"I will lend you horses."

[pemerton]

In the LotR (The Two Towers, Book 3), Aragorn, Gimil and Legolas meet Eomer and his Riders of Rohan. The encounter begins as a hostile one, but after Aragorn announces himself ("Elendil!") the tone of the encounter changes, and Eomer agrees to let the three companions continue on their hunt for the captured Hobbits. And "what's more", says Eomer, "I will lend your horses."

Other fantasy fiction has instances of encounters in which alliances are made and gifts are given. In REH's story The Scarlet Citadel, Conan encounters the wizard Pelias, who helps him return to Aquilonia so as to retake his throne.

In the Foreword to Moldvay Basic D&D, the warrior hero slays the dragon tyrant wielding a sword they received from a mysterious cleric.

In your FRPGing, what techniques do you use to emulate these sorts of events?

 

[aco175]

There tends to be various factions in my games that will aid the PCs or report them to hinder them. Depends on the mission they are on and how noble they are. Some in 5e games depends on background and if we are using the Forgotten Realms (FR) factions such as the Harpers. 5e also has backgrounds where things like food and lodging are automatically offered.

I have played one on one with my son who was the hero and I ran a sidekick. There was some items given by the local church to aid them in the mission.

 

[Arilyn]

Beowulf has a great system for the hero to receive gifts from clan kings and Queens if they have proven themselves, either by word or deed. Having strong social skills is just as important as being a strong warrior because you need that silver tongue to convince others that your tales are true.

 

[Krachek]

I try to keep track of honor and reputation for the PCs in my adventures.
As well as cheap shot and other nasty things.
But is not so easy but it worth it.
and once in a while I make a npc tell that he heard about …. Something the PCs have done.
on the long run it establish the effective alignment of the PCs.

 

[pemerton]

There tends to be various factions in my games that will aid the PCs or report them to hinder them. Depends on the mission they are on and how noble they are.

<snip>

I have played one on one with my son who was the hero and I ran a sidekick. There was some items given by the local church to aid them in the mission.

How is this worked out, at the table?

 

[aco175]

I try to make it a bit like movies where the heroes hear about a place or group that may be able to aid them. There is usually a group that does not like the Emperor or the Thulsa Doom and there will be some that resist that. If the heroes begin to oppose the power, some will hear about it and seek the players out to offer to help. This may be minor like giving horses to help their journey, or showing up to save the heroes in a timely fight.

Of course the opposite effect begins to happen. The bad guys find out about the help the heroes are getting and begin to prison/torture/kill the villagers helping them in order to get the heroes to show up to the trap. I find I can get some cool reactions by the players if I kill a trusted NPC.

 

[kenada]

In your FRPGing, what techniques do you use to emulate these sorts of events?

That could be one interpretation of a 12+ on a reaction roll in Moldvay Basic (“Enthusiastic Friendship”), though it’s effectively at the referee’s discretion. What “Enthusiastic Friendship” means isn’t even defined. However, I do like that interpretation because it provides a concrete and tangible benefit.

My homebrew system has Critical Success on Skill Checks, but it’s mostly just used to increase the degree of success currently. I’ve been hesitant to expand its usage with prescribed benefits otherwise, but that would be the place to put it (e.g., you get a Critical Success on your Rapport, so they like you enough to give you horses).

 

[Manbearcat]

Let me just throw out a few instances that are fresh in my head from various recent games I've run:

DOGS IN THE VINEYARD

In the Town of St Edward's Lake, Brother William (god I hope that was his name...Brother Fel, Brother Isaiah, and Brother William I think!) saved a married couple that had fallen into a few Sins (Worldliness and Deceit). He saved the wife from her downfall and her husband's wrath and he saved their union from failing. There was a spiritual mediation which was a conflict. This was won by the priest. Then there was a follow-on conflict that threatened to go from social to violence which he also mediated and resolved.

In the course of those two successes, the husband (the Town's cartwright) gave him his finest hammer as a token of appreciation. This is a Belonging with a dice value which can brought into various conflicts to amplify dice pool and change the fiction. This Belonging can also lead to various other fiction and open up other PC advancement schemes (like a Relationship with the Sins in question that were resolved by grace and finesse rather than the hard swing of a hammer).


THOUSAND ARROWS (PBtA Warring States Japan)

The player of the Yagyu-allied, Farmer (playbook) PC is landed gentry in the Yamato province. His river valley home was attacked (successfully repelled) by Clan Hojo with the help of the other two PCs and their Sections (squads led into conflict). Morikawa (the Farmer PC) was particularly moved by the success of the Samurai Courtier's, Yamada Norioki, regiment of Arquebusiers in defending the valley with their muskets from an elevated position. So he decided to go by ship to the southern island domain of his clan and attempt to make a purchase of muskets for his own Section in defense of future Hojo aggression.

