Do You Use Reaction Rolls in your OSR Game? How Much?

Abraxus · April 16, 2018, 11:24:52 AM

First and Second edition D&D for many years. Next to Robotech it was the gateway rpg to the hobby. I took break away from it many years as I became tired of the rules. For a few years played other rpgs and 3E brought me back into the D&D fold.

AsenRG · April 16, 2018, 11:37:22 AM

Guys, Pundit asked you pretty explicitly not to list new editions of older games:).

Sailing Scavenger · April 17, 2018, 11:24:15 PM

Quote from: AsenRG;1034515How big of a penalty did you add to the reaction roll for his, ahem, roleplaying;)?

-1 for the characters Charisma score. Both me and the villagers deemed it perfectly in character coming from an arrogant and surly mage.

Gronan of Simmerya · April 18, 2018, 12:20:45 AM

Quote from: Sailing Scavenger;1034803-1 for the characters Charisma score. Both me and the villagers deemed it perfectly in character coming from an arrogant and surly mage.

Most parents, if some stranger walked up and smacked their kid, would go Librarian-poo on them.

Nihilistic Mind · April 18, 2018, 11:04:16 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1033235I've been a big proponent these last several years of using the Reaction Roll table as the exclusive complement to actually roleplaying out social situations. That is to say, not just using it to see if a monster/animal will attack right away, but for all kinds of social situations.

Do you do that? If not, do you use reaction rolls at all?

Yes, I use them every time when I run Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. I'm actually surprised it's not in the DCC corebook to be honest.

Sailing Scavenger · April 18, 2018, 02:41:33 PM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1034810Most parents, if some stranger walked up and smacked their kid, would go Librarian-poo on them.

If my kid bothered a strange and foreign band of mercenaries in the year 1,000 and got away with a slap I'd count that as a lesson well learned.

Willie the Duck · April 18, 2018, 02:56:09 PM

Quote from: Sailing Scavenger;1034913If my kid bothered a strange and foreign band of mercenaries in the year 1,000 and got away with a slap I'd count that as a lesson well learned.

I'd have demanded they take the kid with them, and bring 'em back when they are a proper sellsword themselves.

AsenRG · April 18, 2018, 05:43:47 PM

Quote from: Sailing Scavenger;1034803-1 for the characters Charisma score. Both me and the villagers deemed it perfectly in character coming from an arrogant and surly mage.

Well, your game, your call. I'd have gone for -(3+|charisma modifier|) penalty, but that's why different Referees make for different games:).

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1034810Most parents, if some stranger walked up and smacked their kid, would go Librarian-poo on them.

True, that;).

Headless · April 19, 2018, 07:02:35 AM

I don't know that I have the reaction table. Where is it printed? Is it online any where? Could someone link it?

I have a wide range of encounters, I just don't roll for them.

AsenRG · April 19, 2018, 09:51:41 AM

Quote from: Headless;1035031I don't know that I have the reaction table. Where is it printed? Is it online any where? Could someone link it?

I have a wide range of encounters, I just don't roll for them.

It's an old concept that goes more or less like this. Roll 2d6 and add Charisma modifier, the results determine initial character or monster disposition.

Roll   Result

2   Immediate attack

3-5   Hostile

6-8   Uncertain, confused

9-11   No attack, monster leaves

12   Enthusiastic friendship

Willie the Duck · April 19, 2018, 10:12:35 AM

Quote from: Headless;1035031I don't know that I have the reaction table. Where is it printed? Is it online any where? Could someone link it?

I have a wide range of encounters, I just don't roll for them.

What Asen said. It is a minimalist social-skill mechanics system which not-so-subtly encourages non-violence resolutions to situations.

Not rolling, but instead DM doing the arbitration, is another solution. Like all other situations, the dice only exist in the game for places where the outcome is uncertain, and the DM might have trouble arbitrating the outcome.

Krimson · April 19, 2018, 10:34:30 PM

Quote from: Headless;1035031I don't know that I have the reaction table. Where is it printed? Is it online any where? Could someone link it?

I have a wide range of encounters, I just don't roll for them.

I Rambled On about it a while back. This is what it looked like. It's fun to play with. You can totally condense the three tiered complexity of the table to one tier and maintain the exact same probabilities or you can have fun and change around the other tiers a bit to get different results. I was revisiting it while I was reading through Cepheus Engine.

Gronan of Simmerya · April 19, 2018, 11:15:56 PM

Quote from: Headless;1035031I don't know that I have the reaction table. Where is it printed? Is it online any where? Could someone link it?

Page 12 of Volume 1 of the Little Brown Books.

Teodrik · April 21, 2018, 09:08:25 AM

Yes, but mostly for random encounters.

RPGPundit · April 23, 2018, 05:33:52 AM

Quote from: Nihilistic Mind;1034867Yes, I use them every time when I run Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. I'm actually surprised it's not in the DCC corebook to be honest.

It is a glaring omission, yes.