Faith Icons

The Society of St. Paul holds many artifacts sacred. Of these are included the seals of various saints, marks of the prophet and vestments of influential members of the Order that have achieved Ascension. Icons of Faith as they are called can bring about a great deal of strength in the devout. By praying and focusing his will to the duty of returning the icon, the devout member of the Society can gain exchange dice usable at any time during that scene.

Simply heading out on a quest to save or acquire a faith icon for the Society will bestow a sense of purpose that is felt by the devout. When on a quest to regain an icon from a nefarious source or otherwise return it to the Society, the devout will be granted Endowment exchanges. For each 5 or higher rolled on a Willpower roll at the beginning of each scene, the devout will gain 1d6 exchange that can be used that scene with any Endowment roll. Note that this is not in combination with an Aptitude, but an exchange to be rolled on its own after any other exchanges.

Being in the presence of a faith icon will increase the potential exchange dice for the devout. For each 4 or higher rolled on a Willpower roll at the beginning of the scene, the devout will gain 1d6 exchange that can be used that scene with any endowment roll as above.

Possession of a faith icon by the devout will increase this potential even more as holding the icon charges the will of the devout. For each 3 or higher rolled on a Willpower roll at the beginning of the scene, the devout will gain 2d6 exchanges that can be used at any time for the rest of the scene with any endowment roll as above.

The exchange dice gained by praying to an icon in this fashion that are not used by the end of the scene are simply lost with no further effect. Society members should be warned that there are occasionally those who will create fake faith icons. Society members are not allowed to keep a faith icon, once one is recovered they are expected to return them directly to the church for safe keeping. Only on the rarest of occasions has anyone been allowed to keep such a relic, although in some uncommon cases of war these icons have been brought out to aid one side of a conflict.

Sock Drive and Gathering Highlights

This weekend the people of Nicholshire gathered together to donate over $150.00 in socks to the community in need.

They also had some fun battles.

Here are some photos.

Breaking Weapons!

If the strength of an attack that is blocked with a weapon or piece of gear, the weapon or gear may break from the strike.  Depending upon the quality of the craftsmanship, items will be harder or easier to break.   The threshold to break the items is based on the quality of the craft and the strength of the strike.

• Standard grade:  1 Solid, 1 Hard or 1 Critical

• Above Average: 2 Solid, 2 Hard or 1 Critical

• High quality: 2 Hard or 1 Critical

• Excellent: 3 Hard or 1 Critical

• Superb: 1 Critical

• Pristine: Unbreakable

The Improvement Hardened adds 1 Solid, 1 Hard and 1 Critical

Techniques that break items do not follow this rule, however each level of Hardened will lower the strength of a technique attack by one level on the victory chart.

Noble Council Report

Noble Council 9/23 40 ACI

This council meeting, held at the Gathering of Autumn, these topics were discussed.

1:

Due to increased activity in the County, Squire Paolo Carbone requested the re-establishment of a Chancellery.   To this end the following was declared.

As of 9/23 40 ACI, the Chancellery will resume operation in Triumvirate pending proper expansion into the full Pentaverate.

Lord Paolo Carbone will assume the mantle of Chancellor of Arbitration and Chancellor of Armaments.

Lord Baba Malik will assume the mantle of Chancellor of Histories and Chancellor of Registries.

Baron Boltac Lowleaves will act as Castellan in accordance.

2:

The council was called to rule on the status of Page Rowan Drake.  His knight, Sir Steven Dunbar has been serving in Southern Azara for some time.  It is due to this continued service that the Page has beseeched the Council to allow him to begin trials under the County Order of the White Talbot until such a time as his Knight returns.

Serving as Magistrate, Paolo Carbone verified requisites for Squirehood of Rowan.  It was purported that Drake was not a member or any non-crafting guild.  Some discussion as to the validity of his membership with the House of Talbot was held as happens in council.  Then Baron Lowleaves offered to purchase Rowan’s sword for coin.  This sale, and the statement of membership verification now into the Merchant’s Guild by Burgess Lowleaves, the council thus recognized all requirements met.   

In a near unanimous vote of ‘yea’ countered only by Duke Ramon who voted ‘nay’ in order to send the message to Rowan that it would be a long and difficult road, Page Rowan Drake was elevated to Squire Rowan Drake.

Pirate Day Discount

Happy “Talk like a pirate day!”

Use code “makofrenzy” for half off any book purchase at Meleeworld.org!

