Reaction rolls

Intel­li­gent char­ac­ters may deter­mine their start­ing dis­po­si­tion towards you and the gang via a reac­tion roll. The roll is made upon first meet­ing the char­ac­ter, and should be made again after some time has passed or cir­cum­stances have changed.

Civ­i­lized folk—anyone who lives in a decent town or city and is accus­tomed to clean­li­ness and safety—will always require a reac­tion roll.

To make a reac­tion roll, the Book­keep­er will assem­ble all the rel­e­vant reac­tion mod­i­fiers below and apply them to a d6 roll. 

If you are:

  • Ragged: -1
  • Bloody -1
  • Filthy/unwashed: -1
  • Shag­gy: -1
  • In filthy, unwashed, or bloody com­pa­ny: -1
  • Unman­nered: -1
  • Mis­dressed -1
  • Mean look­ing: -1
  • Harm­ful: -2
  • Groomed: +1
  • Well-spo­ken: +1
  • Strange­ly Attrac­tive: +1

Com­pare the result of this roll to the table below:

7 or more Affec­tion­ate, accom­mo­dat­ing, benef­i­cent: The NPC will devi­ate notably from their every­day lives in order to help or inter­act with you. They will accept some detri­ment to them­selves in order to do so. Roman­tic advances may be pos­i­tive­ly received.
5–6 Friend­ly, help­ful, amenable. The NPC might offer a favor or their help, even at mild detri­ment to them­selves. 
3–4 Civ­il, coop­er­a­tive. The NPC may help, so long as noth­ing unrea­son­able is asked of them.  
1–2 Dis­in­ter­est­ed, dis­trust­ful, or unhelp­ful. The NPC will refuse any­thing asked of them. They will not engage for long with­out strong impe­tus. 
neg­a­tive Hos­tile, dis­gust­ed, or fright­ened. The NPC will be of no help at all. They will leave as soon as pos­si­ble, or else try and remove you. If pressed fur­ther, they may defend them­selves.

If an NPC is wronged or bad­ly incon­ve­nienced, they will make a new reac­tion roll, account­ing for the Harm­ful mod­i­fi­er, to deter­mine their new demeanor.

Like­wise, if an NPC is approached in a dif­fer­ent con­text or approached by a char­ac­ter whose mod­i­fiers have changed, they will roll again.

Some NPCs will be unboth­ered by char­ac­ters in a run-down or hideous state. Most peo­ple, how­ev­er, will dis­like cut­ters in a post-delve state.

⁂