At 02:16 AM 10/2/2003 -0600, you wrote:



>What do you think? Birthright-ey enough?

>Is this helpful to anyone`s campaign?



I like it, and I find it helpful in a general way in that what I`m really

looking for is a more generalized D20 method of addressing multiple check

activities, rather than a single exposition regarding one type of multiple

check action. This is something that I understand a couple of D20 products

have tried to address, though rarely as completely as addressed by this set

of negotiation rules. Aside from this one, the only multiple check action

I can think of in D20 rules is the rules for seduction in Spycraft

D20. Generally, what appears to be happening is that specific multiple

skill check activities are being addressed by particular D20 products

because we have no 3e/3.5/D20 guide to such things. Unfortunately, the

rules presented by these D20 products tend to be rather specific since they

are developed for a particular aspect of the campaign theme that they

cover. A generalized system of portraying multiple check activities would

be very nice.



[We also need a couple more interactive skills, but that`s another issue....]



There are a few dribs and drabs on how to handle multiple check actions in

3e/3.5/D20. Take 20, or the occasional text in a skill description that

describes how a character might craft an item or earn an income over a

period of time using that skill. On the whole, however, the rules are

either silent on the complexities of things like negotiation, seduction,

forgery, research, interviews, etc. or the rules distill them down into an

amazingly over simplistic single check.



For BR purposes, of course, we have domain actions, but I`d suggest that

there is at least two, probably three steps between a month long domain

action and the single skill check of 3e/3.5/D20, and a like number of

guidelines for after the domain level of play. Between a skill check and a

domain action we need one set of generalized rules for multiple check

actions (kind of like the non-combat version of a combat encounter--or a

round by round version of a check) an extension of that into a day long

activity (which I`d compare to a craft check--someone spending the whole

day performing the same series of actions, or performing the "take 20"

equivalent of a round by round multiple check action) and maybe a multiple

day action before we can abstract into the domain level.



IMO a domain action is essentially multiple, multiple check actions

combined with multiple, single check actions and combined with the results

of an "average" success rate of tasks delegated to specific individuals,

and backed by a general bureaucratic infrastructure. That is, if we were

to take a domain action and "adventure it out" into a more traditional D&D

adventure



From there we might leap off into a "time jump" set of rules that might be

used to handle things like a character going off to collect, or in a BR

campaign establish the development of the continent since the death of

Roele.... but I digress.



Anyway, this set of rules for negotiation adds a few interesting tweaks to

some of the things I`ve been considering for my own changes to the skill

system, so I appreciate you posting it.



Gary