Idea For Determining Reaction Without a Roll:


  - First, you assign an 'Encounter Modifier' to notable NPCs. If an 
    NPC is more likely to be friendly, he gets a +N, if he's more 
    likely to be surly, he gets a -N (where 'N' is some value the GM 
    comes up with off the top of his head).

  - Then, you just start at 11 (smack dab in the middle of 'Neutral'),
    and add/subtract the PC's reaction modifiers and the NPC's 
    encounter modifiers. The resulting number is used to determine the
    result.

One shortcoming of this is that the scale isn't quite right, i.e. +4 
can make a big difference in real life, but doesn't make *quite* as 
big a deal using the "no roll" approach I've described. I might draft
up some new numbers for the reaction table that would scale better.

I dunno if this idea is even any good. Lemme know what you think.