A Roleplaying Example, Part 3

Larcus the Monk have been sent to gather supplies prior to the group’s departure towards the desert tomb.

To avoid having the other players wait for very long Daniel decides that Lucas gets to roll a few Tests rather than roleplaying the entire episode.

Lucas asks for what there is to find in the marketplace so Daniel tells him to make a Routine Test against Awareness. Lucas rolls 5, 2 and 9 for a total of 17. Larcus has Awarness at level 18 so the Test is successful. Daniel describes some of the commodities that Larcus can see, among them a stable renting horses and several merchants selling food.

Larcus decide to start with the food so Daniel lets him make a Test against Barter. Since there are several suppliers selling the same merchandise Daniel lowers the difficulty of the Test to Easy. Lucas rolls 7 and 9 which is lower than his Barter Skill at 19. Larcus gets to buy the food at standard prize, which Daniel deems is 2 silvers for each ration. As the group is expected to travel for at least a couple of days Larcus buys 30 rations for 60 silver – which is most of his rather limited coinage. And he still hasn’t got the horses!

As the rental stable is offering horses for 50 silvers a week Larcus decides to try a different approach. As the monk has much higher level in Charm than Barter, Larcus tries to convince the rental owner to offer him two horses for free. Daniel deems this to be a Challenging Test, but Larcus tells the rental owner the horses are needed by the temple for a most crucial cause. Since this is not true Larcus gets to roll a Routine Test against Deceive. The result is 3, 9, 9 – a total of 21. Since two 9’s were rolled it is a Critical and since Larcus skill level is 24 it is a Critical Success. The rental owner, who perhaps have been a little lax in visiting the temple these last weeks, sees this as an excellent opportunity to get even with the gods. He offers two horses to Larcus freely, without him ever having to Test against Charm. Happy with this Larcus returns to the others.

As the characters already have everything else they believe themselves to require they decide to set out in the late afternoon to avoid the scorching sun on their way to the tomb.