itch.io

Interesting question. I kinda wrote the procedure in the most direct way I would explain it...so let me try to answer your scenario specifically:

1. First of all, what's the Troll's Disposition? Let's assume he's not fond of adventurers and put him at a 3 or Wary. The GM let's the players know: "this creature seems unlikely to just let you pass for nothing, I'd put them at a 3 on the scale so they'd be rolling d10s in this encounter" and the players say "okay well, we just want this guy to let us cross, so we want to push him to a 4 or 5 on the scale"
2. The Troll rolls 2d10 and the players roll 2d6 (one 2d6 roll for the group). Both sides hide their dice from each other. (I liked putting them under cups in front of the two sides)
3. Every PC or NPC gets a chance to Ante for their side of argument, but each only gets to once. So the Troll could say "why should I let you pass? The last group through here threw a torch at me as soon as my back was turned!" Then the GM rolls a d6 and leaves that out in the open on their side. A player could say "listen, I don't even *like* fire. No torches on me" and the GM would be like "okay, kind of hard to prove, you can roll a d6 for that but you gotta spend 2 Luck points". Another player could say "I speak the ancient tongue of Trolls and have a token of friendship from that time I helped another Troll" and the GM would likely respond "Wow, that's great! Roll a d6, no need to spend any Luck" Another player could choose not to ante at all (maybe because they know the hidden 2d6 roll is very high?). Anyway any ante d6's that the players roll are kept out in the open as well.
4. At this point there are some dice visible on the table so we kinda know what the odds are. Maybe the players are thinking "damn, we are sitting on a *very low* total number and the GM's dice we can see are high" then they can either fold (give up) "well fine Troll, we'll find another way across" or double down (try again, harder) "we're going to change tactics and try to intimidate the Troll!", then we would go back to 2. Or they can just feel like their odds are pretty good and skip this step, proceeding to 5.
5. The GM and the players reveal their hidden dice and total up both sides. If the players are higher than the Troll the GM could say "the Troll scratches his chin, considering your argument and he figures, given that you did ask nicely in the ancient tongue, he's willing to let you pass". If they're too low the GM could say "the Troll spots the torch you tried to hide in your pack and is deeply annoyed. No way he's willing to let you across the bridge, he's sure you're trying to trick him!" If the players doubled down and lost? Well let's say they tried that three times? (you can keep repeating the loop where you double down, but it makes the disposition go down further) Then his disposition would move down 3 stages to 0! "Enraged that you would dare lie to him, the Troll swings his club at you!" Now we would turn to the combat page.

Does that help?

I've been thinking a lot about how useful examples of play can be (my 5B project over on DriveThruRPG uses them extensively) so I think in the event that I do an update to AZAG I would include them.