So in my single player+gm 1st Crusade campaign, I am re-evaluating how much xp I have beem awarding for Prudhomme purposes.
The PC has been at the forefront of the capture of many cities and has looted epic amounts of treasure. I have been using modified values:
+5 for being at the forefront of an attack and one of the first in a city (bonus loot)
+3 for capturing the citadel of a city
+1 for any other noteworthy event (like normal)
My logic has been that the crusaders are motivated by victory, (and loot, because most of them are broke after the ruinous expenses)... So the increased values are for a temporary "Crusader Prudhomme" that will be recalculated at the end of thr crusade.
The issue is that the reputation is getting tremendously huge, at 85xp so far. We still have a few pieces left, and will end probably around 95 to 100 xp, just shy of the 105 needed for a reputation of 6.
If i were to do it much more strictly by the rules in LoM, the PC would end with a rep closer to 4 with about 53xp.
Has anyone else tried using these rules, and even if not, any thoughts to share on this situation?
We have used the reputation rules in LoM and have not found them unbalanced, except for the strange "study with a supernatural creature" that feels both unbalanced and strangely inappropriate.
Keep in mind that, possibly barring a few rather rare events like gaining a liege or knighting a squire, they are seasonal rewards for "noteworthy deeds"; generally 1xp/season (crusading might grant 2/season). In fact, unless a Story is played out, we interpret them as rewards per season of "work" (typically 2 seasons/year, in which a character gains only exposure experience). So a young knight (starting with a Reputation 1) who spent 10 years, i.e. 20 seasons of "work", crusading would get 40 xp, bringing him just shy of reputation 4. This does not really feel excessive.
You might want to give extra xp for truly epic actions "beyond noteworthy", but I think those you are providing are far too generous; and crucially, in line with the rules on p.68, I think one should only award the highest reward per season - in fact, I would be extremely wary of awarding more than 3 (and sparingly at that).
In real history, the first crusade only lasted about 4 years. If you play out at least one Story/season, and the character does something "beyond noteworthy" in every season (heroically winning a decisive battle would qualify for 3xp for that season), and something truly legendary 1/year (being in command at the battle that decides the war, personally saving your king from certain death, 4-6xp season) might yield a level 4. possibly 5 Reputation at the end of the crusade to a young knight who started with Reputation 1-2, but again, that does not seem excessive for such a hero. The average crusader who still performed noteworthy deeds throughout the war would net 4 years x 2 "work" seasons/year x 2xp/season = 16xp - enough to bring him from Reputation 2 to 3.
Finally, keep in mind that the reputation need not be positive! A character who's constantly after loot might develop a reputation as a greedy money-grubber.
Good points. We are up to about 30 sessions played, and the large majority of the prudhomme xp awarded was for on screen actions. One thought is we could treat the Crusader Prudhomme as a "you had to be there" kind of thing and a separate reputation applying to people only part of the first Crusade.
Whereas his "standard" prudhomme would be much lower and scored closer in compliance with the rules.