Lucien - that might work better. Manush is far from a devout worshipper, her faith has been waning over the last couple of decades, but meeting someone who is enthusiastic about Shelyn might spark a renewed interest.
In terms of relationships, Lilli has up until this point kept entirely to her own world. Unless you were a resident of La Lumiere Rouge, an immediate neighbor (within a couple blocks) of her tea house, or were a long term member of The Starving Artists, she wouldn't have made your acquaintance.
She has been preparing for the expansion move she is soon going to make for years now, which requires that Lilli/Lily/Mama seem to only have friends and influence in a small area. She might know of you, as she's been wandering around quietly while studying and spying on the residents of Isarn for quite some time, but if you're not in her area of operations she wouldn't have openly approached or befriended you.
For relationships. Jerome doesn't have a law firm: as a prosecutor, he is a public officer. I'm fine with having no connection with other Conspirators: I don't have much of one with the current ones.
We're all moody loner emo folk.
We're all moody loner emo folk.
Hey now, I think Dolorès is the most deserving of this description.
@Manush, we probably wouldn’t have interacted much before the conspiracy as Dolorès only really ventured out of Nord Rivière to proselytize. I’m sure she appreciates your baking though.
We're all moody loner emo folk.
Lucien doesn't deserve it at all. :P He just doesn't live in the city, and might one day be called on to arrest/execute all of you - so it makes sense not to get too close!
Lucien doesn't deserve it at all...called on to arrest/execute all of you
Sure, professes to not be emo, but then lets the grim specter of death rule over his life
Lucien doesn't deserve it at all...called on to arrest/execute all of youSure, professes to not be emo, but then lets the grim specter of death rule over his life
Meet him with a smile my dear, no-one need fear the Reaper.
I wonder if GM's network died again. I tried DMing him on Discord and PMing him here, and no response either place.
...or he's just holed up offline, frantically planning out the next stages of the plot now the cast has expanded by 50%+
Or maybe you hit him too hard with that carp? Head injuries can be nasty.
*mutter mutter mutter stupid network mutter mutter*
Sorry. Overdue posts for Conspiracy folk going up. Working on posts for the Vigilante Squad.
I am considering a change / update on how Managers are handled -- right now you get the X gp = X level manager. I am considering requiring those managers to have primarily or exclusively NPC classes; to get access to PC classes, you pay an extra 5 sp (0.5 gp) per day. For that extra 1/2 gold/day, you would also gain an increased point-buy value at the higher levels -- 5 at 3rd, 10 at 4th, and 15 at 5th. This is / would be to keep them more-or-less in some sort of progression line with cohorts, who will get to be built on 20 bp.
Thoughts, comments, questions? (Like, "Why do you keep changing the f*sking rules on us, Wyrm?!?")
Manush, your thread is Now Up.
Welcome back!!!
Only thought on the manager change (which I don't dislike) is what is the benefit? Managers are effectively non-skill users and non-combatants so the addition of PC vs NPC levels or additional attributes doesn't have a benefit in game for the additional gold spent.
When you implemented the levels, you added the queue management system which gave an incentive to hire a 3/4/5g manager instead of just defaulting to 2g. I don't see the benefit here.
It is, in part, a bit of discouragement -- specifically, everyone (me included: guilty, guilty as charged!!) is giving their managers PC classes. Too, I looked at numbers (aaalways with the numbers) and it did make me go 'hmmm', as I have a general philosophy that the majority of NPCs possess only NPC classes. While this might apply best to the lower levels (1-7), it still has some application in the mid-levels.
And while in most games this would have little to no effect, in this game, where your managers are going to be active (though not, generally, proactive) and involved in what's going on (if only on the 'I can handle this for now, go do more important stuff' level), the character builds are very likely to have an impact.
So functionally, it provides a ramp / explanation from 'I have Manager 3bp costing X gp/day' to actually grow into the 20bp Cohort, and would give a reason why you were able to hire Individual Q with the PC classes, who is qualitatively better, rather than Individual N with the NPC classses.
