Daniel
5 is a Catastrophe
Law
Population
Power
Wealth
roll 1d6 for each, and that is how much we lose for each resource.A result of catastrophe usually indicates a natural disaster, such as an
outbreak of plague, blight, or drought, any of which can diminish your
population and ability to control your lands. If catastrophe is your first
historical event, it means your family may have gained their status
through dubious or tragic means, perhaps replacing the previous lords
who were wiped out during the catastrophe or were a lesser branch that
rose in station as they inherited the holdings of their kin.House rolls need to improve maybe a GM Fiat Windfall?
I find failing Houses can be really interesting to play, as it means more desperate means become 'acceptable' to those who steer the House's fortunes - but actually...
I have 4 as Catastrophe, and 5 as Conquest.
Your family fought and defeated an enemy, annexing their lands and holdings to their own. With such a victory comes the trouble of old loyalties, weakening your house’s hold and influence over the smallfolk.
We need six rolls for that, so I'll take and reallocate Daniel's 4 and add two more of my own.
Defense= -2
Influence= +3
Lands= +4
Law= -6
Whoever writes up the story of House Ghaele's short war and conquest (possibly around the time of the Dance of Dragons if you want to key it to a Westeros-wide civil war - maybe we picked the right side? We didn't utterly destroy another House, but won lands and smallfolk from them) can add a d6 to a Resource of their choice.
But with Deiros's Infrastructure event, that puts us at:
Defense 21
Influence 33
Lands 22
Law 18
Population 24
Power 30
Wealth 50
History went:
Founded from Descent
Infrastructure
Conquest
Infrastructure
??? - Lord Tytos' time?
??? - Robert's Rebellion?
??? - Since then
That doesn't seem so bad, does it?
As requested we'll start in 298 AC, around the time of the death of Jon Arryn - but our events haven't caught up to there yet.
I have the A Game of Thrones edition and it has 5 as catastrophe and 17 as Conquest. That's probably the issue.
Lord Barrick Ghaele led a small troop, one of the few that was not composed of Rivermen, and was given the task of preventing the entrenched Greens from getting word out, since the command feared the potential of a battle on two fronts, since they already had dragons to contend with, and he succeeded in stopping a group of about forty men with his own unit of only twelve. They were carrying missives for another troop who was never found, though historians estimate they may have met with the retreating Greens and perished at the Battle of The Kingsroad.
As a reward for his service, House Ghaele received some lands taken from House Horst, who had sided along with much of those ultimately under Casterly Rock with the Greens. The lands were awarded during the much-maligned "Hour of the Wolf", by temporary Hand of the King Lord Cregan Stark. Because of his short tenure as Hand, the lands' status as Ghaele property is lightly disputed to this day.
In my book that's Ascent.
Ah, that explains it!
I didn't think there was much difference between the two, but in that case I'll go and track down a copy of the newer edition.
Happily that took me all of walking across the room and asking if I could borrow it, so I'm back now. ^^
Looks like in the new one they've redone the table so it isn't alphabetical any more (though they still haven't fixed Decline vs Descent).
You rolled it, so we'll go with Ascent and I'll stick to the new book from this point onwards.
Great Conquest story, did you want to add a d6 to a House Resource for your services to House Ghaele?
This probably took place during the long rule of generous-but-weak Lord Tytos Lannister, where the light hand of the Lord Paramount allowed lesser Houses in the Westerlands more independence and freedom to prosper (or not) on their own.
And a new event around the time of Robert's Rebellion!
Scandal! (oops)
Can't wait to hear what House Ghaele did this time...
Actually I was going to do the last one wasn't I?
Let's see what House Ghaele has been doing during the past fifteen years, shall we?
Conquest (now in a new number).
Why am I completely unsurprised? ^^
I'm writing this one up, so I'll give 1d6 to Lands to bolster whatever we manage to conquer.
Sorry all. Last night & today wound up being incredibly busy for me. I will try to review what we have come up with tomorrow.
It's fine Irnk, we've worked out most the House events and background although I haven't done the holdings yet.
I'm doing up the background history as well, although I've left a spot for the infrastructure event Daniel is writing up.
One question I wanted to ask is, our influence is at 34 which is enough to either be sworn to the Lannisters directly at the moment or to be sworn to their local 'major vassal', House Marbrand.
