Labyrinths & Liontaurs
Contents
Notes

Interaction

Combat and exploration are default modes of play in traditional tabletop RPGs. In Labyrinths & Liontaurs, equal weight is given to non-combat interactions. This mode of play emphasizes conflict resolution wthout violence — persuasion, divination, deception, wit, will, trickery, and charm are key here. And a significant part of roleplay is the context, so these rules also include guidance for setting the scene culturally, politically, and socially — the rules help game masters create interesting peoples and places, laws and traditions, nations and settlements. So when you are negotiating peace with a titan, hiring barbarian mercenaries to guard your caravan, swindling an aristocrat, or dictating terms to a defeated general, these rules offer compelling ways outside combat to win challenges and earn experience.

In typical games, the players come to expect combat, because they seldom or never face any foes who can easily crush them, or who even present a serious threat. In a more realistic setting, the world is wide and full of dangers beyond the characters' ability to simply hack down. Interaction challenges present an alternative path to success for characters when violence would likely end an encounter sadly. Typical games also emphasize themes of good vs evil, but good PCs often have no choice but to kill defeated foes. Does murder have to be the default solution? L&L offers other options.

On this page: Interaction Challenges | Demenses, Settlements, Dominions | Culture, Mores, Folkways | Respect

Interaction Challenges

Interaction challenges offer a way to resolve conflicts and determine outcomes in non-violent situations. They replace or supplement single skill checks when a meeting among creatures is too complex to be resolved with one roll. These challenges introduce an element of risk with a series of successes and failures for your group to navigate. Most importantly, they emphasize player creativity by encouraging the clever use of magic, abilities, and skills.

The trick here is to create specific opportunities for everyone to "roleplay," even those who are shy or hesitant. Some players may not be, in real life, skilled in making speeches, or acting out characters, or just being witty. Just as a player might have no skill with a sword, but their character can be a blademaster, so, too, a player may have a leaden tongue, but their character can be a bard. It is perfectly fine for a player to say, "I give a good speech about how the baker needs to bake a file into a loaf of bread." The game master says, "OK, make a Diplomacy check." That's a perfectly fine interaction. That said, if a player IS talented with words and roleplay, reward that with bonuses to checks or even an automatic success -- so long as that player does not come to dominate the game in ways that hurt everyone else's fun.

Designing an Interaction Challenge

When you, as a game master, create an interaction challenge, make sure that you set it up to resolve a particular situation. Clarity helps defeat confusion, so be clear about what the challenge is about, and what may happen, win or lose. Do not reveal exactly what will happen either way, but the players should know the stakes. And just because you set up a problem as an interaction challenge, the players may have the option to resove it with combat; indeed, the threat of violence is a part of the tension of many interactions. Similarly, a failed interaction encounter may result in the NPCs initiating a fight, perhaps on terms not favorable to the players!

Set up the challenge as a scenario in which player characters need to leap over a number of hurdles. Track when they notch a win (a success) and when they drop the ball (a failure). For an average difficulty challenge, once the party has achieved a number of sucesses equal the number of player characters in the group, the challenge is won; if the party has that many failures first, the challenge is lost. A party with five players should win five hurdles before they see five failures to win the challenge. For a harder challenge, raise the number of successes needed and lower the number of falures that leads to a loss. For an easier challenge, require fewer successes and allow more failures.

Do not announce how many successes / failures are part of the challenge ahead of time, although you can give hints through your own roleplay. "The dragon sits back, clearly entertained by your verbal jousting." Or "The sphinx's tail twitches angrily as you continue to offer jokes instead of serious answers to his riddle." Or "Captain Grazztock tugs his beard and says, 'You elves make me sick with your trees and dancing and flowers, but you make some good points about those foul-bedecked goblins.' He is definitely considering your words."

There are three kinds of hurdles you can use in your challenge:

Plan for a mix of challenges and be flexible. Do not dictate HOW a hurdle can be cleared. You should consider possible solutions when creating the challenge, but allow for your players to be more creative and thoughtful than yourself. Allow for unexpected skill uses, smart roleplay, and amazing ablity use. This is where you reward players for innovation and engagement. Clearing a hurdle in an outstanding way can count as two or more successes. Speaking of which, if a player is shy or unengaged, make a hurdle they clear worth two successes. And be wary of players who dominate or over-contribute to these challenges, perhaps privately encouraging them later to take it down a notch, and to allow others to shine.

