2.18.2 Establishing rapport

A character can establish a rapport with someone that he/she has not met before through creating a good first impression and coming across as likeable in a conversation. To do this, he/she must make a dice roll using his/her Empathy (including establishing rapport specialism) + CH. Such reaction dice rolls are normally done whenever a character meets a group of people for the first time, and will determine how difficult they are for the character to interact with subsequently, so this is a very useful dice roll to be good at.

There is a modifier on the dice roll for any pre-disposition the people have towards the character, based on the stories they have heard beforehand (particularly if they know the character by past reputation) together with their basic personality, as follows:

Pre-disposition Modifier to rapport dice roll
Enemy by reputation -9
Disliked by reputation -6
Distrustful or disrespectful -3
Neutral, fearful or feared reputation +0
Respected by reputation +3
Friendly, open, ally by reputation +6
Adored by reputation +9

If the character cannot communicate with the other people (e.g. cannot speak language fluently), there is a penalty of up to -3 on the dice roll. If the character has similar interests/outlooks to the other people, he/she gains a bonus of +3 on the dice roll. If he/she is completely different in outlook from the other people, he/she has a penalty of -3 on the dice roll.

The dice roll result determines the people's reaction to the character, as follows:

Dice roll result Reaction to character
Less than -4 Hostile - antipathy or hate towards the character. Very likely to act against the character. The degree of hostility will depend on how low the dice roll result is.
Less than zero Unfriendly - will dislike the character and may act against him/her.
0-2 Distrustful or disrespectful - will tend to be suspicious of the character or may openly mock them
3-5 Neutral - will deal with the character in a business-like fashion
6-8 Respectful - will show the character courtesy and may support him/her
9-11 Friendly - will tend to actively help the character
12 or more Charmed - will go out of way to help the character

Successful rapport-building can defuse hostile situations or charm people into helping the character or just thinking he/she is a pleasant person. People's reaction to the character will provide modifiers to them resisting subsequent attempts by the character to influence, intimidate or extract information.

For example, Ben Ruben is travelling in the Laurelan Empire and meets a party of nobles coming the other way. Because the nobility in the Laurelan Empire have heard of him as a trouble-maker (one of Ben Ruben's defined relationships), they initially dislike him by reputation. When Ben Ruben introduces himself to the group, he must make a dice roll using his Empathy + CH at a penalty of -6 to see how they will react to him. Ben Ruben's CH is +1 1/2 and his Empathy is 3 with a +1 1/2 bonus in establishing rapport. His basic value is therefore zero (after allowing for the -6 penalty). He decides to risk 2D and so rolls 2D-6, rolling a 3 and a 5, making a dice roll result of 2. One of the nobles makes a sneering comment about rabble-rousers, but they let him pass in peace.

For example, Cogan the Barbarian is having some drinks at a party with some strangers, who happen to be warriors. They are initially neutral to him. To determine how they react to his attempts to establish rapport, Cogan must make a dice roll using his Empathy (zero) + CH (+1/2) with a modifier of +0 (for their initial neutral stance) and a modifier of +3 (for their common background). He decides to take a risk and so rolls 2D - 2 1/2, rolling a 6 and 3, making a dice roll result of 6 1/2. In the morning, as hangovers clear, the other warriors treat Cogan with respect.