Game of Thrones: Agasint the Band of the Nine: Home House

[max_vale]

(I'll consult the book tonight when I get home and roll these out and post the results along with what they mean and what choices are available to make....i.e. what kind of terrain; what kinds of house troops, etc.)

The Home (i.e. insert name here) House from the Stormlands


House Resources:

Defense 33 +5 = 38
Influence X +0 =
Lands X -5 =
Law 21 +10 = 31
Population X -5 =
Power X +5 =
Wealth X +0 =

[Rusty Tincanne]

I have been wanting to figure out the coding for the dice roller, so I thought I'd go ahead and use the house rolls as a trial. If you've already done these, please ignore my rolls.

Influence [7d6] = 21 Lands [7d6] = 28-5 =23
Population [7d6-5] = 25-5 = 20 Power [7d6+5] = 15+5 = 20 Wealth [7d6] = 28

(Looks like I figured out the coding to be all inclusive!)


House Resources:

• Defense 33 +5 = 38
  Influence 21 +0 = 21
  Lands 28 -5 =23
  Law 21 +10 = 31
  Population 25 -5 =20
  Power 15 +5 =20
  Wealth 28 +0 =28

Next step is for players to roll 1d6 and add it to the area of their choosing. I'll work on that later and try to post up what everything means if it isn't too much work...

[max_vale]

Thanks Rusty! I've had VERY little time on-line today; thanks for the rolls….I think I'll have some time in a few hours to take a look at the book and see what the numbers mean and I'll post the results; plus the options you all will have to make….like where to put extra d6 rolls; what kind of units to field, what kind of terrain, etc.

Thanks again!

[Rusty Tincanne]

Thanks Rusty!

Not a problem! (I really love these types of involved set-up games.)

[max_vale]

Okay, I've got a few minutes, so here we go with a bit of an explanation on what these numbers mean and some rolls to determine a bit more background/info on the House of " ". Please keep in mind that due to some of the Historical Events these numbers ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. More on that in a bit….

Okay, so as Rusty already rolled for all of these, here's the current numbers and what they mean:

-Defense 33 +5 = 38

Defense describes the fortifications of the House's lands; such as Towers, Castles, Keeps, Towns, etc. It also is an indication of the quantity and quality of roads in the lands for the ability to move troops and supplies throughout the region. A 38 means the House's lands have a good level of defense with almost certainly a small castle or manor house and possibly some towers as well; alternatively natural terrain features that help protect a region such as mountains or swamps may be present. Decent roads and/or rivers provide a solid network of transportation for troops and goods. Note: The final total will be 'spent' as points on things like Towers, Castles, Manor Houses, etc.


-Influence X +0 = 21

Influence describes the House's standing in respect to the other Houses of Westeros; whether they are a Great House, a well-known Minor House or an obscure Minor House. A 21 means the House is a small minor House of the Stormlands with a maximum Status Level of 4 for the Lord of the House. Note: the levels change at the 11, 21, 31, 41, etc. levels; so this level is just BARELY above the threshold. In game terms, Influence dictates what the starting/highest levels of Status the Lord of the House may hold as well as the Heirs.


-Lands X -5 =23

Lands describes the size of the lands that fall under the House's control and how many sub-domains these lands are divided into. The score also indicates what KIND of terrain and features and/or the size of communities that are on these domains. Examples include hills, mountains, woods, water (lakes, rivers, etc.), ruins, hamlets, small towns, etc. A level of 23 indicates a modest stretch of land. These points will be spent to determine what terrain features, towns (and of what size), etc. the House's Domain consists of. As an example; the Stormlands have the following terrain choices for each domain: Hills, Mountains, Plains, and Wetlands. Hills cost 7, Mountains 9, Plains 5 and Wetlands 3. Features include things like: Light woods for 3 pts; a lake for 7 pts or a Small town for 20 pts. So, a Mountain domain (9 pts), with Light woods (3 pts) would cost 12 of the 23 points that make up Lands.

-Law 21 +10 = 31

Law basically encompasses two things; the extent to which the smallfolk of the holding respect and/or fear the Home House and the threat of bandits, brigands, and the general level of crime in the House's lands. A score of 31 indicates that the Home House has a firm control over their lands and crime is uncommon. In game terms; the level of Law influences the 'House Fortunes" die roll; which occurs periodically over the course of the campaign to tell what sort of things happen to the House and its holdings over time.

-Population X -5 =20

Population unsurprisingly represents how many people are living on the House's lands. A score of 20 indicates that there is but a small population on these lands and no single community larger than a small town. In game terms; like the Law score; the Population level impacts the House Fortunes die roll. Note; this level changes at 21….something to consider!

