Bold and Constant: A Song of Ice and Fire

Game Master BlindKitsune

I misread the Heir quality. It's only a +1 to the result. sigh. It just means I only have 230 stags instead of 860 though.

I believe this character is complete and if you can review it, it would be grand!

Of course no hurries, designing 5 houses + players house must be driving you crazy.

Actually I'm taking a 'break' from mass character creation and House design to push forward Fire from the Sky, so I'll put orbital bombardments to one side and have a look at what you've got. :)

Thoughts on Belneiros:

Why 1B on Breeding? Who were his parents?

Your shopping looks fine to a casual eye, and your derived stats add up well.

Thoughts on Tyvorst:

Abilities add up to 220 exp, 10 more than he has at this age bracket. Good focus toward fighting and warfare, which may be useful if (Seven forbid) someone dares to break the King's Peace.

Gear the Courser is a good choice, but why does he have a Stot? Possibly a Rounsey instead unless you have a particular reason?

Breeding is just a skill that shows that he knows the customs as a knight.

I had the 2B in run as he was decent before his wound, it also doesn't make me almost a combat log that can't move in combat but a minimal distance on foot.

I will probably fight in a "lighter" armor to avoid a movement penalty and drop the mail armor for something less punishing, as movement is important in combat.

The 2B in run, I am open to suggestions I had it there as he was more "fit" before the injury, but also to mitigate some of the cripple penalty.

Another way would be to spend a destiny point and take Armor Mastery, and take Ring armor, pay the additional 100ss, at least this way I still have decent armor and same Movement of 2.

Change Breeding 1B to Courage 1B.
If I must change 2B Run, will put 1B Resilience, 1B Strength.

I will take Flaw in Endurance.

Will make the changes soon, and I don't know if I should keep the courser is rather expensive, but befit of my station, if I get the palfrey, is a good horse, but not of my station, the social game...

On the whole I'm against making choices in chargen to mitigate a penalty you're taking - if you have a penalty, then be penalized by it and exploit the roleplay possibilities involved.

You can keep the Breeding 1B if you like, I'd thought it was more of a reference to your own breeding but your reading of the specialty is correct.

As a compromise let's leave him with 1B in Run, and put the other one into something else; Resilience, Strength or Courage as you please.

Will get started on my Maester character today, and should have the crunch portion done. First time, so please look over for me as I am sure to make some mistakes...lovely system though...easy to understand!

Also, starting work on local map for fief...so we are located on the coast? And have mines in the nearby hills? Just want to get the geography sorted out before I get too far with it.

Ok..here is the very rough character crunch for my submission...please check and advise as to the suitability of the character..once that is sorted out, I will write up his fluffy background.

I followed Bel's character layout example (thanks!)

is "max benefits" a solid number? or is that just the max one can buy with their allotment, and they can buy more with flaws?

Made the changes, spending a DP for Armor Mastery and got something a bit less bulky.

Ok, posting a few rough maps of the Ghaele House Lands. The one map shows its location on the main Westlands map, and the other is a detailed map of the holding. I was thinking of doing a third map showing the castle, docks and Goodby Knoll village too. Tell me what you think.

Westerlands

Ghaele House Lands

Max benefits is a solid number - no more than that, no matter how many destiny points you have (or earn) to spend on them.

I have a couple of thoughts on the maps and will message you more thoroughly later today once I've caught up on things. Thanks for being our Ghaele Cartographer!

Those maps are awesome, I have 0 skill to do that hhahahaha.

OK, so i have done the crunch. I am certain there is something i have done wrong, or something I have done that is counter-intuitive to my intent with the character. In the spoiler below i have placed the stats.

The things that are blank, I have answered in previous posts (in terms of fluff) but let me know if there are any other questions I should address. Still haven't chosen a name. Would i have the last name of Ghaele or something else? I assume not Ghaele since I am not an heir.

I have no idea how much money i should start with, I couldn't find that tidbit in the book.

Money is GD=Statusd6.

Alright, here is Iolanda, Ghaele's precocious younger sister & mostly loving thorn in his side...

