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Post by alfred on Mar 4, 2013 11:28:27 GMT -5
So, I don't actually want to play in Westeros cause I haven't read all the books or seen all the episodes, so I'll be stealing words from John Wick's other game Houses of the Blooded.
Welcome to Shanri, known as "The Great Enemy." The world will crush the weak, the unprepared, the ignorant. Only the Strong, Beautiful, Wise, Cunning and Courageous will survive. Only those with Prowess will leave their mark on the world.
You will serve your Lord. You are officers; your liege's vassals. Your Lord is, himself, likely vassal to someone else or so tied up in contracts, marriage pacts, and bargains so deep he may as well as sworn fealty to another.
The rule of law is simple. What's yours is yours, and everyone in service to you belongs to you; serve those to whom you belong; fill your place in the cosmic order.
Respect the spirits of the natural world, respect your ancestors who have gone before you, respect your name, respect and dignify your self. Meditate on what it means to serve your House to the fullest, as a noble, as a warrior, as an officer.
Reflect on Honor. Reflect on how Honor can be found in Beauty, in Wisdom, in Courage, in Prowess, in Strength, in Cunning.
The World is The Enemy and you must be strong. Do your Duty, and everything should go your way. Your code tells you so, your ancestors have said so, and your Lord says so. Who are you to question the Natural Order?
Some changes
We'll be using the English names for all the Duties since we're not in Japan.
The General's Ashigaru are, in fact, foot soldiers and Banner men.
Any of the Holdings that are decidedly Japanese (like the Buddhist temple) we'll figure out what it is in play. We can just call them by their holding name though.
I'm adding a new type of holding to the game: The Shipyard. Each season, it can create ships equal to its rank. So, 1 good ship at rank 1; another example, 3 good ships at rank 1 each or 1exquisite ship at Rank 3. You use a ship's dice on any risk involving your ship being awesome, including battle. Shipyard's ranks also count towards War.
So, yeah. Our game. If you have any problems with anything, let me know.
For now, let's get rolling:
One House or two for this game? You all one big family, or two families in different provinces?
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Post by alfred on Mar 4, 2013 18:23:41 GMT -5
Also, we'll be playing a friendly game since the majority want a friendly game.
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simon
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Post by simon on Mar 4, 2013 18:31:10 GMT -5
One house, I think? It fits the idea of us being squabbling nobility that have the ever-looming integrity of the realm that (barely?) keeps us in check.
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Post by alfred on Mar 4, 2013 19:10:34 GMT -5
Ok, so here's the first step. Everyone discuss and answer these. Post your preference and discuss with the others until every step is complete.
First, who is your House Lord?
By which we mean, what's his or her type? Is he/she Ambitious, Clever, Cruel, Cunning, Dangerous, Kind, or Mad? Or would you like a special option available to the Narrator? Discuss. The options are detailed on pp4-6.
Second, what Virtue does your House revere?
Beauty, Courage, Cunning, Prowess, Strength, or Wisdom? Whichever you pick will give every PC and NPC of the house a +1 with that Virtue. You'll be expected to be great at it and probably mocked if you suck at it. Its your House's stance on the idea of how to serve your Liege and the people. Details on pp6-7.
Third, what Holdings does your House have at its disposal in your province?
You each get to pick one, so no need for discussion here, per se. They're found on pp7-8 in the book though their perks are detailed in pp74-77. The gist is that they provide bonus dice equal to their rank for a particular Virtue, or they give you goods, or Koku, or special perks. If multiple people pick the same one, its ranks can stack or we can keep them separate. Separate means they don't step on each others toes since uses are limited by Ranks, but you're limited to 10 total holdings per province. Only so much greatness will gather at your doorstep. Also, name your damn Province.
Fourth, what Aspects does your Clan have?
You'll have to read over pp9-12 and report back here with your opinion cause its too much for me to go over here. Your clan will have four aspects -- one is about always working together. So, you must collectively choose three others (perhaps by simply voting on what three each of you want and most votes wins). Aspects are simple: you get three dice when you meet their Invoke requirements, and you gain Honor when you obey their Compel -- or lose Honor if you snub the Compel.
Fifth, what specialty does your Province boast?
What makes it awesome? Wine? Cheese? Books? Art? Spices? Medicine? Orichalcum steel?
Sixth, what is your House’s Name and Heraldry?
Stark and Wolf? Lannister and Lion? Something better, preferably not fucking stolen from Game of Thrones? Also, toss out some ideas for your House's motto! In Blood & Honor, normally your clan name gives you two dice when the name's meaning is appropriate to the risk you're taking. In this case, it seems more appropriate for each House to have a motto that gives you two dice when acting under its advice. "If Not Us, Then Who?" Or "When The Bear Sleeps, The Wolf Owns The Wood" or somesuch.
Seventh, what is true about your House?
You each state one true fact about your House, its history, your Lord, your Lord's family, your subjects, or your province, or any other topic similar to those listed here. Do not do this until all other topics are settled.
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simon
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Post by simon on Mar 4, 2013 19:28:35 GMT -5
So I was flipping through the book to figure out what kind of ruler would be cool, when I realised he had a section about what attributes would be associated with historical Japanese feudal lords! The guy from the area I live in, Date Masamune, is listed as 'Mad', but they seem to be using it to mean... unpredictable, I guess? Masamune was known for being an innovative and unpredictable leader, who did some pretty crazy things, but it was always done with greater purpose in mind.
If that's what 'Mad' means, then I vote for Mad.
