Fame in BRP

[soltakss]

I need a mechanic that measures the Fame of a PC in BRP but I couldn't find anything in the BRP Rulebook.

Is there a mechanic that shows how famous a PC is in a certain area?

If not, then I'll probably be introducing a Famous skill or something similar.

Any ideas?

[rust]

Any ideas?

I used an extension of the Status skill. The Reputation starts at the same percentage as the

Status skill and is then raised according to the character's activities within the setting - the

more visible and successful or desastrous the character's activities are, the more famous

he becomes.

However, this is influenced both by the group he has to interact with (a famous scholar is

better known to other scholars than to warriors) and by the distance from his home or base

(a local hero may be quite unknown in a neighbouring country).

If I remember it right, my usual modifier was something like -20 % for a different group and

-10 % for each village or town beyond the home / base, but I am not certain - my current

setting does not use Reputation.

[RosenMcStern]

In a society that values personal virtues more than wealth, Status = Fame.

In a very materialistic society, you might wish to split Status between Reputation (a la RuneQuest) and Credit Rating (a la Call of Cthulhu).

[rust]

In a society that values personal virtues more than wealth, Status = Fame.

I am not certain. To give a real world example, Einstein was probably far more famous than

most of the heads of state of his time, but he did not have the same Status as, for example,

a president of the United States.

[soltakss]

I'll probably use Status with specialisations of Reputation and Wealth (Credit rating seems a very modern concept).

[icebrand]

You can use:

- RQ2 CHA increase Rules

- MRQI Companion Reputation and Renown rules LINK

- Fire & Sword has a lot of *simple and useful* rules for reputation, fame, politics, etc

Cheers,

Alex

[pansophy]

if you have more than one powerful force in your setting, e.g. different kingdoms, you could use a sort of Allegiance as well. It could show the "Fame" towards/within one or the others kingdoms ...

The chapter is found on page 315 in the big golden book.

[dragonewt]

I agree with the use of a variation of the Allegiance mechanic.

Remember, reputation is relative to the perception of individuals and the expectations of the society (or sub-society) of the time and location. And so the rule would need to be able to take this into account (perhaps similar to the original RQ2 use of Charisma, where a simplified subtraction of 10 from CHA was made when dealing with different races and cultures).

In one society, a (known and/or demonstrated) high proficiency in mathematics might earn social benefit. However, this same reputation might not count in a society where (perceived) family standing and 'boys club' associations are valued. A matrix of skills, social values, personal values and backgrounds would be required (account for mixed societies and values). Social skills such as 'liar', 'manipulator', 'orator', 'self promoter' or 'con-man' might also be required or could be used to substitute for earned fame.

A two stage mechanic could be: Fame is only a measure of what is known (assumed) about what you have done or can do (whether you have really done it or not). The response to this fame is then based on the values of the societies or individuals that are being interacted with, compared with the degree of perceived 'fame'.

Food for thought:

Therefore the man of skill is a master (to be looked up to) by him

who has not the skill; and he who has not the skill is the helper of

(the reputation of) him who has the skill. If the one did not honour

his master, and the other did not rejoice in his helper, an

(observer), though intelligent, might greatly err about them. This is

called 'The utmost degree of mystery.'

Edited August 1, 2010 by dragonewt

[GianniVacca]

In Tiān Xià, a character's Fame gives him extra Fate Points, as Fame and Fate are somehow related in China (if someone is famous it is because he was meant to be).

[dragonewt]

In Tiān Xià, a character's Fame gives him extra Fate Points, as Fame and Fate are somehow related in China (if someone is famous it is because he was meant to be).

Can a character enhance this by ensuring that their ancestral graves/tomb are in a geomantically auspicious location (Conversely, move your opponents' ancestor bodies to a geomantically bad location)?

The original concept of mana (as defined in the context of Polynesian cultures) is the same as well. This is why I have liked the POW stat (especially as used in the original RQ2). It represents a character's "influence" on the world - charisma, will, power, social status, control, "luck", and presence. To me, POW is a good equivalence to Polynesian mana.