Scene 1 involved the rough-seas journey south through storm and the potential internal conflict issues (with the PC's Drive and his eldest daughter, travelling with him who shares the same spirit for "Play" as he does). Via the snowballing of GM soft moves, player declarations, triggered moves, and snowballing results, the PC's Drive and his daughter's own inclinations were mitigated and the PC made a friend and advocate in the way of the Quartermaster (who shared his secret conversion to Catholicism) for the coming negotiations upon arrival.

Scene 2 involved an annual commemoration at the memorial on the beach for a famous Samurai who died defending the homeland against the Mongol invasion. This involved an on-the-spot haiku during the memorial/commemoration by the player/PC (a move) which would, in turn, court an important elder of the clan in the process. The follow-on negotiations themselves (another move) only yielded a 7-9 result so the choice was either (a) the Farmer's entire Section of 12 Duelists could be outfitted with poor muskets (which will yield downstream move impact and potential snowballing consequences when crisis hits) or (b) only 1/4 of the Section (3) can be outfitted with battle-tested, mechanically-robust muskets. The player chose the latter.

---

Those are two recent ones that pop into my head. One via the follow-on conflict resolution framework and PC build apparatus of Dogs and the 2nd via the snowballing fiction and move triggering architecture of Thousand Arrows (which outfitted 1/4 of a Section with the ability to deploy ranged attacks when an inevitable subsequent defense of their valley arises).

 

[Darth Solo]

Pretty ubiquitous tropes.

I like going with "The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend": the party encounters someone who, while morally-opposed to them, hates the Big Bad even more and grants them aid/the MacGuffin to defeat the Big Bad. Of course, once the BB is routed, there's a chance the party's new "friends" might betray the alliance. IME players tend to avoid making allies for that very reason (looking at you Shadowrun!), so throwing in "the Drow will help the party only if they vow to rescue the daughter of their High-Priestess who has been kidnapped by the Witch-King" situation that makes a Drow double-cross unlikely.

I use "Something Ordinary" as well: for whatever reason some players love scenes where their characters can buy things. So, I'll throw in what seems to be a normal weapon/item, but is actually the MacGuffin they can use to defeat the BB. IME players enjoy the surprise but at some point I'll have to provide some backstory as to how the object ended up where they found it. George Lucas is great at this.

For alliance-building, I'll toss several factions (Monarchy/nobles, military, thieves' guild, clergy, other races) with tangled relationships at the party, each with something to offer but, each also posing a real threat to the party if spurned. The goal is to have the players on eggshells, forcing them to seriously consider the possible consequences of their choices as they interact with the factions. This IMO is when "player agency creating meaningful impact" arrives and drives everything forward in ways the GM hasn't planned.

 

[hawkeyefan]

In your FRPGing, what techniques do you use to emulate these sorts of events?

In Spire, the PCs begin play with some Bonds, which are contacts, relatives, friends, and/or sidekicks that they have. These Bonds are meant to be resources that the characters can use. When you rely on a Bond, what happens is that you roll a dice pool for the action for the Bond NPC rather than for the PC.

This puts the risk of Stress (consequences from a low roll) onto the NPC rather than the PC. Whenever a Bond has Stress at the end of a session, we roll for Fallout (possible consequences of the Stress). The more Stress, the greater the risk of Fallout and the higher the severity.

Another way this kind of thing comes up is through class abilities. Most classes have abilities that let them establish contacts during play. So the Knight class for instance (not a chivalrous knight as we tend to think, but more like the member of a biker gang sworn to a pub rather than an order) has an ability called Pub Crawler. Once per session, he can declare that there is a pub nearby, and that he knows the owner. It’s up to the GM to decide how the owner thinks of the Knight.

In our game, the Knight player used this ability to establish a starting home base for the group. They were assigned to a virtually lawless district called Red Row. The Knight declared that the Lone Wolf Pub was nearby, and he knew its owner, Hogan. Because his Order’s Pub was the Wolf and Hound, I decided that Hogan was a former member, but had managed to retire as a Knight, and moved to Red Row to open a pub. The last thing he’d want is a bunch of Knights showing up (trouble generally follows them).

So I decided he was kind of indifferent to them to start. However, one of the other player characters was an Idol, a kind of Bard type character, who uses magic through art or performance. We madea roll for the Idol to see how they performed, and how much business the Lone Wolf pulled in as a result, and the roll went well. Hogan allowed them to stay as long as the Idol would perform there regularly.