I have her 'Crunch' finished & I have her personal history in my head. Just presently grappling with how to put it on 'paper' as it were. Any questions from you, BlindKitsune, will be happily answered.

Alright that's done so I'll check out the new character submissions! Thanks for the rapid response people.

Thoughts on Maester Lucen:

Arright, on to Tenro's Crunch!

And Irnk kindly put Iolanda in while I was writing this, so let's have a quick look at her!

It looks like Crunch is mostly decided on, or at least we're getting there and we all know who we are. While Snake Charmer is working on his, I'll get a few points and questions together to support structuring your bios and we can work out how our stories weave together, who we know well and who we don't really like all that much.

Looking at the ages so far, we have characters who are 34, 33, 32, in their late 20s, 18 and 14. So, going back to your concepts and your personal histories now that you've had a chance to do your Crunch (Snake Charmer, feel free to wait on this until you've had a chance to Crunch out) let's see if we can weave a few more strands into the tapestry of House Ghaele's recent history.

Write at least a brief personal history around the following dated events, bearing in mind that it is "now" 298 AL, trying to cover where you've picked up any unusual abilities, specialities, benefits or drawbacks, as well as the questions I'll pose at the end.

Oooookay, that was longer than I expected so I've spoilered it to reduce page clutter. No I don't expect you to reference every event that happens during your character's life, these are just things you might be aware of - except for the Stark children being born, who are mostly just there to give you a better idea of how old the Ghaele children are. Consider cross-referencing this to this to get a sense of when the other locals were born. Putting everyone else in would have cluttered things well past the point of being useful.

So yes, please write at least a few paragraphs on your personal history including:

• Where you were born.
• When you took service with/arrived at House Ghaele (if applicable).
• Where else you served or lived, two or three if there are more.
• At least two characters in the area you have a grudge with. No more than one of these should be PCs, since we don't want the group to be too disfunctional.
• At least two characters in the area you have a lasting friendship with. If possible, at least one of these should be a PC.
• The most dangerous (physically or socially) situation you've been in.
• An instance highlighting each of your Benefits or Drawbacks if possible.
• Any romance? If inter-PC, I'm probably looking at Tyresa being involved unless we have some more-than-brotherly companionship or Iolanda has been unusually precocious. Note that while I fully intend to fade-to-black any squishy bits, this is Westeros and different degrees of love, intimacy and seduction (air quote as necessary) are a core element in the story - and indeed, the rules system.

(No I haven't had the opportunity to make the extra NCs you've requested yet, but I will get on that soon!)

Re: Valyrian: i had pictured him as having traded across the sea many times (#dependent on length of journey) but while cities like Pentos and Bravos have their own languages, i could find no such language for Volantis, so i picked Valyrian.

If that is not suitable, Lys could also fit in his backstory.

Volantis does speak Valyrian, and that's the correct version of the language for the city. Excellent choice! I just wanted to make sure you included it in your backstory.

Anyone who feels like it should review the crunch for edition compatibility and general mistakes.

loot: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12 I'm rich!

@ BK - born 277 is good, I'm 21. What I would love is some old Lord from one of the neighboring houses who would have married her (ca 290ish) and then croaked in the last year or two. I'm thinking the father of any of the current Lords-of-houses, or maybe an uncle. If that even makes sense.

I'll do it, don't worry. I'm in a groove, lol!

Abilities you appear to have spent 250 exp out of a total of 210 for your age bracket. I'm also going to say absolutely no more than 2 Status for poor Tyresa; she's not going to have equal status to the true-born scions of House Ghaele. Happily taking Status back to 2 would bring her exp in line with her age category at 210, so you needn't make any other changes in her abilities if you don't want to.

Happily since your Status is 2, you roll 2d6 for your starting wealth instead of 4d6 and can keep that lucky roll. ^^

OOPS!!! ... Status was meant to be 2 with no B. That's what I get for copy/pasting Maester Lucen.

And another thing...

Lord Titus Algood died in 296, and could easily have remarried in 291-292. That would make for a fascinating history with the young Lord Algood now as well.

Titus was not a nice person.

EDIT for Crunch:

Well in that case you're fine, but consider whether you want to put 2B into Notice - there's not much point putting in 1 purely for Keen Senses.

