Festival of Roses

Status: Pre-Pregame
Start Date: Early-Mid December

Players are asked to take into consideration the holiday period when applying to play. I will be making every effort to accommodate player’s needs over Christmas and New Year, but I do request that all players be considerate of each other. In other words: please don’t pick up the game if you know you won’t be around to play!

Character Submissions will soon be open, please make sure to familiarise yourself with the rulings and changes in the Rulings Subforum. If you don’t have a PF and are ready to make your submission, please poke me by PM.

Status: Pre-Pregame
Start Date: Early-Mid December

Monday Update

A friendly reminder to players to familiarise themselves with the rulings on Languages, as this will affect how you spend xp!

Newly added is the rules for creating your own House. Members of the same House will have a PF, with their own folders beneath that, so start thinking of names!

Finally, the sooner people get their characters in, the sooner we can all start. There is only 1 week left in November, so I will be looking to set a firm start date before the next Monday Update.

Status: Pregame
Start Date: Dec 7

Monday Update

Based on the poll results, I’m setting the start date for the second half of next week. Those of you who don’t have a post from me saying “approved”, please have your submissions finished before the 7th!

Over the past week I’ve spent quite a bit of time making tweaks and updates, hopefully improving things in general. Here are the changes, additions, and updates you should be aware of, if you aren’t already:

GM Questions/Miscellaneous Rulings. I’ve added some of the things that have come up on Discord to the appropriate thread.

Gossip. After spending some time getting more familiar with the game mechanics, I have tweaked this slightly. Gossip is now rolled against the target’s passive Status (Reputation).

Fame. Although the idea came to me too late to not have copy-pasted the wording a dozen times, certain activities will award players Fame. As the name might suggest, this is a watered down form of Glory. Most Events and Displays will have a Fame prize.

Curfew. Throwing in a touch of realism, Grassy Vale has a curfew. For the most part, this shouldn’t restrict player movements, so long as you’re back inside the Keep before midnight.

Sleeping Arrangements. Guest pavilions have been set up for attendees of Status Rank 3 and 4. These tents are spacious, but are equipped with only one bed. Families will be assigned adjacent tents. Anyone of Status Rank 2 is expected to arrange their own lodgings within town. Characters with cohorts, or who otherwise anticipate non-adherence to the expectation of one person per tent, should note in their PF what their arrangements are.

Status: Pregame
Start Date: Dec 7

A quick note to say that I won't be accepting any more players (ten people! who'd have imagined?)
And that I'm super excited!

Status: Prologue
Start Date: Dec 7

This is the last Monday Update, as the start of the game is finally almost here! So, buckle up, strap in, and wear a helmet, cause this post is gonna be long.


Submissions
Over the next two days I will be reviewing everyone’s PFs and checking them against my records for changes. I’m going to start PMing people on Discord about incomplete submissions and, if that doesn’t work, I’ll start tagging you in chat to be encouraged/ridiculed by the other players.

I’ll be looking to “lock down” character sheets no later than Wednesday, so if you need to make changes, best get them in now. If I’ve approved your character (and you haven’t made changes since), please post here. Additionally, a representative from each House should make a post here.


Calendar
Later today I will make the remaining forums visible. Take some time to familiarise yourself with the locations and ask any questions you might have. I apologise for the lack of pictures, I’m afraid you’ll have to use your imaginations, because looking for stock images sounds like an exercise in supreme “close but not right” frustration.

On Wednesday, I’ll be previewing the first Interaction ahead of the game starting on Thursday.

Below is an updated calendar for the game. I hope it goes without saying that the dates indicated aren’t set in stone. Additional time has been allocated for days 6 and 8, and not just due to the holidays they fall on. Those days will be the Grand Melee and Joust, and want to provide sufficient time to resolve these complex Events.

Just as an FYI, I do like to nap on Christmas Day, but I will be online or nearby for some of every day from now until the end of the game. It’s unlikely that I will be going out or receiving visitors, so I have time to spare. Feel free to bug me whenever.



A schedule of events is available here.


Things to Know
I realise that the Character Creation and Knowledgebase forums contain a lot of information. So, I wanted to point you guys towards some stuff that I personally feel is important.

● Activities - rather than just Events, I’ve divided Narrator-run Activities into three categories. The differences are explained here.
● Timeslots - the rules for timeslots, threads, sleep/exhaustion, and curfew are here.
● Unrest & Gossip - the mechanics are detailed in these two posts.

Status: Game on!

It’s finally here! The game is a go, I hope everyone has a great time

Event: Early Morning
Event: Early Evening

Update!

Day flip is now just 24(ish) hours away, so I wanted to give fair warning of some things that will be taking effect with the start of Day 2. Adjusting to new characters, and mentally switching gear from one ruleset to another usually takes a few days, so I wanted to be really lenient with your initial rolls. As of Day 2, please be aware of the following:


Blood of the Andals
This Benefit must be declared before rolling. It cannot be added after you've seen the result.

Destiny Points
Destiny works something like Void in L5R, and a bit more like Destiny in EotE. As such, it must be declared before rolling, and cannot be added afterwards.

Rule of Thumb
As a general guideline, anything that will change the result of a roll must be declared and incorporated into the roll, and cannot be added later.


If you forget to apply a bonus, you may re-roll, but the results of the second roll stand, even if worse. If you forget to apply a penalty, you must re-roll.

Different Editions!

It has been brought to my attention that there are two versions of the Rulebook floating around. The version that I have been using can be found here (and Errata).

As per this older ruleset, and my "rule of thumb", the above rulings stand. It is my opinion that to rule any other way makes Blood of the Andals significantly out of line with the other Qualities, and over-powered. I adamantly disagree with the changes made in this direction in the later version.

A note on wording: the rulebooks are notoriously badly worded. "Result" is defined as "The value arrived at by adding up all of the test dice rolled for an ability test." After making this definition, the rulebook goes on to clarify that results, in fact, aren't just that, because they can be modified and because Specialities, bonuses, and penalties are all things.

It is my opinion (and, ergo, ruling) that modifying a result should not imply or intend making those adjustments after the fact. In the case of Blood of the Andals, where the older version of the rulebook states: "In addition, once per day, you may add +2 to the result of any one test", this is shouldn't be taken as "when you have your result, choose if you want to add +2", but rather "once per day, when you really need to pass a test, add a +2 modifier".

I hope that Blood of the Andals and Destiny Points are the only things affected by this, but if you notice any other discrepancies, please bring them to my attention immediately. Thank you.

Addendum to Above

Case in Point:

[D1 EE] Event: Bread and Salt, Step Three, Awareness (Notice) TN15: 5d6k4 19 +2 Blood of the Andals PASS +1 degree

By applying BotA after seeing the result of the roll, this was pushed from a single degree of success to a second, adding another Salt Point. This changed the standings from a tie to a clear win, I don't feel that is fair on the player who was denied a Fame Point because of it.

New Day!

Day flip is upon us. It was touch-and-go at one point there, but I'd like to thank everyone for their support.

We now have a search box! It's in the very, very upper right corner. Hopefully that will make things easier to find. When in doubt, start with the top two forums: Character Creation and the Knowledgebase, most of the relevant info is posted to one of those.

There are two Activities for today:
● Tourney, Early Morning, Hunt in the Green Forest
● Event, Late Evening, Welcoming Feast

Thank you all, and have fun!