I didn’t immediately make Hogan a Bond of either PC because I wanted to see how things developed. The Knight player made attempts to ingratiate himself to Hogan… telling Knightly tales and helping out with a couple of things. So eventually we made a roll to see if he could gain Hogan as a Bond and he did.

Of course, this led to the Lone Wolf eventually being burned to the ground… but hey that’s what bonds are for!

 

[uzirath]

In the GURPS ecosystem, this would usually be handled by a Reaction Roll or an Influence Roll, with various bonuses or penalties for character features (e.g., reputation, appearance, charisma, etc.) and potentially for clever (or not) roleplaying. An especially good roll (the equivalent of a critical success) might mean that the NPC provides more assistance than expected. I've often used that to lead to gifts or loans or other unexpected perks.

In terms of the Aragorn scene, I would play that out with an initial Reaction Roll with no reputation bonus. When Aragorn chooses to reveal his heritage, I would roll again with different modifiers. (Or Aragorn's player might bring one of their skills to play in an Influence Roll, like Diplomacy, Psychology, or Intimidation.)

I have also occasionally had potential patrons in the game whose reactions would be influenced by a series of skill rolls rather than a single check. One war chieftain challenged the PCs at a banquet with a simple request: "Impress me!" Each PC then had an opportunity to attempt a feat that they thought might seem impressive to him. There were a variety of rolls involved as some of the more social characters attempted to size him up and bookish sorts tried to recall any knowledge they might have about his reputation. Successes on these rolls would act as complementary skills, increasing the likelihood of a good success. My recollection is that the party as a whole did pretty well, but the wizard flubbed his rolls terribly and was mocked mercilessly by the chieftain, creating complications later in the adventure.

 

[MarkB]

In Blades in the Dark, or Scum and Villainy, there's a downtime activity called Acquire Asset that's specifically for gaining the temporary use of an item or service, usually for the duration of a single job. It's up to the GM and players to flesh out the method of doing so, but usually it will involve reaching out to a friendly faction and either calling in a favour or agreeing to owe them one - and/or purchasing it with coin.

In D&D I wouldn't say I have a technique for something like this occurring, so much as it may just occur organically as part of an interaction with NPCs.

 

[pemerton]

Pretty ubiquitous tropes.

I like going with "The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend": the party encounters someone who, while morally-opposed to them, hates the Big Bad even more and grants them aid/the MacGuffin to defeat the Big Bad.

Are you able to say a bit about how this is worked out, at the table?

 

[Manbearcat]

Not sure why I didn't think of this one as its "I will lend you horses" straight up! Here is the Opportunity that came about as a result of the original When Spring Bursts Forth move in my 1st Stonetop game (which is on its last session):

Opportunity - The neighboring steading of Marshedge recently drove out their horsebreeder and his family due to the claim of his daughters practicing witchcraft and cavorting with dangerous supernatural forces. They were headed west along the road to Stonetop with their family belongings and their Herd of Horses. Marshedge is 8 days travel to Stonetop via the roads...their exodus was 10 days ago...

Here and here are a links to @hawkeyefan 's Chronicle of the 1st bit of play where this is resolved (the whole Chronicle should be in there at some point; he plays The Judge playbook, in that game which is a Paladin of the Goddess of Knowledge and Order/Harmony over Chaos, and he is also the Stonetop mediator with his Instinct being Harmony; "To seek a path that makes everyone happy"). On the 2nd to 3rd page, you'll find my breaking down of the situation framing + player decision-space + move structure/action resolution + consequence-space which led to the snowballing resolution of "The Garret Family and Their Horses."

Its way too much content to put into the thread, but the links there should help anyone wondering how "I lend you horses" situation framing and resultant play resolves.

Horses actually have featured heavily in a lot of my games recently actually. Even my most recent Blades in the Dark game saw horses heavily featured as both (deadly...and man did this produce some lawls) antagonist and Cohort!

 

[aramis erak]

In the LotR (The Two Towers, Book 3), Aragorn, Gimil and Legolas meet Eomer and his Riders of Rohan. The encounter begins as a hostile one, but after Aragorn announces himself ("Elendil!") the tone of the encounter changes, and Eomer agrees to let the three companions continue on their hunt for the captured Hobbits. And "what's more", says Eomer, "I will lend your horses."

Other fantasy fiction has instances of encounters in which alliances are made and gifts are given. In REH's story The Scarlet Citadel, Conan encounters the wizard Pelias, who helps him return to Aquilonia so as to retake his throne.

In the Foreword to Moldvay Basic D&D, the warrior hero slays the dragon tyrant wielding a sword they received from a mysterious cleric.