For comparison, characters with a high Qi (Ki) also carry an aura of social control. Personal energy, will and influence. A variation is that people are awed by those who have a firm control of themselves and destinies. Eg: those with good kung fu (In the true sense of the word; good at tea making or programming, not just martial skill).

Edited August 2, 2010 by dragonewt

[GianniVacca]

Can a character enhance this by ensuring that their ancestral graves/tomb are in a geomantically auspicious location (Conversely, move your opponents' ancestor bodies to a geomantically bad location)?

This is an excellent idea

[vagabond]

if you have more than one powerful force in your setting, e.g. different kingdoms, you could use a sort of Allegiance as well. It could show the "Fame" towards/within one or the others kingdoms ...

The chapter is found on page 315 in the big golden book.

I'd have to dig it up, but I believe Elric!/Stormbringer 5th used this - at least superficially. If a character's Allegiance in a Force was high enough, they were "known" throughout the land, especially to character's allied with the opposing force.

Ian

[seneschal]

You guys are really trying too hard on this one:

or for you old-timers, like me:

Edited August 2, 2010 by seneschal
Add link

[Byron Alexander]

Do you want negative fame (infamy) as well? If so I think the allegiance rules modified idea works best (instead of good/evil you have fame/infamy).

If you just want fame in a positive or neutral light I think splitting status either into Status (Wealth) and Status (Fame) or into Credit Rating and Reputation (as suggested above) is probably best as it isn't adding an extra optional rule.

So I'd say it depends on what you're after but I don't have a better suggestion than those already given.

[Chaot]

Well holy carp. I was going through some old cds and I found a posted years ago on a yahoo group about Lankhmar.

So here's the rambling post. At some point I had put it together in a more concise format. It worked pretty well when I was using it. It takes several different character aspects into account including social circles the PC moves through and where they are located in the campaign world. Also note that only a few us on the board actually played BRP, which is why some of the explanations are there.

_______________

Nine months or more ago, I wrote about a possible Social Status/Reputation System. Well here it is.

Some of it was inspired by GURPS. However, it has been so long since I’ve read GURPS so I’m no longer sure which parts of it were the inspired parts.

Also, this system was designed with the BRP in mind. Any adaptation to a non skill based system will require a certain amount of hand waving and rewriting. Reputation could be handled by level and Etiquette and Alliances could be handled by Class or something, I guess.... but I find it an unsatisfactory substitute.

This method is fairly involved. It can potentially be stripped down and run without a lot of the details, but I think that it benefits from having all aspects included. I may be wrong on this count, and am hoping that you all can set me straight on it. I think though, that it is fairly intuitive and can run quietly in the background. GM’s are encouraged to play fast and loose with these rules to account for various NPC perspectives.

An additional benefit of these rules is it gives Players something to focus on other than Combat and Magic. In my opinion, this is always a good thing.

As a final note, these are literally slapdash notes that I rattled off today. Though the concepts have been percolating for awhile, much of this is in a newly written form. Therefore, not a whole lot of editing went into it. Please forgive any inconsistencies, incongruent concepts, or any other faults that may lie within. I am presenting this to you a) for feedback and any suggestions that might make the system more viable, and in the hopes that some of the ideas may be beneficial to anyone running a Lankhmar campaign. (And c) to convert everyone to the BRP! Um, I didn’t just type that...)

WARNING.... LONG...

BRP Mechanics Summary

Since this uses the BRP, I’m going to quickly summarize some of the basic system for those unfamiliar with it.

There are no levels. It is a skill based system that uses percentiles to signify how proficient a Character is. When a skill is used the Character has a chance at improving it, usually at the end of the adventure.

Skills are not capped at 100% but extend to infinity. (I believe Elric of the Moorcock books and the Stormbringer game has a Greatsword skill of 880%. That’s the highest skill that I recall off hand, but it’s possible that Azathoth of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu game has infinity in a few skills. This, of course, is at the high end of the scale. Most town guards have a combat skill ranging from 40%-60%. Heros have combat skills around 100%.)

