Influence

[Jarulf]

An attempt at a "mundane" allegiance system.

Influence [Various]

Base chance: 10%

Category: Communication

While the Status skill measures a person's general standing in society and the Allegiance optional rule addresses standing in relation to the supernatural, the Influence skill deals with how a person is viewed within a specific group he or she is a member of. A group in this context can be any informal or formal organization such as the congregation of a church, the members of a thieves' guild or the crew of a spaceship. A low Influence signifies a person new to the group or someone who has not commited much time or effort to further the goals and ideals the group considers important. A high Influence however means the person spends much time and thought on such matters, possibly seeing the organization as a stepping stone to more political and social power.

Influence also has more immediately practical uses, it can be used by a person to draw on the resources of and elicit aid from the group. This could reasonably be equipment or access to lab or research facilities, extra manpower for a mission and similar. Make a skill check, possibly modified by how reasonable the GM thinks the request is but no group can provide help it has no access to of course. Under most circumstances this skill check should not give the player an experience check.

Sometimes a player may want to attempt to use this skill to garner aid from someone from a group his or her character isnt a member of. If the two groups are somehow related and on friendly terms, the GM may allow a Difficult skill roll to be made.

Effects:

Fumble: The request is harshly rejected and the character may suffer a temporary loss of influence. Someone important may have been insulted. Previously promised aid may not be forthcoming.

Faiure: The request is denied, but no other harm done.

Success: The request is granted and you receive most of the aid you need.

Special: The request is granted in full and someone manages to provide a little extra.

Critical: You receive the full backing of the leadership for your request and extra support is provided for you.

Notes:

When your character first becomes a member of a group, you may open this skill at 10%, specific to the group. You cannot have this skill for a group you are not a member of. If you are a member of a group at character creation, Personal Skill Points may be used to increase this skill.

One way to make groups that are otherwise similar, say two rival merchants' guilds, more distinct from each other is to write down a summary of their beliefs, ideals and goals as well as some notes about the resources they can offer. Resources can be training in skills by master teachers, spells, libraries all of which may be unique to that group. Some forms of aid may require promises of donations of time or money to the group or may have other strings attached.

Many groups may require that a member has reached a certain level of membership, i.e a certain percentage in influence before some resources become available. A list detailing the required Influence percentage and the resources at that level is useful to have.

Similarly specific levels of Influence may also be required to attain various offices or ranks within the group

Increasing influence:

After an adventure where the character has somehow contributed or furthered the goals of a group, the player should make an experience check as for any other skill.

[RosenMcStern]

I would add a cumulative -30% penalty to any further Influence rolls for 1d6 weeks on a Fumble, Failure or Success. Repeated attempts are possible but not likely to succeed.

[rust]

An additional twist would be the relations between various groups of a set-

ting.

For example, Influence with Group A could give a character 1/2 that Influ-

ence with Group B, which is friendly with Group A, but at the same time re-

duce his Influence with Group C by 1/2 of that Influence, because Group

C is hostile to Groups A and B.

If I remember it right, some Star Wars RPG version had a rather elaborate

system of that kind.

[Jarulf]

I would add a cumulative -30% penalty to any further Influence rolls for 1d6 weeks on a Fumble, Failure or Success. Repeated attempts are possible but not likely to succeed.

Yeah, that's a good suggestion. I didn't even think about players trying more than once, fool that I am

[Jarulf]

An additional twist would be the relations between various groups of a set-

ting.

That makes it a little more complex than my default of a difficult roll, but I like it.

In a way it is not unlike the way languages are related (if that is in BRP, I forget). If you know Swedish, you also know Norwegian with a penalty of 20% perhaps. Not sure if I'd go with a fixed penalty or fractions.

[Pyronnic]

The Status skill description says you can have specialties in social groups, professions, and so on, so the way I read it in the rules as written was pretty much what you're suggesting here. The RAW specifically say that you can use a skill check to influence people and/or obtain access to resources (e.g., get a loan, forgive a debt). That said, I really like your idea and the discussion it's already generated. It's particularly useful to define what various groups even have to offer, whom they're willing to offer it to, and how to model the idea that you can't constantly call in favors.

