Mutual Intolerance

[jason taylor]

I don't know why the subject never came up. But has anyone done a game with two PCs Intolerant of each other? Say an Englishman and an Irishman in a Cliffhangers game?

[Anthony]

Reaction modifiers between PCs have no defined effects, but PCs disliking one another is probably going to make trouble in most campaigns.

[Kallatari]

Although not specific to Intolerance itself, when I have Reaction modifiers that apply to PC, because the PC ultimately get to control what they do and how they roleplay, I usually convert the Reaction modifiers (whether bonus or penalty) into a penalty to any type of success rolls to assist each other, work together, or appear as a unified team. I view that as a side effect of how their PC are actually behaving toward each other that doesn't necessarily come out in the roleplay.

So, if that mutual Intolerance resulted in a -3 Reaction penalty to each other, I'd instead impose a -3 penalty to all success rolls to help each other; e.g., Apply First Aid to one another, attack an opponent who is attacking the person you are intolerant of (because you hope they hurt him first), spot a trap in the hallway if the person you are intolerant of the one walking in front and likely to trigger it (but not when it's yourself or others), and any actions involved in implementing the plan that person came up with because you want it to fail to show how horrible they are.

I'd even have it affect the target's success rolls in some situations. If the person you are intolerant of is the party's face and is talking to the NPC, you might throw in comments and snide remarks to what they are saying in order to mock them, which ultimately gives them a -3 to their roll to influence the NPC because of the negative input from the other PC. Or if they're trying to do something that requires focus or concentration, the constant reminders of how bad you are and likely to fail can impose penalties to that roll.

Intolerance usually requires a Reaction Roll for yourself to determine your actions toward the other at any give time. Perhaps instead of a flat -3, you vary in according to the Reaction results... -4 for "worse than Poor", -3 for "Poor", -2 with "Neutral", and -1 with "Good or better". I'm speculating on this one, so change numbers as you see fit.

Anyway, this is my solution to anything that creates a mandatory Reaction modifier to a PC (including when someone uses an Influence skill on the PC); convert the modifier to a penalty to all success rolls that I think the required reaction would potentially hamper; e.g., turn a Reaction bonus into a penalty to attack someone you like), or if it would cause distractions a penalty to notice something (you're not paying attention to the room but rather to the person you like/hate, thus apply the Reaction bonus or penalty as a penalty to success rolls to notice anything but them), etc.

I find applying the penalties to skill and success is the only way to guarantee the Reaction modifiers actually mean something, as solely roleplaying the effects can be very uneven (they'll do it sometimes, not others, or go overboard, or not enough, etc.) since not everyone roleplays the same way.