Running an Interaction Challenge

Just as it is vital that players know a combat has started, so too they need to know that an interaction has begun. So start by telling players clearly that they are in an interaction challenge, and give them a sense of whether it is easy (fewer successes than failures), hard (more successes than failures), or average. Describe the situation, the goal, and potential pitfalls.

You may want to declare the skill DCs you are looking for, or not — You may have lower DCs for more relevant skills. But in general, do not overemphasize skill use over roleplay and other abilities. Make sure to engage your players with descriptions of the action as they attempt to jump the hurdles you have set, just as a good game master describes combat as more than simply numbers going down. As they chalk up successes and failures, keep the tally of each out in the open.

Sample Interaction Challenges

Fast-Talking the Local Constabulary

Bargaining with a Devil

Persuading a Magical Door

Demenses, Settlements, and Dominions

In places where people live, private spaces and public spaces, buildings and land, are valuable to those who occupy them and those who rule them. These spaces define homes, communities, nations, and civilizations. They are the stages upon which stories unfold, and the battlegrounds where power is won and lost.

Demense

A Demense is a private holding, the personal possession of an individual or a group, where you dwell, and often where you work. Here are examples of Demenses, from the most humble to the most grand, on a scale from 1 to 10, along with the typical cost to purchase it.

  1. A cottage and small farm (500 gp)
  2. A cooper's apartment above her shop (1,000 gp)
  3. The tents, wagons, and portable stage of a travelling troop of actors (2,000 gp)
  4. A manor house, basically a very nice residence, with maybe acre of grounds in a city, stables and a dozen acres of gardens in the countryside (4,000 gp)
  5. An inn with a common room, rooms for let, a kitchen, a couple acres for a garden, stables, and outbuildings (8,000 gp)
  6. A sea-going merchant ship (16,000 gp)
  7. A small walled keep surrounded by fields and pastures (32,000 gp)
  8. A large abbey with a church, churchyard, outbuildings, fields, vinyards, and a village nearby (64,000 gp)
  9. A sturdy castle and a walled town on an island in a river (128,000 gp)
  10. A king's palace and all the towns and villages for dozens of miles around, with forts at the edges to protect them (256,000 gp)

Some players are content to be wanderers for their entire career, owning only what they can carry, rootless and free. Others will be eager to make homes and Demenses. Any player character can have a Demense, gaining it as a quest reward, perhaps, or paying for it out of personal funds, or pooling funds with friends to create a jointly owned Demense. In all these cases, the player counts the value of the Demense against their allowed personal wealth, also known as their WBL (Wealth By Level).

For more information on Demenses, check out the Aristocrat secondary class, since one of the benefits bestowed by that class is a Demense that does not count against WBL, and which in fact generates revenue above and beyond the usual recommended wealth by level. Also see the Clout feat tree.

Settlement

A Settlement may be a part of your Demense, or a home town, or a fabulous big city, or simply a place to visit once and then move on. In all these examples, it is useful to be able to describe the civilized places of the world, from tiny hamlets to major cities:

Settlement Population Ranges
A settlement's population is left to the GM to assign, but you can use a settlement's type to help you determine just how many folks live in the city. Since the actual number of people who dwell in a settlement has no impact on game play, the number you choose is largely cosmetic — feel free to adjust the suggested values below to fit your campaign.
Settlement TypePopulation Range
ThorpFewer than 20
Hamlet21-60
Village61-200
Small town201-2,000
Large town2,001-5,000
Small city5,001-10,000
Large city10,001-25,000
MetropolisMore than 25,000

The best way to handle a settlement in your game, of course, is to plan it out, placing every shop and every home, naming every NPC, and mapping every building. Yet settlements are the most complicated locations you're likely to ever feature in your game, and the prospect of fully detailing one is daunting, especially if your PCs are likely to visit multiple settlements.

Presented below are basic rules for a more streamlined method of handling settlements in your game. Essentially, these rules treat settlements almost as characters of their own, complete with stat blocks. Using these rules, you can generate the vital data for a settlement quickly and efficiently, and with this data you can handle the majority of your players' interactions with the settlement.