Tying skill checks to actually having done something to benefit an organization or group and to further its goals is just spot on. Now - iImagine using this for a spy-type character who is infiltrating a target group - the challenge is to be seen doing good stuff for the group (leads to Status increase, hence further opportunities to gather info) but not to get caught betraying them or doing stuff that is clearly against their best interests.

I think I'd even create a mechanic for how the latter (if you're caught) can lead to rapid skill decreases. Such a mechanic would also be the sort of thing that could motivate a noble with "Status (specific country)" to hide their misdeeds from their fellow citizens because getting caught is shameful and decreases your status.

[Jarulf]

Glad you like it Pyronnic.

I re-read the Status description again and you are right in that it and Influence are pretty much the same thing.

There is one difference, at least in how I interpreted Status based on the grey box on the same page. Status has more to do with social class and rank in a society, while Influence deals with the esteem you have in a group, based on your previous actions.

This, at least is one possible way of handling this I think.

I realize this is probably too fine a line to bother with in many cases, and perhaps not really accurate in the RAW.

Your idea about actually decreasing Influence after doing things contrary to the group's ideals, is great. Of course in either case, someone in the group has to learn about your deeds, good or bad.

I'm sorry if this is more than a little vague, I'm coming down with a cold and a little muddle-headed at present.

Edited November 24, 2009 by jarulf

[rust]

I doubt that Status and Influence are identical.

For example, take a look at a typical fantasy town. The local ruler, usually

a noble, and the local high priests of the various religions will probably have

the highest Status of all the inhabitants of the town, who will usually defer

to them.

However, under normal circumstances the noble ruler will not have much In-

fluence with the local Thieves' Guild, and the high priest of a pacifist deity

will hardly have much influence with the band of mercenaries who use the

town as their base.

Of course, the thieves as well as the mercenaries will acknowledge the high

Status of the noble and the priest (e.g. bow to them when they encounter

them, not speak to them unless being spoken to first, etc.) - but they will

not let them have much - if any - Influence where it comes to their "busi-

ness matters", I think.

[Pyronnic]

Rust,

I agree that situations like you're describing (e.g., a ruler trying to influence a Thieves' guild) call for different skills. Having a high "Status (country)" doesn't necessarily imply that you'd have high influence with the guild, where a "Status (Thieves Guild)" skill would be more useful and should precedence. I think I'd give the ruler attempting to apply the former skill when the latter is more appropriate a penalty and/or make it a difficult skill roll because while the guild is part of the country it is also a fairly insular and distinct social group. In addition, I'd make success come with more strings - maybe the guild would help, but would demand some favor in return.

Regardless of whether one just uses the Status skill or uses both Status and Influence as separate skills , the important part is that either way of doing things gives the GM a mechanic to make social connections an interesting part of the game. If used well, then being able to navigate the social world is as useful to the player characters as being able to fight or to cast spells. That's what's important to me. Personally, I will just use Status mostly because it's simpler to have just one skill than to have two that are (in my view) pretty closely related.

I would like to hear other people's ideas on how to make creative use of Status/Influence skills though.

[jean]

Rust,

I agree that situations like you're describing (e.g., a ruler trying to influence a Thieves' guild) call for different skills. Having a high "Status (country)" doesn't necessarily imply that you'd have high influence with the guild, where a "Status (Thieves Guild)" skill would be more useful and should precedence. I think I'd give the ruler attempting to apply the former skill when the latter is more appropriate a penalty and/or make it a difficult skill roll because while the guild is part of the country it is also a fairly insular and distinct social group. In addition, I'd make success come with more strings - maybe the guild would help, but would demand some favor in return.

Regardless of whether one just uses the Status skill or uses both Status and Influence as separate skills , the important part is that either way of doing things gives the GM a mechanic to make social connections an interesting part of the game. If used well, then being able to navigate the social world is as useful to the player characters as being able to fight or to cast spells. That's what's important to me. Personally, I will just use Status mostly because it's simpler to have just one skill than to have two that are (in my view) pretty closely related.

I would like to hear other people's ideas on how to make creative use of Status/Influence skills though.

We could get inspiration from the game "eclipse phase"

It has a skill "networking <organisation>" that is used to interact with an organisation, and a status rating that tells how the character is seen by the organisation, what the organisation will do for him and what the organisation expects of him.

Jean