, or end a Strategy.

Points

Points are the facts, opinions, arguments, etc. that you use to conform your opponent and your audience to your point of view.

When you make a Point, the Referee will determine whether you will roll with advantage, disadvantage, no modifier, or if you will automatically succeed or fail based on the content of your point and the characteristics of the opponent and the audience.

Automatic successes and failures are rare and should be used judiciously by the Referee to reward detailed inquiries into the motivations of NPCs or outright social incompetence on behalf of a player character.

Once your modifier is determined, make an INT check. If you are successful, your opponent will make a Concession check to determine if they gain a Concession or lose Wit points.

Strategies

Strategies are the ways you present your Points to create a certain effect such as intimidation, seduction, persuasion, etc. They can be verbal or even physical actions that are intended to affect the attitude of your opponent and audience towards you.

When you use a Strategy, the Referee determines in secret whether you will roll with advantage, disadvantage, no modifier, or if you will automatically succeed or fail based on the quality of your Strategy and the characteristics of the opponent and the audience.

Again, automatic successes and failures are rare and should be used judiciously by the Referee to reward detailed inquiries into the motivations of NPCs or outright social incompetence on behalf of a player character.

Once your modifier is determined, the Referee makes a CHA check for you in secret. If you succeed, the opponent will make Concession checks with disadvantage until the Parley ends or until you change your Strategy, whichever comes first. If you fail, your opponent will roll Concession checks with advantage for the rest of the encounter or until you succeed with a new Strategy, whichever comes first.

Rebuttals

When it is not your turn, you can make a rebuttal by spending a Wit point. A rebuttal can be a correction, obfuscation, dismissal, insult, jest, etc.

Based on the quality of your rebuttal, the Referee will request an INT or CHA check with advantage, disadvantage, or no modifier.

If you succeed, use the DoS as an obstacle for the Point or Strategy you are rebutting.

Critical Success and Failure

When you roll a critical success, double your DoS for your opponent’s Concession roll. DoS in Parley rolls over the same as damage does in Massive Damage (Combat). A critical failure gives your opponent advantage against you on their next Point or Strategy roll.

Concessions

When a Point is effective against you, you must make a WIS check with the Point's DoS as the Obstacle. This is called a Concession check.

If you succeed, you lose Wit points equal to the Point's DoS. If you fail, you gain a Concession.

Acumen

Whenever you gain a Concession, you get an Acumen point. At the end of each round, you gain Wit points equal to your Acumen points.

Reaching Your Concession Limit

When a character reaches their Concession limit, they make a WIS check. If they fail, they concede the argument. If they succeed, they may do anything from negotiate a compromise to initiate combat.

The response of NPCs is determined by the Referee given the content and quality of your Parley. The response of player characters is solely in their control.

Whatever the reaction, Parley is not a means for the players to control the minds of NPCs. When a character concedes or compromises, they are often doing so begrudgingly, under pressure from the others around them you have convinced.

Characters will almost always act in their self-interest, so keep this in mind when NPCs concede.

Audiences

An audience can be convinced just the same as an opponent, and sometimes that is more important than convincing the opponent themselves.

When a character wins a Parley, they have convinced a percentage of the audience equal to the difference between their opponent’s Concession limit and their current Concessions multiplied by 25.

Everyone else is undecided.