Which would people prefer?
I'd say cut out the middleman and have us sworn to them, but i don't feel particularly strongly in this respect.
I agree. Go big or go home. Having a personal relationship with the Lannisters at this point in history is bound to be interesting.
Very well, direct sworn bannermen of House Lannister of Casterly Rock it is.
I've written most of our collected history into a cohesive document, with a placeholder for Daniel's paragraph/anecdote/thing about the House between our line taking charge of it and the Dance of Dragons.
Hubert Ghaele, a chestnut-haired knight and a courageous fighter, became the first lord of House Ghaele of Goodby Knoll. He went on to fight bravely beside his sponsor as King Lancel struck south for Highgarden, but was fending off two Reachmen when the Little Lion drove his dagger into a gap in the King's armor and killed him. The Westerland army collapsed and went home, but there has ever after been a cordial animosity between those sworn to Houses Ghaele and Osgrey. Under Hubert and his sons the Ghaeles thrived, but in the third generation tragedy struck as the spring sickness claimed most of those at Goodby Knoll including all of the family gathered at home for the celebration of a prestigious betrothal with a daughter of a nearby House.
The sole exception was the black sheep of the family, driven from home for his drunken escapades and known dismissively as Redgar the Windy for his ale-fuelled boasts about how his family would all see one day and come begging for him to return. Neither the brightest nor strongest of men, this second cousin of the recently deceased lord was passed out in his cups when the retainers arrived to recall him to his new station. It took a full five explanations before the hungover knight grasped that they weren't in fact hired to bait him in a cruel jest, and it was a more sorrowful man by far who journeyed home to the Knoll. It is a firm article of faith to the friends of the House that he was stricken by grief and thus cannot be blamed, but after a night's medicinal drinking he determined that this spring sickness was in fact no mischance but a calculated attack by agents of House Congrave, the betrothal merely a ruse to draw their targets together, and promptly declared war upon the other House over the loud and insistent objections of his surviving retainers. These retainers came to a quick and quiet agreement, and while Lord Redgar led a ragged army out from Goodby Knoll they returned without ever quite reaching House Congrave after he mysteriously fell from his horse and took a deadly blow to the head. His long-suffering young son Edgar had squired to his father for many years, and would now succeed him under a regency, going on to be called Edgar Ironhand in the annals of House Ghaele.
<Placeholder for Daniel Stewart, infrastructure event>
As many know, in the time of the Dance of Dragons there were two battles of Tumbleton. The second revolves around the stories of The Betrayers, their disunity and their ultimate deaths. What fewer know is despite the fact that it was ultimately a victory for the Blacks, they actually never took the city.
Lord Barrick Ghaele led a small troop, one of the few that was not composed of Rivermen, and was given the task of preventing the entrenched Greens from getting word out, since the command feared the potential of a battle on two fronts, since they already had dragons to contend with, and he succeeded in stopping a group of about forty men with his own unit of only twelve. They were carrying missives for another troop who was never found, though historians estimate they may have met with the retreating Greens and perished at the Battle of The Kingsroad.
As a reward for his service, House Ghaele received some lands taken from House Horst, who had sided along with much of those ultimately under Casterly Rock with the Greens. The lands were awarded during the much-maligned "Hour of the Wolf", by temporary Hand of the King Lord Cregan Stark. Because of his short tenure as Hand, the lands' status as Ghaele property is lightly disputed to this day.
All through the long and bloody Blackfyre Rebellions, House Ghaele made the truest and wisest choice; no matter how rich the promises, they refused to conspire with the agents from beyond the sea. Two Ghaeles fought at the Battle of the Redgrass Field, but the high cost in men paid that day taught then-Lord Haelric the virtues of caution. He stayed out of the subsequent rebellions when he could and devoted his wealth instead to raising a new tower in the lands secured from House Horst. When his son in turn was called to fight the Fourth Blackfyre Rebellion he took a measured approach and answered his liege with half his men, leaving the rest behind to protect his expanded borders. As a result of this consistent policy many smallfolk came to live in the security of Ghaele lands during each rebellion, fleeing the anarchy elsewhere and growing the House's prosperity.
