Regency and bloodline. Clout?

[Tim Nutting]

Decent enough idea, Gary.

But how about this -

Regency points are a special benefit of Blooded individuals, representing
their rather unique gift of having the divine blood. It is possible in
almost all of the situations to perform the actions without Regency IF the
RP cost for actions is ignored.

My overall preference would be for a new cost to be added, perhaps double
the RP cost, perhaps Clout.

Clout would be a relative measure of your popularity with your people,
gained from each province at the 1 point per level (as usual). However,
clout is modified as follows:

Rebellious province: x -1
Poor Loyalty province: x 1/2
Average Loyalty prov.: x 1
High Loyalty province: x 1 1/2

The flaws I have with this are as follows:
I haven't got it worked out for land-less domains, and as is, it would
require that the holding have loyalty ratings as well.

This is more a random thought at 2:30 in the morning - - but that's
when I do my best.

Random thoughts welcome. Constructive (or Acidic) criticism preferred.
:)

Tim Nutting

[Gary V. Foss]

Tim Nutting wrote:

> Decent enough idea, Gary.
>
> But how about this -
>
> Regency points are a special benefit of Blooded individuals, representing
> their rather unique gift of having the divine blood. It is possible in
> almost all of the situations to perform the actions without Regency IF the
> RP cost for actions is ignored.
>
> My overall preference would be for a new cost to be added, perhaps double
> the RP cost, perhaps Clout.
>
> Clout would be a relative measure of your popularity with your people,
> gained from each province at the 1 point per level (as usual). However,
> clout is modified as follows:
>
> Rebellious province: x -1
> Poor Loyalty province: x 1/2
> Average Loyalty prov.: x 1
> High Loyalty province: x 1 1/2
>
> The flaws I have with this are as follows:
> I haven't got it worked out for land-less domains, and as is, it would
> require that the holding have loyalty ratings as well.
>
> This is more a random thought at 2:30 in the morning - - but that's
> when I do my best.
>
> Random thoughts welcome. Constructive (or Acidic) criticism preferred.
> :)

Hmmm. Well, here's a couple of comments I have. You can, of course, take them
for what they are worth since I'm writing at 3:30 in the morning.... (Isn't
insomnia grand?)

I'm assuming that your Clout points are to be used in pretty much the same way
RPs are. In which case, I would make the following suggestions.

1. Tie it to some characteristic of the character. One of the things I like
about bloodline is that the amount of RPs collected directly correspond to an
attribute of the character. If an unblooded character can collect an
unrestricted amount of clout (CPs?) then they could quite possibly become a
much more effective ruler than a blooded individual. While I don't think it's
impossible for such a thing to happen, I think it should be pretty difficult.

2. If they look like regency points, are used like regency points and act like
regency points, aren't they regency points? Why call it clout? It's easier to
account for if you have everybody talking in the same numbers. What if you
have an unblooded guy who wants to oppose or support the actions of a blooded
guy? He'll contribute clout while the other guy contributes RPs. I have
difficulty multiplying by 2 at 3:30 in the morning, so I'd rather avoid it....
If you want to make it more difficult for unblooded character to collect
regency, then restrict it.

3. Get some sleep.

4. I like the idea of a regent collecting more points for doing a good job, or
at least collecting fewer points for doing a bad one. Perhaps you could tie it
to the DM's assessment of the character's performance? You could use the same
chart as above, but replace Rebel, Poor, Average and High with something like
Intolerable, Incompetent, Acceptable and Exceptional and decide how the
character has performed based upon the state of the domain as a whole. That
might call for a little more adjudication, but what the heck? Being a DM's a
tough job....

Well, I'm going to go pop a melatonin/drink some warm milk/bash myself over the
head with a frying pan/read John Milton.

Good night,
- -Gary

[Tim Nutting]

> 2. If they look like regency points, are used like regency points and act
like
> regency points, aren't they regency points? Why call it clout? It's
easier to
> account for if you have everybody talking in the same numbers. What if
you
> have an unblooded guy who wants to oppose or support the actions of a
blooded
> guy? He'll contribute clout while the other guy contributes RPs. I have
> difficulty multiplying by 2 at 3:30 in the morning, so I'd rather avoid
it....
> If you want to make it more difficult for unblooded character to collect
> regency, then restrict it.

I had a large group a while ago (unfortunately they dissolved - sux) and
there was quite a bit of consternation over exactly what Regency Points
are. The ONLY thing I can find that gives an idea of what they ARE as
opposed to what they DO is a little blurb when they first mention RPs.
This describes them as both internal government favors and some sort of
quasi mystical power, wherin the simple will of the regent helps bring
about the desired change.

I called the idea clout because I was trying to creat some sort of control
for the unblooded that decided was not regency.

For all this, however, I think I'm just going to stick with the idea that
if a character has no blood, he has no regency. I //might// allow
unblooded regents insofar as I would allow them to replace RP requirements
for actions with gold on a 2GB/1RP tradeoff.

Tim