Thanks for the clarification. the only problem I see is with balance between seasonal activities that aren't specifically about study. I'm a spell freak and this method seems to benefit me at the expense of someone going for raw learning. Same with vis extraction. We are able to fully benefit from those activities while being constrained on the others.
I would suggest the following. Allow us to spend BP on books freely, then study those books. Also allow us to spend personal resources on books per the normal rules, and study from those. Simply forbid any book selling in pre-game...realistic no but most covens aren't sitting around anxious to buy random books at a moment's notice. As part of our buy in to the new coven, assume we turn all books over to the library, then if we have books we personally want copies of, we can arrange to make those copies in game.
For people that want to borrow time in a library, simply assume average books of the range you mentioned with no cost (or a cost mixed into the assumed spending.
Personal resources spent are going to the coven...BP spent is on books the character will get lesser value out of at a later date...win - win?
Do it narratively. Assign a ca. xp pr. year for a magus to get (as you have). Assign a fair amount of vis each year to get (as you have). Assign guidelines for other things to happen - warping, lab work, items from adventure etc. (as you have). Let us players players assign these things within reason to our abilities and arts.
Focus less on whether or not a player reads from ”The perfect Summae”, or buys an excellent tractatus in itself, but more about if during say a 6year post-Gauntlet period, he reads 8 ”perfect Summae”; 1-2 is fine, 8 probably isn't. Let a really good adventure happen once or twice that gives a specific item that magus wants – a flawless diamond, a favour from an archmage; but again, don't let this happen 8-10times. If it is important to the magus to get an apprentice early, let him, but then he might not find a nice magical item.
As goes for BP to add to the covenant – I think it would be easiest to say: let one of the last seasons before joining the covenant be a story where the magus gets the 50BP worth of items, books, vis, specialists etc. Then he has no time for using them, ie. Fill out the last seasons with other things. Then as he gets to Laimunt, the Heir decides that the 50BP worth of ”loot” is a good amount for joining the covenant. Basically you get to decide what goes into the covenant, but not use it post-gauntlet/pre-campaign.
Last bit: The books you purchase with vis, or the things you get from stories/narrative description, the grog or two you mgiht bring are yours. So clean cut between narratively obtained items and the 50BP
I guess – creativity with responsibility is my suggestion.
I'll be running 5 years post gauntlet...I have an outline finished and will start fleshing it out and putting it in...much of it (in particular early on) will be lab time without alot of narrative. That's how us labmonkeys roll.
Right off the bat I have some experimenting to do...
I would basically play it out like we're in play at this point and roll them out yourself. We can all double-check for reasonableness of odd experimental outcomes.
For myself I expect to come in closer to the 10-year mark. That would be because I expect to spend a full year developing two alchemical reagents, another year or two in initiation (minimum of Items of Quality and Verditius Elder Runes), two years on items for craft magic, and before much of that she needs to read some mundane books and get a Longevity Ritual. In the meantime, I've been working on a couple grogs for her to pick for herself. I don't think I can squeeze all that in so well. Anything stronger and most studies of the Arts will have to wait until she reaches the new covenant and play begins.
I am a proponent of the narrative approach (after all, I’m the one who first proposed it). However, for that approach to work, there needs to be a shared understanding of what the limits are, be it regarding the setting or the resources available.
So here’s a second attempt at guidelines and principles.
Principles :
Explain your thinking! If you make assumptions, or if you are following a plan, let us know. If something doesn’t happen as your character wanted, tell us.
Follow the published material. If a sourcebook establishes what tradition are followed by the Tribunal where your character is, don’t go against it.
For example, in the Rhine you cannot take an apprentice before you reach the status of Master, and access to Durenmar’s library is tightly controlled. The Greater Alps exports its newly-Gauntleted magi to other Tribunals, nor does it allow new covenants to be formed.
If you decide to go against it, do so for a narrative reason BUT also take into account the consequences of going against it. This will usually result in a diminished acces to ressources, but could also be a negative reputation, fines by the Tribunal, etc.
Be conservative. Don’t select the best possible outcome for your character. That applies to your access to resources, but also to how seasonal activities happen.
If your character’s Ignem score is 8, don’t assume a L10Q21 summa is available at this covenant. Most covenant have a beginner’s book in most Arts, then a few of middle-level books and a handful high-level book. When in doubt, randomize the quality of the resource available.
If you want to purchase something with vis (or services), don’t assume it is available right away. It might need to be crafted. If you get it right away, the price is probably higher or the quality lower.
In an established covenant, young magi get to do errands for older magi. In a young covenant, they have to deal with all kind of troubles. So whatever plans your character had, have them disturbed by unexpected events which force him/her to do something outside his/her interests.
Go slow. Write a season and get comments from the troupe. Then complete the year and get comments. Then proceed one year at a time.
Guidelines :
The baseline is about 45 xp, 3 pawns of vis and 1 Warping Point per year.
Of course, if you study a lot in your lowest Arts, you’ll use beginner’s summae so you’ll end up with more xp.