I suppose she'd technically be Tyresa Algood, then, but after 5 years as Titus's wife she's happier going by Hill. She sure hopes whatever Tyrick got was important, because she paid a heavy price.

It also fits that the current Algood Lords are adolescent boys. She'd have been able to do a lot of damage there before she was shipped back to Goodby Knoll.

Where you were born.

Goodby Knoll

When you took service with/arrived at House Ghaele (if applicable).

Birth

Where else you served or lived, two or three if there are more.
At least two characters in the area you have a grudge with. No more than one of these should be PCs, since we don't want the group to be too disfunctional.

Tyrick Ghaele - Uncle Matchmaker, as she calls him.
Alana Wickhollow - Daughter of a local merchant who never misses a chance to remind Tyresa she's a bastard.

At least two characters in the area you have a lasting friendship with. If possible, at least one of these should be a PC.

Myria Algood - Tyresa knows the fate that awaits the poor girl, and has done everything she can to prepare her for it. Of course, given the cirumstances of Tyresa's marriage ... best to simply say that whoever Myria marries had better sleep with one eye open.
Any PC (I prefer to get along with other PCs, but don't want to impose my friendship on anyone)

The most dangerous (physically or socially) situation you've been in.

Her marriage? More likely the few days she spent convincing the relevant people she wasn't personally responsible for Titus Algood's death.

An instance highlighting each of your Benefits or Drawbacks if possible.

Coming Soon.

Any romance? If inter-PC, I'm probably looking at Tyresa being involved unless we have some more-than-brotherly companionship or Iolanda has been unusually precocious. Note that while I fully intend to fade-to-black any squishy bits, this is Westeros and different degrees of love, intimacy and seduction (air quote as necessary) are a core element in the story - and indeed, the rules system.

She's going to have a lover. It can be a PC if anyone feels the need, or an NC. It can also change. She doesn't particularly want a man to be the focus of her story, but she certainly feels that it's better to have one and not need him than the other way around.
I'll more fully flesh out her background later, but I think the broad strokes are there.

wealth GD: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 5) = 9 4gd is enough to cover what i purchased, any suggestions from GM or other players as to what else i should purchase?

and regarding the Wealth benefit, I had planned on doing just that, with spare wealth occasionally being donated to the house, but mostly just used to shore up my shortcomings (a.k.a. having some guards to protect me from time to time, when i need it and have the gold to spare).

(Heir: Page 83, GoT edition, right under Head of House)

Fantastic, Tyresa! :)

Good stuff Tenro.

Purchased Castle-Forged weapons (that is, not produced by an in-house weaponsmith which we don't have as yet) start at twice the cost of normal weapons so should be affordable.

The others costs look fine; unfortunately while you might be able to find a Valyrian stiletto/dagger (unusual to find them crafted that way as it may be) during play, there is only a system for starting with one with the Benefit of Heirloom and either Heir or Head of House. Also because it's breathtakingly expensive in the sense of common day wealth.

Other things to spend your money on could well include trade goods (tangibly) or investing them in your trading enterprise elsewhere. Describe what sort of thing you'd like to have and how much you'd like to invest in it, and I'll let you know what you have. Mostly a wine trader I see? Possibly an investment in vineyards, warehouses and staff so the trade can keep on going in your absence?

Excellent bio information!

Tyvorst, can you give me the text of Heir as you read it?

In my copy I'm looking at Heir on page 83 of the Game of Thrones edition (right under Head of House) and it reads:

You are the heir to the lordship of your house. Should anything happen to the head of house, you exchange this quality for the Head of House quality. You must secure permission from your Narrator as well as your fellow players before you can select this quality. Only one member of your group can have this quality at a time.

No objection to the +1 bonus, but I'd like to know if I'm houseruling it in or if it's printed somewhere I'm missing.

Excellent bio information, I enjoy the relationships and the minor enmities with Ser Hamish and Gastros. I'll record the details on their sheets!

I'd like advice on which type of armor would be better for my character.

I'd like to buy a set of armor that is also really fancy clothes? sorta like Lord Bolton wore to the Red Wedding?