Skills operate on a graded scale, so every roll under the skill is a Success. Every roll under 1/5th of the skill is a Critical Success. Every roll under 1/100th of the skill is a Special Success. Every roll above the skill is either a Failure or a Fumble. In every contest there is an active and a passive skill. For example, the Sea Mingol is using her Cutlass Skill against the Merchant from Quallmar. The Merchant has the option of Parrying or Dodging. The Sea Mingol rolls her skill, the Merchant his and they compare results.

Skills can modify other skills. Say a Land Mingol is defending his territory from some marauding Ghouls. He’s riding his horse and firing his bow. The PC rolls one percentage die and compares it both to his Bow Skill and his Riding Skill. The PC is not Successful unless both Skills are Successful.

One more thing. Stormbringer introduced Allegiances. It’s a system that measures a Character’s devotion to a Power; Law, Chaos or the Balance. A certain amount of points in an Allegiance gives the Characters benefits. Reputation is based on this system.

Ok, enough of that stuff, here’s the new stuff.

The Social System

There are four factors; Social Status, Reputation, Alliances/Enemies, and Regions. The following is a rough breakdown, followed by some notes and then an overview of how the factors work together.

Social Status- (Skill Based)

Etiquette [Noble] %

Etiquette [Merchant] %

Etiquette [Craftsman] %

Etiquette [Laborer] %

Etiquette [Vagrant] %

Notes: These five Etiquette Skills inform a Character on the Social niceties of each Class, including speech patterns, appropriate dress, hygiene, and diet. To actually look the part of the given Class a Character may have to spend some time (and money) to maintain their appearance. I’m planing on instituting a monthly (or weekly or daily) monetary fee to maintain a given appearance.

Not only does this Skill measure how well the Character can fit into a given ‘Class,’ it also measures how familiar the given ‘Class’ is with the Character. If a Character has a Merchant 60%, Craftsman 40%, and Noble 10% it signifies that the Character spends most of his or her time with Merchants and is well known within that circle. It also signifies that the Character also deals with Craftsmen and that they are moderately known in that circle. However, this Character rarely deals with Nobles and are therefore largely unknown to Nobles.

A Thief could have a high Vagrant Skill. This Thief could also have a high Noble Skill if she concentrated on exclusively robbing Nobles. Consequently, the Thief would also be well known, and feared, by Nobles, possibly causing some trouble to the Thief when the Nobles take out a contract on her...

Reputation- (Point Based)

1/5th of Highest Three Skills

Guild Associations (1/5th of Highest Skill)

Cult Association (1/5th of Highest Skill)

Deeds (variable point value)

Notes: Reputation is special because, not only is it based on a Point Based system, but it is also modified by other skills. To give Reputation perspective, the Stormbringer system uses 100 Allegiance points as a significant marker. It seems reasonable to use a Reputation of 100 to signify being famous (or infamous).

Say a Character’s three highest Skills are 120%, 80% and 60%. This gives us 24, 16 and 12. These are added together for a total of 52. This is pretty impressive and will make the character well known in his or her circles. Remember though that this is the unmodified value. Regional familiarity ties into the final result. Also, when using the different ways of determining Reputation, a Skill can only be counted once.

At Character Creation, the Player chooses a Background for their Character. This Background includes Skills that the Player can assign to percentage points to. The purpose of this is to give the Character some sort of History. One Fifth of the highest Skill of the Character Background is added to the Character’s Reputation score. In practice, this will probably be the fourth highest skill that a Character starts out with, as the three highest go to determining their basic Reputation score.

Other factors that contribute to Reputation is a Character’s relationship to organizations. These groups give the Character access to learning skills and special abilities as well as broadening the Character’s social structure. Each Guild and Cult have skills and special abilities that they are known for. When a Character becomes a member of the Guild or Cult they are granted the opportunity to train with the group in exchange for their loyalty.