Note that for particularly large cities, you can use multiple settlement stat blocks to represent different districts within a city. This allows you to have neighborhoods with distinct characteristics inside one city's walls. GMs should feel free to add other new elements to create the cities they desire.

THE SETTLEMENT STAT BLOCK

A settlement stat block is organized as follows.

Name: The settlement's name is presented first.

Alignment and Type: A settlement's alignment is the general alignment of its citizens and government—individuals who dwell therein can still be of any alignment, but the majority of its citizens should be within one step of the settlement's overall alignment. Alignment influences a city's modifiers. The type is the size category the settlement falls into, be it thorp, hamlet, village, town (small or large), city (small or large), or metropolis. In most cases, rules play off of a settlement's type rather than its exact population total. A settlement's type determines many of its statistics.

Modifiers: Settlements possess six modifiers that apply to specific skill checks made in the settlement. A settlement's starting modifier values are determined by its type. This value is further adjusted by the settlement's alignment, government, qualities, and disadvantages. Note that introducing settlement modifiers to your game will somewhat increase the complexity of skill checks by adding a variable modifier each time the PCs visit a new town or city—consider the use of these modifiers an optional rule.

Qualities: All settlements have a certain number of qualities that further adjust their statistics—think of qualities as feats for settlements. A settlement's type determines how many qualities it can have.

Danger: A settlement's danger value is a number that gives a general idea of how dangerous it is to live in the settlement. If you use wandering monster chart that uses percentile dice and ranks its encounters from lowest CR to highest CR, use the modifier associated with the settlement's danger value to adjust rolls on the encounter chart. A settlement's base danger value depends on its type.

Disadvantages: Any disadvantages a settlement might be suffering from are listed on this line. A settlement can have any number of disadvantages you wish to inflict on it, although most settlements have no disadvantages.

Government: This entry lists how the settlement is governed and ruled. The type of government a settlement follows affects its statistics.

Population: This number represents the settlement's population. Note that the exact number is flexible; a settlement's actual population can swell on market days or dwindle during winter—this number lists the average population of the settlement. Note that this number is generally used for little more than flavor—since actual population totals fluctuate, it's pointless to tether rules to this number. After the settlement's total population, a breakdown of its racial mix is listed in parentheses.

Notable NPCs: This section lists any notable NPCs who live in the city, sorted by their role in the community, followed by their name and then their alignment, gender, race, class, and level in parentheses.

Base Value and Purchase Limit: This section lists the community's base value for available magic items in gp. There is a 75% chance that any item of this value or lower can be found for sale in the community with little effort. If an item is not available, a new check to determine if the item has become available can be made in 1 week. A settlement's purchase limit is the most money a shop in the settlement can spend to purchase any single item from the PCs. If the PCs wish to sell an item worth more than a settlement's purchase limit, they'll either need to settle for a lower price, travel to a larger city, or (with the GM's permission) search for a specific buyer in the city with deeper pockets. A settlement's type sets its purchase limit.

Spellcasting: Unlike magic items, spellcasting for hire is listed separately from the town's base value, since spellcasting is limited by the level of the available spellcasters in town. This line lists the highest-level spell available for purchase from spellcasters in town. A town's base spellcasting level depends on its type.

Magic Items: This line lists the number of magic items above a settlement's base value that are available for purchase. In some city stat blocks, the actual items are listed in parentheses after the die range of items available — in this case, you can use these pre-rolled resources when the PCs first visit the city as the magic items available for sale on that visit. If the PCs return to that city at a later date, you can roll up new items as you see fit.

Table: Settlement Statistics
Type Modifiers Qualitites Danger Base Limit Purchase Limit Spellcasting Max Magic Item Value Number of Magic Items Available
Thorp -4 1 -10 50 gp 500 gp 1st 50 gp 1d4 items
Hamlet -2 1 -5 200 gp 1,000 gp 2nd 100 gp 1d6 items
Village -1 2 0 500 gp 2,500 gp 3rd 200 gp 2d4 items
Small town 0 2 0 1,000 gp 5,000 gp 4th 400 gp 3d4 items
Large town 0 3 5 2,000 gp 10,000 gp 5th 800 gp 3d4 items
Small city 1 4 5 4,000 gp 25,000 gp 6th 1,600 gp 4d4 items
Large city 2 5 10 8,000 gp 50,000 gp 7th 3,200 gp 4d4 items
Metropolis 4 6 10 16,000 gp 100,000 gp 8th 6,400 gp *
* In a metropolis, nearly all minor magic items are available.