As for investments, I was thinking along those lines.

On the Volantis end, I'm not sure how much I would invest, I figure my investments were more of the intangible sort, as it would be hard to actually exert influence enough to safely maintain business holdings there. Perhaps via an investment in another whose main holdings are there, to secure better deals without actually having warehouses and vineyards on my books over there.

As I figure Westeros wine is just as desirable in the Free Cities as wine from the Free Cities is desirable in Westeros, I imagine investment on vineyards on our end is a good idea, as well as warehouses, pickers, guards, regular staff as well. Another idea would be a tavern or two, maybe one upscale and one otherwise. The purpose for this would be to keep the demand high, as well as (in the upscale one) have a room available for meetings of intrigue/business.

Diversity is key, though, so if our mines are still producing gold, I'd try to get a slice of that pie as well.

Other than that, primarily investments in shipping and security companies, to keep good relations and ensure support is available upon request (and at decent prices).

Could you direct me to a spot in the book that lists things like miscellaneous costs? Things like the cost of a guard (various levels of training and equipment), carriage travel, boats, boat travel, etc.?

"You receive the full benefits for being next in line to rule your house.
Add 1 to all of your Status test results. Should anything happen to the
head of house, you exchange this quality for the Head of House quality.
You must secure permission from your Narrator as well as your fellow
players before you take this benefit."

I don't know if the fact that I have a PDF copy means mine is later than yours and slightly different or something but that's the entire text block under heir.

Awesome maps, DS.

The thing to remember about Valyrian weapons is that Tywin Lannister, the most powerful man in our particular part of the world, doesn't even have one.

Oh...

I just had an evil idea...

Edit: Tyvorst, check & see what printing you have. A +1 modifier is a small enough change that it could very well have been a printing error that slipped in (or more accurately out) in the print copy and was corrected in the PDF.

How Tyresa can be friends with the other PCs.

Lucen & Belneiros

Tyresa & Belneiros

Tyrick Ghaele & Belneiros

Lady Karyne Ghaele & Belnerios

Jyana Ghaele & Belnerios

Trystane Ghaele & Belnerios

Tyra Ghaele & Belneiros

Ser Yugen Bolt & Belneiros

Ser Darlos Lewton & Belneiros

Ser Anders Marbrand & Belneiros

That could work for Jaris and Tyresa, especially since you might be able to feed him some info

Tyvorst sees Belneiros as someone who's life he wishes he had. Belneiros lives where he does because he's sworn to, yes, but he chose to whom to swear himself. He was perfectly capable of building himself a life anywhere he could physically move himself to, and he wouldn't have to be looking over his shoulder for someone worried he was going to come and take back Goodby Knoll.

Tyvorst is mostly amused at the prospect of his younger sister Iolanda and her unusual tastes. He was bound to figure it out sooner or later, even if she was trying to hide it from him. She'd ask just one too many questions about that old book he was reading about the formations on the Field of Fire, or asking about stretches for her rapidly strengthening wrists. It would drive his father insane though, and she's clearly good at it, so he encourages her interests as much as he can.

Poor Maester Lucen has been tasked with giving Tyvorst a proper education so he can recognize Banners and sigils properly. It hasn't stuck and Tyvorst simply doesn't have the patience for book-learning. He can read and he knows his history, now it's time to go run weapons drills in the yard.

Tyvorst probably doesn't have much of an opinion on Jaris. He's the one who makes the money and brings the wine. Like Maester Lucen, he knows that the movement of money and goods is important and in need of proper management, but there's simply no way he can sit and read nothing but ledgers all day and get anything but eyestrain. He probably doesn't know much about Jaris' past, assuming it's as boring as he thinks his present life is.

gold roll: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 6) = 14

Well that is a nice bit of change for the Maester...now what to buy..lol...still working on background and Maester Lucen's relations with the other players...hope to have it done soon-ish...also made changes as suggested by blindkitsune

Since I have a short day today, I will hopefully manage to catch up on posting character details.

Status for wealth: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 4) = 11... Well, not the worst it could be.

Well, it's a start at least.

