Winter Phase Summary PDF (in progress)

[Khanwulf]

9 hours ago, Sir Mad Munkee said:

Apart from the income escalation, I’d be strongly inclined to not handout heiresses (tables be damned), more for the story implications than anything else. I like the idea of Roderick or Arthur giving a player a 2nd manor for some truly spectacular awesomeness, or a PK chasing a wealthy heiress for 5 years with some intense RP before snagging her. Just “oh, good roll, your income just quadrupled” is a bit weak.

The only time a roll should net you that much land is when Gorlois' head is following it across the table.

And that happens once. Under very specific circumstances.

 

--Khanwulf

[Atgxtg]

9 hours ago, Sir Mad Munkee said:

Apart from the income escalation, I’d be strongly inclined to not handout heiresses (tables be damned), more for the story implications than anything else. I like the idea of Roderick or Arthur giving a player a 2nd manor for some truly spectacular awesomeness, or a PK chasing a wealthy heiress for 5 years with some intense RP before snagging her. Just “oh, good roll, your income just quadrupled” is a bit weak.

Yeah, and it soert of cheapens the victory for those who go out and do the legwork. 

Of course with the new economics model another manor is only £1 in spending cash, not £6 so the big income boost isn't what it used to be either. 

[Tizun Thane]

On 3/15/2019 at 8:50 PM, Atgxtg said:

I always thought the simple fix for this was to give the wife a CON roll to survive, and if she does it is treated as if she recovered from a Mortal Wound, which will possibly lower her CON for the next time.  

It seems that great minds think alike 😁 I use the exact same houserule, and it's working fine, to lower the death of mothers to an acceptable rate. Women with good Con have "good hips"...

[Atgxtg]

3 hours ago, Tizun Thane said:

It seems that great minds think alike 😁 I use the exact same houserule, and it's working fine, to lower the death of mothers to an acceptable rate. Women with good Con have "good hips"...

I can't speak for great minds. I just figured that it:

1.  Helped to fix the problem of excessive mortality
2. Was simple to implement
3. Made sense as a high CON increases the survivability against damage, disease, poison and most everything else in the game.
4. Actually make CON a useful attribute for a wife. 

[Atgxtg]

On 3/22/2019 at 10:57 PM, Khanwulf said:

The only time a roll should net you that much land is when Gorlois' head is following it across the table.

And that happens once. Under very specific circumstances.

 

--Khanwulf

Uh, no, similar event's happen all throughout the saga. Hengest's head, Lot's, Ryons, etc.etc. There are quite a few times and battles where a PK could, with a bit of luck and an GM who will let them bend the scripted events a little if they get lucky on the battle tables,  take down an enemy leader and get a heiress as a reward. Just how much of an heiress is another matter, and would depend upon the PKs status, loyalty, and closeness to their leader/king. 

But overall I agree with the sentiment that a knight really shouldn't get a manor and especially not several manors simply due to a roll of a random table. That said the marriage table is somewhat deceptive in that as the major factor to the result is the modifiers, not the die roll, the results are not as ransom as they appear. One of my PKs, a household knight with 10K Glory, Loyalty 20, and a +3 bonus to previous service to the Count, only had a 50% chance of getting any land that he could keep, and only a 17% chance of it being equivalent to a manor. Although a courtesy roll did improve those odds  to 67/83% and 33/50%.  

So a PK really has to have a ton of glory, high loyalty, and be in his liege lord's good graces to permanently get a manor by the table. 

 

What knights can get by the table is small parcels of land or a widow's portion, which can give him some extra income and be a great source for discretionary funds. And extra couple of libra a year that do not have to be spent on upkeep gives the PK money to spend on horses, armor or improvements for his manor.

[Morien]

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

That said the marriage table is somewhat deceptive in that as the major factor to the result is the modifiers, not the die roll, the results are not as ransom as they appear.

Almost as if someone had designed it that way, isn't it?

Edited May 5, 2019 by Morien

[Atgxtg]

Just now, Morien said:

Almost as if someone had designed it that way, isn't it?

I assumed so. 

I just thought that it was worth pointing out. Although it is technically possible for someone to "roll" an heiress or even a major heiress on the table, the modifiers and conditions required to do so makes the result much less likely that it might appear at first. To really have a chance of picking up and keeping the equivalent of a manor most knights need +20 in modifiers which means a combination of lots of glory, loyalty and a history of exceptional service. To get a chance at more than a manor requires at least +24 in modifiers and that probably means maxing out at least one of the glory/loyalty categories and a history of exceptional service, plus good manners. Yes, it's gets a little easier for rich knights and estate holders, but that too makes sense.

Frankly if I were a liege lord, if one of my knights had 10K+ Glory, a Loyalty (Me) 25, and a history of pull my bacon out of the fire, I'd make sure he married well. Not only to make him happy and keep him around, but also as an example to my other knights. Earn glory on the battlefield, serve me faithfully, and go above and beyond in my service and I will see that you and your family are well cared for. That's exactly the message I'd want to send. So in actual play the table makes a lot more sense and is a lot less of a random roll that it appears to be.

In fact, in my campaign I sometimes use to to generate semi-random marriage prospects for the PKs to pursue in roleplay. At any give time there are several unmarried ladies that the PKs can opt to take an interest in, for themselves or their family. 

 

 

[Hzark10]

Nail, hammer.  Thank you Veli.