-Power X +5 =20

Power describes the military might of the Home House and their ability to muster troops in times of need and the quality of those troops. A score of 20 indicates that only a small force of troops is present and/or can be mustered; made up mostly of smallfolk levies. In game terms; Power points are spent on types of troops and what level of training they have received; for example; a unit of troops (100 unmounted troops or 20 riders and their mounts or 1 ship and its crew) that consists of an average-trained Garrison force for the Home castle would cost 5 pts. Note: the level changes at 21…something to consider!

-Wealth X +0 =28

Wealth is a indicator of everything from how much coin the Home house has in its coffers to how much success in trade endeavors, how able they are to fund improvements in their lands, etc. A level of 28 indicates a standard level of wealth as average out among the noble houses of Westeros. In game terms wealth points are spent on resources which benefit the house in various ways; such as purchasing a Guild (for 15 points of Wealth) which gives a discount of 10% for all goods purchased by the characters in their own lands; or creating a Mine (if the lands have Hills or Mountains) for 10 points of wealth which gives a +5 bonus on House Fortune rolls.


Okay; hopefully this helps out some with getting an idea for a Stormlands House…..and I'll go one more step further by making some House History and Historical Events rolls.

Okay; the First Founding of the House roll: 1d6 = 4

-ESTABLISHED (This means the house is about 2-5 hundred years old) and grants a roll of 1d6 Historical Events.

1d6 = 3

Okay, 3 Historical Events; each of which is determined by a 3d6 roll. Okay, we get the following scores:

3d6 = 16
3d6 = 5
3d6 = 11

The 16 means an event of: GLORY: As a first historical event; this means that an individual in the House did something glorious; such as having a military victory or great act of heroism that led directly to the founding of the House. In game terms it means a bonus roll of 1d6 is added to each of the following House Resources:

Defense: +1d6
Influence: +1d6
Law: +1d6
Power: +1d6

The 5 means an event of: CATASTROPHE: A natural disaster of some kind such as a drought, plague or blight diminished the population of the lands and the ability of the House to influence/run their domain. In game terms it means the following to the House Resources:

Law: -1d6
Population: -1d6
Power: -1d6
Wealth: =1d6

The 11 means an event of: INFRASTRUCTURE: A period of peace and prosperity led to the House's growth and expansion. In game terms it means that any 2 of the House's Resources (PC's pick) get a bonus of +1d6


Here's and example of how these results might be interpreted: Alright….looking at that; one could say that the House of " " began about the time of Aegon's Conquest. (About 250 years ago)…..Perhaps they won a glorious battle against Aegon's forces despite the Stormlands losing to the Dragonlords and after their liege's death their new liege (the first Baratheon) remembered the bravery of the House's founder and raised him up to the Lordship of " ".

Many years later though, the House suffered from the great 'Bloody Flux' plague of 151 A.L. and several of the small hamlets on the lands were turned into ghost-towns almost overnight….

In the long reign of King Daeron II 'the Good' though; the House rebounded nicely in the early, peaceful years of his tenure….

Anyway; it's something to work with….Rusty, Marullus, et. al.; go ahead and make the rolls and make choices as to what kind of Terrain features, troop types, etc. you guys want for your house….along with throwing some name suggestions out there!

-Hope this helps inspire people with their character creation process!

-Max

[max_vale]

Okay; I went ahead and made the rolls for the effects of the Historical events of "Glory" and "Catastrophe" and here's the final results of the House's resources as of now:

Defense: 39
Influence: 27
Lands: 23
Law: 24
Population: 19
Power: 21
Wealth: 23


There is STILL the "Infrastructure" historical event to decide upon.....basically; 2 different resources will each be increased by a roll of 1d6. I need somebody to decide which 2 resources and make the rolls; or at least tell me which 2 resources you want to increase. (Personally, I'd recommend Population and either Power or Defense.....Power to keep it from dropping a rank if your House loses any at all, or Defense because with a roll of 2+; your level increases)

[Marullus]

I propose that we choose to raise Population and Defense and choose not to raise Power.

Having a high defense and a low power makes sense to me story-wise. We are intensely proud of our heritage and have a fine old castle, towers, etc... but we lack the soldiers to populate it. Decimated by the plague we are still trying to recover and soldiery always recovers slower than the population that feeds it.

It also explains why Eduard and now his nephews are willing to go outside (with this adventure) to gain resources, power, and influence. It takes generations (literally) to rebuild population and they aren't patient enough to wait for prosperity in their grandchild's lifetime. It also establishes a dynamic I like for Eduard and his Riders. When there's not a lot of troops to go around, each group is more singularly important. Law is still maintained. Eduard and his half-squad of veterans play a larger role for the Lord (with more local notoriety) as bigger fish in the smaller pond.

Initial Modifications

After we resolve those values, every player then chooses to place 1d6 somewhere, right? (With no more than 2d6 on one thing.)

[max_vale]

Doh, that is correct….I forgot about the Initial Mods….sorry!