SETTLEMENT MODIFIERS

Life in a settlement is represented by six modifiers, each of which adjusts the use of specific skills within the city.

Corruption: Corruption measures how open a settlement's officials are to bribes, how honest its citizens are, and how likely anyone in town is to report a crime. Low corruption indicates a high level of civic honesty. A settlement's corruption modifies all Bluff checks made against city officials or guards and all Stealth checks made outside (but not inside buildings or underground).

Crime: Crime is a measure of a settlement's lawlessness. A settlement with a low crime modifier is relatively safe, with violent crimes being rare or even unknown, while a settlement with a high crime modifier is likely to have a powerful thieves' guild and a significant problem with violence. The atmosphere generated by a settlement's crime level applies as a modifier on Sense Motive checks to avoid being bluffed and to Sleight of Hand checks made to pick pockets.

Economy: A settlement's economy modifier indicates the health of its trade and the wealth of its successful citizens. A low economy modifier doesn't automatically mean the town is beset with poverty—it could merely indicate a town with little trade or one that is relatively self-sufficient. Towns with high economy modifiers always have large markets and many shops. A settlement's economy helps its citizens make money, and thus it applies as a modifier on all Craft, Perform, and Profession checks made to generate income.

Law: Law measures how strict a settlement's laws and edicts are. A settlement with a low law modifier isn't necessarily crime-ridden—in fact, a low law modifier usually indicates that the town simply has little need for protection since crime is so rare. A high law modifier means the settlement's guards are particularly alert, vigilant, and well-organized. The more lawful a town is, the more timidly its citizens tend to respond to shows of force. A settlement's law modifier applies on Intimidate checks made to force an opponent to act friendly, Diplomacy checks against government officials, or Diplomacy checks made to call on the city guard (see sidebar).

Lore: A settlement's lore modifier measures not only how willing the citizens are to chat and talk with visitors, but also how available and accessible its libraries and sages are. A low lore modifier doesn't mean the settlement's citizens are idiots, just that they're close-mouthed or simply lack knowledge resources. A settlement's lore modifier applies on Diplomacy checks made to gather information and Knowledge checks made using the city's resources to do research when using a library.

Society: Society measures how open-minded and civilized a settlement's citizens are. A low society modifier might mean many of the citizens harbor prejudices or are overly suspicious of out-of-towners. A high society modifier means that citizens are used to diversity and unusual visitors and that they respond better to well-spoken attempts at conversation. A settlement's society modifier applies on all Disguise checks, as well as on Diplomacy checks made to alter the attitude of any non-government official.

SETTLEMENT ALIGNMENT AND GOVERNMENT

A settlement's alignment not only describes the community's general personality and attitude, but also influences its modifiers. A lawful component to a settlement's alignment increases its law modifier by 1. A good component increases its society modifier by 1. A chaotic component increases its crime modifier by 1. An evil component increases its corruption modifier by 1. A neutral component increases its lore modifier by 1 (a truly neutral city gains an increase of 2 to its lore modifier). Alignment never modifies a settlement's economy modifier.

Just like nations, towns and cities are ruled by governments. A settlement's government not only helps to establish the flavor and feel of the community but also adjusts its modifiers. Choose one of the following as the settlement's government.

Anarchy: An organization of society on the basis of voluntary cooperation, without rulers or laws. Depends on culture and common mores for communal cohesion. (Corruption and Law -6, Crime and Society +4)

Autocracy: A single individual chosen by the people rules the community. This leader's actual title can vary—mayor, burgomaster, lord, or even royal titles like duke or prince are common. Term of office may be short or long — even for life. (No modifiers)

Council: A group of councilors, often composed of guild masters or members of the aristocracy, leads the settlement. (Society +4; Law and Lore -2)

Democracy: All citizens vote via plebiscite, referenda, public meetings, and town halls to directly settle questions of policy and to pass laws, administered by bureaucrats. Voting citizenship may be limited to a sub-population. (Society and Lore +2; Law and Crime -2)

