New Rules To Add In Reputation (to replace Charisma)Reputation is the standing of your character (good and bad) towards other players and NPCs. Reputation grants a +1 to NPC rolls (or -1 to NPC rolls for bad reputation) (persuasion is what it mostly affects). Reputation is earned via mod discretion but gained, nonetheless, through actions performed by that character such as disputing a matter or winning a battle
Good reputation is the result of good deeds and outcomes. Makes vassals and the Church like you. However, a bad reputation can be viewed as either cruel (as in not liked) or feared (a good kind of bad reputation). Bad reputation, however, can make it hard for NPCs to like you and could encourage them, as well as players, to seek to overthrow said character. Bad rep tends to leave an effect on the asserted heir, but a good chunk can be removed by such actions
Knights and Holy Orders
Knights have a unique chance within the Holy Lands. This chance can result in the founding of a Religious Knightly Order within the Latin states of the Levant. Historically, these orders were founded on the principles of aiding pilgrims as well as the sick and poor. However, as time went on, their military prowess, financial riches, and immense holdings made them a powerful force within the Crusader States.
Orders are typically formed by knights with approval from the Pope or religious authority or the patronage of a ruler. Orders, early on, rely on charity from rulers, so please be generous to them. Land grants help towards their power, which will take money and manpower away from overall budget of that state. Orders require budget be spent on gaining knights or reputation to convince NPC nobles to have their troops join their order. Replenishment will require the same means if losses are incurred.
Powerful orders can become focal points of immense political influence and possible trouble. Rulers may seek to downsize them, but risk excommunication and loss of support from these orders. However, their professionalism and core of knights makes them highly valuable and desirable for campaigns.
Upon creating an order, the order’s founder is allowed 50 knights to start and a budget of 1,000 bezants to be used for recruiting more knights (a max of 100), to be used for building a castle, or more.
Knights
Knights will only cost for knightly orders as nobles will have their retinue of knights as well as knights brought up from the levies.
Knights can be bought separately or in groups. Individually, Knights are worth 10 per person while, in groups of 100, they will cost 1,000 to gain their services.
In general, there is still a cost to everything, based upon roleplay and will have a degree of mod discretion when it comes to price (especially if the projects are big ones, implemented by rulers). Think of stuff like road improvements, new roads, new castles, and so forth.
Building Projects
Similar to before, building projects will require funds. However, since there is no economic value to provinces, as before, money for these projects will come from player’s share of the budget.
Castles
1,000 for basic castle, known as a Rectangular Keep. Improvements, such as outer walls, inner walls, etc, will require roleplay and bezants to purchase.
Ex: if a lord wants to add a wall around his keep, a simple post or two explaining this improvement would yield what he wants. Cost for it must be reasonable, but not cheap. Moderation will keep an eye out for improvements and ensuring people aren’t cheating the system.
Castles were very Norman influence thus not very extensive
No more than an inner and outer wall, but more frequently just a keep
Budgets of Money and Manpower
Unlike previous settings, there will be no provincial values. Instead, each state will have its own budget of money and manpower. These numbers represent the total financial and military strength of each state which should be divided among players and NPCs, representing fiefdoms and vassals within each of the four Crusader states.
Note that this budget is not absolute, but can be gained and lost due to events within the game. If the Kingdom of Jerusalem expands, the budget is increased accordingly. However, if losses incurred result in land lost, moderation will adjust the budget based on the losses.
Starting Budgets (Money and Manpower) (in 1099)
- Jerusalem: 10,000 dinars a year and 7,500 men
- Antioch: 7,500 dinars a year and 5,000 men
- Tripoli: 7,500 dinars a year and 5,000 men
- Edessa: 5,000 dinars a year and 3,000 men
The Rule of One-Fourth
The rule of One-Fourth involves the lands, budget, and manpower of any state within the Levant. All rulers are entitled to 1/4 of the total for any of these three categories ensuring their dominance as the ruling family. This also represents the power of the ruling family as well. For a weak ruler may have the nobility seek to make this 1/4 entitlement be lessened, showing the rise of the nobles as the power of the state. Vice versa, rulers may seek to gain beyond the entitlement rule, representing a pursuit of greater royal power. Both of these have their benefits, but do have consequences. A ruler, controlled by the nobility, may cause loyalists to rise. A ruler, seeking greater royal authority, may antagonize the nobility and cause them to rise up against them.