The reign of the Laughing Lion was a blessing for most of the vassals of Casterly Rock; his amiable and open-handed policy saw a time of peace and prosperity for the Ghaeles, part-fueled by extensive loans of gold from the Lannister coffers. During this time at the happy court of their liege, Lord Gregor Ghaele was wed to Lady Avrys Silverhill and with this added prestige wed to Tytos' loan was able to secure a marked expansion in the House's estates. The Ghaeles drifted a ways into the orbit of House Reyne during this period, but when Tywin took charge and sent agents to reclaim the debts owed Casterly Rock, Gregor recognized a different mettle in the young Lord and swiftly reaffirmed his loyalties, sending his eldest daughter as hostage to guest at the Rock until the funds could be raised and repaid.
Unfortunately the loan was not a small one, and by the time Lord Gregor had amassed the necessary coin years had passed, his daughter Tyra (the sister of the current Lord, Tyrick Ghaele) had flowered and when she returned from her time as hostage and companion to Lady Joanna Lannister, she came home with a bastard babe in her belly. The scandal rocked the House, and led to two known duels fought by Tyrick in the months that followed, along with some ill feeling toward the Lannisters who had taken such poor care of his sister while she was in their keeping. For the most part he put this aside before his father's death toward the end of Robert's Rebellion, though he is still known to be very wary of anything that might besmirch the banners of his House.
The past fifteen years have been a time of healing for most of the realm, of peace almost unmarred by violence. During the Greyjoy Rebellion the Westerlands rallied, but after the raid on Lannisport the fighting was left to Northmen and Rivermen and finally Lord Tywin released his bannermen to return to their homes. Eight years ago though, there was a sudden increase in banditry along the River Road. Efforts were made to quell them, but the raids grew ever more pervasive and for a time it seemed trade between Sarsfield and Golden Tooth would stop dead. Following a vicious attack on Ashen Tor, spies managed to connect the raids with a mysterious improvement in the fortunes of nearby House Spence of the Rylls, held by a landed knight once sworn to Castamere. Lord Tyrick worked with House Marbrand to bring an end to this robber-knight, slaughtering most of those sworn to his banner and dividing his lands between them. Tywin Lannister made no open remark on the small war fought in the heart of his realm, but following the Harrowing of the Rylls the collectors come to House Ghaele have adjusted their tithes to account for their new holdings; something Tyrick Ghaele and Damon Marbrand both take as tacit approval of their actions.
I've written up the unclaimed passages, so I've finished the house history rolls here. The House Resources are:
Defense 19
Influence 34
Lands 33
Law 14
Population 26
Power 27
Wealth 56
Are there any holdings people would like to suggest before I pull them all together?
At this point I think Defense will be a Tower called Goodby Knoll (on a low hill of some kind, could be a Hills or Plains area) and a ruined Tower at Ashen Tor, built on the Horst lands won by Lord Barrick, broken during the Harrowing of the Rylls and probably restorable with a few more Defense points.
We now have a recruitment thread as well, for character concepts and, eventually, creation.
Notes and thoughts (because I <3 house building. ALL suggestions are suggestions only.
Defense you covered.
Influence gives us a Max status of 4, so we may be direct vassals of the Lannisters, but Tywin probably doesn't break out the good wine when we come to town.
I love land holdings. I'd push for a hills domain (where Goodby Knoll stands) and a coastal plains domain.
Lawlessness and banditry are a problem along the fringes of our lands.
Population typical and scattered.
Power: Most fighting has been with bandits the past generation. I'm thinking relatively experienced scouts and relatively green cavalry, because we like knights. Even if they don't do much.
Wealth: a mine and a port. We'll be rich! Probably the port is a natural harbor with a couple of guys who serve as middlemen between the miners in the hills and whatever ships come to trade. With no population center, I imagine there isn't so much a big mine as a lot of small digs. This feeds the banditry, because when your claim doesn't pan out, it's easier to try to steal someone else's than to start over.
When I've been doing the other Houses in the area (like I said, I do love the House Creation rules) I've been house ruling that all units are Green or Trained (because the Westerlands haven't really had a war worthy of the name in recent memory).
Scout and Knightly ideas are good ones, and I like your thoughts on the others. Definitely agree about Tywin Lannister and the good wine! It was a good level of experience really since it meant we could plausibly be directly under the Lannisters or one more rung down.
Keep up the good thoughts! I'm putting together a NC in the Official Recruitment Thread, and then taking a step back to let y'all brainstorm in peace.
