Covenant Roles

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Vengeance Rides a Slow Hor
1

I like using optional roles for people in the party. This technically means the players and the characters, sometimes a little of both.

Some roles:

Alpha GM: that would be me.
Alternate GM: that could be any of you when the time is right.
Turb Master: This person keeps the Grogs up to date with expenditures and activities when they are not used on adventures, typically getting training and exposure xp.
Floor Design: Anyone any good at making maps and such? If someone could design the floor plans for the Covenant itself, that'd be great.
Character Art: Is anyone any good at making character drawings?
Librarian: This would likely be a character rather than a player role. Basically keeps the library in order and keeps track (somehow) of who has what books.
Seneschal: Likely a combination of the Player and their Character. This person handles the money and will be taking care of the various expenses of the Covenant. Typically this would be voted on among the magi, but if someone wants to volunteer for it we could just accept the nomination. This is a particularly tough role, and whoever takes it, the Player needs to be well versed with the expenses rules in Covenants.
Vis Custodian: This person is in charge of the gathering and storage of Vis as well as the means for dispensing it. Most likely the Charter will establish the rules for this, the custodian is then going to take charge of it. This role will also likely take great care in establishing their harvested sources and likely look for more, and possibly help to make it easy for non-Gifted to harvest the vis, possibly with items.

There will likely be more roles developed also along the way, some that I may have missed (it's kind of late). For those that take on these roles I'm willing to give bonus XP as an incentive even if it's something that the player did rather than their character. It won't be much XP, but a little something for the effort.

2

I'll volunteer Bjorn (and myself) for Vis Custodian. It would make sense, seeing as he has the spells for the job.

3

Once I make my companion, she might end up seneschal. It is a good role for mundane and she will be from trader family.

4

I can take care of the library and make up a librarian as a companion or grog. What guidelines are there upon companion creation and/or grog creation. I got a lot of books I am eager to use...

5

For the most part the standard rules as presented in the core book. Most of the rules for Grogs and Companions in the different Realms books are often for Mythic Companions which technically replaces a Magus.

Certain virtues and flaws from those books are acceptable of course, but as always this is subject to approval.

Speaking of Grogs, we're still pretty short of the Grogs.

6

I haven't done it before, but I'll try Turb Master. My Companion is going to be a Boxer type anyway, so I'll carry it over. I'll try working up some more Grogs if need be. How many are we lacking QC?

7

Well, we have 8 PC Magi, including myself, and I asked for 3 from each. We currently have 10 Grogs. We need 24. There are almost more Magi than Grogs.

Don't forget a very good source of Grogs could be from the Scottish clan that Agitatus is bringing.

A boxer might make a good Grog, but to be honest a sergeant type would likely make more sense as the Turb Captain. There's nothing wrong with making a good brawler of course.

8

I originally didn't conceive of him as a Turb member. Still might not want him for that. I'm going to play around with some Grog types and possible Seargent types and see what I come up with.

9

OK, here's where I make a plea for help for some of the missing elements in the Covenant.

These positions are not absolutely necessary, and others can be added as well. Some involve the players, some involve the players and their characters. The ones that involve both will likely need to be decided on in Covenant meetings and added to the Charter. This also takes over the positions listed in this threads opening post.

The Specialists need to be designed; a teacher of Martial abilities, and an Autocrat who takes on the role of contact between the Magi and servants and specialists (mostly the servants you have few specialists). Once designed please post them in the Grog folder, though generally they will not take on an adventuring role, please still assign Personality Traits.

The Turb Captain: This player (not a grog) basically takes care of the grogs themselves, advancing them through the seasons (the ones that aren't adventuring), and when it happens maintaining a graveyard. The graveyard is a bit of an Ars Magica tradition in my games, when a Grog (or others) dies I'll open a graveyard thread for the captain to tend.

Loyalty Officer: Using the Covenant's rules of loyalty and the Gift (Covenants page 36). Basically this player will track the prevailing loyalty scores of the covenfolk and grogs. I'll leave the tending of this to the officer, including applying and subtracting points based on story events and wizard actions. I'll retain over ride on this, but for the most part I'll leave it to the officer.

Purser: Possibly the most difficult of the roles, this player and character will keep track of the funds, collecting the silver and paying the debts. You need to take into account all the expenses and cost savings, plus I will likely be throwing curves in the ebb and flow of silver as economies change. Don't forget there is a Debt Hook that needs to be accounted for.

Librarian: This player and likely their character will manage the library, keeping track of who has what book. Ostensibly the character would likely be in charge of adding to the library. This role can easily be transferred and rotated to different players and their characters.

Vis Accountant: This player and their character will account for the vis with strict record keeping, manage the collection and disbursement of it (in whatever way the Covenant decides in the Charter). This character will also most likely be in charge of trying to find new and more vis.

Minister of Improvements: Likely a later appointment if it's needed, but this player and character would be in charge of general improvements to the Covenant grounds. Likely this will rotate quite a bit as each magi is making improvements on their own. If a lot of improvements are made this character would be something of a foreman to help organize and integrate them.

Master of the Fair: A very important post, this player and character will be in charge of the fair. All of the magi need to be involved, as this is a dedicated covenant. This character though is in charge and organizing it.

Let's get some volunteers please, we're nearing the creation of the Covenant when these roles will become important. If you volunteer for a post that involves your character we'd integrate that into the story most likely as the Charter is being made and roles are voted for. We can certainly vote in this post as well for those posts. Let's get a serious discussion going on this please.

10

These I guess would fall to me since my companion is perfect for these sort of things being a bargaining master. This means Autocrat/Purser are same person and as along as I am doing that, I might as well track the loyalty scores. I love spreadsheets.

believe it or not, that is what AIne as a grog is very good at doing. This is why she is so good as stonemason and carpenter. She can indeed act as forewoman for a building job if the men will listen to a woman that knows what she is doing (and would lead other women of the clan to giving men a cold shoulder if they give too much gruff).

11

I'll happily nominate Bjorn for this post. He would be definately interested in making the fair run smoothly because he intends to eventually sell items there.

I am also willing to do either the vis accounting or librarian duties, but I am unsure as to how much you believe the Master of the fair will entail.