[continued from previous post…]
Lord Eldred wrote:
>As far as increasing your bloodline. First I would ask you how you think
>the whole process works?
Under the magical version of RP or in “real life?” The magical one doesnt require much additional explanation, I dont think. Under the real
life/political clout interpretation of RP… I dont know if there really is a very good rationale for spending RP to increase ones bloodline. I
don`t think it actually happens anywhere in “real life” or politically. At
least not in the sense that it exists in the game.
My explanation is that you can spend regency to make people think your
family was a lot more powerful or respected than they really were thus
generating more support for you and thus increasing your ability to
generate regency points. Another possible explanation is that it is a
magic ritual. I don`t believe that any normal soul can perform this
>ritual. So you have to use your political clout with the person who can
>perform the ritual to have it done.
OK, but do you really need RP for this at all? And if youre going with a political clout interpretation of RP you should consider the system of turning RP into bloodline strength. Can someone "create" a bloodline by spending a single RP? Why or why not? Should the amount of RP required to increase ones bloodline remain the same? Why or why not? Should there be
a flat rate? Should the scale be higher or lower? How powerful is a
political clout RP and does it really have the kind of “power” needed to
raise someone`s bloodline?
Your response would seem to indicate that you also favor a non-magical
interpretation of bloodline–which is also perfectly plausible, but
bloodline is undoubtedly magical in nature in the current rules so if
you`re going with a non-magical RP system that interacts with
a non-magical bloodline system then it would make sense to look at blood
abilities, how bloodlines are transferred to children, bloodline
derivations, etc.
>>Bloodtheft… Take the way bloodtheft works with RP into consideration
>>if going with the political clout version of RP.
>
>Actually it makes more sense if you think of it my way. If regency points
>are some sort of magic tied to the bloodline, why does it get lost when
>someone steals your bloodline. Shouldn`t the regency transfer with it?
Now in my interpretation it makes sense. When a guy is dead, he can`t
>spend his political clout anymore. All agreements are off with anyone they
>had clout with!
I didn`t really present the issue very well there so let me
rephrase. Compare the BR rules: a regent slain by a commoner or who dies a
natural death transfers all his RP to his heir, but a regent slain by a
stab through the heart by another scion does not transfer RP to his
heir. The magical interpretation of RP is tied up with the magical nature
of bloodlines on this one.
Using a different interpretation of RP you should consider whether or not
or how many RPs will be transferred upon the death of a regent. The
specific decision here isn`t really the point. You could handle it however
you think best and rationalize it any way fits into your interpretation of
RP. One person might transfer all RP to an heir when a regent dies under
any circumstances, another might transfer none, yet a third might think it
makes sense to transfer a fraction, or one could have circumstances dictate
how many RP are transferred. My point is that it would be a good idea to
decide such a thing before it happens in a campaign.
>>RP and GB. This one`s a little iffy, since you could certainly view the
RP spent as being used to call in enough favors to maintain a unit of
soldiers for a domain turn, but some people may have trouble with the
concept that 200 men are “eating” political favors for three months.
Not if you are calling in political favors to have the men fed!
Yes, you could go with that interpretation (as, again, I noted in the
paragraph in which I raised the point) but what Im saying is that it might get a bit difficult to justify eventually. If a realm isnt producing
enough GB to pay its soldiers then it`s hard to see why it would be able to
feed them on favors, which is something that using the current rules on RP
could be done indefinitely and could strain verisimilitude. There are a
few other occasions than the example of maintain troops, however, in which
RP can be used in place of GB and vice versa. Agitation actions, for
example, and it seems to me there are a few others. If one can spend
political clout RP to maintain troops then it would be justifiable to spend
them to maintain castles, courts, or spend them on just about any other use
of GB, right?
In fact, some folks have suggested doing away with RP entirely and going
with a purely GB based realm system. Such a system could work just as well
as a magical or political clout interpretation of RP, which leads me to
wonder if one wants to go with a political clout interpretation of RP then
why not take that next step and do away with RP? “Favors” and
“alliegances” are all well and good, but arent they really role-playing decisions, not something that need be articulated by RP? Couldnt
political clout be as easily expressed economically, especially since realm
level activities all have a GB cost. GB talk, RP walk…
Anyway, other things you might want to take into consideration if going
with a political clout interpretation of RP:
-
Youve noted some limitation on RP collection, but thats something that
really needs some thought. Bloodline strength represents the maximum
amount of RP a regent can collect, but if RP is political clout it need not
necessarily have anything to do with bloodlines. Anybody can have
political clout, and anybody can garner political influence. If there`s no
limit of RP collection then there is little need for the Vassalage system
of BR and it might make sense to just assume such a system of
loyalty/allegiance exists.
-
RP awards. Along the same lines, should RP collection necessarily be
restricted to province/holding levels and trade routes in a non-magical
interpretation of RP? In the same way that RP can be lost by not
responding to random events, losing several provinces, etc. in the current
rules, it`s easy to picture non-regents gaining political/RP from
successfully participating in adventures that have a political
significance. Rescuing the princess should give you political clout with
the king, as should fighting off the hordes of rabid minions of <whatever>
when they threaten the kingdom. Many typical D&D adventures might earn RP,
turning regency into another aspect of the reward system.
-
Shelf Life. Owing someone a favor grows stale pretty quickly, and oaths
of allegiance fade in significance over time. Several people have
suggested system in which RP storage is lost ranging from things like
bloodline strength score as the maximum RP that can be transferred from one
domain turn to the next to all unspent RP are lost at the end of the domain
turn. RP as political clout should probably not allow one to store up
“favors” for use indefinitely and without any maximum storage limit.
Gary
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