I am curious on how the various players and game-masters interpret how much (and what type) information to give out when a player Fumbles/Fails/Succeeds/Criticals their Intrigue rolls.

I know you can give out info piecemeal, giving one player Clue A, another Clue B, but just exactly would the type of info be based upon the level of success.

Robert Schroeder

Always a difficult one if the players make the roll themselves as I tend to get them to do - the meta-gaming instinct leaps in when the fail - they automatically distrust what I tell them. Crudely, I think I give them little or nothing if they roll a Failure. On a Fumble I'd give them something misleading even dangerously so - something that causes conflict (of any kind, not just physical). If they succeed, I'd give them as a GM what I'd hope they'd find out. On a Critical I'd give them more than just the info - maybe an extra secret, or maybe a bonus for their skills in a relevant situation.

I generally get all the players to test Intrigue as an contested roll. Winner gets the info, Fumbles get something contrary or misleading.

Where there is a bunch of stuff to impart (a busy year in the GPC say) then I rank the snippets in order of juiciness and hand them out in roll order, thus the winner may end up getting a second or third bite at the cherry. If I'm doing this, then I'll add some low level/irrelevant stuff to the mix to hand out to those who fail.

Regarding players having meta knowledge about fails/fumbles and acting accordingly - I address that by handing out checks on Trusting/Suspicious as appropriate.

Regards
Luke

Regarding players having meta knowledge about fails/fumbles and acting accordingly - I address that by handing out checks on Trusting/Suspicious as appropriate.


*evil GM smiley* nice...

Regarding players having meta knowledge about fails/fumbles and acting accordingly - I address that by handing out checks on Trusting/Suspicious as appropriate.
That's simply beautiful !!

I have an extra challenge in this regard because I'm running a solo campaign with my wife. If she fails the Intrigue roll (as she tends to do with alarming frequency) we can easily get stuck. Any ideas on how to handle this better? I've had the squire roll, as well as the wife (at feasts and such) but failing that...


T.

I have an extra challenge in this regard because I'm running a solo campaign with my wife. If she fails the Intrigue roll (as she tends to do with alarming frequency) we can easily get stuck. Any ideas on how to handle this better? I've had the squire roll, as well as the wife (at feasts and such) but failing that...
I ran a solo campaign for a bit, and actually this is relatively easy to fix.

Having the Squire hear the rumor is easy, but gets old after a while.

What I did was created an intrigue database.

For example, let us say you have 3 pieces of data to provide.

Knight crits = get 2 full pieces and a bit of info on 3rd.
Knight Succeeds = get 1 full piece and a bit of info on items 2+3
Knight Fails = get a bit of info on 1 item and ... Squire now rolls

Squire Crits = get full info on 1 item (not the one knight gets from failing) + somewhat larger bits of 2&3
Squire Succeeds = get full info on 1 item (same as knight) and a bit on 1 other
Squire Fails = get a bit of info on 1 item (different from knight) and ... info from friend!

This is where I had the most fun.

Person that Knight helped out hears a rumor and passes it on to Knight via Steward to Stableboy or Squire or whatnot.

The idea is that even if both the Knight and the Squire fail their rolls, they still get something - and if they have been helpful to others in the past then they get help from those folks by them passing on info.

Most importantly, it still makes the Knight's rolls the most important without making the a failure or fumble on the Knight's part a "game breaker".

Have fun!

Don't forget the wife's rolls too! I have a PK whose wife's main job at courts and tourneys is intelligence-gathering via Intrigue rolls. During breaks they compare notes. And a wife can more easily build up a decent Intrigue score than the knight who must spend points on combat skills and stat boosts.

I'm a great believer in spouses who are more than just their APP score and dowry.

if a player does a succes roll, i give him an info for the scenario
if he does a critical, i give him an extra info, out for this scenario but that he could explore later
if he fails, nothing
if he fumbles, he give to npc an info about him or his entourage

often, i play the scene before roll, giving malus or bonus

for example :
Sire Aeron (PK1) was married with the daughter of a baron. His wife died few years ago. In the same time, he was in love with an another woman, and married her after his previous wife'death.
Sire Marie (a woman knight, aeron's vassal, PK2) tried to get info in baron's castle. A servant from the castle was brushing her hairs, they start to talk, and on the talking, PK2 said that love is merveillous, like love between her lord and his new wife. Servant ask and PK2 tell that this love exists since many years (There was only Sire Marie and new wife's servant who knew that).
PK1 said : you can't tell that !
PK2 said : sorry ! i didn't tell that
Me : roll
PK2 : 20 ! no !
Me : You tell that, and you realize that latter.

This fumble was the starting of a vendetta.

I have an extra challenge in this regard because I'm running a solo campaign with my wife. If she fails the Intrigue roll (as she tends to do with alarming frequency) we can easily get stuck. Any ideas on how to handle this better?

Some possibilities:

1) Embrace the potential for failure. The campaign is a long term thing, so if there is a 'secret' which unlocks an adventure but the PK fails to discover it, then move on to something else; the secret remains for another year.

2) Set up the session so that there are multiple avenues for adventure - the Intrigue roll controls how much choice the PK gets as to which one to pursue (any unused paths can be retained for another time).

3) Reframe the Intrigue test - the PK is going to get the secret info, but the challenge is whether they get it in time to beat their rivals to the prize, without the secret's guardian becoming aware etc etc

4) Alter the stakes of the Intrigue test - instead of it being about clearing the path to the rest of the adventure, it becomes about whether it confers some form of advantage (or avoids a disadvantage) for a later encounter.


Further to (4) you can extend the principle and use it as the spine for an entire adventure - a whole series of skill/trait tests, the results of which control how challenging the climactic encounter will be.

Regards
Luke

Excellent advice as usual, Luke. I am tempted to print that out and have it before me while planning adventures, just to remind myself.

I am curious on how the various players and game-masters interpret how much (and what type) information to give out when a player Fumbles/Fails/Succeeds/Criticals their Intrigue rolls.

Luke Silburni sums it up very well.
A few points:
NO scenario ought to depend on a single die roll to progress, unless that is the point of the quest--THAT single die roll. ("The door opens only for an Honest man," for instance.). With multiple players chance4s of success are greater, but success is not guaranteed by that.

I often just wing it, depending entirely upon the situation. But here are some suggestions:
*a success and a failure: present two pieces of information, one true and one not; but do not tell the players who got which one. They know who failed or fumbled, but this preserves the mystery.
*a single fumble or failure, among a party or not; still, give out two bits of information, one right and one wrong.

Great advice, guys. Thanks!


T.

I will ditto that,

Thanks all for the advice. Now, I simply have to determine what is "known" from what is "not known" and would require a roll for.

My assumption will be that the normal intrigue stuff in GPC is what is known and go from there.

Robert Schroeder

When creating a quest I usually divide information in 4 parts:
- things they need to know otherwise story never happens. (No roll is required to get this, but I let them sometimes roll to see who finds it first)
- things that give them bonuses in the story. (this is not only plusses on rolls, but also extra information that may give them soem insight in what will happen). To get this information they must roll either folklore or Intrigue to get, and the better the roll the more information is gained.
- things that add to the background of the story. While not needed, it gives depth to the story.
- things they wanted to know before they started. This is information I very rarely give. These are the secrets you will figure out during the story, and mostly too late. a critical on intrigue may give some clue to these facts, but never all.