Magical Tyranny: An individual or group with potent magical power, such as a high priest, an archwizard, or even a magical monster, leads the community. (Lore +2; Corruption and Society -2; increase spellcasting by 1 level)

Overlord: The community's ruler is a single individual who either seized control or inherited command of the settlement. (Corruption and Law +2; Crime and Society -2)

Republic: The community elects a large number of representatives who gather in parliament to rule and make laws. (Law +2, Lore, and Society +2; Corruption -2)

Secret Syndicate: An unofficial or illegal group like a thieves' guild rules the settlement—they may use a puppet leader to maintain secrecy, but the group members pull the strings in town. (Corruption, Economy, and Crime +2; Law -6)

SETTLEMENT QUALITIES

Settlements often have unusual qualities that make them unique. Listed below are several different qualities that can further modify a community's statistics. A settlement's type determines how many qualities it can have—once a quality is chosen, it cannot be changed.

Note that many of the following qualities adjust a town's base value or purchase limit by a percentage of the town's standard values. If a town has multiple qualities of this sort, add together the percentages from modifiers and then increase the base value by that aggregated total—do not apply the increases one at a time.

Academic: The settlement possesses a school, training facility, or university of great renown. (Lore +1, increase spellcasting by 1 level)

Holy Site: The settlement hosts a shrine, temple, or landmark with great significance to one or more religions. The settlement has a higher percentage of divine spellcasters in its population. (Corruption -2; increase spellcasting by 2 levels)

Insular: The settlement is isolated, perhaps physically or even spiritually. Its citizens are fiercely loyal to one another. (Law +1; Crime -1)

Magically Attuned: The settlement is a haven for spellcasters due to its location; for example, it may lie at the convergence of multiple ley lines or near a well-known magical site. (Increase base value by 20%; increase purchase limit by 20%; increase spellcasting by 2 levels)

Notorious: The settlement has a reputation (deserved or not) for being a den of iniquity. Thieves, rogues, and cutthroats are much more common here. (Crime +1; Law -1; Danger +10; increase base value by 30%; increase purchase limit by 50%)

Pious: The settlement is known for its inhabitants' good manners, friendly spirit, and deep devotion to a deity (this deity must be of the same alignment as the community). (Increase spellcasting by 1 level; any faith more than one alignment step different than the community's official religion is at best unwelcome and at worst outlawed—obvious worshipers of an outlawed deity must pay 150% of the normal price for goods and services and may face mockery, insult, or even violence)

Prosperous: The settlement is a popular hub for trade. Merchants are wealthy and the citizens live well. (Economy +1; increase base value by 30%; increase purchase limit by 50%)

Racially Intolerant: The community is prejudiced against one or more races, which are listed in parentheses. (Members of the unwelcome race or races must pay 150% of the normal price for goods and services and may face mockery, insult, or even violence)

Rumormongering Citizens: The settlement's citizens are nosy and gossipy to a fault—very little happens in the settlement that no one knows about. (Lore +1; Society -1)

Strategic Location: The settlement sits at an important crossroads or alongside a deepwater port, or it serves as a barrier to a pass or bridge. (Economy +1; increase base value by 10%)

Superstitious: The community has a deep and abiding fear of magic and the unexplained, but this fear has caused its citizens to become more supportive and loyal to each other and their settlement. (Crime -4; Law and Society +2; reduce spellcasting by 2 levels)

Tourist Attraction: The settlement possesses some sort of landmark or event that draws visitors from far and wide. (Economy +1; increase base value by 20%)

SETTLEMENT DISADVANTAGES

Just as a settlement can have unusual qualities to enhance its statistics, it can also suffer from disadvantages. There's no limit to the number of disadvantages a community can suffer, but most do not have disadvantages, since a settlement plagued by disadvantages for too long eventually collapses. A disadvantage can arise as the result of an event or action taken by a powerful or influential NPC or PC. Likewise, by going on a quest or accomplishing a noteworthy deed, a group of heroes can remove a settlement's disadvantage. Several disadvantages are listed below.