Each grant, from the manpower side of budget, will have an x to x range for levying them. Each noble will be granted a maximum range, with a minimum range determined by moderation. An example being that the Lord of Jaffa can levy between 500 to 1000 men based off the land grant given to him (i.e. the manpower side of Jerusalem’s budget). As a result, when rolled, levies will be rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Levies will be composed of: 5% of knights, 10% of light cavalry, 20% of archers/crossbowmen, 25% of heavy infantry, and 40% of light infantry
All characters above the rank of knight will have a retinue of 50 knights, free of upkeep
Mercenaries
- As with a previous idea, there will be a thread for mercenaries in which a player will request the services of a company. Money from the player’s budget will be utilized as payment. There are several types of companies (light cavalry, archers/crossbowmen, heavy infantry and light infantry) that can accept this offer
- Players will have to state the bezants (currency) they offer and for how long. Alternatively, players may offer rights to sacking settlements conquered to the company in lieu of direct payment. However this option is risky because if the company is not satisfied or if they are blocked from sacking, they may likely leave or revolt against their employer. In addition, the player must request for how long they desire to have their services (a max limit of 4 weeks).
- An NPC will reply and accept or attempt to negotiate the price and/or the time.
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General Roleplaying Basics
- A maximum of six main characters (characters that have traits and can hold land) may be allowed. Each player may have a maximum of three noble houses.
- Characters given traits MUST be role-played on a consistent basis. Those who are not will not have their traits counted. If that means keeping relatives as auxiliary characters, then do so.
- Only the landholding characters within a family may collect income from their land.
- Auxiliary characters are limitless.
- Characters may commit suicide or die of illness (at the player's discretion) though abusing this in an unsportsmanlike fashion may warrant punishment.
Leaving a Thread
All characters who posted in a thread are assumed to remain in that thread unless they post a leaving post or after two full days of non-activity. This means that if you posted in a thread that you were there, and then someone an hour later assassinated you, you can’t claim that you were no longer there unless you specifically posted that you left before the assassination attempt was made.
Letting Others Respond
In your posts if they involve actions of other characters it is a rule that you must allow them a chance to respond and refrain from one post wins. For example, you cannot just post "John cut off Jimmy’s finger". You can however post "John went to cut off Jimmy’s finger" as you can see the second version allows Jimmy to respond to your action before you've done it (since you can’t take back a cut off finger).
Dice Rolls
All chance rolls (i.e. a birth roll, or an assassination attempt) are based on a D20, and have been done so that regardless of modifiers a natural 20 will always succeed, whilst a natural 1 will always fail. Thus a roll of 15/20 will succeed on 6-20, and fail on a 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. All vs rolls on the other hand (duels, jousts, etc) are based of the highest score wins. A + modifier always improves the roll odds, while a -Modifier always worsens the odds.
Other notes:
- All noble born patriarch characters start with a retinue of 50 men: 1/4 knights/huscarls and 3/4 serjeants/thegns.
- Once these characters are landed, this retinue increases to 100 men. These troops never disband, but can be killed in battle. The standard regeneration rate is 25 men a year.
Life and Death Death and Aging
The medieval world is rife with disease and untimely death, with infant mortality and an early grave being common thanks to most serious diseases being nigh untreatable. A character ages at a rate of 1 year per in game week, and will, at some point, be subject to various death rolls. These can be divided into two categories: child death rolls (representing the high infant mortality rate) and adult death rolls (representing the low life expectancy of a typical adult)
Child Death Rolls
Newly born children have a death roll every five years of their life, up until the age of 15. The chance of death begins at 3/20, gradually scaling down by 1 each time (so that the chance of death is 1/20 by the time the child is on her/his third roll). These rolls can be negated by survival traits, but there will always be a minimum 1/20 chance of death regardless of the survival stat
Adult Death Rolls
Adult death rolls take place at the age of 30 onward, once per decade until the age of 50, when they then occur once per five years. Though the chance of death initially will be very small, this will of course increase with age. As always, the minimum chance of death is 1/20, regardless of any survival traits.
30 – 34: 1/20 chance
35 – 39: 3/20 chance
40 – 44: 5/20 chance
45 – 49: 7/20 chance
50 – 54: 9/20 chance
55 – 59: 11/20 chance
60 – 70: 13/20 chance
70 onward: 15/20 chance
When a character dies, you are expected to kill them off by the end of the in game year. You'll be allowed to clear up any existing situations and resolve them, but following that your character must be declared deceased as soon as possible.
Skills
Characters have the following free points for their skills:
Age 10-18: 4 points
Age 18+: 6 points
- Characters may start with a maximum of 6 trait points, even if age 50 or older at the start.
