Grudge score

[Uqbarian]

I imagine this was discussed on the old forums, but I haven't yet found a thread for it. Does anyone have advice for how to apply the 'Grudge score' suggestion for tracking Saxon aggression during the Anarchy (GPC, page 71)? 

[Morien]

Away from computer right now but if you look in Nocturnal Archive in the House Rules, there should be one of mine about Harvest, Raids and Wasteland and I talk about the Saxons in Anarchy too. 

[Morien]

Sorry, I misremembered. It was this one:

http://kapresources.wpengine.com/Pendragon Forum Archive/index.php/t-2571.html

And

http://kapresources.wpengine.com/Pendragon Forum Archive/index.php/t-2589.html

Edited September 26, 2019 by Morien

[Uqbarian]

Yep, I found those threads, and they're great! But I still feel like I'm missing something. What I was looking for is a mechanical step, e.g. something like 'Lethargic Saxons: add 1d6 to Grudge Score for each refusal, raids occur at Grudge above 10 and drop Grudge by 2, invasion occurs at Grudge 15.'

(I know I could come up with something on my own, or just feel it out based on the narrative, but with the table and text in GPC it feels like there is an intended mechanical implementation that didn't get fully spelled out.)

[Morien]

As far as I know, there is no official mechanic for it and Greg never shared what might have been in his mind. 

Personally, I prefer to go more with the story since that is also how the players are making their choices. "I heard Essex got defeated by Caer Colun last year so maybe we won't pay them this year since they are probably too weak to go looking for new enemies..." Now they might be wrong on their estimations, and I would not be afraid to go off-script if they have been especially insulting to the Saxon aethelings. But I don't think I would leave it solely on the dice. YPWV, of course. 🙂

[Uqbarian]

Thanks! That's probably how I'll end up doing it too, mostly. But I'll cook up some mechanics of my own just for fun.

[Morien]

53 minutes ago, Uqbarian said:

Thanks! That's probably how I'll end up doing it too, mostly. But I'll cook up some mechanics of my own just for fun.

Well, building on your suggestion... 

Each skipped tribute: 2d6+3 Grudge

Lethargic: halve the Grudge increase

Belligerent: default

Zerg: double the grudge increase

Then roll vs. Current Grudge score. If the result is a success with a value 1-10, it is a Raid. If the result is a success with a value 11-19, it is a Pillaging Raid. If it is a critical, it is an invasion intended to ravage the whole county or even conquer it outright.

Raids lower the grudge by 5 per severity. 

[Uqbarian]

Neat, thanks!

Edited September 27, 2019 by Uqbarian

[Morien]

1 hour ago, Morien said:

Raids lower the grudge by 5 per severity. 

You could also allow:

Each skipped tribute paid later will lower the Grudge by 2d6+3 * activity modifier (0.5 for lethargic, etc).

In our campaign, the Saxons tended to demand the skipped payments after the fact, even if they raided in between. However, if you kept up to date with the payments, they did not raid you. After all, if you pay and the Saxons raid you anyway, then there isn't much point in paying, is there? So I would only roll vs. Grudge if the county has not paid tribute for that year.

Up to you if the Saxons would demand the skipped payments too, or if they would kinda gloss over those, figuring that the raid was enough. If the Saxons do require the backpay as well, then this system might be a bit too harsh: you get raided AND have to pay the tribute that is in arrears? But if the Saxons feel that they are 'owed' money, the Grudge score would stay high. Which means that even the Lethargic Saxons are quick to punish you if you 'relapse' in your payments, which is probably reason enough to keep up with them.

Note that I have not playtested this in any way. But just by eyeballing the numbers, you would get something like:

Lethargic Saxons: Grudge +5 per year, so 1st year Grudge 5 =  25% chance of a raid, second year Grudge 10 = 50% chance of a raid, which probably happens so -5, 3rd year Grudge 10 again = 50% chance of a raid... This is probably a bit too common, as it becomes almost a yearly occurrence and starts becoming a Pillage, too.

Hmm. If the Raid (regardless of severity) becomes -10 instead, then the Lethargic Saxons would basically reset their Grudge after every raid. So you have the choice of paying them 1 Lot per year, or every 2 years or so, they will raid you, which probably causes that same 2 Lots of damage and also messes with your building projects. This is not really 'Lethargic' as such, I admit, but also means that they are not jumping straight for the throat, as you might get away not paying them every time. So if you skip the first year, but pay up the second year, skip the third year (Raid, Grudge goes to 0), skip the fourth year, pay the fifth year, skip sixth (lucky, no raid), pay 7th, skip 8th (Raid happens, Grudge drops to 5), pay 9th... In this case, in 9 years, you have skipped 5 times, paid 4 times, and been raided 2 times... So 8 Lots of tribute & damage vs. 9 lots had you just been paying. Yeah, seems to work OK.

You could simply have the Belligerent Saxons demand double tribute, and make the skipped tribute maybe 1d6+1 per Lot instead. That way, you don't have to multiply. Lethargic Saxons ask for normal tribute (1 Lot, skipped 1d6+1 Grudge), Belligerent ask for double tribute (2 Lots, 2d6+2 skipped), and Zerg ask for triple tribute (3 Lots, 3d6+3 if skipped).