Let’s say that the above Character is a guy named Bobsk. His three highest skills are Short Sword 120%, Bluff 80%, and Run 60%. Say Bobsk joins the Slayers Guild. The Slayers are known for their skill with the Short Sword, Dagger, and Garrote. They are also known for their ability to Move Silently. Bobsk trains up his Dagger skill to 32%. He’s already using his Short Sword skill to determine his Reputation, so that one doesn’t count. However, Bobsk decides that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of... uh, something else, so he decides to invest heavily in training up his Move Quietly Skill. He trains it up to 50%, surpassing his Dagger Skill. Therefore, 1/5th of Bobsk Move Quietly 50% will be added to his Reputation total, bringing it up to 62.

Bobsk is also a spiritual man and has become a devotee of Issek of the Jug. Through his devotion, Bobsk has increased his Endure Torture Skill to 40%. Bobsk’s Endure Torture 40% nets him another 8 points to his Reputation, bringing it up to 70. Pretty impressive.

Bobsk’s family Background is that of Baker. However, Bobsk was never muck of a Baker and his Craft [baking] is only at 40%. However, since this is the highest Background Skill that is not already accounted for, Bobsk adds another 8 to his Reputation score, bringing the total up to 78.

The final aspect of a Character’s Reputation is the Character’s Deeds. Though Bobsk is originally from Quarmall, he has spent most of his life in Lankhmar. In that time, he has failed as a Baker and done some freelance work here and there. His career has been unspectacular, and while working as a hired sword, he single handedly lost the famed Ruby of Lajal Gar’thoom. Fortunately for Bobsk, it was more of a family heirloom than something of value. However, stories of his ineptitude have spread through certain circles in Lankhmar, adding 10 points to his Reputation score, bringing the total up to 88.

There’s a couple of things here. First off, no press is bad press. Various NPCs will have their own opinion of the Character depending upon their own context. Reputation is only used to calculate whether someone is well known, not well liked. Therefore, good things and bad things are both totaled together. It is up to the GM to sort it all out.

The second thing, Deeds are only gained through roleplaying. A Character cannot, under normal circumstances, begin with Deeds already present (unless the GM wants to include unroleplayed Deeds at Character creation).

Alliances/Enemies - (Skill Based) Any significant Group that the Character helps or Hinders.

Cult of the Blue Assassins 35%

Village of Tradspeil 62%

etc.

This category is tightly tied to the Reputation category. An Alliance/Enemy is any group to which the Character belongs, has helped or has hindered.

In Bosk’s case, he is an initiative of the Slayer’s Guild and the Cult of Issek of the Jug. Therefore, under Alliances he has Slayer’s Guild 15% and Issek of the Jug 15%. His family is also non guilded Bakers, so he has garnered the ire of the Culinary Guild (or whatever). However, his family wasn’t much of a threat, so he is only an Enemy [Culinary Guild] 10%. However, Bobsk has seriously angered the Lajal Gar’thoom family, netting him an Enemy [Lajal Gar’thoom Family] 50%.

The purpose of this category is to note who the Character’s friends and enemies are. The GM can use this category as a way of determining NPC reactions to the Character. This also allows the Player to know who the Character can turn to for help.

Region - (Skill Based)

Hyborian Game

Aquilonia %

Zingara %

Cimeria %

Turan %

Stygia %

Shem %

Stormbringer Game

Agrimiliar %

Vilmir %

Oin and Yu %

Tarkesh %

Melnibone %

Pan Tang %

Nehwon Game

The Cold Wastes %

The Rime Isles %

Ilthmar %

Lankhmar %

Quarmall %

Kesh %

Notes: The more time a Character spends in an area, the more they will become familiar with the area. This is important because a Character from the jungles of Kesh with a Natural World Skill will be out of their element the first time the go to the Cold Wastes. The more familiar they become with the Cold Wastes, the more useful their Natural World Skill becomes. This is an example of the situation referenced at the beginning of the article, where one skill affects another. In this instance, a Character with a Natural World 60% will be unimpeded by the Kesh 80%. However, moving to the Cold Wastes, where they have a Cold Wastes 5% will seriously limit their knowledge of nature.

