Regency point usage

This page includes extracts from br.net regarding ways to incorporate regency points into adventure-style realm actions.

[top]Sir Tiamat

I like my pc regents to personally oversee their domain actions. I consider this to be a great opportunity for role-playing in which the outcome can be based on their actions. I like my players to make personal contact with the noble or ranger representing the 0th lvl law-holding they are creating, for example; it provides flavour to the campaign.
To me it is clear that regency represents power, loyalty and influence? And when other regents spend regency to thwart the players plans they will have a hard time finding support and a lot of people working against them. However, when players want to spend regency aid their quest how should that be played out?
I am now trying to roll for success before they go on their quest: to see whether it should be easy or hard? I then add a bonus or penalty depending on how they solve the matter. Still, I find it hard to incorporate regency spendings.
How would you handle the effects of regency spending in a campaign? Any thoughts?
Andrew Tall:

To me spending RP is using the received faith of the people and focusing that power on a desired course - people are more likely to agree with you, take time to consider your request, etc. So if you spend RP more helpful people will be apparent, those opposing the action will be more obvious, natural events will conspire to favour the project etc.
So if you wanted to introduce a mechanic you could say each RP spent on a project gives 1 re-roll on a die roll regarding the success of that project, whether to find a resource, convince someone to agree with you, etc. A PC might not need the re-rolls, or might fail even with them , but them's the breaks.
Of course if the PC regent is opposed then the other regent can force a second roll, the PC can then counter, etc, etc. So if the PC rolls a 3 to convince the local trapper to show them where the gold nuggets were found then they can re-roll the die to overturn the failed roll, but if another guilder wants to rule the holding (by founding the gold mine) then they can spend a RP to require a second roll to convince the trapper to remember the hills he was trapping in, etc, if that roll failed the PC regent could spend a point to find another contact, or estimate where the trapper must have been, etc, etc.
Alternatively (and speeding up play) you could give a +4 bonus to the die roll for each RP spent with opposing RP's increasing the DC - both regents deciding how much to chip in on any given roll in the session.
Sir Tiamat:

I like where this is going?.Still thinking?
Perhaps a RP can be spent to provide an extra roll, with a +2, -2 modifier per additional RP on the roll?
Thus, if a regent wants something to work he/she may spend 5 RP for example to re-roll a failed roll at +8. Another regent may subsequently spend 3 RP to reduce the roll to +2 or spend 5 RP to disallow the re-roll entirely. Both regents can subsequently increase their regency spending until the point.
A competing regent may obviously also spend RPs to force a re-roll of a successful roll; 4 RP for a re-roll at -6, which may lead to some rounds of bidding?
Only one re-roll may be made?
This would mean that RPs would be spent neither before nor after the adventure, but rather during the course of the adventure.
Suggestions?
Ryan Caverney:

It seems to me that what the original poster is after is a way to describe domain actions in terms of normal D&D adventuring situations. Among other things, this is exactly what Tribes of the Heartless Waste suggests should be done for all regents in Vosgaard. Now, I personally wouldn't use such a system in my campaigns, even in Vosgaard, but I don't think there's any reason to tell anyone who wants to do it that they shouldn't, or that it is incompatible with Birthright. I say anyone who's interested should go for it, and anyone who isn't should just ignore the thread.
I have found the old thread I was looking for! I was right, it was Mark VanderMeulen, back in April of 2000. Take a look at http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa...69&I=-3&m=1065 and subsequent material in that thread (especially http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa...1&I=-3&m=1065). My personal take on it was that such domain-to-adventure translation systems err on the side of not making RP expenditure powerful enough to adequately explain the true scale of the effects involved. The reason for this, I think, is that the number of people who have to be affected is so large. Each RP spent on a Contest action doesn't give you +1000 to one Diplomacy roll, it gives you +1 to each of 1000 separate Diplomacy rolls, so the bookkeeping qucikly gets in the way. No one will want to roleplay *every* conversation involved in a Domain action, so some way is needed to select only the most significant few to resolve as scenes in a gaming session.