Hmm. I have to admit, I gave my managers PC classes only because everyone else did. They could just as well be NPC classes.
That said, if you look at the managers (and even some of the teams) presented in the downtime rules, a lot of them are stated to have PC levels. E.g., Cutpurses are 3rd level Rogues, Mages are 3rd level bard/sorceror/wizard, and so on. Are you going to rule that they're now all Experts/Adepts/other NPC classes?
It's your campaign; you're the boss. Just offering my 2 cents.
And now you vigilantes may report to your own threads: Estelle Delsarte, Eponine d'Ambreville, and Athanas Sylvain.
The examples of teams and managers given in the downtime rules are for glossing over the specifics, because no GM (not even me) is going to want to run the events involving each and every team-member of five players, each with five teams, each team with 5 members. That alone would be 130 characters (the original 5, + (5 x 5 x 5 = 125) = 130), and that way lies madness. So no, I'm not going to get into what the makeup of each Team is, and if you want to build them out for some reason, feel free -- but anything being done via the Teams themselves will be using the general rules (and implications) for the team type, not for your particular team's hand-built makeup.
Managers, however, have the potential to be critical interfaces -- and yes, that primarily means roleplay opportunities, but at some point in the future, that may be 'does some Class-only thing that saves your bacon' -- between vague general rules and the very specific characterization of Your PC. In the downtime rules (in which they provide relatively small advantage), they are presented as possibly having PC levels; I don't believe any of them say otherwise, but I won't swear to it (and it isn't something I'll be pleased to have specifically pointed out to me, thank you very much). The main point, however, is that in this game, your buildings and organizations are a huge part of your game play, to the point where many of your rewards may come by way of how well you handle the investment and decisions those buildings and organizations represent -- how you grow them, how you use them, where you grow and use them -- and, because of that, your managers and their capabilities can and will come into play.
This would (once more) functionally expand the capabilities of higher-end managers, but at a cost, and IMO a relatively-not-unreasonable cost at that. But yes, it isn't in place yet, and I am still trolling for opinions. (Not the bad kind(s) of troll, though.)
And I'm just sitting here, micromanaging the office myself.
I confess to not being worries since it largely doesn't effect me, but its probably worth asking does that apply to my men as well?
I have beareucrats (presumably Experts in their various skills) and basic soldiers (warriors) that's easy enough. The question comes in with 'Elite Soldiers'. Are they just warriors with more class levels or have they actually graduated to Fighters/Rangers? I don't think there would be any other classes than those two but it would be helpful to know if I've got all NPC classes with a range of HD or if theres a range of PC/NPC classes too. :)
Gerlach doesn't currently have any PC classes. Right now he's still the default Accountant, which is a 3rd level Expert. (I, uh, may have forgotten to stat him any more fully than that.)
Personally I like the idea of PC classes coming at a small cost. However, take that opinion with a grain of salt since it won't affect me nearly as much as some of the others.
Couple more questions
1) I'm perfectly happy to pay the extra for PC managers; as you say, there may be real mechanical advantages, plus I wrote Christophe as a Constable Cavalier (Order of the Dragon) which hopefully creates great roleplay options - hard to replicate that in an NPC class. Is the extra 5 sp a one-off, or is it 5 sp per level? In other words, is a 3rd level PC manager 3.5 gp/day, or 4.5 gp/day (= 3gp + (0.5gp x 3))?
I'd love to keep Agathe as a Majordomo as it chimes with her background but I'll have to play around with the numbers a bit to see if it will work.
2) Should I do any downtime activity for the working day that is coming to an end in my gameplay post?
Re: PC-Class Manager Increase
Lucien, once again, this would not affect Teams, only Managers. Unless you start statting up all 15 (or 60) members of your Teams and start trying to argue how that is going to make a difference in something or another, in which case I'll put that carp to use; Teams are meant to EARN you money or Capital, not COST you.
Eponine, the extra 5 sp is singular per diem, not multiplied by their level. Otherwise it'd take a pretty hefty organization to make enough money for a top Manager with PC classes to take an interest -- 7.5gp / day, aka 65 earning points!!