Lots of studying or lab work should mean less vis and Warping. Conversely, lots of stories should mean more vis and Warping.
The quality of books should look like :
Beginners’ summae in the Arts range from L5Q15 (an old one but easy to get) to L6Q21 (cutting edge but quite hard to find). Only recently established covenants don’t have them for all the Arts.
Mid-level summae range from L9Q15 (lesser ones) to L15Q16 (best of the best). Recently established covenants have a few of those, while older covenants may have them for most Arts (if they weren’t damaged or sold off).
High-level summae range from L16Q15 to L20Q11. These are the best books. New covenants only have a few of those. Established covenants reserve those books to their senior magi, trading access for seasons of services (junior magi of the covenant) or vis (visitors).
The basic price of a summa is a number of pawns equal to its level. Excellent ones can cost twice that. It may take up to a few years to receive your copy (particularly for the best ones) and it is covered by the Cow and Calf clause.
Tractatus range from Q6-8 (worth 1 pawn), Q9-11 (2 pawns), Q12-13 (3 pawns) and Q14 (4 pawns). Young covenants have few tractatus, most of them the less expensive ones. Extra copies available are seldom available for immediate sale, so expect a few seasons of delay if you wish to buy one. Access to the best ones (Q12+) often have strings attached.
Trainers have a Training Source Quality of 8 to 10. Teachers have a Teaching Source Quality of 6 to 12, plus the bonus for single-student teaching. Magi charge a very high price for teaching another magus for a season (the equivalent of 4 to 10 pawns of vis). And they might combine that teaching with the season when they teach their own apprentice.
Use only standard labs and a +3 aura when doing lab work, no matter where you are.
(I wish it could be simpler and shorter than that.)
You don't have to hit that each year. It's more of an overall guideline that's trying to take into account that you're likely to find some Q15 summa, for example.
true, but I wrote a bit more (for myself not posted it yet) and one year I hit 29xp, so even if I am ok with being in the lower end of xp grab, I really need to start reading juicy books lol - but with Arthur's new suggestion it seems doable.
I would assume we can find lab texts for low to mid-level spells from the core book with relative ease, essentially available in our library, while high levels (probably 6th magnitude or higher) or non-core spells would get harder and harder to find.
I'm thinking through placeholder replies right now for my character sheet so I can keep things organized well. I'm thinking of these:
New Spells
Created Items
Familiar
Laboratory
I don't know as I need an advancement tracker. In some ways it could be handy for faster reference, but it's also being placed in the other thread and shouldn't really be needed for fast reference anyway.
Note that if you perform lab work during the year, the total xp gained should trend lower. After all, you are gaining something else there. Remember the third principle: Be conservative.
Edit: 45 xp isn't a goal or a minimum. It's simply a baseline. If you average for your character ends up being too much above the baseline, we will look at the details and may ask for adjustments.
I'm trying to sort out in my head what would be reasonable charges for a Verditius opening an item with more space that most could manage, which is a useful service for other magi making non-Talismans that need a lot of stuff enchanted into them. No one would pay for this for an item needing only 6 or probably 8 pawns, since MT 3 is already enough for 6 pawns. People would only pay for this with really big things. For example, most warrior-magi who might want to open a full suit of mail or plate and mail probably don't have the necessary MT 10. But standard Verditius costs are double the vis, which is 40 for such a suit of armor. That's ridiculous, as the standard cost is based on a lab total, and enchanting a 20th magnitude effect into a device would mean a lab total likely well above 200 and probably several seasons and so would probably warrant the 40 pawns the Verditius collects.
Coming out of apprenticeship Hannah can open many items to 22 pawns already. That's something she's already better at than many Verditius magi, so it's already something she's likely to be hired for most often. She'll be closer to the ballpark of being able to open something in the 85-104 pawn region at game start. That could be nearly 2 queens of vis for a season of work, clearly ridiculous and not what House Verditius would expect to charge.
For right now I can let it all average out to 3 pawns per year pretty easily, or more and go lower on experience. But I'd like to find a much more reasonable expected amount that I can still make average out well. I'd like to keep the formula really simple, too, as that seems to be what was aimed for in HoH:MC with the primus's choices. Maybe something like 5 + the magnitude of the amount opened? That would be 9 to open the suit of armor rather than 40, and 25 to open 100 pawns rather than 200. Also, that puts the bottom end of any expected opening to be around 7-8, which is also the bottom end of what you're allowed to charge for trivial stuff.
I would even go as simple as saying she can charge one-third of the limit being opened as her fee. So 7 pawns for a 22-pawn opening, and 33 pawns for a 100-pawn opening.
One thing to take into account isn't so much her capacity to open an item with such a high limit, but the number of customers able to afford an item like that (including the cost she charges). And the number of Verditius magi who can satisfy such an order. And the fact that a given order may be lower than her current capacity (for example 50 vs 100). Would she get such an order once every few years? Once in a decade? Those elements also make a big difference. Plus the timing issue, for who's to say the order will come at a time she is available to take it?