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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Zero Gravitas said:
That doesn't make Stewardship an optimal path to take. Mathilde isn't as good in it, spy networks can be built without the stewardship spot and we've already got too much money to the point where it is getting quite important to spend most of it before it becomes too much for the Grey College to ignore.

There's no clear benefit to Mathilde in going all in the Stewardship direction.
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Actually Mathilde is pretty good at Stewardship, in fact her Stewardship stat is only one point lower than her intrigue.
 
Blorp said:
So that's what she's saving up for.

Now I'm just imagining Mathilde sweating bullets as the Grey Order questions her about her assets being stated as ten vaults' worth of trashy romance books (but not sweating nearly as much as when it's confirmed that she's telling the truth).
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That has an answer. Her trashy romance novels are the currency of an informal market book swap
 
[X] Remain in Karak Eight Peaks, either in the employ of Belegar or pursuing your research.

[X] Claim the site where Ranald mugged Mork and build a shrine to Ranald there.

[X] King Belegar is allowing you to use the King's Armoury. Recover your extant study materials from Stirland and tuck them away safely in there.

[X] All this time away has made you miss your friends, and you'll be practically next door in Altdorf. Visit Anton and Wilhelmina.
 
[X] Remain in Karak Eight Peaks, either in the employ of Belegar or pursuing your research.
[X] Give them away...
- [X] To the Amber College
[X] Scout the rest of the Eight Peaks, to find out what other horrors are waiting out there.
This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks with its reconquest, as a Spymaster focused on threats within the Karak.
[X] Try to follow Johann, to see what he's getting up to.
This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks with its reconquest, as a Spymaster focused on threats within the Karak.
[X] Claim the site where Ranald mugged Mork and build a shrine to Ranald there.
This suggests a future assisting Karak Eight Peaks, as leader of the Undumgi and point of contact for the Ulricans.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
It is still the lowest stat other than diplomacy and unlike Intrigue she can't easily supplement her Stewardship actions with Uglu.
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Diplomacy: 11+1-1-1=10 - You're social enough among your fellow wizards or the commoners you spent your youth around, but are slightly uncomfortable with anyone else.
Martial: 8+3+1+1+1+1+2+2=19 - You're no longer just a wizard that can wave a sword - you have become a warrior in your own right.
Stewardship: 12+3+1=16 - You've developed an intuitive grasp of business, exchange and logistics.
Intrigue: 14+2+1=17 - You've developed a somewhat frightening understanding of how to disassemble the human psyche.
Piety: 20+1=21 - You know implicitly that Ranald exists, and that he watches over you, and that he's actually kind of insufferable. Ranald finds this entertaining.
Learning: 18+2+1-1=20 - The more you learn of magic, the more you realize how ignorant everyone else is.


Stewardship:
Economics (2/3)

We're also one point of training away from picking up an economics skill which would at the very least boost stewardship by one and give other narrative effects. I think you're underestimating what Mathilde is capable of here.

Amusingly we actually have no mundane skills related to Intrigue.
 
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adaer said:
Interrogate merchants, and traders, mindhole them, and enjoy the benefits of insider trading.
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That's frankly a terrible idea.

That's exactly the sort of thing that would cause the Grey Collage to go REEE! next to applied necromancy and unlike necromancy it doesn't even have the added benefit of allowing one to take a longer perspective on things.


Not sure why some people want all the money when we already have more money than we can reasonably spend and all the really valuable stuff cost favours that can't be bought with money anyways. Seriously this would be overboard even if this was a Gold Wizard quest - as a Grey Wizard quest chasing after money is entirely suboptimal.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
That's frankly a terrible idea.

That's exactly the sort of thing that would cause the Grey Collage to go REEE! next to applied necromancy and unlike necromancy it doesn't even have the added benefit of allowing one to take a longer perspective on things.


Not sure why some people want all the money when we already have more money than we can reasonably spend and all the really valuable stuff cost favours that can't be bought with money anyways. Seriously this would be overboard even if this was a Gold Wizard quest - as a Grey Wizard quest chasing after money is entirely suboptimal.
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Stewardship position isn't about getting us more money to be honest.
 
I definitely think that the Stewardship spot has the most sheer influence and potential. As the leader of the Undumgi, we'd be leading 6000 rich, eligible bachelors squatting on a prime portion of the Silk Road. Their number is almost certainly going to double if not triple or more as we get more settlers. Leading them gives us a chance to establish a new aspect of Ranald as we had wished for, so long ago. It gives us - a wizard - the chance to lead a settlement in a place where three races come together. In terms of religious and magical PR, it is one of the best options.

On the finance side, it lets her leverage her previous contacts with the EIC and her recent windfall to ensure that the trade route works optimally and that she gets a major cut. I'm also fairly sure that there is a secret cabal of Ranald worshipping merchants that we could potentially further leverage to boost profits and the acceptance of Ranald in general. It also gives her the resources needed to build a proper spy ring.

This will also be the one place where we can get contacts in the empire and increase our standing. Easiest places to influence would be Stirland, the Moot, the Ulricans and merchants in general. Possibly others based on what chances we get.

Given Belegar's own Stewardship focus, we'd also be working closely with him and will almost certainly have a lot of power within the Hold. The only cost is potentially the actions. To take full advantage of the opportunity, we'd almost certainly be spending a lot of actions on it. I think this can be remedied by delegating as much as we can.(At least a local EIC liaison and someone to take care of the Deathwatch.)
 
TotallyNotEvil said:
Also @Kornet , unfortunately, a Sniper Pistol sort of... Isn't.