So yes, please write at least a few paragraphs on your personal history.

Where you were born.: Goodby Knoll, the birthing bed. After Tyvorst, mother took no chances & entrusted more of the household chatelaine's duties to her lady's maids in the final days of her second pregnancy.

When you took service with/arrived at House Ghaele (if applicable).: Birth, though to be honest, in his darker moments, Tyrick has bemoaned that you have been less 'in service to' and more 'a burden upon'. Granted, mother's labor did last the better part of an entire day and she was bedridden a week longer afterwards than when your brother was born.

Where else you served or lived, two or three if there are more.: Two years ago, you were 'invited' to stay for over a year at Casterly Rock. Though no overt mention was ever made of it, you suspect there may have been the beginnings of negotiations between your father & Lord Tywin Lannister that you be betrothed to his youngest son Tyrion. It was during this time that you became far better acquainted with exactly how dangerous a human being Lord Tywin truly was. It was also during this time that you finagled your way into martial training alongside Tyrion himself. It succeeded in keeping the two of you out of your respective fathers hair without raising too much of an uproar. Unfortunately, once you returned home, what had before been a simple vague disapproval on your father's part that you focused so much more of your time on books and the minutia of maintaining households, businesses & even military companies than a young lady's more 'appropriate' pursuits had frosted into an icy, implacable disdain.

At least two characters in the area you have a grudge with.: Is this a grudge that I hold against them, or a grudge that they hold against me?

Where else you served or lived, two or three if there are more.: Two years ago, you were 'invited' to stay for over a year at Casterly Rock. Though no overt mention was ever made of it, you suspect there may have been the beginnings of negotiations between your father & Lord Tywin Lannister that you be betrothed to his youngest son Tyrion. It was during this time that you became far better acquainted with exactly how dangerous a human being Lord Tywin truly was. It was also during this time that you finagled your way into martial training alongside Tyrion himself. It succeeded in keeping the two of you out of your respective fathers hair without raising too much of an uproar. Unfortunately, once you returned home, what had before been a simple vague disapproval on your father's part that you focused so much more of your time on books and the minutia of maintaining households, businesses & even military companies than a young lady's more 'appropriate' pursuits had frosted into an icy, implacable disdain.

This is good, though it probably led to some more tenseness and ill-feeling on Tyrick's part after what happened when Tyra was 'invited to stay' at Casterly Rock for a few years. On the other hand I can't see Tywin caring all that much.

Fear of Lannisters is fine, and if you've had some training beside Tyrion (and perversely I can see a Lannister Master at Arms goading Tyrion that even a girrrrrrl is better with a blade than he is) then you may have some form of casual friendship with the Little Lion.

At least two characters in the area you have a grudge with.: Is this a grudge that I hold against them, or a grudge that they hold...

Either one-way, the other, or both. A good example of the former is Jon Snow and Catelyn Stark; even though he bears no particular grudge against her, her hostility towards him definitely has an impact on his life. An example of the other is Viserys Targaryen and Robert Baratheon, who definitely hate and fear one another.

Often negative relationships can be at least as powerful or interesting as the positive from a roleplay standpoint.

Oh, and your evil idea is fine ;)

I'll put up the Discussion thread in the next day or two, and if everyone's ready I'll aim to start the gameplay (and roleplay) on Sunday.

which armor would be most suitable for a character like Jaris? I was thinking soft leather or padded, but I am not really sure. Are there any other kinds, like a very expensive and light ringmail, woven into fine clothes?

breastplate can be worn over nice stuff and its armor to protect chest and back only.

Hard leather armor also works.

is the tradeoff worth it for someone whose weapon damage is based on agility? (stiletto)

i am also not a dedicated fighter, had to spend a lot of points on cunning and such.

(I haven't actually played this game yet, so this isn't gospel truth or anything, but I think the way it works is...)

Your armor's bulk imposes a penalty on agility tests but (as I understand it) you don't make a test for damage. You just multiply the weapon's damage by the number of successes on your fighting or marksmanship roll. So bulk shouldn't affect your damage. That's how I understand it, anyway.

