Generational play (sons, wives, etc..): any rule?

There are family rules in Lords of Men, the book that deals with the nobility. Not as elaborate as the ones in pendragon for sure, and afaik there are no rules to determine if a character gets pregnant, loses the infant and the like. All that is left to the troupe to determine.

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For my own saga I actually recently tried to adapt the Pendragon rules to work with Ars, no promises as to how well these will work as they haven't exactly been rigorously play-tested (only a few years have passed in my saga since I wrote this up). These are intended as quick rules for Grogs, but they could work for companions and magi too (though keep in mind there will be much lower chance of mishap, thanks to better medical care and living conditions generally).

Childbirth

Any grog engaging in regular intercourse with a fertile partner has a 50% chance to become pregnant in a given year. To determine the outcome roll on the following table. The roll is a Stress Die+Chirurgy Ability of Midwife+Stamina of Mother+Living Conditions of Mother:

Roll Result
Botch Mother and Child die
<2 The Mother dies and so does the Child without surgical intervention
3-4 The Mother survives but the Child is stillborn
5 The Child is healthy but the Mother dies
6+ The Mother and Child are both healthy

In most established communities a Midwife with a skill of 2 is readily available.

Child Mortality

Children often do not live to adulthood. Each year roll on the following table with Stress Die+Medical Skill of Physician+Living Conditions Modifier of Child:

Roll Result
Botch The Child dies
<2 The Child becomes mortally ill and dies without medical care
3-5 The Child becomes severely ill and may die without medical care
6+ The Child is fine

In most established communities a Physician with a skill of 2 is available for those who can afford it. The Physicians skill is only added to the roll if the family can afford to regularly employ the Physician (as opposed to one off treatment, like what would be required after a bad roll on this table).

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That sound you hear is me swiping these rules like a thief in the night.

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rules for childbirth can e found in art and academe, and are treated essentially as recovering from a wound.
Lords of men has a method for randomly generating a family after the fact. in theory you could use it with some concept of mechanical predestination- i.e. this is what the family will look like if no player action interferes...

@Argentius
I am with Jason on this one... Especially since the game I am running with him as a player has a Criamon mother who is encouraging everyone to have families :grin:

I'm glad people like them! I just wanted a quick way to generate kids for the covenant's grogs - it really helps make the covenant feel like it has a life of its own.

I used to use Pendragon's rules, too. :grin: