This month I thought I'd take a look at how to use the “best of three” mechanic with a conflict resolution system.

In many, if not most conflicts, there is an offensive and a defensive element. You may need to quickly get past security (offense), without being spotted (defense). You may need to run across dangerous, slippery terrain: covering ground would be offense, while keeping one's footing would be defense. Offense and defense in actual combat are obvious; in social combat, they may refer to defending your reputation from attack while undercutting your opponent's position.

In most cases of conflict resolution, you roll 3d10, take the middle die, and add it to your Trait. Your opponent does the same thing, and you compare the totals. Winning by 1 is a Basic Success, winning by 4 or more is a Special Success, winning by 7 or more is an Exceptional Success.

Conditions for winning each conflict may vary, but the most common is either to have a single test, or to have a series of extended tests in which the opponents build up successes. In the latter case, a Basic Success is usually worth 1 Success, a Special Success is worth 3, and an Exceptional Success is worth 5. In these cases, 10 net successes is enough for total victory.

On the other hand, you may not start from equal footing. Consider two PR firms that are trying to get their respective candidates elected. The first candidate is the incumbent. He has name recognition and a generally favorable rating. He starts the election cycle with 47% of voters declaring for him, 15% undecided, and 38% declaring for his opponent.

Let's say the challenger has the better PR firm, with a Very Good(17) rating, against the incumbent's PR firm's Good(14) rating. Now, you could go to the standard 10 net successes, and just give the incumbent's team an advantage due to the head start, but it might be more fun to do it this way...

The GM determines how much time there is left until election day, in terms of how many contests within the extended test can be run. Each of these would represent an ad campaign, a reaction, leaked information to the newspapers, etc. Each success (1 for Basic, 3 for Special, 5 for Exceptional) converts 1% of the voters to the winner's side. This first comes out of the Undecided voters, but when everybody has declared, it comes out of the opponent's declared percentage.

This basically puts the higher-rated PR team on a timer. Sure, they'll win most of the individual tests, but will they be able to pull enough of the electorate to their side fast enough to win the election? They'll probably want to take the risk of going “Offensive” to drain as many votes as possible.

The incumbent's team is playing defense. They can use the “Defensive” option to hopefully stop the challenger's better PR team from draining away too many of their votes. In-world terms, this would include preventing leaks of dirty secrets while reminding his constituents of all the things he's done that they approve of.

By default, both opponents are taking a “middle of the road” approach, and so there's no separation between offensive and defensive totals. Each person rolls 3d10, takes the middle value, and that serves as the offense and defense.

Gawain is chasing Mordred across a winding mountain path. A sheer cliff drops off to the left, and low-hanging fog slicks the hard, gray stone. In this situation, the GM has ruled that both characters will have their totals (specifically, their defensive totals) compared to a Terrain Difficulty, which is 13 (plus the middle die of 3d10). Neither character will suffer a slip or fall on a Basic failure, but a Special failure presents a slip with a small chance of injury, and an Exceptional failure represents a fall with potential for serious injury or death.

The GM has also ruled that 5 Net Successes will end the chase, either with a clean getaway for Mordred or with Gawain cutting off further escape, forcing Mordred to surrender or fight.

For the first test, Gawain's player rolls 3d10, getting 1, 5, and 9. He takes the middle die, 5, and adds it to Gawain's Good (13) Athletics(Pursuit), for a total of 18. The GM rolls 3d10, getting 5,5,and 7. She takes the middle die, 5, and adds it to Mordred's Good (14) Athletics(Pursuit), for a total of 19. Mordred gets a Basic Success and pulls ahead slightly (with 1 Net Success).

The GM rolls for Terrain, getting 4, 6, and 10. She takes the middle die, 6, and adds it to the Terrain Difficulty level of 13, getting a total of 19. This ties Mordred and beats Gawain, but not by enough to cause any real damage.

However, if one or more parties chooses to focus on either offense or defense, things change. If one side acts offensively (for example, focusing on attack ads and digging up dirt on their opponent, rather than protecting their own reputation), they take the Highest of the 3 dice for Offense and the Lowest of the 3 dice for Defense. If one side acts Defensively, the opposite is true.

Realizing he's pulling ahead, Mordred makes the mistake of looking down at the path. He sees the sharp, slippery rocks, and realizes that if he's not careful, the ill-tempered knight from Orkney will be the least of his worries. The GM announces that they're in more difficult terrain, and the Difficulty level will be 15, not 13 this turn.

The GM decides Mordred will step carefully (ie, Defensively). The GM rolls three dice, as usual, getting 1, 2, and 9. She'll take the Highest of the three dice (the 9) for Mordred's Defense (ie, not slipping on the slick rocks, opposing the Terrain Difficulty). Adding it to Mordred's Athletics(Pursuit) Trait of 14, she gets 23. She rolls for the Trait Difficulty, and gets 4, 5, and 10. Taking the middle die, she adds it to the Difficulty level of 15, for a total of 20.

It's a good thing that Mordred stepped carefully, because his middle die, 2, would have given him only a 16 total. The Terrain Difficulty got 20, and that would have been a Special Success, meaning he would have slipped and most likely hurt himself. That would have made it harder to escape Gawain and harder to stay on the path.

As for evading Gawain, Mordred has to use his lowest die for that. Adding 1 to his Athletics(Pursuit) of 14, he gets a total of 15.

Despite the more difficult terrain, Gawain's player refuses to back down. He keeps up the pace, neither offensive nor defensive. He rolls 3, 7, and 9, and takes the middle die of 7. Adding 7 to his Athletics(Pursuit) of 13, he gets 20. That ties the Terrain Difficulty, keeping him completely safe.

Even better, it's a Special Success against Mordred's total of 15. That gives Gawain 3 Successes, putting him up by 2 Net Successes, because Mordred has only 1 Success. And the chase continues...

Well, that's that. I'll see you next month.