Downtime for the Vigilantes
I am going to generally assume that PCs (especially those with managers) don't spend 8 hours involved in running their businesses; even those PCs (*cough* Jerome *cough*) who don't have a manager rarely spend more than a couple hours in any one day actually 'running' the place; my rule is 8 hours/week, after all. At the same time, the Vigilantes in particular have their focus more on their 'nocturnal' activities, which means that though they may hang out at their business and make the critical decisions and do some customer relations and such, they may also have their feet up on the desk and the latest broadsheet over their face as they take a nap.
In short, the Vigilantes' daily activity for the past 3 days (i.e. the days that the others in the game have been ICly active) will be simply doing the baseline earning.
General Downtime
In general, and for everyone, if we are in 'active gameplay' -- i.e. there's a job, a heist, whatever, that characters are involved in -- and unless a Downtime Activity (such as gathering information or inserting a team into another group) is particularly appropriate, it will be generally assumed that your PC is not participating in the run of Downtime Activities more than 'giving orders and receiving information'. While your organizations may be performing actions found in Downtime -- things like 'Street Violence' come readily to mind -- you yourself have greater concerns to mind. (Like gaining information. ;) Or breaking into a place ...)
Understood - I'll revise the downtime to take into account the extra days and subtract the earnings from Entrepreneur. I'll also add 5 sp to the cost of my managers.
@GM: I've got some questions about your last post that are probably better done in Discord for back and forth conversation. I know you're not always available on the weekends even if you're online, so please ping me when you're free for a couple minutes. Even if I'm "offline" I'll see the ping on my phone and should be able to hop on to chat. :)
Sorry for the delay -- four posts coming tomorrow. (Stupid getting organizing things out of my head.)
Starting hurricane preparations here. It's looking like it will hit Florida this weekend. Depending on how bad it is, we may evacuate on Friday or Saturday, and even if not, internet could be out for a few days. I'm hoping to get a post up before any of that though!
Stay safe!
Been there, cowered from that. ;) Stay safe!!
Sorry for last night — zonked out as soon as I got home from work. :P Will post tonight.
Quick question: Do you have any objection to us naming NPCs that aren't introduced with one? For example, Estelle wants to greet the bartender at The Flock of Doves by name.
Feel free.
Sorry for the slight delay in posting; I was at a wedding this weekend and didn't have the time/focus required for a post until just now.
Safely evacuated from this monster of a hurricane, will post tomorrow.
Blgleah. Sorry for quietude. Two posts up, tomorrow I should have the full intended four. Dolores, stay safe; been down there, huddled under hurricanes, all that sort of thing. So stay safe. I'm somewhat wary as to whether or not the steering high-pressure systems aren't going to collapse.
I made a Trello account (manush9), so I can be added to the board.
Done!!
Back home. The river and the ocean are still crazy high and some of the streets are totally underwater, but fortunately my house and everything inside made it through just fine. Working on a post, thanks for your patience! :)
Glad you're safe and everything is fine. Was a bit worried for you.
Indeed, good to hear you’re all right. As am I, just RL being a bear.
I only saw the update today, and I'll need a bit of time to gauge my options. I'll probably write a post on Sunday.
Indeed, good to hear you’re all right. As am I, just RL being a bear.
Good to know you're doing fine too. I was beginning to worry as you've been much more silent than usual. No worries though, RL often sucks and always takes priority :)
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All right, doing some posting, and some other work.
The Quarters of each District were always intended to exist; Eponine's random draw got me to creating Yet Another Layer, which led to several more, etc. etc. The long and short of that, though, is that there is now a little bit of information about it on the Districts of Isarn page, as well as an example on the Vieille Ville page.
The idea which I'm hoping La Marquise goes with is to draw a harrow card. Harrow cards are easy to pull: roll 1d6 for the attribute, 1d3 for Law/Neutral/Chaos, and 1d3 for Good/Neutral/Evil. So 6 - 2 - 3 would be Charisma / Neutral / Evil, or The Betrayal (cards can be found on this handy-dandy harrow card page). There being 54 Harrow Cards, and 50 official Quarters (La Rouille is officially part of Le Commune I), this leads to 50 Quarters + 1 La Rouille + 1 Catacombs North + 1 Catacombs South + 1 'Just Walk as Whim Takes You'.