Everyone: Feel free to make the rolls and add them to whichever resource you like. I'll make any rolls that haven't been made by Thursday night/Friday morning. (I'm hoping to get the game going on Thursday night/Friday morning)

[Rusty Tincanne]

[1d6] = 1

I am going to increase Power to 21.

A modest force of soldiers, including some trained troops.

Our proud, old house - with its limited influence - takes pride in maintaining order by keeping our limited troops trained to some extent. The smallfolk must be protected from bandits.

House Resources:

• Defense - 38
  Influence - 21
  Lands -23
  Law - 31
  Population -20
  Power - 21
  Wealth - 28

[Marullus]

Okay, since Rusty chose Power, we can use the history ones on Population and Defense to cover all three GM recommendations if nobody objects.

Population [1d6] = 2; Defense [1d6] = 6

House Resources:
Defense - 44
Influence - 21
Lands -23
Law - 31
Population -22
Power - 21
Wealth - 28


Defense (44)
40pts - Castle: Castles are impressive fortified strongholds but are not as large or as imposing as a superior castle. Most castles incorporate at least one central keep and several towers connected by walls and surrounded by a moat. Example castles include Deepwood Motte, the Twins, and Riverrun. BENEFIT: Units defending a castle gain a +8 bonus to their Defense.

(If we hit 50, we can also invest in a tower for 10pts. Or we can use 40pts for a Small Castle and extra tower. I vote for the big, central castle.)

Influence (21)
The Lord is 4 status.
We need to spend 20pts to have an Heir PC with 3 status. (Can he just get 3 status from being a sworn knight?)
We have no extra influence points to spend for bonus in an intrigue.

Lands (23)
We said above we wanted Forests on the Mountain (emphasizing the importance of Rusty's Huntsman to the house).
Mountain - 9pt
Light wood - 3pt (Can be densely forested which makes it harder to invade for 5pt)

We could add a lake (7pt), a major road (5pt), or a ruin (3pt) but don't have enough to even add a Hamlet of a town. So, all centralized population seems to be focused in our large castle. Our total lands are one league (three miles). We could skip the other improvements and add square footage, doubling to two leagues if the second domain is lightly forested (3pt) wetlands (3pt) or plain (3pt).

Law (31)
We have a -1 to House Fortunes unless we can raise it from 31 to 41.

Population (22)
We have a +1 to House Fortunes. At 31 we'd get +3.

Power (21)
We have no Banner Houses (they'd cost 20pts each), which is part of Eduard's bitterness.

Each unit is 100 footmen or 20 mounted men.
Green (1pt), but Rusty highlighted having Trained (3pt) or Veteran (5pt).
Scouts (2pt), Archers (3pt), Garrison (2pt), Infantry (4pt), Cavalry (5pt) all seem good choices.

So, if all units are Trained per Rusty's note, we could currently have something like this:
100 Trained Infantry (7)
100 Trained Archers (6)
100 Trained Garrison (5)
100 Green Scouts (3)

Wealth (28)
We are allowed to invest in only two holdings. Given our Mountain lands and proud martial history, I recommend we choose an Iron Mine (10pts, gives +5 to House Fortunes) and an Artisian Smithy (10pts all weapons forged in the House count as castle-forged). That leaves us 8pts liquid for future needs.

It also highlights what we didn't pick. Our house can't afford a Maester (PC or NPC), supporting Enoch's background. We don't have a Sept, deprioritizing worship. We don't have a major Marketplace drawing trade, or a Guild controlling production, both of which require a town.

So, if we go with that, we have a Wooded mountainside with a significant and historic castle, around which the population centers. We have miners and smithies of note which are the major basis of prosperity for our small population.

I will add my roll to Land to give us more options for holdings. I'd like more square footage.
Land [1d6] = 6


House Resources:
Defense - 44
Influence - 21
Lands -29
Law - 31
Population -22
Power - 21
Wealth - 28

[Enoch]

I also have "Out of Strife, Prosperity", which gives new Wealth holdings for this system, if anyone is interested.

As far as to where to put my bonus roll: it looks like we're near the bottom of each range band. Wealth I would likely bump up into the 31-40 band, and it's possible I could bump Defense (although we're already looking pretty good there). Of course, we'll change these in play; is there a particular area we feel our House ought to excel, or should I add it to Wealth?

Also, we're only allowed two Wealth holdings per Land holding. If we buy Land beyond our forested mountain, we can have additional Wealth holdings.

