Sunday, November 15, 2020

GLOG Class: the Middleman

Bards do a lot: sometimes, they're about magical music (or musical magic); sometimes, they're about legends and tales and stories; sometimes, they're just about playing a genuine face class; sometimes, they're like skaldic battle-troubadours; sometimes, they're clowns and jesters. It varies a lot, and so I think trying to cram all of that into a class is a flawed premise. 

Deus just posted his Villieur bard class, and I was part of a few conversations leading up to that, and it got  me thinking. This class draws a lot from the Villieur, my own Sage, Lexi's Jack, Arnold's post about bards, some of the social mechanics from Cartel, and probably a smattering of other stuff I'm forgetting. 

This particular bard class is about the social angle: truth, lies, people, and everything in between.

GLOG Class: the Middleman (aka the Circus, the Mastermind, the Songbird)

A: Town Crier, News-Broker, Eye for Secrets
B: Lies Do Not Become Us, Easy Come, Easy Go
C: Informal Summons, Rumor-Pushing
D: Voice of Reason, Friends in High Places

Starting skills [1d3]: 1 = banished spymaster; 2 = overambitious scribe; 3 = failed troubadour

Starting equipment: a large leather-bound notebook, a small black notebook, quill & ink, a bell, a crier's uniform, and an indescribable air of one who knows the world.

(A) Town Crier
You're a professional crier, meaning you are licensed and expected to carry official missives, announcements, proclamations, and other news, and then announce it whenever appropriate. When you ring your bell and call out "Oyez, oyez!" people will stop whatever they're doing, listen to what you have to say, and then spread the news around to their neighbors and friends. News will eventually spread farther than that, probably, but it will be much slower (given that they're reliant on people like you).

Anytime you enter town, there's a 3-in-6 chance that somebody important (an alderperson, mayor, high priest, noble, guild master, etc.) will have some piece of news they want you to distribute. In a hamlet or village, the odds are only 2-in-6; in a large city, it's 5-in-6. For any of those, if you roll a 1, the news is not for public distribution, but instead some kind of message or letter to be delivered only to other important people, or possibly one specific important person. 

To be clear, you don't have to do any of these things; it's expected of you, socially, but criers are generally only answerable to the crown (or appropriate), so most local government officials can't force you. If you haven't rung your bell and delivered news, though, people will definitely stop you on the street and ask.

Being a crier also means that, as long as you're either bringing news to share now or collecting information to deliver elsewhere, you can get in almost anywhere, at any social level, pretty much at any time. It also means that, because you work for the crown, you have a [templates+1]-in-6 chance of being able to requisition free basic goods and services, like traveling gear, maps, a bed, that kind of thing. 

(A) News-Broker
You're a dealer of information and secrets, with all the weight that carries. When you enter town, there's a [templates]-in-6 chance that somebody will come up to you on the street and ask for a piece of information that you already have. If you give it to them (which you don't have to do), they'll pay you with one piece of information that you don't already know the answer to. 

If you ask for specific information that's plausible for this person to know, there's a [templates+1]-in-6 chance that they can give it to you. Otherwise, it'll just be some random tidbit that this person thought was interesting, relevant, or newsworthy.

If you spend a while sitting in some public meeting place (the tavern, the green, the temple steps, etc.), people will come to you: 1d6 + templates of them, each with their own questions and their own news.

GM, the random bits of news that people bring should be a blend of flavorful setting stuff ("the Festival of Limes is coming up!"), adventure/content hooks ("nobody's seen Lady Harlowe in days!"), and mostly-useless trivia ("my cat Muffin is having kittens!").

(A) Eye for Secrets
You're good at reading people. Every template you take, including this one, roll on the Secrets table, and gain the benefits accordingly. 

(B) Lies Do Not Become Us
When you talk to someone, either casually or to get information, you can force them to make three saves over three minutes, one minute per save, in any order:
  • A save vs. deduction (probably INT): on a failure, they can't twist and muddy the truth to mislead you.
  • A save vs. insight (probably WIS): on a failure, they can't omit key details or leave anything important out.
  • A save vs. raw social pressure (probably CHA): on a failure, they can't lie or otherwise just start making up falsehoods.
"Can't" here doesn't mean that they physically can't get their vocal chords to make the sounds—rather, if they try it, you'll know instantly, and they will almost certainly break under pressure if you push them on it. 

As usual, this works on people, but definitely won't work on other stuff, like demons or dragons.

(B) Easy Come, Easy Go
You've just got one of those faces. When you need to get past social barriers, like a party invitation or secret club meeting or royal ball, you can always get in. How this works isn't pre-decided: maybe the guards turn a blind eye, maybe you cook up an invite, maybe somebody vouches for you, maybe you just kind of, you know, show up.

If you need to make a fast exit, you have a [templates]-in-6 chance of doing so successfully. 

(C) Informal Summons
When you need somebody in town, you can put out the word that you want to talk. Unless they have very good reason to avoid you—like, say, you've tried to kill them before—there's a [templates+1]-in-6 chance that they'll show up to meet (unless they're, like, the king or something, in which case you'll have to go meet them). 

If you want to meet someone privately, without anyone else knowing, you have a [templates]-in-6 chance instead. If you fail this roll, word gets out that you tried to meet in secret.