I've suggested on the Vieille Ville page the name of 'Le Creux' for Main Vieille Ville I; many if not most of the Quarters in Paris are named after significant buildings or places of interest, whether the building is military, government, or religious, or the place of interest is a park, garden, or plaza. I've also suggested 'The Betrayal' as the card La Marquise associates with that area; 'The Liar' (CE Charisma) would also work, for Citizen Goss's flexible relationship with the truth, and The Tyrant (LE Charisma) would be appropriate, due to the rulers of Galt generally harming those they rule, especially lately.
Suggestions encouraged!!
I like that a lot - will give it some thought.
Unfortunately though, the spoiler you posted on my thread won't open. Would you mind re-posting it?
Haven't read the General books yet and don't have much in the way of funds right now but I'll hit the library. I've read all of the Sharpe books though. How close is that?
Sharpe
Having scanned the Wikipedia entry on the Sharpe books, I would have to say 'nothing like'. Sharpe is pretty clearly an adventurer and a cad; you need to be ... pretty much his exact opposite. :P :)
The Lost Spoiler
Y'know, I have no idea why it wouldn't show it. Anyhow. What follows is it in its entirety:
My suggestion? Spend some of Eponine's spare cash for a harrow deck. These have 54 cards, information about each of which you can find here. There just so happen to officially be 50 Quarters to Isarn. (See halfway down the Districts page for a cute lil' graphic.) Add 1 for La Rouille, add 2 for the Catacombs (one for each side of the river), and add 1 for pure chance, (i.e. 'just wander') and you have 54.
For now, I suggest just tossing 1d54, and if it's above 50 go for one of the above as appropriate. Otherwise, 1d9 for the district, then roll whatever sized die is appropriate for the number of Quarters in the District. As things go along, however, we'll want the cards to be associated to the quarters/areas -- which is something we'll probably all have to do a little work on together.
Easiest way to pull a card is to roll 1d6 for the attribute, 1d3 for Law/Neutral/Chaos, and 1d3 for Good/Neutral/Evil. So a 2 - 3 - 1 would be Dexterity, Chaotic Good, or The Juggler, which 'represents destiny, deities, and those who play with the fates of others.'
The next part will be somewhat more difficult -- deciding which district matches which card. That, however, I'm opening up to the rest of the players for some help.
--------------------------------------------------
Once you have that decided, though, you'll need to dive into the Game Information of the 'Les Catacombes' page.
First, determine what kind of path you're going to take to get to your destination: Public (where you don't mind people seeing you), Illicit (where you maybe break a few laws, trespass significantly on other people's territory), or Discreet (where you go out of your way to avoid contact). That gives you your base DC (10 / 20 / 30). Then, since you know where you're going (by the draw above), decide what kind of exit you're seeking -- Public, logical, unusual, or obscure. Again, this is about how difficult it is to find -- everyone knows about a public entrance, a logical entrance is one that you could 'find because it makes sense', etc. This can increase your DC by up to +15. Your starting point also impacts this, but fortunately, your own secret entrance is always considered Public for you, so that's a +0.
Finally, you need to determine how far you're going (using a point in or near your target area as a baseline to look up the distance on the Distance table found in the Discussions page header -- not sure if the new places are in there), and whether you're crossing under the river; these also add to the DC.
Once you have the DC figured out, roll your KS: Engineering. Success means you get there in (3 miles/hour times by your route choice's speed multiplier); success by +5 increases your speed as stated. Failure means you get lost!!
@Eponine: I see a completely random decision for where to 'work' in an evening to be potentially problematic. If you end up pulling an area across the city from your starting point you could have quite a long travel time with how slow catacombs travel can be.
As an example, traveling from the wine district to the theater district gives you a 2 hour trip, going at the fastest speed and using a fully public entrance and exit; and that assumes all your rolls are ideal. That's a 4 hour round trip.
