Questions and Answers about Rules and Background

Hi,

approving grin Then it's not misposted at all, but a good idea which I appreciate.

Ok.

The above tells me that Arnaut is cautiously dipping his toe into Kyiv, looking around more than doing. That is, the impression I have is that his plan is to lay the groundwork for real plans. The story is Easy, but it is a story, which tells me that as GM, I have to step up to more than just throw some Area Lore xps at Arnaut. I consider what I know of Arnaut in light of what has been described so far, and immediately accrue some prejudices: He is not likely to find a wife or gain entrance to the cream of society this season, but is very likely to meet people the covenant trades with and even more likely to get a good feel for the academic scene. As for ferreting out magical secrets of the city... I hanker for a more focused plan here, but try to remain open-minded, and remind myself not to cast my prejudices as fact just yet, but to follow your sketch.

Which brings us to:

If this were the real post, my response would insert the following here: The girl catches you watching her, and looks away with a shy smile, a melange of embarrassment and other more complex reactions.

Please check out the format that I prefer for totals: (total: everything that goes into it, explanations if needed.) This is halfway there, and forces me to think: What's the total? What is meant by "virtue leading others?"

This lead-in confirms my prejudices! (I have been typing as I'm reading, fwiw.) Arnaut is indeed starting with the city in general and academic matters. I will focus my attentions there. The covenant will certainly have a suitable guide: With all that copying going on in the scriptorium, albeit slowly considering the entity-power involved, surely someone must be trading for writing materials. I smile to myself as a see an avenue for Arnaut into Kyiv. This is an Easy story, and no hint of followup seasons have been requested, so it looks to me that Arnaut is likely to meet various people the covenant trades with, meet some scholars who aren't that happy with the increased prices for vellum and inks, and interact with Arnaut. I realize that I will need to look at his character sheet to get an idea of who knows more. My initial sense was that Arnaut would impress some scholar--but then it occurs to me (I still haven't double-checked) that Arnaut's AL score might be low--maybe he's the one who needs a tutor! Will he gain a Reputation as a scholar, or as a wealthy patron of scholars? I already begin to think that one of the rewards of this Easy story should be a contact or two... And a challenge: If Arnaut seems wealthy, perhaps some scholar will try to marry his daughter to him. Will Arnaut take the first girl?

This reflects my thinking, so if this is compatible with your intentions for this season, you're already optimized. Except for the total part.

If this were the real post, I'd remind you about the total but do the work of figuring out what you meant anyway, grumbling to myself. I'd then insert the following:

Eirik thinks it over, and arranges for you to accompany Pyotr, who does a lot of trading inside the city, especially for vellums and inks. He also offers you a burly man, slightly unkempt and with beady eyes. He seems to be twitchy and something about him makes you think of a rat. This is reinforced when he is introduced as Kirill; your Russian isn't very good yet but you cannot help but notice how close that name is to the Russian for "rat." Kirill is good to have around a city to carry things and be wary, but he is a bit seedy and Eirik will not press the offer, should you refuse it and prefer either to wander Kyiv either alone or with Pyotr.

You are fitted with clothes that suit either a man of wealth or a scholar, depending on the impression you want to make, and you tour Kyiv. (Do let me know. Also let me know if you avail yourself of Kirill's services.) Either way, Pyotr accompanies you on your first trip, and he has brought covenfolk of his own to fetch and carry. He talks to you incessantly, if you let him, about different merchants and about the things he needs and about the need to make a cunning bargain. He hates Pechenegs. You don't know enough about his trade to know how good he is. He takes you on his rounds over a few days, and eventually you start meeting purveyors of bookmaking materials. At one such merchant, a scholar walks in while Pyotr is there and they get into an argument in rapid-fire Russian.

Sure. Use what you like, so long as you can make clear what's IC and what's OOC. I will continue to use present tense to describe what is happening as it happens.