Tyresa won't be wearing armor. The optimizer in me screams in fury, but I just don't see how she wears armor without completely compromising the "reality" of the game. So don't look to her for a lot of help in combat scenes. That's what you knights and such are for.

Not that that would apply to Jaris, a merchant could quite reasonably want some armor. As I'm sure you know. [/babble]

For every 2 points in Bulk reduces your Movement in combat by 1.

Armor Penalty reduces your Combat Defense and Agility based test.

She could still wear some sort of armor, like soft leather that also doubles as clothing.

Fear of Lannisters is fine, and if you've had some training beside Tyrion (and perversely I can see a Lannister Master at Arms goading Tyrion that even a girrrrrrl is better with a blade than he is) then you may have some form of casual friendship with the Little Lion.

That was much my idea as well. Actually, I was thinking that the two of them almost got to the point of being genuine friends. They were both noticeably smarter than most of the people around them. They both had fathers who had precisely zero affection for them & for whom loyalty was a one-way street. In fact, I figured that Tyrion was actually the person who purchased Iolanda's arms/armor.

As far as the tenseness on Tyrick's part, that was what I was meaning to imply. Of course, it was mitigated by his near-complete disinterest in her. In a number of ways, the more I think about it, Iolanda & Tyrion are kind of mirrors of each other (or at least Iolanda sees them as such); the main differences being gender (though in many ways being a woman is almost as much of a physical disability as being a dwarf in Westeros' 'Man's World'), the fact that Iolanda's mother survived her birth, and Tyrion's dwarfism.

Thinking about it more, yes, Iolanda actually has a bit of a crush on Tyrion. While she would never admit it, even, perhaps especially to herself, she was genuinely disappointed when she was sent home instead of wedding him.

Ok, as far as how Iolanda gets on with the other PC's...
'Nutshell, elevator-pitch' versions.

Tyvorst: Big, lovable, kind of slow. In a number of ways, their relationship is similar to Tyrion's & Jamie's.
Tyresa: Somewhere between big sister & scandalous aunt. While she has never confided her feelings to her, (Iolanda is an intensely private person, or at least she isn't overtly demonstrative), Tyresa probably does recognize Iolanda's feelings about Tyrion. Iolanda comes closer to confiding in her than she does to anyone.
Belnerios: Probably sees him as an older, more worldly version of her brother. She is unlikely to have had enough contact with him to know him well enough to see beyond the 'older, handsome soldier' glow...
Maester Lucen is either her closest friend & the next closest to being a confidant after Tyresa, or the two of them likely can't stand each other, it entirely depends on how he feels about 'a mere slip of a girl (Handily ignoring the fact that with that Athletics, Fighting & Endurance she is likely bigger than any of them but Tyvorst & Belnerios...) wasting her time with books, figures & sums'...
Jaris... As someone who has learned of the power of money & trade, intellectually at least, she is going to recognize his worth is going to be greater than my be immediately apparent. The fact that she also recognizes that people do actually have an inherent worth entirely independent of their 'class'...
Ultimately, Jaris is likely something of a mystery to her & she is just precocious & inquisitive enough that mysteries are something like candy to her...

The NPC's...
Her father hates her. She really isn't entirely certain why, but it seems to be related to her mother's near-death in labor, combined with her decided 'unladylike' behavior.
Her mother... I think the two of them have a kind of unofficial truce. If she had been a better daughter, I.E. she saw 'ladylike' behavior as something more than a duty to be endured/'competent-at', their relationship would be warmer. As it is, her mother has another daughter to be affectionate with, with the added benefit that doing so won't mean strained relations with her husband.
Her younger siblings... I suspect that they both realize that their father can't stand her & relations between all of them are strained as a consequence. Something tells me that Jyanna holds the position of 'daddy's darling'. Trystane... is young enough he likely doesn't understand beyond the fact that she came back...
different.

edit: Blindkitsune, with the obvious exception of Valyrian weapons, how does the 'grade' of the weapon, per table 7-3 on page 128 relate to their cost?

Castle-forged weapons cost twice as much.

Swords are expensive.

That's mildly terrifying. She could have a castle forged sword & still have quite a few stags left over...