Post by Father on Jul 27, 2019 14:25:43 GMT 1
There is not a one single account as to how the King's Peace first was broken that seems to have more men to agree upon than it's other contenders, and much less so by whom, The Brute, The Ironhand, Bloodraven, Bittersteel, a cabal seeking to restore the hated Triarchy of old and reinstate their stranglehold of the Stepstones, and wilder theories besides. To some it doesn't matter, others close their ears to tales of savagery by one's own side or of the heroes of the other. Many simply go for the glory and allure of ransoms. Most lords takes quiet note of the news and remain at their castles, few disallows their knights to join, many quietly approve if it's the "right" side. For a single knight, there is little enough risk aside from that which is always present in war, a lord might find himself in a deal more trouble. Spare sons rides out seeking glory and recognition as a way of rising themselves above what their house otherwise can, many have been bid to do so by their fathers to show where their allegiances lie or to justify sending seasoned warriors to "ensure their safety", young and unproven scions seek a taste of adventure, sellswords, freeriders and knights of the hedges in search of fortune.
Pledging your sword
Any chivalrous PC that commits to join the campaign for either Blackwood or Bracken obtains the following:
-Gain 5 Blackwood Points, +1 Blood, lose public status as fire supporter (if applicable), if joining Blackwood.
-Gain 5 Bracken Points, +1 Fire, lose public status as blood supporter (if applicable), if joining Bracken.
-Gain a bonus to the recruitment tests of +3 per rank of warfare above 3, +2 per rank in fighting above 4, and +1 per rank in agility, animal handling, athletics and endurance above 3, each +4 is converted into +1D, any leftover +2 is converted to +1b, any +1 left stays.
-May gain equipment from sponsors worth up to 25GD, OOC: This is intended to help mostly newer characters that haven't had the chance to get tourney winnings and such, so this is only available for PC's that cannot afford a full complement of superior gear.
-Gain +2 Disposition with the House you commit to join for, suffer -5 Disposition with the opposing House.
Any character joining the campaign will be in the Riverlands for the entirety of Phase 3, counting as absent for the purposes of House Fortunes, and also unable to partake in any non-Riverland events.
Note: If you commit yourself to join one side, and then go back against your word, your efforts in this event are nullified (any negative outcomes remains) and you suffer -2 Chivalry. You may join the fighting regardless of whether you have committed or not.
Recruiting:
You may attempt as many of the following as you like (must mark side of choice):
Persuasion (Convince)+Chivalry TN 12
Status (Reputation)+Chivalry TN 12
Warfare (Command)+Chivalry TN 12
-Gain +1 Blackwood/Bracken points per DoS.
-Critical Failure counts as -3 DoS.
-Succeed on all three tests: An NPC will join the campaign for your side and will be able to partake as hero or a commander (need not be directly sought out as it should be viewed as a result of the efforts put in), players may offer suggestions which will tend to be followed if they are so inclined (several characters who are so inclined are listed below).
-Best recruiter for each side: +1 Blood/Fire
-The side gaining the most total DoS: +2 Blood/Fire, +25% total Blackwood/Bracken points from this event.
-Gain +1 Disposition with the House you recruit for, suffer -2 Disposition with the opposing House. (Does not stack with commitment).
Twists:
-If not personally committing to join, you may attempt to recruit men for some other purpose, such as defending refugees or the septs and septry's in the area. This may impact some scenarios and plotlines, but should not be expected to have any effect over which side wins. For the most part, the danger to third parties comes from outlaws and broken men.
-If not personally committing to join, you may take -1D on the tests to attempt Deception (Act) TN 13, on a success you conceal your efforts (no disposition changes, cannot spend glory or influence)
Special:
-Spending a point of glory prior to rolling grants an additional +1 DoS per successful test, an additional +1 if committing to join.
-Spending a point of Fire/Blood prior to rolling doubles the DoS scored.
-Spending a point of influence grants +1D to the tests.