Anarchy: The settlement has no leaders—this type of community is often short-lived and dangerous. (Replaces settlement's Government and removes Government adjustments to modifiers; Corruption and Crime +4; Economy and Society -4; Law -6; Danger +20)

Cursed: Some form of curse afflicts the city. Its citizens might be prone to violence or suffer ill luck, or they could be plagued by an infestation of pests. (Choose one modifier and reduce its value by 4)

Hunted: A powerful group or monster uses the city as its hunting ground. Citizens live in fear and avoid going out on the streets unless necessary. (Economy, Law, and Society -4; Danger +20; reduce base value by 20%)

Impoverished: Because of any number of factors, the settlement is destitute. Poverty, famine, and disease run rampant. (Corruption and Crime +1; decrease base value and purchase limit by 50%; halve magic item availability)

Plagued: The community is suffering from a protracted contagion or malady. (-2 to all modifiers; reduce base value by 20%; select a communicable disease—there's a 5% chance each day that a PC is exposed to the disease and must make a Fortitude save to avoid contracting the illness)

SAMPLE SETTLEMENTS

While it's nice to be prepared, and planning out cities can be fun in and of itself, it's not always possible to generate specific settlement stat blocks for every town and city that the PCs might visit. Sometimes the PCs decide to venture off in search of supplies instead of heading straight for the next dungeon, other times they make selling their newly acquired loot their highest priority. The following sample settlements are designed for precisely such occasions. Rather than a specific name, each of these sample settlements bears a generic title that indicates what kind of settlement it is or where it might be located.

Capital City (N large city)

City of Thieves (CN small city)

City-State of Intrigue (LE metropolis)

Creepy Backwoods Hamlet

Dwarven Trade Town (LG large town)

Elven Town (CG small town)

Failing Fishing Village (LN village)

Sleepy Crossroads Thorp (NG thorp)

Guards! Guards! — What to do when the watch is called
It's inevitable—sooner or later, the PCs will want to call upon the town guard or cause a situation where citizens do so instead. Calling for the guard requires a Diplomacy check modified by the settlement's law modifier. It's only a DC 5 check to call for the guard—with a success, the guards generally arrive on the scene in 1d6 minutes. Every 5 points by which the Diplomacy check exceeds DC 5 (rounding down) reduces the arrival time by 1 minute—if this reduces their arrival time below 1 minute, the increments of reduction instead change to 1 round. For example, the party wizard is being mugged and calls for the guard. The result of his Diplomacy check is a 23, and the GM rolls a 2 on 1d6 to determine how long it'll be before the guards arrive. Since the wizard rolled three times the amount he needed, the 2-minute wait time is reduced to 8 rounds.

Dominion

A Dominion is commonly called a nation, that is, a mostly contiguous location with a common culture and government. A Dominion can be a small single-settlement city-state or a huge country that includes many settlements. A Dominion also represents the geographic extent of communication and society; news travels within a nation, and the inhabitants often think of themselves as belonging to the country, sometimes with patriotism and fervor, sometimes with indifference but nonetheless a sense of home.

It is not necessary to delve deep into Dominion-level lore to have a successful L&L campaign. The doings of the nation do not need to impinge on labyrinth delvings, wilderness explorations, treasure map adventures, ghost hunting, and so on. But knowing the details of the local Dominions can inspire interesting stories. A revolt against a cruel noble, local elections, an invasion by a neighboring Dominion, a king declaring a reward for an infamous criminal, or a meeting with a famous hero can all lead to novel experiences. And if your players characters advance into the hero and legendary tiers of play, it is harder to avoid the attention of other very powerful people, creatures, and gods.

To dig deeper into your Dominion, start by sketching a map showing the country, its name, place in the world, geography, major settlements, resources, and interesting locations. In addition to a map, you may jot down notes to make a sort of stat block for the Dominion. Here are some ideas for such a stat block:

It is possible that higher level players will want their characters to found their own Dominions. If the other players are into this idea — and maybe want to be founders, too — then many adventures can revolve around a nation-building campaign. Expansion in wilderness or secession from another Dominion. Finding and using resources, evicting (or recruiting) monsters, attracting merchants. Dealing with major threats, from invasion to plague, widespread curses, zombie apocalypse, and more.

Culture, Mores, Folkways

As a game master creates dominions, the default "stock fantasy setting" is not the only choice. You can add flavor and interest to your dominions by thinking about culture, especially in the ways it differs from the default. You may detail elements of a culture including the primary language and dialects; the dominant religion(s) and their influence, how people act on holidays, artistic and literary traditions, and so on. Consider a dominion's folkways, mores, and culture as you build your world. Learn more about these ideas on Wikipedia.