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erik
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Post by erik on Mar 4, 2013 19:36:22 GMT -5
what's the deal with the Ven and this Ork business?  tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/HousesOfTheBlooded Masamune was known for being an innovative and unpredictable leader, who did some pretty crazy things, but it was always done with greater purpose in mind. If that's what 'Mad' means, then I vote for Mad. Based on the the description of Mad, I don't think that's what mad means. my vote is for CleverSixth, what is your House’s Name and Heraldry? Stark and Wolf? Lannister and Lion? Something better, preferably not fucking stolen from Game of Thrones? To be fair some of the sigils are pretty damn common and were used frequently during the medieval era. So it wouldn't be like. Wow we picked a dragon , we ripped off SoI&F ;-) Now if we picked certain color combos and such... Also you mentioned Westeros first!  on that note, simon it's that time Fourth, what Aspects does your Clan have? You'll have to read over pp9-12 and report back here with your opinion cause its too much for me to go over here. Your clan will have four aspects -- one is about always working together. So, you must collectively choose three others (perhaps by simply voting on what three each of you want and most votes wins). Aspects are simple: you get three dice when you meet their Invoke requirements, and you gain Honor when you obey their Compel -- or lose Honor if you snub the Compel. I think the ones I find most appealing are - If My Dog Knew my Plans Too - my favorite
- All Married Women Are Not Wives or A Merry Companion is as Good as a Horse
- Dig two graves could be cool . The survival(deer hunter) one and the Mountain/strong one are ok also. But this seemed more evocative
- One Word Can Warm the Winter maybe. The polite one seems too polite but could beo k.
would we just want to vote on our favorites and see what we end up with as a House or would we want to discuss things and make sure things are consistent (that is to say that we don't end up with people who are belligerent and lacking eloquence but are also excellent seducers ;-) )? |
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Post by alfred on Mar 4, 2013 19:54:25 GMT -5
In houses of the blooded, you play an antediluvian species called the even. The conceit is that the game is an anthropological recreation of the dead Ven society. In the game, Ork is the Ven word for "monster." So, all beasties are Ork. Krakens are ork, manticores are ork, zombies and vampires are ork. The even are just sexy strong mighty assholes who are passionate and childish and awesome and also douchebags. I have no intention of using ven and ork in this game unless we wanted to call ourselves ven instead of men, or have ven ancestors or some shit. We could use ork as our word for superstitious beasties in the night, like wildlings or frost walkers. Only if you guys want me to import Ven or ork as relevant terms for our game. Otherwise, I just won't be using those at all. And I won't be ccusing anyone of copying unless they actually come along and say "uh hey I wanna be a lannister"  I reserve the right to hit that person |
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simon
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Post by simon on Mar 4, 2013 20:33:59 GMT -5
Clever seems like a good attribute for the ruler, then. I'm not sure why he classified Masamune as "mad", though, considering he was completely sane throughout his life.
I vote for a colour scheme that is gaudy as fuck. Let's be the fashionable house, the ones who wear bold outfits and revel in it.
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adam
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Post by adam on Mar 4, 2013 21:55:24 GMT -5
I'm totally down for Clever for the ruler! I feel like a mad ruler would make planning long term seasonal things difficult. Also the gaudy color scheme is a cool idea. From what I recall of Houses of the Blooded there was a lot of importance attributed towards colors so that would be fun to have.
So for our sigil (if we went with clever) would we use like a fox or some animal that is associated with being clever? Or have something wacky like a platypus/hippo/panda on our banners... (deal with it George RR Martin those animals are too legit for Westeros)
Also, Houses of the Blooded has animals that go with each of the virtues so there's that.
So if we went with clever it would make a lot of sense to go with Cunning as our prowess.
I think these first steps should be sorted out before we start coming up with our aspects so that the aspects can reflect our strengths or balance out our weaknesses.
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simon
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Post by simon on Mar 4, 2013 22:05:43 GMT -5
Clever and Cunning seem appropriate! In terms of appropriate animal sigils, I guess a fox or maybe a raven? Or an octopus, because that seems more inventive. Also clearly the colour scheme should involve purple.
I will have a deeper look at the aspects when I am on my compy and not mobile posting!
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erik
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Post by erik on Mar 4, 2013 22:12:26 GMT -5
A sword piercing a sword piercing a sword piercing a sword piercing a sword piercing a sword.
There is no homosexual subtext.
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jt
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Post by jt on Mar 4, 2013 22:18:30 GMT -5
Octopus most definitely. I've been reading Jacques Cousteau's The Soft Intelligence so I'm all down with cephalopod cleverness.
Shit, my argot is jonky right now.
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erik
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Post by erik on Mar 4, 2013 22:44:02 GMT -5
slowly transforming into Greyjoys
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jt
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Post by jt on Mar 4, 2013 22:46:59 GMT -5
I should probably be honest and upfront and say that I've only seen one or two episodes of Game of Thrones and literally the only thing I remember is the gay sex scenes.
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Post by alfred on Mar 4, 2013 22:49:07 GMT -5
So since Adam brought up Houses of the Blooded...
If people want me to share the color info, I can copy paste it for y'all.
In Houses of the Blooded, the virtues are lined up thusly:
Beauty, Fox
Courage, Falcon
Cunning, Elk
Prowess, Wolf
Strength, Bear
Wisdom, Snake
Bonus Virtues in other books:
Cooperation or some such, Wasp
Servitude or some such, Horse
Memory of some such, Boar
Spirituality or some such, Cat
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