-If Daeron commits to the Bracken cause, his personal presence will attract notable numbers of freeriders and knights of the hedge to the banner of Stone Hedge due to his inspiring speech at Whitewalls: +5 Bracken Points.
-If Roland commits, the support of the Whitewalls champion inspires additional knights to follow, +5 Bracken/Blackwood points.
-If the winner of the tactician's tourney commits, his presence will assure others that he will bring victory to it, +5 Bracken/Blackwood points.
-If the winner of the Whitewalls melee commits, his presence will assure others that he will bring victory to it, +5 Bracken/Blackwood points.
-The House may spend a point of influence to disassociate itself with a character that recruits or commits to join the campaign, doing so will cancel any Blood/Fire Points gained by that character in this event. If influence is spent to disassociate itself with all characters who recruit or commits to join and it's Lord and Heir refrains from committing/recruiting, the house counts as neutral.
The Case for neutrality
The pen and not the sword will put an end to this latest conflict as the Iron Throne cannot sit idly by and watch The Riverlands be consumed in the flames, if Lord Tully is not up to the task, which seems likely, then neighboring lords will travel to the king's court and petition for him to set things right. The king must strike a balance between not humiliating the Lord Paramount of The Trident by being too heavy handed in taking the matter into his own hands and restoring the king's peace, thus one should assume that this might drag on until the neutral lords begins reports incursions into their own lands by those involved in the fighting, or outlaws and broken men beginning to plague their holdings, by the time neighboring lords call their banners and begin taking sides, the king has waited too long. Ordinarily, The King would send his hand if not personally taking to the field, which seems unlikely given his character, though Ser Ambrose is, according to wicked tongues, selected for his ability to keep the two factions of the realm reasonably appeased. The King would be wise to rely upon another, and who better than Lord Rowan who negotiated the peace with Dorne, which means calling upon Highgarden and The Warden of The South to act as the King's chief representative, if for no other reason than to not insult Lord Tyrell over not being asked. Such an outcome would open the opportunity for such lords and knights of renown as has remained neutral to be viewed as unbiased advisers to the King's Representative and thus have easier access to those writing the settlement of the peace, when it comes the lasting effects of the conflict, the pen can easily be mightier than the sword. But the effect of a strike of the sword is more certain than that of a stroke of the pen.
Neutral Houses gains +2 Default Disposition with Houses Targaryen, Tully and Tyrell.
Notes:
-Lord Willem is disinclined to take sides (Starling influence not available), but will allow knights sworn to Kingsbridge to follow their convictions at their own risk, but because of Ser Marlon's memory, those siding with the Brackens suffers -2 disposition with Willem and their fellow companions (And Lysette, but mostly because she is a blood-supporter). Lysette also votes for disassociating with the acts of any knight committing to House Bracken, the rank and file of the companions are inclined to agree with her, only if the three finest knights of the companions were to argue against their sworn brothers in this matter can Willem be swayed away from following the counsel of his daughter and heir.
-Lord Ulbert can be convinced by his council to spend influence recruiting for House Blackwood, he would be very disappointed if any knight with a seat at his table where to side with the Brackens and will spend influence to disassociate with anyone so doing.
-Lord Jon prefers to ignore that open warfare is about to break out north of The Red Fork, but will be persuaded by Erena to spend influence to disassociate with any knight joining the Bracken campaign. (Blackbriar influence otherwise not available)
Benefit/Drawback considerations:
All +X to tests stacks with the commitment bonuses from ability ranks (if any) and converts into +1D/+1b as applicable. Drawbacks noted as suspended may be voluntarily put into play, given their potentially large effects on story participation, they are listed mostly to serve as suggestions.
Attractive: Gain +1 on the recruitment tests.
Charismatic: Gain +1 on the recruitment tests.
Connections: If not committing to join, you may leverage your network for +1D to the recruitment tests. You may also ignore the -1D for concealing your efforts.
Famous: Double the Blackwood/Bracken points gained through this event.
Great Bastard: +1D applies on the recruitment tests.