Even worse, going non-public (illicit) doubles this, and being discreet to actively avoid being seen while traveling raises you to an 8 hour one way (16 hour round trip!!) travel to cross the city...and any of these are NOT taking into the account the time it might take to find an exit at your destination or time spent waiting for a crime to happen in the area so that you can avenge it.
With a travel time like that plus activity time you can easily end up with zero sleep on any given night, and potentially even cut into your next day of normal work. I do like the randomization concept but you might want to narrow it down to just areas closer to your home.
Blech - all day meetings :(
Brain frazzled. Will post in gameplay tomorrow.
@Lilli: was coming to same conclusion myself... I think I came up with that idea before GM TWO pulled a Super Size Me on Isarn. The size it is now, the original plan just isn't feasible for the reasons you stated. Will give it a rethink once my brain is back in tune
Isarn actually shrank from the original Paris -- the Parisian map is 7 miles across, Isarn (for this game) is 5. The population increased from the original 42,700, granted, but both the size shrinking and the population growth were done simultaneously, mainly to change the original population density of 1110 per square mile to something that actually gave you the feeling of 'a lot'.
That said, I am also considering revising the speeds; going underground may involve going down and up a bit, but there's less traffic, and in some cases it's actually somewhat more direct; the current speed multipliers would improve by one level.
And I think I may have to consider creating 'major intersections' in regards to both the city and the under-city, just for distance and movement purposes; that way you might travel a Discreet route from your secret entrance to a 'Public' underground intersection, travel an Illicit or even Public route (because honestly, who in the underground is going to really screw with someone who wears a mask?) to another Public underground intersection, then select your exit and your route from there. It expands upon your decisionmaking (and your KS: Engineering or Survival rolls) but for some of them we can actually glance at the Take 10 result of your roll and just go from that.
Thoughts?
I think that works well. It would reflect how 'real' cities operate, too: if you live in NY, you may not know all the ins and outs of the city but you could probably find your way to/from Times Square (or for Paris, from Notre Dame to the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower) - you just follow the major intersections.
A quick note on how time is kept in Isarn:
The eleven bells of Le Temple Creux (all of them with names) are rung by obsessive timekeeping fanatics, and have been tended by the Timekeepers since the Hollow Temple was built. From First Bells (6:00 AM) to Last Bells (11:00 PM), they are rung every quarter-hour in very specific patterns; the hours are tolled on the hour but not the quarter-hour. From Last Bells to First, only the Hour Call (indicating that it is the top of the hour) and the Hour Count (i.e. what hour it actually is, immediately follows the Hour Call) are tolled.
While the bells of Le Temple Creux are able to be heard across Isarn and beyond -- on all but the most inclement nights the watch at the ring of forts around Isarn (such as Fort de l'Ouest where Lucien is stationed) use the bells for timekeeping -- during the day local churches ring their own bells when they hear those of Le Temple Creux (or a church closer to it than they are) ring. This results in a wave of bell tolling that spreads across the city every hour, serving as alarm clock for those (like bakers) who must rise and get to work early.
Only a few churches ring the quarter-hours.
(This explanation will be added to a section of the Galt Gazette, and referenced in Le Temple Creux. The Timekeepers will also be ... well, not necessarily _explained_ ... ;) )
Makes sense and sounds good to me. I like the imagery of it; imagining the bell tolls spreading from Le Temple Creux through the rest of the city is really neat.
Quick question for my thread: is the final Perception roll for the random thug who will point me to Barbeau, or for Barbeau himself, who I'm finally catching? Just want to make sure I post with the right event.
Also, as an aside, may I say: I'm already really loving the systems you're using for this cat-and-mouse hunt. Very intuitive while also very flavorful and fun!
That was for Barbeau himself, crouched somewhere “safe” and very much no longer drunk.
Great! Also, this probably goes without saying, but let me know if I'm ever doing too much creation/suggestion or generally writing too much in my posts. I'm enjoying writing for the character and describing his actions and events, but I can tone it down if you like.