Folkways: Folkways are norms of behavior, activities of everyday life, the quirks that grease the gears of social interaction. Saying thank-you and please, shaking hands upon meeting, wearing a cap and gown to a graduation, wearing special clothes to a funeral — these are folkways of American and Western culture in the real world. Folkways guide how people act in social groups, in public, among family and friends, how they dress, speak, and even think. Foreigners are easy to identify when they do not know a culture's folkways, or fail to use them, or use them incorrectly. Failure to use these correctly more often leads to amusement or annoyance from natives of a dominion, but such errors are not illegal or taboo.

In a fantasy setting, you are free to create your own folkways. You can base these on real world cultures: in Japan, there is a tradition of bowing for greetings; in Polynesia, touching another's hair may be considered rude; in Arab countries, do not point your shoe or foot at someone. You can invent these as well, for example, with clothing, colors, forms of address, and basically any way that people interact. Maybe people of a given dominion all say "Hey?" to signify they are done speaking, and it is rude to interrupt someone who has not yet said "Hey?" Maybe, in a warm climate, all people wear skirts and bare legs; a colony of this dominion in a cold place tries to keep to this folkway, even if it is hard or absurd.

Mores: These stronger cultural rules, taboos, and laws define morality and immorality for a culture. Mores (pronounced "more-ays") may define what is right and wrong in a society, apart from the game's objective guidelines around Good and Evil. In the real world, there are mores surrounding crime, who you can marry, how you treat your kids and parents, how you define honor and loyalty, and the oaths and cuss words you can use. Violating mores can result in ostracism, condemnation, violence, or legal action ... and being a foreigner may or may not be considered an excuse.

Used carefully, mores in a fantasy game campaign can lead to interesting challenges. Perhaps clerics and druids are not allowed to associate with or even speak to each other. Maybe companions must walk behind their masters; or in front; or are not allowed in cities at all. Magical oaths may be used in lawful places to ensure one keeps one's word. Common mores cover alignment and magic. For example:

The Prisoner Dilemma — What to do with defeated foes
What to do with prisoners? Counter tradition in RPGs, you do not have to be a mass murderer. In a game modeled after the real world, you can appeal to a higher authority, and put villains behind bars. In urban settings, there is likely a City Guard or other peacekeeping force that will take care of miscreants. This is the superhero model, in which player characters act as caped crusaders, delivering criminals to the police. Heroes in this mode may even get official notice of some kind. But in the wilderness, or in a lonely labyrinth, then what?

One idea is to expect that if you have defeated a foe and then taken all their gear, they'll be smart enough to realize that they would lose in rematch, especially lacking all their possessions, so they cease to be a threat. But they could still pose a danger to weaker innocents and others. Another option is to hope that showing mercy tends to make defeated foes reflect on their failings and come around to a better point of view. If all life is sacred, and what separates good from evil is respect for life, then demonstrating mercy is a compelling argument.

If your campaign is a darker, more cynical, arguably more realistic world, this may not work. Released foes re-arm and come back. Or they slink away from you to go hunt babies and kitties for snacks. Well, L&L is a game in which exceedingly unrealistic things happen in order to allow heroic adventures that ignore the gritty reality of the real world. In the real world, wounds take weeks to heal. In D&D, a small wound naturally heals overnight, and magic makes things better immediately. There are no rules for broken bones, scars, infection, etc. This is so exceptionally unrealistic as to be laughable, but we are so very used to it as a convention that it does not even occur to us to challenge it. Similarly, the rules for falling are absurd. A character with 40 hp can expect to fall from any distance with very little danger of death, since falling damage maxes out at 10d6. Even a "short" fall of say 30 ft at low level is very survivable, and if you have 1 hp left, you can get up and run a marathon. In real life, well, no. We accept these simulationistically silly ideas as game conventions because we want our fantasy world to work that way. We use magic and game conventions in D&D in order to make the game more fun -- in order to purge the game of the more gritty, unpleasant, and darker consequences that would pop up if the game were a better simulation of reality. Just as you can use a skill, class ability, or spell to cure a wound, L&L has ways to change a defeated foe's alignment. For example, a Helm of Opposite Alignment is the perfect tool for the job. Just pop one onto the head of your prisoner, and voila! Problem solved, set that green dragon, ogre mage, or anti-paladin free. Note that this is a transmutation effect, not an enchantment or charm, so it should work just fine on mummies and ghouls too!