For your little history piece, could you write a short 5+ line paragraph about how House Ghaele improved their influence and wealth in a time of developing what they had rather than fighting someone else.
Maybe they established new iron mines and made a contract with someone to sell it?
Maybe the Lord made a prestigious marriage with a daughter of a more powerful house?
That sort of thing, thanks.
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We could have the tower overlook the port from some hill.
I would have sailors if we can, pirates also can raid our port, but scouts are a good idea.
I believe we never did Initial modifications
Once the starting values for each resource are determined, each player
gets to modify the values by rolling 1d6 and adding it to a resource of
their choice. Players may modify any resource they like, but no
resource can benefit from more than two extra rolls.
So before we start getting into Holdings, we might do this to bolster the House a bit?
@ Deiros: I think the thinking was to include those bonuses in the house history process. Write a piece of the house's history and then roll a dice for a resource. Except there weren't many takers as far as creating the house history.
Of course, I may be wrong, in which case, hand me my d6.
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Hope this is what you are looking for...
House Ghaele was fortunate to be at relative peace for a number of years. During this time, they were able to take stock of their lands and discover a number of previously undiscovered treasures. The first was the discovery of a rich source of Tin. Found mostly by accident by mason's looking for a better local for a quarry, the very rich vein helped propel the house forward in prestige and power.
Following on the tales of this find was a growth in the population. For whatever reason, the scattered hamlets exploded with people, who in turn settled more and more of the fallow lands, building up a strong agrarian base, with wheat, barley and sheep becoming the major exports from the land.
I'll roll a
@ Deiros: I think the thinking was to include those bonuses in the house history process. Write a piece of the house's history and then roll a dice for a resource. Except there weren't many takers as far as creating the house history.
Of course, I may be wrong, in which case, hand me my d6.
Snake Charmer is right; since we're still in the recruitment stage and don't have a final set of players as yet, I decided to weave the initial adjustment rolls into the process of making the House History both as a 'reward' for the writers who would be more committed to playing the House they'd helped to create.
Taking it as writ, the rules suggest doing it before any House event rolls are made, and I didn't want to halt the creation process while we waited for each dice roll's aim to be chosen and rolled. We do have four rolls incorporated already (which is pretty standard for a House Creation process), and depending on how things play out I may allocate another 2-3 rolls to the chosen characters who have the biggest stake in the House's fate.
Thanks for the paragraph Daniel, that will fit well in Ghaele's history (and I'll put it there now)!
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I don't like the gauntlet lol. Maybe a Helmet or a Tower.
We are a sort of Sea fearing House or have something to do with the sea and gold. Also the name gives me more of the colors of green and silver or god.
Probably a Bull or Boar, sounds more reflective of the Bold and Constant.
Silver/Gold bull in a green field, with silver/gold edges?
well, i think the pic is a good representation of what was randomly rolled, at least. Good job Daniel.
I like it Daniel, I've linked it into the Campaign Info now (via some imgur rehosting!) under the description of the insignia.
We have a silver gauntlet on a green escutcheon, all on a field of orange and this seems like a good representation of that (originally I imagined the escutcheon being smaller, but this works better with the charge imho).
We have two voices calling for some kind of coastal domain so I'll see what I can do; should have that information up later today, although I doubt we'd have much in the way of a fleet. If we have a warship with a unit of sailors onboard, that's likely to eat up at least half our power but I'll play with the numbers and see what we get.
House Holdings
Defense
Goodby Knoll (Tower), Ashen Tor (Ruined Tower)
Influence
Tyvorst Ghaele (Male Heir, 18)
Irnk's (Eldest Daughter, ??)
Jyana Ghaele, NC (Younger Daughter, 13)
Trystane Ghaele, NC (Younger Son, 10)
Land
Hills, Mine (Iron), Goodby Knoll, Tower
Plains, Coast, Port
Plains, Ruin (Ashen Tor), Hamlet
Power
Goodby's Lance (Cavalry, Green)
Gauntlet of the Knoll (Garrison, Green)
Ghaele Borderers (Scouts, Trained)
Ghaele Sea Guard (Warships, Green)
Ghaele Seamen (Sailors, Green)
Wealth
Maester, Mine (Iron), Port, 26 remaining
House Fortunes
+9 (net)