Communication

Reaction
The GM can roll a Charisma Check for a character to determine how a stranger NPC reacts to him. Subtract one from the number of Successes to determine the NPCs initial Reaction. A NPC with a Reaction of zero will be neutral towards the character, positive values make the NPC more friendly and helpful, negative values make him increasingly indifferent or even hostile. All Skills linked to Diplomacy are modified by the target's Reaction. A character's actions will change other's Reaction, and the Reaction of people who know the character well will be almost exclusively determined by how they were treated before.

Connections

A character can start his career with friends that may help him out of difficult situations. Each such Connection costs one EP plus the difference in Status between character and Connection. Such a Connection is initially only a loose buddy or business partner (Reaction 1). The player may also invest up to two additional EP to increase the Reaction. At the beginning of the game a character can't have more EP invested in Connections than twice his Charisma. Connections should not be played as puppets of the player, but as NPCs with their own plans and motivations. They will expect help from the player about as often as he expects it from them. Connections repeatedly treated unfairly will reduce their Reaction towards the character or even be lost entirely. The GM may also change NPCs who regularly work with the PCs into Connections.

Enemies
A character can make Enemies by ticking off NPCs badly enough. Their Reaction determines how often they will try to hurt the character, how much they will risk for this and how far they're prepared to go. A character starting the game with a Status higher than his Charisma has usually already made enemies before he even starts his career. Distribute twice the difference on Enemies, the same way you would on Connections (but with negative Reaction). The GM has the last word and may modify Enemies if he likes to.

Diplomacy
This section gives a list of Skills linked to Diplomacy. These Skills should not be seen as an invitation to replace dialogs with Skill Checks. Rather, they are meant as a guideline for the GM on how NPCs will react to the player characters.

Act

Act allows a character to decieve others about his identity, character or motives. Roll a Contest against Empathy. The target will believe your deception if you win and see through your acting if you lose. The number of Net Successes determines how sure the target is of his judgement. Trying to impersonate someone the target knows personally is hard. The GM may modify the effective Skill for this.

Bluff
Bluff is used to convince other characters that one's telling the truth. Roll a Contest against Empathy. The more Net Successes you get, the more far-fetched your claims can be. However, you can only convince your target that you believe you're telling the truth. If your target has other good reasons not to believe you, it will not.

Charm
Charm brings NPCs to your side or improves their Reaction towards you. Roll a Contest against Empathy. Each Net Success allows you to change the target's Reaction to another character by one. This Skill is useless for changing Reactions of Connections or Enemies.

Version 1.01 EN

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2013

Empathy

The main function of Empathy is resisting manipulation with other Diplomacy Skills. A NPC seeing through a manipulation may reduce his Reaction towards that character. These Checks should be hidden from the players. If a NPC tries to manipulate a PC, give the player correct information if the PC wins and whatever the NPC wants him to believe if the NPC wins. Empathy can also be used to determine personality and motives of other characters. More Successes mean more specific informations.

Intimidate

Sometimes it is more efficient to Intimidate other characters to get what you want. Roll a Contest against Empathy. More Net Successes increase the likelihood of the target following your orders. Each attempt at Intimidation reduces the target's Reaction by one.

Leadership
Leadership enables other characters to "borrow" one of your Skills. Each Success increases that character's Skill by one, up to the Leader's. Leading multiple characters at once is also possible; you may split your Successes between them. It is however not possible to be led by multiple characters at once.

Negotiate
Negotiate can be used to make deals and compromises. Roll a Contest between the negotiating characters. The more Net Successes are rolled, the closer the final offer is to the winner's position. The loser can still decline the offer if he finds it inacceptable. When haggling, each Net Success will change the base price by about 10%.

Persuade
A character can Persuade others to do specific things. If these conflict with the target's interests, roll a Contest against Empathy. The more Net Successes the character gets, the more likely is the target to act against it's own interests.

Teach

To Teach another character one of your Skills, you may roll a Check every hour. Each Success reduces the time the pupil needs to learn the Skill by one hour, but not more than the Skill difference between teacher and pupil. It is possible to split Successes among multiple pupils.

Trace
Trace is used to find people. This can either be a specific person or anyone belonging to a specific group or having some specific information. The search takes eight hours minus one hour per Success. The rules assume a person not listed in any directories but who is not actively trying to hide. The GM may modify the effective Skill for a person who is easier or harder to find.

Languages
Each Language is represented by a single Skill. A character using a Skill linked to Diplomacy in a foreign language has to roll on the Language Skill first. He can't score more Successes than in this Check. This limit does not apply to a character using his native language. A character's Language Skill also determines how complex the topics are he can talk about in this language. Some Languages (especially sign languages) are simply not complex enough to talk about intricate subjects. They can't be raised above a certain level.

Version 1.01 EN

CC BY-NC-SA, Adrien Pfeuffer, 2013