A simple rifle with iron sights can plink away at a target at a hundred meters all day long, without too much skill.

Meanwhile, reliable hundred meter pistol shots are right at the edge of feasible for anyone but the most dedicated and talented shooters, and that's taking into account a scoped and highly accurate gun.

The sheer ergonomics play a huge part, and a faster and heavier bullet also helps tremendously.
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I'm sorry, but we are not talking about real world. We are talking about warhammer, which always prefered rulueof cool to realism. The GM shows me marksdwarf pistol, I expect it to do marksdwarf things and don't care about real-life ballistics.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
That's frankly a terrible idea.

That's exactly the sort of thing that would cause the Grey Collage to go REEE! next to applied necromancy and unlike necromancy it doesn't even have the added benefit of allowing one to take a longer perspective on things.


Not sure why some people want all the money when we already have more money than we can reasonably spend and all the really valuable stuff cost favours that can't be bought with money anyways. Seriously this would be overboard even if this was a Gold Wizard quest - as a Grey Wizard quest chasing after money is entirely suboptimal.
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I didn't say we should do it, just that Ulgu could be applied to the problem.
 
There is also the fact that we don't need to get money from setting up the trade route. Let everyone else profit from the trade route. We don't need to be the business owners or managers of trade companies. All we need to do is direct and help the trade set up. There is no need for us to profit with money from encouraging trade.

There are plenty of benefits to being connected directly to the trade network. While we would not want to get money from setting up a trade hub creating an in depth spy network and keeping an eye out for rare regents will definitely help us.

Also this gives an excuse to dump our large fortune into making the Karag more attractive place to trade in. If we were the learning advisor we likely wouldn't know the best way to dump our money. As the steward we would know what could use a cash boost to get done on time.
 
Yeah, but Learnign gives way more leeway to poke weird shit and go scouting Skaven.

Plus, due to poking weird shit being our job, we will have more research materials, meaning being richer in terms of College favours. So there is that dimension to power too.

Plus 2, Learning position makes more reasons for learning spells and whatnot, ensuring we do not fall behind power curve of a wizard.
 
SuperSonicSound said:
Stewardship position isn't about getting us more money to be honest.
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Mathilde can set up spy networks without the Stewardship position and the likely threats - Skaven and Greenskins aren't exactly trader friendly.

Likewise cultivating existing connections in the Colleges and Stirland is going to offer better information on the state of the Old World than third hand information from merchants. Sure there might be more news from Cathay but Mathilde has no way of doing anything about Cathay anyway.

Quest said:
It also gives her the resources needed to build a proper spy ring. ​

This will also be the one place where we can get contacts in the empire and increase our standing. Easiest places to influence would be Stirland, the Moot, the Ulricans and merchants in general. Possibly others based on what chances we get.
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Best place for influence in the Empire would be to do as much Learning and research stuff as possible, becoming a stronger wizard and a very respected academic, which would then put Mathilde in the running for Wizard Lord.

As a Wizard Lord Mathilde would get a top position in the Grey College allowing her to use their already built up spy network and get her in the running for top spot for all the Colleges of Magic in general if she manages to get that good.
 
[X] Remain in Karak Eight Peaks, either in the employ of Belegar or pursuing your research.
[X] Give them away...
- [X] To the Amber College
[X] Scout the rest of the Eight Peaks, to find out what other horrors are waiting out there.
[X] Claim the site where Ranald mugged Mork and build a shrine to Ranald there.
[X] King Belegar is allowing you to use the King's Armoury. Recover your extant study materials from Stirland and tuck them away safely in there.
 
So on a side note, after watching a lot of the Belegar Lore video I posted a few pages back it is really obvious that the biggest issue the canon attempts faced was simply a lack of numbers to hold their gains as pretty much all of the forces deployed were dwarves. But now with in this game with the addition of human and Halfling forces a lot of that problem has been nullified.

Really goes to show how much cooperation can do for us.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
Best place for influence in the Empire would be to do as much Learning and research stuff as possible, becoming a stronger wizard and a very respected academic, which would then put Mathilde in the running for Wizard Lord.

As a Wizard Lord Mathilde would get a top position in the Grey College allowing her to use their already built up spy network and get her in the running for top spot for all the Colleges of Magic in general if she manages to get that good.
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No, it really wouldn't. For one thing, as a purely magic-focused Wizard Lord our influence would be capped by the college's. For another, research and magical power is not the only way to increase our chances to become a Wizard Lord. In fact, as part of the more practical Grey College running a powerful, independent spy network and setting up the silk road would be a way more effective method of showing our capabilities.

A Wizard Lord is the face of the college of magic. They're not just more powerful wizards.

The fact that we'd also be lining the college's pockets with gold probably wouldn't hurt.
 
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I think it's more "If you're more than Magic 10, you're not really human anymore".

In other words, Magic 10 being the tipping point where getting any more sort of requires some kind of transcendence, to become a Gelt or Elspeth-style super wizard, or to get Chaos Cheat Codes, or become a Vampire or something.

Anyway, looking at all those options? Mathilde as the general troubleshooter. "There's weird shit going on here and I don't like it, let's send the Wizard in to do wizard things at it and make it go away" one is the one that immediately appeals to me, but the "Sheriff of Karag Nar" one is also nice because it's one that we can definitely point to it as a "Hey, bosses? Yeah, I'm here setting up an international spy ring by way of international trade and also have eyes on any of the Weird Shit out in the frontier that might be of concern to us later" to the Grey College.
 
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