Post by Rule Hound on Mar 14, 2016 18:34:56 GMT
Downtime Actions
Action 1) Due by end (Sunday) of 1st week after game. We will have these back by Wednesday the following week.
Action 2) Due by end (Sunday) of second week (we may modify this slightly depending on how long it takes us to get out the first downtime actions - if we do we will post new due date on board). We will have these back by Friday of the 3rd week after game.
Additional actions - Retainers. These can be turned in with Action 1 or Action 2.
Actions not received by due dates will be lost. We are trying to co-ordinate the cross over of actions between players and include aspects of either main storyline, personal storyline. Also, we need to then incorporate the actions into our stories, determine how they affect things and replan/design where needed.
Submitting
When sending in downtime actions please send the 1-2 sentence description of what your goal is and what you wish to accomplish. List any relevant skills, disciplines, or resources (retainer...) that you feel will help you accomplish your goal.
Send 5-6 tests with your submission (paper/rock/scissors)
Please choose any penalties from the side-effects/penalty list and send them in promptly as they may affect your second downtime.
We strongly suggest determining what your Domain Downtime will be at game or as soon as possible. If you are stuck for time on what you want to do for your first action then you will be ready to send it in. The Duke guides these for the Domain and should either know what he wants you to do specifically, or you can submit it as a general domain action. Their indecision should not penalize you. This is a service that is for your Duchy as decreed by the Ard Rhi, the Duke just guides how you will serve the Domain.
If you know what you want to do as a personal action and can submit it during the first week then do so, you never know what may pop up that the Duke may want. But Fealty goes both ways, they can not hold you hostage "just in case". Also, unless they need something very specific and request it, you can simply tell them your 3+ point retainer is performing your service to the Domain.
The Dukes and Barons have tithe boons on you if they want more than is their due. If your Duke needs your second down time then feel free to bargain, ask for boons for your extra services, again you are not their slave, they have obligations to you and to treat you fairly also. Or bargain for this to be counted as your next years service.
You are Vampires/predators of the highest order who ultimately (because of the beast inside you) is looking out for number 1. When you are offering your service/knowledge/skills or possibly your entire downtime depending, to another so they can complete their quest you are performing a service. The only way to ensure services rendered are paid back is through boons. Sly quid-pro-quo ambiguous deals are anathema to Cainite Society and most of your paths (as you are giving away potential power over others).
You can assume that every one of your characters at many points in their history have been burned by such deals, by those you thought you could trust. It may have just been inconvenient at the time to pay you back or they may have played you for a fool to get something out of you for free. In addition you can assume YOU/your character has done this to others in the past to some other Cainite that was to stupid not to take advantage of or perhaps you had every intention of paying them back but now you have moved so wount, or you had something you felt was more important so when they asked for your help you served you (no boon to force it right)
Time periods in game
Breaking periods of downtime between games. When the first set of downtime results come out any messages started previous will be considered to have happened before the new events come out. this is to prevent a meeting that took place just after gathering all the sudden have events that took place 3 months latter fall into the middle of it.
In some cases we will let you know if your actions kept you away from knowledge or ability to instantly react to ongoing events.
Reasons for communication and travel delays
It all comes down to travel time. 20-50 hrs walking between most of the Duchies on today's well made paths/roads. In the dark ages the roads were hardly great. They were risky at the best of times and outright dangerous and hazardous at others. People are poor, bandits are common. Lone travelers and small groups best beware. Larger groups travel more slowly. Even homing pigeons do not always get through assuming you have them. Messages can be intercepted, modified and stopped outright if others wish to expend the effort.
We have provided the Shield of safety as a convenience so you do not always have to try to successfully travel (unless there is something happening that is particularly dangerous on the roads). We can create and update rooms at will. Feel free to just pop in, make an appearance and post a entrance. and let us know how long you hang around there. That way other people can just come across you there if they want and you can get a room if you want private converse (or pm's with storyteller and rulehound copied in, preferably a room as it avoids flooding our inboxes). Keep in mind those pesky Nosferatu could be anywhere. It is their stock in trade to spy on you. Or they might not be there.
Personal Items for Characters
We will need a basic list of the things you feel your character has/owns as items that may come into game. Mos particularly weapons and armor. Keep in mind this is based on your ability to get them, do not assume you have some superior items. In the Dark ages Swords were mystical things. Those of great quality (and good steel) often were passed down through the family line and legends arose from many of them like Excalibur. Armor was similar, we are only just reaching a time period where Knights come into existence. Armor was not something that was replaced on a whim, again it was passed down through families. The fancy armor we see in movies with jousting does not yet exist. Armor and a good weapon costs resources to both own and regularly maintain.
Horses are a little easier to get but still cost money to own and maintain, saddles...
Militia cost money to maintain and equip. Leadership keeps them in line and performing as requested.
The point is, do not assume you have things. If you have no money you don't have the benefits that go with it.