- Characters may start with a maximum of +3 in any skill.
- You can gain additional skills via RP.
Skills
1. Military Skills
- Battles: +1 to battle rolls per level. Gained when a character wins an engagement against even or disadvantageous odds
- Pillager: Improves loot gained from raids, see Raid rules. Gained after every 3 raids.
- Scout: +1 to detecting armies preparing to attack the force the character is in command of, and -1 to enemy detection rolls made on an army your character is in command of. This applies if the character is specifically in command of the scouts (in RP this can be confirmed with anything like 'Scouts', 'Outriders', 'Light Horse', 'Cavalry', anything that can easily be interpreted as being in charge of the scouts) or successfully ambushes an opposing force.
- Logistician: Armies this character is in overall command of move 5% faster. Calculate total marching time in hours and subtract x%. Gained on request on a per-campaign if moderators feel the character's army's mobility has significantly contributed to a successful outcome.
- Rearguard: -1 to your army's rout casualty rolls. Applies only if the character is in command of the reserve. Gained if the army the character is in retreats in good order (i.e. the reserve wins their fight with the victorious enemy flank and no rout roll is made).
2. Personal Skills
- Survival: +1 to surviving death rolls and in duel defensive rolls. Gained if the character loses a battlefield duel (e.g. no sparring, training, friendly, or tourney duels) but is not killed by his opponent or from surviving an assassination attempt.
- Personal Combat. +1 to duel and jousting rolls. Gained if victorious in a duel that occurs either during a serious battle situation (a real battle, not a practice fight, tournament melee, training etc.) or if the victor is the winner of a tournament. Can be gained under other conditions if mod approved (highly unlikely). Does not require the death of the other combatant.
- Assassin: +1 to assassin rolls. Gained if the character assassinates another player character.
- Wealth: +5% to province income if you are a lordly character or +5% to asset income if you are a merchant character. Gained if the character uses their wealth to achieve something political (e.g. bribery, blackmail, buying someone's death) at moderation discretion.
- Reputation: +1 or -1 modifier to NPC Rolls. Every 10 Reputation equals a +1 to NPC Rolls (capped at +5 or 50 reputation). Vice versa, every -10 Reputation equals a -1 to NPC Rolls (capped at -5 or -50 repuation). Reputation is gained or decreased based on moderation discretion, it is not something that players can invest in with trait points. Actions result in the gain and loss of reputation. Good and bad reputation have their own effects on a person's realm as well, so be aware of that.
Dynamic Foreign System Dynamic Foreign System (aka DFS)
Throwing a pebble into a pool creates a ripple effect. So, too, does changing history in one country, even if it’s in a seemingly inconsequential way at first. Or, as the old poem goes:
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”
In past games, history outside of the country being played would flow on rails, following the same linear paths it did in our reality. No longer! The Dynamic Foreign System intends to provide at least a little variability in how history unfolds from the moment the game starts. Every year, mods will select a number of major historical events that year which plausibly could’ve gone another way, determine those other ways and their likely short to medium-term consequences, and roll a die with as many faces as there are outcomes to determine what happens.
For example, let us take the Flight to Varennes. There could be at least two other outcomes to King Louis and his family trying to flee the country in addition to the historical one, them getting caught: perhaps he succeeds, or perhaps he doesn’t try at all. Then we, the mods, will take a 1d6 and assign outcomes to each value:
1-2, historical outcome. 3-4, Louis escapes successfully. 5-6, Louis doesn’t try at all.
The historical outcome would produce historical consequences, ie. Louis and the royal family discredit themselves badly, get confined to the Tuileries Palace and are probably doomed in the long run (though he might be able to avoid getting condemned to death by vote at a later event subject to the DFS).
If he escapes, it could make him into a lightning rod for royalist resistance, or still discredit him and actually damage the royalist cause more by leaving them stuck with a hated figurehead instead of a royal martyr - subject to more rolls.
And if he doesn’t try to flee at all, thereby retaining popularity and credibility, perhaps the French Revolutionary Wars peter out more quickly and the Bourbon constitutional monarchy will survive. This is just one example out of many.
We encourage players to suggest major historical events to be subjected to DFS rolls, as well. It is not guaranteed that the mod team will tackle them all, obviously - too many rolls and too much time lost - but the most interesting (not necessarily the ‘biggest’ events, either) will certainly be taken under consideration for their own rolls, to further spice up and alter our timeline from reality’s.