[top]Kenneth Gauck

I think RP reflects two things, information and favors. Having RP means you have a well of information in your organization, people who know what's going on at the local level, what we might call precinct captains in modern politics. They know the lay of the land, who doesn't get along with who, who will pass information, what the personal motivations of the local players are, where the skeletons are burried. They know the pecularities of the law that can be used to delay action, where the sentiments of the people lay. In politics, indeed in most things, knowledge is power.
Second, RP are favors. You perform or promise favors in exchange for actions. Invitations arranged, introductions, grants of knighthood, offices, token gifts, affirmations that you will back up your subordinates.
People are not inclined to take risks. They want to get along with the people around them. Left to their own devices, the local guild official and the local law official will get cozy and will poorly represent the will of their superiors. As their regent, you want them to do your will, to make their neighbors mad, to make your enemies their enemies. To rock the boat not for any personal benefit, but for the benefit of a far off ruler. They need encouragement.
My own view of RP is that it activates assets. This is an entirely unmystical explanation. If a player asks to spend a RP on something, and he has holdings or a province there, then he can activate one or more assets. A contact is one 3.5 way to describe some of them, but these assets don't just help you once every month.
The feudal system generally works by the regent providing protection and justice to his vassals, and in exchange, they help him do stuff. They fight when he calls, they serve in his court, and so on. Getting them to do their stuff is what RP are for. I govern well, so how much can I get my vassals to do before they beg off and plead that they have fulfilled their obligations? I have a certain number of RP to spend. When I'm out people will generally tell me that they've done all they can for me. I'll always have personal and family loyalties too, but its hard to run a realm based only on your friends.
So since RP are gained at one province or holding level per RP, I can spend them to activate roughly one holding to join me as I go about my business. If I want a varied group to provide a small amount of help, like a bunch of contacts to help me do things, that's fine. Or I can get the leader of a holding to commit to me while I am there.
I treat a holding as an organization or affiliation, and I can use the rules provided for these for both abstract actions (can the guild get me 20 good horses by nightfall?) or game effects (they briefed me on the situation here, and I now have a +5 circumstance bonus for Gather Information checks).
Using only RP and no GP, I can only activate stuff that has already been created. If I have a law holding, and it represents a sheriff, his dozen men, and a network of friends, informers, and loyal subjects, then I can summon the sheriff and his dozen men, and make use of his friends, informers, and my loyal subjects. If on the other hand, I activate a different law holding, comprised of Lord Judge Humbert Cwaller and his court, then I have a judge, baliff, maybe a prosecutor, and some scribes, plus their ability to issue writs and the like.
Having a judge to issue writs for you may not sound like much if you are the Baroness of Roesone, but its a handy thing if you are el-Hadid or Hubaere Armiendin.
If someone and I are in a bidding war, then I can match up my organizations against his and have them interact using the rules for organizations/affiliations doing things. Dynamic affiliations. For instance, Hjalmar Helder's organization is rated as Capital: 8 Violence: +2 Espionage: +5 Negotiation:+2. Its one of Varri's guild holdings in Ustkjuvil. His other guild holding represents fishermen and a few trading boats. If the king or his men needed a boat ride in a hurry, they could get one at a moment's notice. Or if they want the coastline survieled, or whatever some hundred or so men in a dozen boats would be good for.
That is how I combine the domain level and the adventure level in Birthright.
Sir Tiamat:

That would be a workable view of regency, I reckon.
Spending regency to activate holding would probably work. How would you see spending regency in a domain in which one has few holdings, should there be a maximum or a rule of thumb? Do individuals have multiple loyalties(regency spent by other regents); what is the religion of the guildsman, for example?
Kenneth:

You can't spend more RP than you have holdings + province levels. Gold is unlimited, it spends easily. The new guy on the block needs money to get things done, the established powers can at least in part use knowledge and influence instead.
Multiple loyalties. Certainly there is an issue of multiple loyalties. A lot of what a ruler does when he activates his holdings is try to deactivate someone else's. They use whatever the holding can do. Law holdings tie you up with legal matters, guilds might start a whispering campaign or pry into your lieutenant's secrets. So when certain holdings might be subject to dual loyalties - my guildsmen, but they worship Seramie - one thing you can do is de-activate the same holding. "I thought my guilsmen were going to provide two hundred new spears, and now there is talk of a holiday!"
By the same token, there are invulnerable types of holdings too. In places like Dhoesone, where Haelyn, Erik, and Seramie all struggle for faith, knights who represent law holdings are "Haelyn's Bastion" so to speak. Knights otherwise employed could be tempted by Cuiraecen or even Belinik. On the other hand, the guilds in Dhoesone are powerfully attracted to Seramie, and Haelyn and Erik have little influence there.
Some holdings are not typical of their kind. The guild holding controlled by Hjalmar Helder in Ustkjuvil is a spy network, not a guild of merchants and traders.

[top]Mark VanderMeulen

Excerpts from a chat between Geeman and Mark VanderMeulen on an alternate system to simply bidding RP.
The talk was regarding using adventure actions in place of standard rolls and how spending RP might be worked into the adventure.
From Geeman:

In the past, I've assigned RPs to an action after the adventure has taken place on a sort of loose and somewhat arbitrary basis. Every time a PC regent uses the power and authority of his rulership to a situation during the adventure/action I would tally up a regency point or two to apply to the domain action. Eventually, those would add up to the total RP that the player would have assigned to the action if we had just been playing out the domain rules.
I want to come up with a more logical and explicable method than I have been using, so I want to have a regular system. I was thinking something like the following. (Any input would be appreciated.)

Action	RP Cost
Used rank to influence NPC	1
(for info, guidance, minimal aid.)
Enlisted aid of citizen	2
(for more significant aid.)
Per army unit called out	2
Per LT used in adventure	1
Bodyguards accompany regent	1
Per action outside the player's realm	+1* to standard cost
Used GB from treasury on adventure	1

Mark: I would conceive of Regents actually "wielding" their Regency to some end, perhaps following something like the following:
Aura of Regency (Duration: all times; cost: 0)
The Aura of Regency is a natural result of a blooded Regent gathering the power of the land throughout her Domain. Any Regent who harbors a pool of Regency exudes this aura. The Aura functions in two different ways, either unconsciously or consciously, depending on whether the observer is aware of the Regent?s identity or not. When the identity of a Regent is unknown, the Aura acts unconsciously on those around her: people pay attention to her, and listen to what she says, even if they would otherwise ignore or overlook her. The observer is not consciously aware of WHY he is paying particular attention to the Regent, but it is impossible to treat her as one of the crowd or part of the background. The observer ISN?T forced to LIKE her (that is a function of Charisma) but he cannot help regarding her as an individual and at least listening to and regarding her words. Very observant people who are aware of this effect can use it to identify a Regent in disguise: people react to them slightly differently than they would naturally.
When someone IS aware of the status of the Regent, the effect of the Aura is much more powerful. The observer is immediately aware of the difference in status between the two. The observer?s own Ego is slightly but significantly suppressed, and awareness of the Regent -- his presence, actions and words -- becomes very distinct. The Regent appears in a subtle and unidentifiable way more REAL than other people. Once again, the aura does not change the reaction or the emotions of the observer, but the ego-suppression effect makes it difficult to act on negative reactions or emotions. It takes a very strong-willed person to outright contradict the Regent. The Aura?s effect is strongest on commoners, less strong on blooded non-Regents, and has little effect on other Regents unless their Bloodlines are two steps lower in strength (Great Bloodlines effect Regents of Minor Bloodlines, True Bloodlines effect Regents of Major and Minor Bloodlines). The aura serves as an effective deterrent to would-be amateur assassins. Effective assassins must be immune to the aura, either by being blooded themselves, through concentrated and long-practiced discipline, or through spells (Eloéle is rumored to grant such spells to her followers).
Wrom: IGYOKS

This is a nice touch. Could be somewhat useful in certain situations, but also might be a burden. Is it possible to turn this off, or are you intentionally making it difficult for regents to undertake missions of stealth on their own? I wouldn't mind, but people who run more adventure-heavy campaigns might have a problem with that.
Mark: Well, the idea was to make it be a potential burden without completely preventing anonymity. The idea of "stepping the power down" when it's not acting on a mind conscious of the person's identity is mostly so regents CAN go about without attracting instant attention. The idea was that the power works very subtle; someone would have to be very observant and know exactly what he was looking for in order to notice it. I personally don't see it being a big problem, and I agree that getting the Regent out of the palace is very important.
Voice of Command. (Duration: Instantaneous; Cost: 2 RP).