Your Domains may be rich but this is not money in your pocket. It is money in the pockets of the mortal Nobles and merchants. It represents more people working in your domains and thus more blood for you. High Domain resources does however grant you the ability to raise your personal resources (assuming someone else hasn't done so and hold a monopoly on the money coming into the Domain)
Mortals and the world around you
Always keep in mind the Mortals do ultimately rule the world, there is a reason most Cainites don't run around openly saying I am a vampire. And Cainites as much as they would like to think otherwise do not outright control everything. There are still mortal lords and such.
Controlling a Cainite domain means being the overseer of the territory and all Cainites in it. It does not grant special control over the moratal mayors or such. You still have to have a way to bribe/bargain and coerce them into doing what you want.
Animal Blood
1 Animal blood equals 1/2 point of vitae.
It does not compress to take up less space in your body rather it still takes up one spot in your blood pool but counts as only 1/2pt of vitae.
If you fill up on all animal blood you will feel full but will need to spend two points of animal blood to equal 1 point Normal blood.
Filling up on animal blood ALL the time however will eventually cause your best to rebel and crave human blood (sort of like an addiction)
Personal Quests
We highly encourage coming up with personal goals and quests, things your character wants and is willing to spend more than one downtime chasing. We recently had one character go seeking something that was unique to their character development and goals. We took that and have extended it into a longer more complex quest. Something they can chase as a character that will probably give them more than they intended in the end. But further, through their initiative we have now tied in a personal plot line that will eventually link back up and into the main story and affect events in the game itself.
Hosting Gatherings
Each Dukedom is expected to host gatherings periodically. Included in this is the set up of your location, hall will be opened at 5:00pm. We have a bunch of props that you can use to set up the hall, but feel free to bring more to customize your Duchies experience. Those who actively commit the time to set up the hall will get either a bonus xp or a bonus draw from the draw deck.
Keep in mind that the IC location must be something you have access to.
Game 2 structure 6:00pm game on
Argue/Fight over what happened in Triest 1/2-3/4 hrs (give Balaam a comon sense rundown, blood loss to his city, their disrespect, the Ard Rhi's declarations previous, the possible missing artifacts...)
Galahad Makes Entry/Ghoul reports him being dumped at gates 3/4-1 hr fallout (If Galahad is not at game then run scene with Gunner).
Outriders appear, reports come in to Raetus from Mudmen 13 knights approach on horse 10-15 minutes (max) to stew and react
Papal Legate arrives at Hall with (12) Accompanying Knights - all have some means of defending themselves against vampires (probably low level true faith), these are his Elite.
Action 1) Due by end (Sunday) of 1st week after game. We will have these back by Wednesday the following week.
Action 2) Due by end (Sunday) of second week (we may modify this slightly depending on how long it takes us to get out the first downtime actions - if we do we will post new due date on board). We will have these back by Friday of the 3rd week after game.
Additional actions - Retainers. These can be turned in with Action 1 or Action 2.
Actions not received by due dates will be lost. We are trying to co-ordinate the cross over of actions between players and include aspects of either main storyline, personal storyline. Also, we need to then incorporate the actions into our stories, determine how they affect things and replan/design where needed.
Submitting
When sending in downtime actions please send the 1-2 sentence description of what your goal is and what you wish to accomplish. List any relevant skills, disciplines, or resources (retainer...) that you feel will help you accomplish your goal.
Send 5-6 tests with your submission (paper/rock/scissors)
Please choose any penalties from the side-effects/penalty list and send them in promptly as they may affect your second downtime.
We strongly suggest determining what your Domain Downtime will be at game or as soon as possible. If you are stuck for time on what you want to do for your first action then you will be ready to send it in. The Duke guides these for the Domain and should either know what he wants you to do specifically, or you can submit it as a general domain action. Their indecision should not penalize you. This is a service that is for your Duchy as decreed by the Ard Rhi, the Duke just guides how you will serve the Domain.
If you know what you want to do as a personal action and can submit it during the first week then do so, you never know what may pop up that the Duke may want. But Fealty goes both ways, they can not hold you hostage "just in case". Also, unless they need something very specific and request it, you can simply tell them your 3+ point retainer is performing your service to the Domain.
The Dukes and Barons have tithe boons on you if they want more than is their due. If your Duke needs your second down time then feel free to bargain, ask for boons for your extra services, again you are not their slave, they have obligations to you and to treat you fairly also. Or bargain for this to be counted as your next years service.
You are Vampires/predators of the highest order who ultimately (because of the beast inside you) is looking out for number 1. When you are offering your service/knowledge/skills or possibly your entire downtime depending, to another so they can complete their quest you are performing a service. The only way to ensure services rendered are paid back is through boons. Sly quid-pro-quo ambiguous deals are anathema to Cainite Society and most of your paths (as you are giving away potential power over others).