In your FRPGing, what techniques do you use to emulate these sorts of events?

In TOR, I've just had NPCs do such at times, and at others, had that be a result of the narration and extended task resolutions.

In Traveller, I do it when the NPC is using the reward to control the PCs in setting. Fiefs are always a two-edged sword....

When it's setting appropriate for the NPC to offer assistance, and it's to the NPC's PoV useful, I do it in game.

 

[chaochou]

I knew borrowing horses had come up in actual play, so I went looking for it and found this post of mine from 2011:

“In HeroWars my group were desperate to borrow some horses from a neighbouring clan. They used Persuade as the base skill, but throughout the scene said and did other things to augment that with Intimidate, Relationship: PCs Clan, Relationship: Neighbours Clan, Horsemanship, Hate Lunars, Steady Gaze, Leadership and Diplomacy.

By the end of that scene we'd knew that the tradition was for borrowed goods to be returned in five days or be considered stolen, that the steadholder had a missing brother, that there had been cattle raids in the woods close the two clans' border which were being blamed on the PCs clan, and that the steadholder was fiercely opposed to the Lunar occupying forces and might co-operate with the PCs in activity against them. All from talking round the table - no prep, just then and there.”

HeroWars has a sophisticated system for allowing multiple factors to be combined as part of a contest, as well as resolution which can be simple or extended depending on the thematic weight of the situation. This was an extended conflict.

 

[jdrakeh]

From Yarnmaster:


There aren't any rules for character advancement in Yarnmaster. This is deliberate. In keeping with Yarnmaster's design goals, exponential character leveling isn’t a thing. Yarnmaster characters should be known by the measure of their deeds, not the measure of their experience point totals. What follows is some advice regarding such matters.

The standard measure of character growth in a game of Yarnmaster is the accumulation of status and wealth. For instance, a character who finds a missing child from a small village will undoubtedly be hailed as something of a local hero and, possibly, be paid a small amount of money for their efforts.

Player characters will also most certainly forge personal relationships with people as a result of their deeds (relationships that can be levied to their advantage in actual play).

This having been said, there are no mechanics to quantify such things in Yarnmaster. Such things should be handled by the best judgement of the referee based upon the
needs of the narrative and the constraints of the setting that is being used.

The key is to make sure that such rewards make sense. For example, in a setting with a primarily barter-based economy, rewards like gold and gems should be reserved for only the most fantastic situations and should only be handed out by the wealthiest individuals.

 

[darkbard]

In our 4E D&D game, we handle this through a Skill check by a PC during a Skill Challenge, whereby the player determines the fiction on a successful roll and the GM determines the fiction on a failed roll (as a complication to be met rather than negation of player's idea). Here's an example from our PbP:

GM:
Its the season for imports from the network of enclaves all around The Empire. Imports means audits and taxes at the gates. The priests, the blessed, and the scrivener arrive to a mass of exhausted merchants, farmers, artisans, fresh from disembarking their caravan with their beasts of burden and wagons being serviced and cared for by stable hand, farrier, engineer. Auditors and tax collectors, like vultures to a carcass, descend upon them. Imperial Sentries mill through the throng, ever watchful, imposing stares, armor, weaponry creating an intentional mood of fear, acquiescence, and order upon the proceedings. The two stone towers loom with more eyes, the ramparts between them yet more eyes, bows, arrows.

The drawbridge that spans the moat is up. The gatehouse door is locked with an Imperial Guard manning his post there, keys dangling from his belt.

---

MEDIUM DC

How do you get beyond the soldiers, the wall and its moat, and into the wild?

Player:

The priests, the blessed, and the scrivener stand, dispirited, before the milling throng inside the Manticore Gate. On the one hand, the Imperial Sentries have their hands full maintaining order over the crowd, keeping tempers from flaring into violence, and overseeing a steady rhythm of coins collected for the coffers of the Empire. So there is little chance their small party will draw too much undue notice. Yet on the other hand, the gatehouse door stands barred; the bridge that would span the moat to allow passage across is raised; and no small amount of time will pass in processing this current multitude before either of the previous obstacles is alleviated in the admission of more importers and artisans from outside the city gate.

"This is not typical," says Xin Mae. "Is this typical? When I traveled here across the Sea of Silt and Sand from Kifu Chanyee, I passed but minutes at the gate. I don't like holdups of any kind. Isn't there something you can do? Surely, there's something you can do," he pleads generally to the priests.

Ibhea explains patiently about the differences between Manticore Gate at import season and the Great Dragon Gate admitting infrequent voyagers from the south, but his discourse does little to assuage the scrivener's frustration.

