"I will lend you horses."

[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.