Regents can use the power of their divine Blood to give their commands a supernatural effectiveness. When using the Voice, Regents can produce instant compliance from their loyal followers (?After them!?), can obtain momentary, unthinking compliance from anyone not actively hostile to them (?You must let me borrow your horse!?) up to and including RISK of life and livelihood (?Grab that flaming amulet!?), and can sow momentary doubt and confusion into those willfully acting against the Regent (yelling ?Stop!? at the fleeing bandit, causing him to stumble briefly before continuing on). Note that people tend to resent the use of this power, and will judge the Regent based on the outcome of the situation (whether the flaming amulet was necessary for saving the party or completing the quest as opposed to being just something that the Regent wanted to avoid burning his own hands over).
Ryan: This is my favorite. I really like this idea. However, 2 RP seems like an awful lot for this small an effect, especially given what you can do with 2 RP on the domain action level!
Mark: Well, the idea was to explain what the "RP bidding" on an action would "represent" in terms of role-play. That is, if you had wanted to do away with the "RP auction" part of the Domain-level ubergame, what would "spending RP" mean in terms of character-level actions a Regent might make.
Inspire. (Duration: 1 week; Cost: 1 RP/person).

Regents are capable of enhancing the loyalty, enthusiasm and self-esteem of their followers, making them more effective in their service. Memory of their interaction with a Regent to whom they are loyal serves to strengthen the Ego of the followers, serves as a source of strength they can call upon, and increases their motivation. Regents frequently hold weekly meetings with their important advisers and lieutenants so they can be kept at peak efficiency. Note that the effect on the Ego is both powerful and subtle, and followers may experience withdrawal symptoms if they fall out of favor and are denied their weekly fix. (Reverse: Denounce. The Regent expresses her displeasure with an individual, and the Ego-suppressing effect of the Regent?s presence is reinforced and lasts up to a week, causing mild self-doubt in the individual and eroding his efficiency.)
Ryan: Do you have a game effect in mind for this? Again, unless it's pretty spectacular, it's got an awfully high cost.
Mark:

Well again, the idea is that you can't spend RP's to influence success roles of Domain actions AT ALL, and INSTEAD you use RP's to influence things at the Role-play level. I think I would probably treat it as a +1 bonus to all attribute checks (which I tend to use a lot) and proficiency checks, but I haven't given it a lot of thought so that might be a little bit on the powerful side.
Noble Presence. (Duration: 1 month; Cost: 1-10 RP/week).

The Regent can ?Show Himself to the People,? either by appearing at a common gathering place (like a temple or marketplace or front steps of the palace), or by walking or riding through the streets and individually interacting with the people he meets. While doing so, the Regent exhorts the people to do something: consider changing religions (Create/Rule Temple actions), consider buying and selling from a different trade factor (Create/Rule Guild actions), to place themselves under the authority of a new legal representative (Create/Rule Law actions), or to obey the law and avoid rioting and protests, or the opposite (Agitate). The people listen to the regent, and although compliance is not guaranteed it is duly considered.
Noble Ire. (Duration: 1 month; Cost: 1-10 RP/week).

As above, but instead of exhorting her people to follow her, the Regent proclaims what his will is, and invokes his Ire against any who oppose him. Those who are knowingly acting against the Regent?s wishes become plagued with small doubts and tire easily, eroding their efficiency. Those who support the Regent are impressed with his power and authority, and are emboldened to speak out in favor of the Regent if his will is questioned by their friends or family. This may be used for the same functions as Noble Presence, but is most often used for Law holding actions and Agitate actions, while Noble Presence is most often used for Temple and Guild holding actions.
Ryan, re: noble Ire and presence

Are these intended as an explanation of what spending RP to oppose an action really consists of from a role-playing perspective, or did you have something more in mind?
Yeah, that was the idea I was working from.
Mark VanderMeulen