Head of House/Heir: If not personally committing to join, gain +5 Blackwood/Bracken points and +1 Blood/Fire if you select an NPC from your own household with fighting 5 to be featured in the campaign through you recruitment choice.
Orator: Double the Blackwood/Bracken points gained through this event.
Sponsor: May gain bonuses as if sponsor spent influence on your behalf (this allows you to not count as a member of your home house if it tries to disassociate from you, it then need not spend influence for doing so, and any fire/blood point gained are not added to the house pool), or have sponsor be actively featured in this event.
Bastard Born: Suffer -1 to the recruitment tests.
Dependent: If you partake in this event, test luck TN 9 (always 2D), on a critical failure, an incident occurs back at the home house.
Flaw (various): Do not gain any chivalry bonuses if Rank-Flaw(X) in ability X is lower than the requirement for chivalry.
Honor-Bound: Ordinarily would attempt to compel non-participation and a conflicting one of honoring the allegiance previously undertaken as signaled by choice of squire, but suspended.
Vainglorious: Ordinarily would attempt compel commitment and participation, but suspended.
Vindictive: Ordinarily would attempt to compel commitment and participation (just recruitment for non-knights) for the other side if Blackwoods or Brackens have given you cause for grief (such as Otho Bracken's killing of Ser Marlon), but suspended.
Zealot (Power): Attempts to compel voting for the maximum use of influence possible in favor of one side (including disassociation with any member joining the opposition), or to vote for the disassociation of the house from all who would commit or recruit to either cause. There is merit in the advantages of taking a strong stance for neutrality as well as to commit oneself fully to one side, but the middle road is not for men of ambition.
Zealot (The Seven): Attempts to compel recruiting knights to defend the septs and septrys in the region.
All martially inclined Blackwoods and Brackens (including Bittersteel and Bloodraven) will be featured in the campaign.
A selection of NPC's who would be inclined to join the campaign:
For Blackwoods: Simon Tarly, Dennis Hightower, Jasper Flowers, Sandor Daverhyl, Rhys Daverhyl, Aerion Baratheon, Tommard Heddle, Roland Crakehall, Jaremy Mormont, Arlan of Pennytree, Vardis of Kingsbridge, Lyonel of the Cockleswent.
For Brackens: Roland Redwyne, Normyn Flowers, Byren Flowers, Robb Reyne, Quentyn Ball, Aubrey Ambrose, Imry Levalle, Horas Redwyne, Dunstan Shawney, Steffon Whent, Gareth The Gray.
While retired PC's quite possibly would be very inclined to join the campaign, the policy is that they fade into the background unless they may be actively used to drive story.
Pledging your sword
Any chivalrous PC that commits to join the campaign for either Blackwood or Bracken obtains the following:
-Gain 5 Blackwood Points, +1 Blood, lose public status as fire supporter (if applicable), if joining Blackwood.
-Gain 5 Bracken Points, +1 Fire, lose public status as blood supporter (if applicable), if joining Bracken.
-Gain a bonus to the recruitment tests of +3 per rank of warfare above 3, +2 per rank in fighting above 4, and +1 per rank in agility, animal handling, athletics and endurance above 3, each +4 is converted into +1D, any leftover +2 is converted to +1b, any +1 left stays.
-May gain equipment from sponsors worth up to 25GD, OOC: This is intended to help mostly newer characters that haven't had the chance to get tourney winnings and such, so this is only available for PC's that cannot afford a full complement of superior gear.
-Gain +2 Disposition with the House you commit to join for, suffer -5 Disposition with the opposing House.
Any character joining the campaign will be in the Riverlands for the entirety of Phase 3, counting as absent for the purposes of House Fortunes, and also unable to partake in any non-Riverland events.
Note: If you commit yourself to join one side, and then go back against your word, your efforts in this event are nullified (any negative outcomes remains) and you suffer -2 Chivalry. You may join the fighting regardless of whether you have committed or not.
Recruiting:
You may attempt as many of the following as you like (must mark side of choice):
Persuasion (Convince)+Chivalry TN 12
Status (Reputation)+Chivalry TN 12
Warfare (Command)+Chivalry TN 12
-Gain +1 Blackwood/Bracken points per DoS.