You do not have to be a murderhobo any more.

Respect

Successful interactions generally — and interaction challenges specifically — offer their own reward in that the interaction resolves in favor of the player characters. But players, used to more combat-oriented games, may also need a tangible incentive to see the value of winning without recourse to violence. Using Respect incentivises and encourages players to try interaction abilities. In addition, this system (administered by the Universal System, in game) pushes players to consider the long-term consequences of their actions, shaping their character's reputation and relationships with NPCs. And as characters encounter cultures different from their own, they learn that earning respect can mean different things in different Dominions.

This system can simulate the complex social dynamics of real-world societies, where reputation is a valuable commodity. Players' actions can have lasting consequences, shaping the world around them and influencing future events. And as player characters build thier reputations and possibly take on important roles beyond "adventurer" — bishop or baron, general or guildmaster, mayor or mob boss — respect measures influence, status, and achievement, offering another way to keep players invested in the game.

Respect Points

Whenever the game master hands out Experience Points, usually at the end of a gaming session or at the start of the next one, the game master awards Respect Points to each player character as well. A character has a hard floor of -10 Respect Points and a hard ceiling of charisma score plus character level. Here are typical ways to earn and lose Respect Points:

Action Gain Respect For: Lose Respect For:
Heroic Deeds Completing challenging quests, performing great deeds Failing quests, cowardice
Moral Behavior Keeping a Dominion's mores, especially at a personal cost Breaking mores, ignoring folkways, insulting cultures
Ethical Behavior Keeping promises and commitments Breaking oaths, betrayal
Interaction Success Winning interaction challenges Failing challenges
Politesse and Manners Treating others with courtesy and fairness Using scorn, bad manners, and derision

In general, a game master should be careful in awarding Respect Points — figuring out the right award depends on factors including churn (how fast your players use them up), character level, the magnitude of events that gain or remove points, etc. You will find the right balance to keep your players engaged without cheapening the value of Respect Points you award. Note that Respect is bestowed by the Universal System, so deeds done secretly, unknown to all others, still affect your Respect and points awarded (or lost).

A starting character begins with Respect Points equal to their tier (1, 2, 3, or 4) plus their odd (column A) Charisma modifier.

Using Respect Points

A character's Respect goes up or down depending on the game master's ruling for each gaming session. In addition, a player can choose to spend Respect to boost certain skill checks. You can use a point (only one) to gain a +5 bonus on a skill check listed below. You can use a Respect Point a number of times per day that depends on your tier: Level 1-5, once per day. Level 6-10, twice per day. Level 11-15, thrice per day. Level 16-20, four times per day. You must choose to use a point before you roll, but if the check fails, you do not lose the point or the daily use. Respect Points can only be used for interactions with people (not monsters) who have an Intelligence of 8 or higher. Here are the skill checks on which you can use a Respect Point:

Just holding on to Respect Points is in itself a way to "use" them. The more you have on hand, the more you project an aura that commands respect (or possibly inspires disdain if you have negative points). Depending on your current point total, your aura has the following consequences:

Point total -10 to 0: People have a starting attitude of "unfriendly" towards you (see Diplomacy). In combat, people gain a +4 bonus to initiative against you because they do not trust you.
Point total 1 to 10: People have a starting attitude of "indifferent" towards you.
Point total 11 to 20: People have a starting attitude of "indifferent" towards you. You gain a +2 on rolls to gain permission to take a prestige class.
Point total 21 to 30: People have a starting attitude of "friendly" towards you.
Point total 30 to 40: People have a starting attitude of "friendly" towards you. You are granted the lowest title of nobility in your culture. If you already have a title, your aristocratic rank improves.
Point total 41+: People have a starting attitude of "helpful" towards you.
All benefits are lost if your point total dips into the negatives, and must be re-earned. Starting attitude changes with your current total. Your bonus to gain a prestige class and your minor title persist regardless of changes, unless your Respect goes into the negatives.

Labyrinths & Liontaurs is a d20 roleplay game based primarily on Labyrinths & Dragons Third Edition and Pathfinder First Edition.

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