Rules for Actions in Opposition
Principles
One calls « Actions in Opposition » a class of actions often used in a role-playing game when it is not enough to know if an action is a Success or a Failure – like swimming for instance or cook a tasty pastry – but it is necessary to determine who of two opponents succeed the better for this action – imagine thus more like a swimming or pastry competition. In a more aggressive way, Duels of Insults and other one-to-one fights are typical Actions in Opposition but to these a specific chapter of the rules is dedicated.
For an Action in Opposition, there are at least two opponents. There can be more in some cases – like a swimming race – but the principal feature is that everybody be opposing everybody.
Otherwise, if alliances exist between some of the opponents, one is dealing with Group Actions in Opposition. For those - Which exist! Think of the game in which two teams pull on a rope to get the other team beyond a set line - it will suffice the Game Master a whit of sense to combine the rules for Group Actions and for Actions in Opposition.
System
Let's come back to simple Actions in Opposition ; in a first case (« swimming race » type), the Opposition is indirect. In that case, the two (or more) opponents compute their Mastery Level for the considered action and each roll the d20. In the other case, the Opposition is direct and the typical exemple is arm-wrestling. In this case, the actual Mastery Score of each of the opponents is: (own Mastery Score + 10) versus a Difficulty equal to the Opponent's Mastery Score.
Be it a Direct or Indirect Opposition, only the computation of Mastery Levels differs, then the following cases can occur:
- A Failure versus a Success (both possibly Critical): the Opponent having got the Success clearly wins.
- Two Successes: if one of the Success is Critical, the Opponent having got it wins. Otherwise (even if the two Successes are Critical), the result is even. In function of the actual action, another round is possible to decide between the two opponents.
- Two Failures: same as above. If only one of the Opponents got a Critical, he loses. Otherwise it is even.
The Action in Opposition can be decided on one Roll of d20 or several, according to the decision of the Game Master. One can often prefer a competition with at least two or three Rolls, to better maintain suspense.
In the case of a Direct Opposition between more than two Opponents, the Difficulty of the Roll is given by the average Mastery Level of each one's Opponents.
Let's take an example:
To maintain suspense in simulating an arm-wrestling between two champions, the Game Master can decide to use a model similar to a set of scales of which the indicator would have five positions: 0 in the middle, -1 and +1 as intermediate positions in favour of one of the two Opponents and at last -2 et +2 for the final position in favour of one or the other. The fight is over when either of the positions -2 or +2 is reached, which decides on the winner.
Arm Wrestling is a proof of pure Strength if that's possible, so the Mastery Levels are equal to Strength x 2, hence respectively 18 and 20, but Phil el Rosso having already drunk a glass too much, his Malus of -2 apply. Both opponents have this 18. Each adds 10 and substract the Mastery Level of the other, both obtaining 10, that is perfect equality.
At the first Roll of d20, Joe el Oscuro gets 1 – Critical Success! – while Philipp el Rosso gets a 9, a simple Success. One comes to position +1 – advantage to Joe el Oscuro; his supporters and admirers almost already claim victory… But Phil el Rosso will not surrender!
At the second Roll of d20, Joe el Oscuro gets… 19 ! Failure, that turns russet and in fact Phil el Rosso gets again a 9, Success. He manages to bring back the game to the initial position… The wheel of chance turns it seems and some become more silent while some others become more animated; well at any rate the wisest go take for them a good pint of Rooroot Beer because this Duel is likely to last a while!…
Concrete examples
Example of Group Action in Opposition:
A group variation of the Arm Wrestling model is the game of the rope which opposes two teams pulling at it in opposite directions. It is clearly a Cumulated Action and an Opposition Action at the same time. In that very simple case, one follows the procedure for Group Action: for each team, the Mastery Levels of the team members are added together (Strength x 2 in this case). Team A adds 10 to the total and the Difficulty of the Action is the Mastery Level of the B team. And vice-versa. Then, one can proceed as in the example of Arm Wrestling between Joe el Oscuro and Phil el Rosso.
The rope game in two vs two configuration (A Team: Strength 7 + 8 vs B Team: Strength 7 + 9). A Team has a Mastery Level of 40 againts a Difficulty of 32, that is an actual Mastery Lavel of 8. The opposite computation for B Team results in a 12… A clear advantage to B Team in theory but will they manage to convert it into victory?Another example of Action in Opposition:
Slightly less simple that the arm wrestling (well, is that so?…), the case of Seduction!
Well, let's start with an advice to our friends the Game Masters: you'll quickly know nothing's worth a little role-playing sequence for such cases. If they are two Players, simply consider they will manage by themselves anyway. The interesting case is when the person to be charmed is a Non-Player Character or if a Non-Player Character tries to charm a Player Character.
In this case and especially if the result of the Seduction action may have a significant influence on the evolution of the Scenario or the Campaign, even more if the Seduction is used as a manipulation technique, then the scene should definitely be role-played, not dice-rold so to speak. Upon that, ultimate Success or Failure should not depend only on one Roll of a d20; there are always exceptions but is it actually as quick as at the first bunch of flowers that a woman fall in the trap? (And that holds also for the case of a man, at least in the Known World and that even without the bunch of flowers…)
In case of improvable or even not improvable role-playing, the Game Master reserves the possibility to Roll a d20 anyway discounting a Malus according to the badness of the performance. On the contrary, an innovative, convincing, skilled, etc. role-play may be granted a Bonus accordingly or even allow for Success without rolling the dice… – Avoid however an exagerated use of that!
The Game Master should also take Mali or Boni into account with regard to differences in social rank, possibly corrected by the Fame (check the further paragraph about social relationships about that). The simplest situation is when the social ranks are comparable: in this case, no particular Malus is to be applied; on the other hand, if the social ranks are different, Mali would be to apply, whatever the direction of the difference.
This given, let's suppose one comes to a necessary Roll of a d20 to determine if our Pirate friend Berthomeu's « first phase of plan A » to conquer Felicia, Cottage Island's Governor's daughter, is a Success or not: he came actually already tonight to sing a song under her balcony, taking quite a number of risks in doing so…The MasteryLevels can be computed using different Skills and Characteristics according to the case and to how the seductor « plays his cards ». The most frequent cases are maybe as follows:
- The sincere seductor: for the seductor, Got a Nerve! + On the Pull! ; for the « victim » (who is not always one…), Look + Discretion;
- The manipulator: for the seducer, Cleverness + On the Pull! ; for the « victim » (who is not always one…), Cleverness or Perception + Won't get Nabbed! or Discretion.