-Critical Failure counts as -3 DoS.
-Succeed on all three tests: An NPC will join the campaign for your side and will be able to partake as hero or a commander (need not be directly sought out as it should be viewed as a result of the efforts put in), players may offer suggestions which will tend to be followed if they are so inclined (several characters who are so inclined are listed below).
-Best recruiter for each side: +1 Blood/Fire
-The side gaining the most total DoS: +2 Blood/Fire, +25% total Blackwood/Bracken points from this event.
-Gain +1 Disposition with the House you recruit for, suffer -2 Disposition with the opposing House. (Does not stack with commitment).
Twists:
-If not personally committing to join, you may attempt to recruit men for some other purpose, such as defending refugees or the septs and septry's in the area. This may impact some scenarios and plotlines, but should not be expected to have any effect over which side wins. For the most part, the danger to third parties comes from outlaws and broken men.
-If not personally committing to join, you may take -1D on the tests to attempt Deception (Act) TN 13, on a success you conceal your efforts (no disposition changes, cannot spend glory or influence)
Special:
-Spending a point of glory prior to rolling grants an additional +1 DoS per successful test, an additional +1 if committing to join.
-Spending a point of Fire/Blood prior to rolling doubles the DoS scored.
-Spending a point of influence grants +1D to the tests.
-If Daeron commits to the Bracken cause, his personal presence will attract notable numbers of freeriders and knights of the hedge to the banner of Stone Hedge due to his inspiring speech at Whitewalls: +5 Bracken Points.
-If Roland commits, the support of the Whitewalls champion inspires additional knights to follow, +5 Bracken/Blackwood points.
-If the winner of the tactician's tourney commits, his presence will assure others that he will bring victory to it, +5 Bracken/Blackwood points.
-If the winner of the Whitewalls melee commits, his presence will assure others that he will bring victory to it, +5 Bracken/Blackwood points.
-The House may spend a point of influence to disassociate itself with a character that recruits or commits to join the campaign, doing so will cancel any Blood/Fire Points gained by that character in this event. If influence is spent to disassociate itself with all characters who recruit or commits to join and it's Lord and Heir refrains from committing/recruiting, the house counts as neutral.
The Case for neutrality
The pen and not the sword will put an end to this latest conflict as the Iron Throne cannot sit idly by and watch The Riverlands be consumed in the flames, if Lord Tully is not up to the task, which seems likely, then neighboring lords will travel to the king's court and petition for him to set things right. The king must strike a balance between not humiliating the Lord Paramount of The Trident by being too heavy handed in taking the matter into his own hands and restoring the king's peace, thus one should assume that this might drag on until the neutral lords begins reports incursions into their own lands by those involved in the fighting, or outlaws and broken men beginning to plague their holdings, by the time neighboring lords call their banners and begin taking sides, the king has waited too long. Ordinarily, The King would send his hand if not personally taking to the field, which seems unlikely given his character, though Ser Ambrose is, according to wicked tongues, selected for his ability to keep the two factions of the realm reasonably appeased. The King would be wise to rely upon another, and who better than Lord Rowan who negotiated the peace with Dorne, which means calling upon Highgarden and The Warden of The South to act as the King's chief representative, if for no other reason than to not insult Lord Tyrell over not being asked. Such an outcome would open the opportunity for such lords and knights of renown as has remained neutral to be viewed as unbiased advisers to the King's Representative and thus have easier access to those writing the settlement of the peace, when it comes the lasting effects of the conflict, the pen can easily be mightier than the sword. But the effect of a strike of the sword is more certain than that of a stroke of the pen.
Neutral Houses gains +2 Default Disposition with Houses Targaryen, Tully and Tyrell.
