L Is for Let’s Dance
Sooner or later, any group of heroes adventuring in the world The Boogie Knights of the Round Table (BKotRT) will find themselves embroiled in some sort of artistic battle: a dance off, a free flow rap slap down, dueling banjos, et cetera. When the conflict starts, it might be tempting to pit the heroes against the opposing team, and then start rolling dice, comparing numbers, figuring out who takes how much of what type of damage. Ah, good times.
But, this isn’t what happens in, say, a dance off. Yes, the heroes and their opponents are competing against each other, but they are competing against each other the approval of the audience. The team that wins is the team what wins over the spectators. Before the contest starts, the GM decides how many approval points are needed to win. He also gives the audience a quality, such Jaded Hip Hop Mob 2d8. Keep an eye on the average the audience can roll. Jaded Hip Hop Mob’s average roll would be 9, which gives the GM a gauge for how tough the crowd is. For approval points, I recommend 1 to 3 per hero. Then, the battle begins.
Deal out cards just like an initiative situation. It’s okay if the action doesn’t really flow this way. BKotRT doesn’t mind nonlinearity. Maybe the heroes take the stage, play their set, and then the next act takes the stage in the actual sequence of events. That doesn’t mean, however, that the action at the table needs to go that way. Go all Brian De Palma split screen, and mess with time as well. The crowd isn’t going to make its decision until it’s seen every act, so you might as well imagine the conflict as a montage where the action is more important than the actual sequence of events.
Run the conflict as a normal extended action. Each player takes a turn describing his hero’s contribution to his team’s act. When adjudicating, keep in mind the appropriateness of qualities. Beau Mandy’s Ex-Con Banjo Player quality serves him well at a bluegrass hoedown, but not quite as well staring down the angry faces surrounding a speed metal mosh pit. The GM rolls the audience’s quality. If the hero wins, he doesn’t do damage, but instead earns approval points, which are calculated the same way damage is. The first team to earn the necessary number of approval points wins the audience’s favor and the contest.
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