Area Lore is up to you; you'll end up with 5xp to spend how you like. The other stuff would emerge from the story. Finding a wife is easy! Finding the right wife is not, but that takes more time. Trade-offs, trade-offs. The beginnings of a Reputation in Kyiv too.

I hope this helps clarify how things work.

Anyway,

Ken

Followup about initiating stories:

Another 'optimization' you (Jean Michelle) might consider is breaking that one story into a few. Arnaut has various plans that involve the city, and realizes that some of these might take some time, and perhaps should not be jumped into all at once. Rather than launch one story in which Arnaut generally investigates the city, you can launch a few, each taking a different tack. One might focus on academics, another on the covenant's trade, another on breaking into the nobility (he might not want to marry in, but being good with them will help should he ever wish to found a university there).

One last optimization to consider is that these are at least as much Player-Initiatiated Stories as Character-Initiated Stories. You are welcome, even encouraged to include complications like, "...and he doesn't know that a dragon is guarding the jewel," or "maybe he meets some of the faeries of Rus," or "and I'd like him to get drawn into a trip down the river, where he can see the problem of Cuman and Pecheneg raiders for himself," or something more specific. I might not go with it, but I will usually prefer to!

Anyway,

Ken

Got my characters mixed up. One of my others has got pack leader. Shame on me.

Thank you for the feedback

Hi,

Happy to be supportive!

Anyway,

Ken

Can we write books in Latin re: hermetic arts, if our Latin score is 4 (Hermetic use)?

Hi,

Yes. The score is effectively 5. Note that this is appropriate for Hermetic Arts or Magic Theory, but not for an Ability used outside the Order, such as Artes Liberales or even Supernatural Lore or Finesse.

Anyway,

Ken

Setting aside the effects of the Gift, how to people tend to view magi and magic in this Saga? Is the OoH is a publicly known, although secretive and insular? Do people know about magi and magic? For example, in the upcoming barbarian attack in my stories thread, I am considering being invisible during the vulnerable times. Would casting a spell near the mundanes greatly upset them because they fear all magic, or do they have a more sophisticated view that, for example, magi are creepy and weird (and that one is a downright jerk we don't like at all) but casting spells is what they do. Or would casting around a mundane generally set off a "witch hunt" vibe?

Hi,

How people view magic and magicians varies.

OoH: The most educated and connected people in the west of Mythic Europe know about the Order of Hermes. The Church, as an institution, knows and talks with magi about the Order and magic; many magi are devout Christians. Its existence as an Order is a very open secret. In general, mundanes who need to know, know. Most of the rest make up stories: A story about a saint or faerie might really be about a magus or hedge wizard!

Out here.... Conversations with covenfolk will suggest that the Order is completely unknown out here. Even most of the covenfolk don't know about an "Order of Hermes." Wizards are rarely well-regarded anywhere, but out here, people are more accepting, except for the most religious Christians.

However: A wizard with the Blatant Gift is a lot less likely to thought of as "casting spells is what he does" than "casting evil spells is what he does." So if Astris starts casting spells to save everyone, they are not going to botch any of their rolls and will take the assistance. But afterward, when they don't need him anymore, Astris will immediately enjoy his usual success. Fortunately, he has guards....

Anyway,

Ken

Will be be developing the characters in parallel with the stories? By this I mean can I put down plans/development for down seasons so I can know what the character has Arts and spell-wise for a story that is 3 years after the Tribunal?

I'm not trying to stop on Ovarwa's toes, but I can tell you that the answer to that question is "no." I know I'd have loved to hit the books a bit before several of my stories, but the way its working is all stories in each cycle are played with your character as he was the first day of the cycle. So, in my last story, taking place something like six years post gauntlet, I'm still using my freshly gauntleted character's stats.

If that is the case I'll adjust my stories to come one after another. It works against my character to have one or two a year.

Hi,

All stories in a Cycle use the same character sheet. In a very real sense, your character does not have those Arts and spells until the next Cycle. Check out the Character Overview and Development messages in the rules topic.

Anyway,

Ken