This limitation affects any skill that is rooted in an area. Etiquette [Noble, New York City] is different than Etiquette [Noble, Paris] is different than Etiquette [Noble, Moscow].

This skill also affects Reputation in a unique way. A Character’s Reputation skill is directly affected by the Region percentage. The Region Skill not only determines how much a Character knows about the Region, but how much the Region knows about the Character.

Let’s look at Bobsk. As noted before, Bobsk originally came from Quarmall but has spend most of his time in Lankhmar. Therefore, Bosk has a Quarmall 5% and a Lankhmar 45%. Now let’s look at Bobsk’s Reputation. He currently has an unmodified Reputation score of 88. Let’s look at Bobsk’s Regional Skills. He has Lankhmar 45%. Forty five percent of 88 is 39.6, rounded up to 40. Because his Lankhmar Skill is so low, Bobsk, who you might think was on his way to fame and fortune, is only moderately well known in Lankhmar. Those who know him are probably relegated to some of the Issek Cult, some of the Slayer’s Guild, some of the Culinary Guild, and the family of Lajal Gar’thoom (particularly those associated with the Ruby).

What’s more, Bobsk’s Reputation of 88 is further reduced to 4.4, rounded up to 5, in Quarmall. He is a relative unknown there.

A year later, when Bobsk’s Lankhmar skill is 120%, is reputation score increases dramatically. Giving that his unmodified Reputation hasn’t increased (which is unlikely), Bobsk now has a Reputation score local to Lankhmar of 105.6 (rounded up to 106). Enough to make him quite famous.

Anyway, that’s the basics of the system. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

-Shea

[Chaot]

I followed it up with this post.

_____________________

>It

>is very elaborate; you have considered many aspects of

>reputation.

Thanks! I figure that there are four main things that factor into how well a person is known; what they do, how well they do it, who they know, and good public relations/familiarity. ‘What they do’ is covered both by Deeds and Cults/Guilds, ‘how well they do it’ by Skills percentages, ‘who they know’ by Alliances/Enemies and partially Regional Skills, and ‘good public relations/familiarity’ by the Regional Skill and Alliances/Enemies. This is what I tried to emulate in the rules and, after your feedback, have revisited and made an adjustment. Hopefully it simplifies things. However, I should note that these are very loose definitions, as you can probably tell by my overlap of concepts in the mechanics. Therefore, I encourage a great deal of GM discretion when adjudicating reactions.

>I'm not 100% sold on all the maths required each time

>a PC meets someone. I would probably not use every

>aspect of your system.

After rereading my post, the narrative is a bit rambling. My purpose is to put the onus of maintaining relationships on the PC, not the GM. Actual recalculations should wait until the GM decides to let the players make their skill rolls. The PCs shouldn’t receive any benefits to Reputation until after they accomplish significant tasks (and until the beneficiaries have a chance to mull them over), which generally occurs either at the end of the adventure, or the game session break, or when the GM needs to give the Players some busy work to keep the players occupied so that he or she can recoup-regroup.

So, I’m going to try to simplify and clarify. Hopefully it will seem more intuitive. Please, let me know if it is still too involved and give me some specific complaints and I will do my best to address and adapt them.

Note that actual recalculations of Reputation should wait until the GM decides to let the players make their skill rolls. The PCs shouldn’t receive any benefits to Reputation until after they accomplish significant tasks (and until the recipients have a chance to mull them over), which generally occurs either at the end of the adventure, or the game session break, or when the GM needs to give the Players something to do when they need to recoup.

As far as mathematics goes, I’m sticking with three concepts (last version was two concepts, one supported by previous BRP material (1/5th rule), one a homebrew (Regional percentages modifying Reputation Scores).

The third concept is the 4 to 1 rule (introduced (I think) in the Unknown East supplement for Stormbringer). Why the addition? Well, I noticed that there is no measure of spell casting in the original Reputation rules. I think that we would all agree that Sorcerers in Nehwon have a bit of a reputation... So, I’ve incorporated magic into the Reputation rules. The short of it is that for every 4 MPs of spells that the Sorcerer has, they gain 1 REP point. However, I’ll get into that later.

Another thing, I realized that Alliance/Enemies and Guild/Cult Skills overlap a little bit, so I’ve nixed the Guild/Cult Skills from the base Reputation score and am just using the generic Guild/Cult Skill under Alliance.

Anyway, in the hope of simplification, I’m going to post my (re)organization of the aspects in the Reputation system, using Bobsk’s Character. Note that Reputation, Spells, Deeds, Alliance/Enemies, and Regions are all together. Etiquette is separate, but related.

Reputation Spells Deeds Alliance/Enemies Regions rep

Skill 1 % Region 1 % x

Skill 2 % Region 2 % x

Skill 3 % Region 3 % x

etc.

Etiquette

Noble %

Scholar %

Bureaucrat %

Merchant %

Craftsman %

Laborer %

Vagrant %

So for Bobsk, his Character Sheet might look like this.

Reputation Spells Deeds Alliance/Enemies Regions rep

Short Sword 120% 24 no spells lost famed Ruby A-Baker Profession 10% 2 Quarmall 5% 5

Bluff 80% 16 of Gar’thoom 10 A-Slayers’ Guild 15% 3 Lankhmar 45% 37

Run 60% 12 A-Issek Initiate 15% 3

Total: 82 E-Lajal Gar’thoom 50% 10

E-Culinary Guild 10% 2

So, I notice I haven’t really given Bobsk any Etiquette Skills in these examples. He’s got a background in Craftsman, so lets say he’s got 10%. Since then, he’s gone on to a bit of a more shady profession with the Slayers’, so let’s peg that at 25%. Finally, he’s done some work for the family of Lajal Gar’thoom, so let’s give him a 10% in the Noble Skill.

Etiquette

Noble 10%

Scholar 0%

Merchant 0%

Craftsman 10%

Laborer 0%

Vagrant 25%

How It All Works.

So we have a Reputation total based on Alliance/Enemies, Deeds and Spells. This total is modified by the Regions Skill giving us the effective Reputation.

Bobsk is in Lankhmar right now, so his effective Reputation is 37. This is pretty low, but not insignificant. There’s not a whole lot that makes his stand out from any other person yet. However, he is experienced, so he does have that going for him.

So, who does know about him? Any Scholar, Merchant, or Laborer really has no reason to know anything about him. If he is interacting with a Craftsman or Noble the GM or PC makes a roll against the appropriate Etiquette. Through the course of the discussion, the given Noble or Craftsman might recall something about Bobsk. Depending on who the NPC is, they may feel more or less sympathetic.

One way of looking at this is that approximately 10 out of 100 Nobles will have heard about Bobsk, whether because of the Ruby fiasco, his belonging to the Slayers’, his presence in the cult of Issek of the Jug, or his background as a Baker. His relationship with Lajal Gar’thoom is the most likely element that a Noble might know about, but it is all a decision made by the GM. Because of his involvement with the underworld, approximately 25 out of 100 Vagrants will know some information about Bobsk.

Also note that in Lankhmar, Bobsk Rep is only 37. He doesn’t rate a lot of excitement with the exception of his new enemy Lajal Gar’thoom (due to the high Deed score). Right now, Bobsk does not have a wide circle of Alliances/Enemies or a great number of Deeds under his belt. Therefore, there are only a few things to be known for. Eventually, this will expand.

More Thoughts on Alliance/Enemies

What does a Guild or Cult Skill signify? It has been established that having the skill increases the Character’s Reputation. Why? Well, I think it is a sign of standing (good or poor, depending on whether it is an Ally or Enemy) within an organization. Both Guilds and Cults have ranks, be they Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, or Grand Master for Guilds, or Initiate, Acolyte, Priest, High Priest for Cults. For Characters to gain status in the Guild or Cult they need to have the right Skills to qualify and also perform some sort of rite of passage. This could be a spectacular theft, the creation of a masterpiece in their craft, or an inordinate devotion to their church. These have to be appropriate to the desired rank within the organization and the Characters have to be approved by the hierarchy. The Guild/Cult Skill may also be used to determine eligibility for upward movements.