[max_vale]

Hey peoples; been a much busier than usual day at work, so I haven't had time to post much today, sorry....but a couple of quick things:

I think people missed my post where I incorporated the rolls from the Historical Events; which modified the House Resources to the following:

Defense: 39
Influence: 27
Lands: 23
Law: 24
Population: 19
Power: 21
Wealth: 23


If you keep all the same choices and roll results people have made; then right now we're looking at this:

Defense: 45 (+ 6)
Influence: 27
Lands: 29 (+ 6)
Law: 24
Population: 21 (+ 2)
Power: 22 (+ 1)
Wealth: 23

If people get back to me quickly; I'll allow some changes if people want. Also, I'll make 2 rolls for the PC/NPCs if they aren't made by tomorrow morning. (For Synthalus and Smoke's characters)

[Rusty Tincanne]

Whoops. I didn't miss your post, but I surely did forget about it!

I will let me roll/placement stand as is, making Power 22.

[Marullus]

So we need player-choice rolls for Enoch, Smoke Warrior, JDLuna, and Synthalus.

Power and Lands are spent per-point, so they are good investments (we don't necessarily need to hit a level). Influence will also be important asis wealth, moving forward. All good suggestions.

Are there comments on the expenditures I proposed above?

[Rusty Tincanne]

I've got no issues with your proposals. The only thing I will point out is that our Power rating gives up some trained troops. So we can have the bulk of our troops be green if we want.

[max_vale]

Okay, I think jdluna is dropping out and I'll go ahead and make the rolls for the other 3. To keep it simple; I'll just add the results to each of the 3 resources that have NOT been modified (Influence, Law, Wealth). Here goes:


Defense: 45
Influence: 27 (+2) = 29
Lands: 29
Law: 24 (+6) = 30
Population: 21
Power: 22
Wealth: 23 (+4) = 27

Final results:

Defense: 45
Influence: 29
Lands: 29
Law: 30
Population: 21
Power: 22
Wealth: 27

Okay; going on this and previous comments; let me know if the following works for everyone:


-Defense: 45 (40 pts invested, 5 'free')

40 pts invested in Castle Valmont. Over the years the small Keep has grown into a decent sized and well-made Castle. In game terms; any unit defending this castle gains a +8 bonus on Defense

-Influence: 29 (25 pts invested, 4 'free')

20 pts invested in having Ser Gannis be the Heir and 5 pts invested in Asher for being a non first or second born son. Note; in game terms; these 4 pts can be used on Intrigue rolls or House Fortune rolls.

-Land: 29 (28 pts invested, 1 'free')

The Valmont Domain consists of Moutains (9 pts) with Light Woods (3 pts), a Road (5 pts), a Stream (1 pt), and a Hamlet (10 pts).

-Law: 30 (Law pts are not invested)

In game terms; a Law score of 30 indicates that House Fortune rolls are made with a -2 modifier.

-Population: 21 (Population points are not invested)

In game terms; a Population score of 21 indicates a +1 House Fortune roll modifier.

-Power: 22 (21 pts invested, 1 pt 'free')

The troops available to House Valmont include a unit of 100 Trained Garrison soldiers (5 pts); a unit of 100 Trained Infantry soldiers (7 pts); a unit of 100 Trained Archers (6 pts); and a unit of 100 Green Scouts (3 pts)

-Wealth: 27 (20 pts invested, 7 'free')

House Valmont has an iron mine on its Domain and has an Artisan capable of producing Castle-forged steel weapons. In game terms this means a +5 modifier on House Fortune rolls and that all House members can have a single weapon with the Castle-forge quality (+1 to Fighting or Marksmanship rolls….for a Bow or Crossbow, this means 12 arrows)


Final House Fortune roll modifier: +4


This look okay to everyone?

[Marullus]

I like adjusting Land to show the holdings were once more substantial before the plague, and the remaining population has centered in a community around the castle. It leaves the most open for gamelands while the population rebuilds (and makes the Huntsman more important).

Mountain, lightly forested
Plain, lightly forested (I.e. base of the mountain)
Ruin (a tower and mill along the stream where there once was a hamlet, now abandoned)
Stream

Thoughts?

[Marullus]

I was going to ask about the crest. They have neat random generators!

However, I am more than fine with Gannis' choice. I'm reposting it here for record-keeping.

Ser Gannis

Ser Gannis Attacks the closet spearman with his long sword, well trying to defend himself with his shield at the same time like a gallant knight of the old order. Like all that bare his family crest, the Valmont Clan rally to their family standard as a symbol of pride on the battle field.

Everyone okay with it? Synthalus, can you describe its significance?

[Rusty Tincanne]

I like adjusting Land to show the holdings were once more substantial before the plague, and the remaining population has centered in a community around the castle. It leaves the most open for gamelands while the population rebuilds (and makes the Huntsman more important).

Mountain, lightly forested
Plain, lightly forested (I.e. base of the mountain)
Ruin (a tower and mill along the stream where there once was a hamlet, now abandoned)
Stream

Thoughts?

I haven't looked at the book in a while, but I like your suggestions. Sounds quite idyllic. lightly populated, but decently armed and patrolled.