You can assume that every one of your characters at many points in their history have been burned by such deals, by those you thought you could trust. It may have just been inconvenient at the time to pay you back or they may have played you for a fool to get something out of you for free. In addition you can assume YOU/your character has done this to others in the past to some other Cainite that was to stupid not to take advantage of or perhaps you had every intention of paying them back but now you have moved so wount, or you had something you felt was more important so when they asked for your help you served you (no boon to force it right)
Time periods in game
Breaking periods of downtime between games. When the first set of downtime results come out any messages started previous will be considered to have happened before the new events come out. this is to prevent a meeting that took place just after gathering all the sudden have events that took place 3 months latter fall into the middle of it.
In some cases we will let you know if your actions kept you away from knowledge or ability to instantly react to ongoing events.
Reasons for communication and travel delays
It all comes down to travel time. 20-50 hrs walking between most of the Duchies on today's well made paths/roads. In the dark ages the roads were hardly great. They were risky at the best of times and outright dangerous and hazardous at others. People are poor, bandits are common. Lone travelers and small groups best beware. Larger groups travel more slowly. Even homing pigeons do not always get through assuming you have them. Messages can be intercepted, modified and stopped outright if others wish to expend the effort.
We have provided the Shield of safety as a convenience so you do not always have to try to successfully travel (unless there is something happening that is particularly dangerous on the roads). We can create and update rooms at will. Feel free to just pop in, make an appearance and post a entrance. and let us know how long you hang around there. That way other people can just come across you there if they want and you can get a room if you want private converse (or pm's with storyteller and rulehound copied in, preferably a room as it avoids flooding our inboxes). Keep in mind those pesky Nosferatu could be anywhere. It is their stock in trade to spy on you. Or they might not be there.
Personal Items for Characters
We will need a basic list of the things you feel your character has/owns as items that may come into game. Mos particularly weapons and armor. Keep in mind this is based on your ability to get them, do not assume you have some superior items. In the Dark ages Swords were mystical things. Those of great quality (and good steel) often were passed down through the family line and legends arose from many of them like Excalibur. Armor was similar, we are only just reaching a time period where Knights come into existence. Armor was not something that was replaced on a whim, again it was passed down through families. The fancy armor we see in movies with jousting does not yet exist. Armor and a good weapon costs resources to both own and regularly maintain.
Horses are a little easier to get but still cost money to own and maintain, saddles...
Militia cost money to maintain and equip. Leadership keeps them in line and performing as requested.
The point is, do not assume you have things. If you have no money you don't have the benefits that go with it.
Your Domains may be rich but this is not money in your pocket. It is money in the pockets of the mortal Nobles and merchants. It represents more people working in your domains and thus more blood for you. High Domain resources does however grant you the ability to raise your personal resources (assuming someone else hasn't done so and hold a monopoly on the money coming into the Domain)
Mortals and the world around you
Always keep in mind the Mortals do ultimately rule the world, there is a reason most Cainites don't run around openly saying I am a vampire. And Cainites as much as they would like to think otherwise do not outright control everything. There are still mortal lords and such.
Controlling a Cainite domain means being the overseer of the territory and all Cainites in it. It does not grant special control over the moratal mayors or such. You still have to have a way to bribe/bargain and coerce them into doing what you want.
Animal Blood
1 Animal blood equals 1/2 point of vitae.
It does not compress to take up less space in your body rather it still takes up one spot in your blood pool but counts as only 1/2pt of vitae.
If you fill up on all animal blood you will feel full but will need to spend two points of animal blood to equal 1 point Normal blood.
Filling up on animal blood ALL the time however will eventually cause your best to rebel and crave human blood (sort of like an addiction)
Personal Quests
We highly encourage coming up with personal goals and quests, things your character wants and is willing to spend more than one downtime chasing. We recently had one character go seeking something that was unique to their character development and goals. We took that and have extended it into a longer more complex quest. Something they can chase as a character that will probably give them more than they intended in the end. But further, through their initiative we have now tied in a personal plot line that will eventually link back up and into the main story and affect events in the game itself.
Hosting Gatherings
Each Dukedom is expected to host gatherings periodically. Included in this is the set up of your location, hall will be opened at 5:00pm. We have a bunch of props that you can use to set up the hall, but feel free to bring more to customize your Duchies experience. Those who actively commit the time to set up the hall will get either a bonus xp or a bonus draw from the draw deck.
Keep in mind that the IC location must be something you have access to.
Game 2 structure 6:00pm game on
Argue/Fight over what happened in Triest 1/2-3/4 hrs (give Balaam a comon sense rundown, blood loss to his city, their disrespect, the Ard Rhi's declarations previous, the possible missing artifacts...)
Galahad Makes Entry/Ghoul reports him being dumped at gates 3/4-1 hr fallout (If Galahad is not at game then run scene with Gunner).
Outriders appear, reports come in to Raetus from Mudmen 13 knights approach on horse 10-15 minutes (max) to stew and react
Papal Legate arrives at Hall with (12) Accompanying Knights - all have some means of defending themselves against vampires (probably low level true faith), these are his Elite.