So, maybe an Apprentice/Initiate ranges from 01% to 40%. This doesn’t mean that the Character can’t be an Apprentice/Initiate with a score higher than 40%, it just means that if they are trying to advance, they better have a Guild/Cult score higher than 40% to qualify. This seems to indicate that this Skill denotes an understanding of how the Guild/Cult works, who is a part of it, what their goals are, etc.

Since this skill lies under Alliance, I also think it can be used to petition the Guild/Cult for help. This needs to be coupled with a communication Skill like Bargain, Bribe, Fast Talk, Intimidate, Orate, etc., depending on the desired result and Character concept. A Failure means they say no. Success means yes, but with some strings attached. Critical means they get the help, no strings attached. A Special Critical means they provide more help than asked. A Fumble means that the organization is outraged by the PC’s audacity and the PC’s standing in the Guild/Cult actually decreases.

Here’s another concept to keep in mind. A Guild/Cult is not a unified whole, but an organization. Therefore, while a Character can have a Guild Alliance, they may also have the Guild as an Enemy. Yes, I know it sounds like a paradox, but let me explain. Let’s say that the PC goes to the Guild with a favor. They role a Special Critical and get total backing by the Guild. The PCs go and mess the whole thing up royally, bringing shame on the Guild. Now, they have enemies inside the Guild. They get a new Enemy Guild Skill, the same skill as their Ally Guild Skill. The GM rubs his or her hands in glee as half a dozen adventure seeds spring to mind. The Player sees that evil gleam in the GM’s eyes and a resulting gleam of sweat appears on the Player’s forehead...

Increasing Alliance/Enemies

For a Character, Alliances are good things to have. They provide the Character avenues of action that might otherwise be closed to them. Therefore, a PC who sees the benefit in this will actively pursue Alliances.

Enemies are fun to have. Drop an Enemy in front of a PC or have an NPC slight or cheat them, and they pursue the offending party with a passion that would put the furies to shame. However, while a Player may try and increase Alliances to their own advantage, eventually self preservation will kick in and they will want to minimize their Enemies. What’s a GM to do? Why, cheat of course!!!

Ok, not exactly cheat. Enemies are a special case. Alliances are something that need to be worked on to create and maintain. Enemies are a result of the gameworld. They are the NPCs who are slighted, cheated or disenfranchised by the PC. They are the Enemies of the PCs Allies. They are the GM’s playground and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the GM.

An Enemy only appears on the PC’s Character Sheet when the Character becomes aware of them and involved with them. For every Alliance the PC has, that Ally is going to have a few Enemies. So every Alliance, depending on the group, may have 5-10 Enemies, or more. It is possible for the PC to get caught up in the machinations between the PC’s Ally and their Enemies. So, the more a PC Allies themselves with a group, the more potential Enemies they make. The beauty of it almost makes me weep.

Note on Spells

I was going to get into a big example here, but this is the short of it. Typically in a Stormbringer game, Spells have a certain amount of MP associated with them. Let’s say Bobsk has Rat Vision (or whatever the spell is), which lets him see through the eyes of rats. Say this is a 3MP spell. This gives Bobsk 1 point in Rep because for every 4 MPs (rounded up) he get’s 1 Rep point. Say he gets another spell, but it is only worth 1MP, his Rep stays at 1.

Now, say Bobsk get Suppleness of Xiombarg (or whatever, my book isn’t in front of me). This spell can be cast at 1MP up to 4MP. Bobsk gets credit as a 4MP spell and his Rep goes up another point.

Not too difficult.

[Chaot]

Not too difficult, says I? This was definitely from my "more rules IS BETTER!" time period.

I hope there might be something in there that someone can use.