Hurry, this offer will be sailing away soon!

Toy drive and Gathering of winter

This weekend His Grace Duke Ramon Kalivantes presided court over the annual toy drive.

Citizens old and new came for the melee, the tourneys and to donate toys to the children of the land.

Over $200 in donations were collected with lord Aiken Cushing being the single donation leader. The donations were split between the Griffons Gambit and the Brotherhood of Balor to help build up New Roanoke - with the Brotherhood taking a decisive lead in the donations.

Championship upsets shook the battles as contenders were rocked and belt holders faced new challenges.

Ultimately the most amazing event was a holiday Danish Skull game that while being a blowout for the Verdant Hills team over Crossroads Valley. Fun was had by all!

scale miniatures with TEA and Factions and Orders

The Average height of a character is around between 5 and 6 feet tall.  This is equivalent to 4 cubits.  To ease in game play, miniatures of 28-33 mm or 1/56 are considered to be the standard scale.  Each inch on the gaming area is therefore is 3 cubits, or right around 5 feet.   Scaling in this fashion includes all obstacles, walls, doors and other interactions, in three dimensions.  Depending on the complexity of the scene and the needs of the players, some gaming tables may feature very detailed scenes.  Be it a terrain filled three dimensional space, or simply lines on a piece of paper, this scale is an industry standard that allows for the vast majority of miniatures and terrain pieces available in game stores to be used with Melee: The Eternal Adventure and Melee:  Factions and Orders.   Keep in mind that scaling in this fashion also means that maps and other materials can be made to scale by using the 1 inch = 3 cubits = 5 feet conversion.  

Variations in scale should be addressed first and foremost in the spirit of the game (does it affect the game), and ultimately the miniatures that vary dramatically from scale should be used as agreed upon by the players and the Arbitrator.   To facilitate scaling issues further, in cases where the miniature is posed in such a way as to be confusing, consider all figures to have a square base underneath.  When standing still or otherwise not obviously extending beyond standard personal space, the figure will take up the space allocated by the square base.  This base should be between 20 and 25 mm, which are again industry standards.  Should something come in contact with the area that this base takes up, regardless of figure pose, it is fair to say the character will be affected.  Whether the character can dodge or otherwise mitigate this intrusion is up to the story and the dice.  

Why is your cultural origin important?

It affects your world view. Your religion, your station and even the basis for existing.   The way your culture impacts your views is evident in your morality, your interpretation of events as superstitions and even, sadly, your view of other people.   While it is not condoned, prejudice is a reality on some part to every culture.  But by and large the purpose of the cultural origin is to determine similarities in the way a character might view something differently than another or the player themselves. It is a role-playing tool for both player and Arbitrator.

Many effects, such as shade realm magic, will be affected by the interpretation from your culture.   From simple thoughts on the nature of the creature or the Shade to the existence of magic itself, this is determined by cultural mores. Portents and omens are likely to be viewed differently from one group to another.

The player should always relate to their cultural origin in some way when interpreting events.   The arbitrator can even use this to help paint the picture in a way that two different cultural characters may interpret apart.  This exploration of character and culture expands role playing potential and enriches the game as a whole.

Native born Praelians that survive are not rare, but uncommon.   Their cultural origin is shaped by region they grew up in, but also by the parents of the Natural Born.  (Even if unknown, the cultures should be generally known to the Arbitrator.

Native born Praelians are completely subject to the interpretation of the Arbitrator in these matters, and the source material for the regions.   

In these cases, nature beats nurture every time.

Meet Rocco and Cherish

From the guild book: College of Barber Surgeons.

Aptitudes

Aptitudes come in three classes.

Common: these are the base level or most general Aptitudes. They are sufficient for most basic activities and advance. In both the number of aspects and the understanding of them.

Example: blacksmithing

Superior: these are more generalized aptitudes that focus on one branch of the study or one craft type. These act as common for basic tasks Of that branch, but are one step less difficult on the victory chart for general tasks that this fits into.

Example: weaponsmithing

Rarified: this aptitude is very specific. Often something that takes years to improve, these aptitudes are a set form of a branch of a task. These are one or two steps less difficult for a superior or common aptitude Task that these fit into.

Example: Damascus steel patterns.

Appellative: a common, superior or rarified aptitude that is so varied that it must be named and may be improved in levels for each name. This is most often used for languages, branches types of animal training and craft aptitudes.

Example: fox hunting dog training.