In today’s session the merchant guild master told one of the PC’s, “When you get to Khotla, find a man named Ario, and deliver a message that the merchants of Marida must not be fucked with.”
The player asks, “Have I heard of Ario?”
What test would you call for? I had the player use a Wise. But I also thought maybe Circles would be good, but since the player isn’t actually asking to talk with Ario right then and there, it didn’t make sense.
In the same session, an inebriated judge told one of the players about Tumo, a witness who gave false testimony in a trial. Again, one of the players wanted to know if she had heard of Tumo.
Would love advice or nuances to consider for situations where players want to test to see if they know about some NPC that another NPC brings up in conversation.
Well, I think the first question is “do you want to?” and if the answer is yes, then it is totally Circles. There are modifiers (or rather lack of them) for not here and not now.
A wise test would be appropriate for knowing who a person is, with the obstacle being inversely proportional to their prominence. e.g. knowing the name of the king’s heir (common knowledge) is easier than knowing the name of his father-in-law (interesting fact), which is easier than knowing who the king’s father’s seneschal was (details). But the wise would only indicate knowledge of them, not having met the person.
The way you phrased this “When you get to Khotla, find a man named Ario” indicates they should make a Circles test there, presuming Ario is in their Circles. An appropriate wise test could be a linked test for said Circles test.