Disperse (speech)

An effort that can be undertaken by any character who has gained the rapt attention of a crowd of any size. Rapt attention is defined as a pre-established willingness of the crowd to willfully acknowledge the character's desires. Rapt attention may be gained through deed, personal authority over the crowd or an attempt to initiate a grassroots movement.

To disperse a crowd is to cause them to surrender their anger, their will or their desires in order to send them on their way, separately, safe and sound. The character must make a charisma check. A successful roll will disperse the crowd, which may take some time - typically a number of minutes equal to the square root of the number of individuals making up the crowd.

A failure to disperse a crowd will cause them to cease listening to the character - even if the character was responsible for assembling the crowd. Once gathered, the crowd may do any of the following (roll a d20):

• (1-3) crowd will riot with no specific aim in mind; 1 in 20 of all buildings within a mile may be threatened.
• (4-12) crowd will select a leader of their own and set off to put their grievances to the nearest authority.
• (13-19) crowd will steadfastly refuse to obey any and all laws for a 24 hour period before dispersing.
• (20) crowd will select a leader and resolve to agitate for peaceful change.