(C) Rumor-Pushing
If you cook up a rumor and then spread it somewhere public, it has a [templates]-in-6 chance of spreading how you need it to and then provoking the appropriate response. Those chances are modified by the following:

Take +1-in-6 for each of the following:
  • You happen to know somebody nearby who loves gossip
  • The rumor is particularly spicy, juicy, wild, or scandalous
  • The rumor concerns people, rather than stuff
  • The rumor has a basis in truth, is mostly-kind-of-maybe-true, or actually is true
Take -1-in-6 for each of the following:
  • The rumor is readily verifiable by any rando off the street
  • The target of the rumor/intended effect location is far away
  • You need a really big response, something intense, with muscle behind it
  • You don't know anybody at all in this town
Examples might include, say, spreading the rumor that Lady Harlowe and Sir Godfrey were caught in bed together, hopefully with the intent that Lord Harlowe will fire Sir Godfrey from his post. Or, say, that there was a secret meeting of the Twelve Knives Gang to discuss taking over Razor Alley, with the goal that the Razor Alley Rooks take action against the Twelve Knives immediately.

(D) Voice of Reason
People believe you when you talk. News, advice, counsel, suggestions, whatever—people take you at your word, and even the most hardened doubters will believe you. 

Obviously, if you spout immediately-disprovable obvious falsehoods (green skies and all), people won't believe it, but they'll kind of semi-nervously chuckle at how easy it was to trust what you said, even if it was complete nonsense. It's less about the literal words you say or your actual voice, and more about how your listeners feel. (Channel your inner Saruman.) 

This doesn't work on PCs, unless they want it to.

(D) Friends in High Places
Your network of information has spread far and wide, to the degree that the rich and powerful of the realm specifically contact you. When you enter town, in addition to the normal news-broker effects, you also receive 1d6 letters from people in high places (nobility, wizards, merchant-princes, popes, underworld bosses, and so on) that follow the same rules. They ask you for a piece of information you already know; if you send the letter back, they'll have a letter for you in the next town with something new and juicy. It's the exact same thing as news-broker, except that it's via letters and the scale is way, way larger.

GM, make these secrets big and juicy: who's planning war with who, what the priestly auguries say, what new sanctions and tariffs will be imposed, what new laws are going into effect—that kind of thing. The news they ask for should be along the same lines; don't be afraid to push your middleman player to actually have to think about whether or not they want to respond.

Secrets
Roll one of these every template. Choose the one above or below if you roll a duplicate. It usually takes a  minute or two for these to kick in after meeting someone.
  1. Profession
    You can always tell what someone's job is, to a broad degree. You might not know a duke from a count, but you always know a noble; likewise, you might not know a scout from a sergeant, but you always know a soldier.
  2. Hatred
    If you meet someone and they really just fucking despise someone else, you know it. If you meet the target of their hatred, you instantly make the connection (this might include you, too).
  3. Wealth
    If somebody you meet has significantly more or less money than they seem to, you can tell (and you know if it's more or less). 
  4. Romance
    If you meet someone in love (or lust, or even just a crush), you can tell. If you meet two people who are supposed to be in love (or other romantic relationship) but one or both of them isn't, you can tell.
  5. Religion
    If you meet someone who professes one faith but actually believes another (or believes none at all), you know it, and have a strong hunch what they actually believe in.
  6. Identity
    If someone claims to be someone else that they aren't, you know. You can't necessarily tell who they actually are, but you know it isn't who they say.
  7. Magic
    If someone is inherently magical, either because they're a wizard or because they're cursed or because they're secretly a faerie or something, you know it.
  8. Vice
    When you meet someone, you know their nasty vice. Not a little thing like nose-picking or nail-biting, but the big ones: booze, drugs, sex, adrenaline, and so on.
  9. Promise
    If someone makes a formal promise—like in an oath, vow, or contract—and they know then and there they intend to break it, you know. If you meet them later and they've decided to break their promise, you can spot the change.
  10. Physique
    When you hear a statement about someone's physical body—like, say, "I can bench 200 lbs.," or "I was sick last weekend, sorry"—you know if it's a lie. You don't know the actual truth, but you can spot the lie.
  11. Struggle
    If someone claims that they're doing fine and well and dandy, you know if that's actually true. Maybe in the context of a soldier being stabbed and hiding how bad the wound is, maybe in the context of someone grappling with work at their first year at university. 
  12. Serial Liars
    If you meet somebody who just lies their ass off all the time, you know them at first sight. 
--

Not 100% sure about this one. It mostly hangs together, I think, but might need some revisions. In a really social campaign, I think it would be tons of fun; outside of that, it'd be a little more niche. 

Partially I think that's because there's not any single source of inspiration. There's some Shakespearean clown, some Sam Vimes, some private eye, and a smattering of other stuff. 

Let me know if you get a chance to try it out.

2 comments:

  1. How will you run the game for someone with the voice of saruman? It sort of like an Osr challenge for the gm

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    1. We-e-ell, it depends. I think in some cases, it'll definitely be powerful, but I also think there are a fair number of enemies/monsters/challenges that can't be overcome by talking. Like, a rampaging demon doesn't care at all whether you have a pretty voice.

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