Notes:
-Lord Willem is disinclined to take sides (Starling influence not available), but will allow knights sworn to Kingsbridge to follow their convictions at their own risk, but because of Ser Marlon's memory, those siding with the Brackens suffers -2 disposition with Willem and their fellow companions (And Lysette, but mostly because she is a blood-supporter). Lysette also votes for disassociating with the acts of any knight committing to House Bracken, the rank and file of the companions are inclined to agree with her, only if the three finest knights of the companions were to argue against their sworn brothers in this matter can Willem be swayed away from following the counsel of his daughter and heir.
-Lord Ulbert can be convinced by his council to spend influence recruiting for House Blackwood, he would be very disappointed if any knight with a seat at his table where to side with the Brackens and will spend influence to disassociate with anyone so doing.
-Lord Jon prefers to ignore that open warfare is about to break out north of The Red Fork, but will be persuaded by Erena to spend influence to disassociate with any knight joining the Bracken campaign. (Blackbriar influence otherwise not available)
Benefit/Drawback considerations:
All +X to tests stacks with the commitment bonuses from ability ranks (if any) and converts into +1D/+1b as applicable. Drawbacks noted as suspended may be voluntarily put into play, given their potentially large effects on story participation, they are listed mostly to serve as suggestions.
Attractive: Gain +1 on the recruitment tests.
Charismatic: Gain +1 on the recruitment tests.
Connections: If not committing to join, you may leverage your network for +1D to the recruitment tests. You may also ignore the -1D for concealing your efforts.
Famous: Double the Blackwood/Bracken points gained through this event.
Great Bastard: +1D applies on the recruitment tests.
Head of House/Heir: If not personally committing to join, gain +5 Blackwood/Bracken points and +1 Blood/Fire if you select an NPC from your own household with fighting 5 to be featured in the campaign through you recruitment choice.
Orator: Double the Blackwood/Bracken points gained through this event.
Sponsor: May gain bonuses as if sponsor spent influence on your behalf (this allows you to not count as a member of your home house if it tries to disassociate from you, it then need not spend influence for doing so, and any fire/blood point gained are not added to the house pool), or have sponsor be actively featured in this event.
Bastard Born: Suffer -1 to the recruitment tests.
Dependent: If you partake in this event, test luck TN 9 (always 2D), on a critical failure, an incident occurs back at the home house.
Flaw (various): Do not gain any chivalry bonuses if Rank-Flaw(X) in ability X is lower than the requirement for chivalry.
Honor-Bound: Ordinarily would attempt to compel non-participation and a conflicting one of honoring the allegiance previously undertaken as signaled by choice of squire, but suspended.
Vainglorious: Ordinarily would attempt compel commitment and participation, but suspended.
Vindictive: Ordinarily would attempt to compel commitment and participation (just recruitment for non-knights) for the other side if Blackwoods or Brackens have given you cause for grief (such as Otho Bracken's killing of Ser Marlon), but suspended.
Zealot (Power): Attempts to compel voting for the maximum use of influence possible in favor of one side (including disassociation with any member joining the opposition), or to vote for the disassociation of the house from all who would commit or recruit to either cause. There is merit in the advantages of taking a strong stance for neutrality as well as to commit oneself fully to one side, but the middle road is not for men of ambition.
Zealot (The Seven): Attempts to compel recruiting knights to defend the septs and septrys in the region.
All martially inclined Blackwoods and Brackens (including Bittersteel and Bloodraven) will be featured in the campaign.
A selection of NPC's who would be inclined to join the campaign:
For Blackwoods: Simon Tarly, Dennis Hightower, Jasper Flowers, Sandor Daverhyl, Rhys Daverhyl, Aerion Baratheon, Tommard Heddle, Roland Crakehall, Jaremy Mormont, Arlan of Pennytree, Vardis of Kingsbridge, Lyonel of the Cockleswent.
For Brackens: Roland Redwyne, Normyn Flowers, Byren Flowers, Robb Reyne, Quentyn Ball, Aubrey Ambrose, Imry Levalle, Horas Redwyne, Dunstan Shawney, Steffon Whent, Gareth The Gray.
While retired PC's quite possibly would be very inclined to join the campaign, the policy is that they fade into the background unless they may be actively used to drive story.