Meanwhile, Arunny, white basleq drawn over the ivory wimple that shields her golden mane, scans the Imperial Sentries for signs of recognition among them of the now-fugitives. So far, no visible leaflets bearing their images seem to circulate, but for how long?

One Sentry draws her particular attention, his unshaven visage unfamiliar to her ... and yet, there is a ... something ... call it a shadow? a kind of vague outline ... present when he speaks that reminds her of Ibhea somehow. She indicates the Sentry to her fellow with a subtle gesture, "Do you know that man?"

IBHEA's brow creases as he regards the Sentry, and then his eyebrows lift in recognition. "Why, yes, Arunny! In fact, I do!" He throws the hood of his scarlet cape over his golden tunic and pushes his way through the crowd, receiving not a few looks of ill regard at his presumption, despite the robes of office.

In short order, Arunny watches as the Imperial Sentry drops his stoic mask and grasps Ibhea in a full embrace, pounding his back in familiarity. The two men have a brief conversation, and Ibhea points back at their party twice during it. When he returns, Ibhea explains that the Sentry, Kosal, is an old friend from childhood, one who escaped a life of poverty and desperation by enlisting in the The Guard in much the same way that Ibhea had by finding the faith. Kosal can get "the missionary team" through the gate, across the moat, and out of the city when the Manticore Gate is lowered for the next wave of entrants.

---

Ibhea makes a Primary Skill Streetwise check to find a familiar and useful contact within the assembly, thus identifying Kosal, +14 vs 15 Moderate DC = autosuccess to complete the Skill Challenge.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In the LotR (The Two Towers, Book 3), Aragorn, Gimil and Legolas meet Eomer and his Riders of Rohan. The encounter begins as a hostile one, but after Aragorn announces himself ("Elendil!") the tone of the encounter changes, and Eomer agrees to let the three companions continue on their hunt for the captured Hobbits. And "what's more", says Eomer, "I will lend your horses."

Other fantasy fiction has instances of encounters in which alliances are made and gifts are given. In REH's story The Scarlet Citadel, Conan encounters the wizard Pelias, who helps him return to Aquilonia so as to retake his throne.

In the Foreword to Moldvay Basic D&D, the warrior hero slays the dragon tyrant wielding a sword they received from a mysterious cleric.

In your FRPGing, what techniques do you use to emulate these sorts of events?

Stuff like this is why I like playing fast and loose with rewards. It’s fun when the sage tells you it’s dangerous to go alone, and hands you a magic sword.

Stuff like transport, mundane resources, etc, are great immediate rewards for social and physical challenge scenes,

In D&D I tend to treat stuff like that as equivalent to a tool you find in the puzzle room that helps solve the puzzle. It’s not treasure, per se, but it is something you have to earn by figuring something out or finding an appropriate approach to the scene, that then helps you with the next challenge.

In my own game, Crossroads: Quest For Chevar, these tools are built into the gameplay structures. You can prepare for a challenge during downtime, gaining a vaguely defined asset that you define fully when it’s needed. As well, great success within a scene can earn you assets, favors, or simply dice forward (a bonus you can apply later in the adventure). Technically, partial failure can, too, but that is more controlled by the GM where success rewards are mostly up to the player within a framework set by the GM and the fiction.

 

[Darth Solo]

Are you able to say a bit about how this is worked out, at the table?

Very touch-and-go, as the encounter begins with a good level of open hostility from both the NPCs and PCs. With your example of Eomer and Aragorn, unless one had read the book(s), there would be no knowledge of the deep love the former had for the latter, making the gift of horses expected behavior. Conversely, take a situation like Silence of the Lambs where Agent Starling and Dr. Lecter are forced into a situation where both openly attempt to manipulate the other for information, drawn from a contemptuous relationship devoid of any real trust. But, over time that relationship transformed into something remarkable (if you've read Hannibal).

That's my aim. But, having had players who refuse to "get railroaded into working with NPCs their characters would never logically join", I've learned to instead drop what the party needs in their lap, à la LotR. That, or after the party has gone through a cycle of NPCs and found one they like, THAT person/faction gives them what they need. I've had two groups (one D&D, one superheroes) who had the RP chops to actively engage with antagonistic NPCs: the Ravenloft party befriended the traveling minstrels around Barovia and the minstrels in turn risked their lives vs. worg wolves so the party could reach Strahd's castle. The Villains & Vigilantes team trusted an ex-supervillain's guidance enough to stop the NPC's former supervillain allies from taking over the planet. I don't use a lot of dice-rolling for this, instead just letting PC-NPC conversation flow organically. IME dice are terrible at emulating the fiction that inspires our campaigns.