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Try to survive the Winter: A planquest in Fantasy Colonial America

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Hhm just checked the bisons range right now encompasses both Maryland and Virginia did the shepards herd bison before the federations fall cause that could solve a lot of problems if we find bison and tame them.

Edit: somebody should use an omake on how dangerous getting Malcolm is cause in truth getting a powerful hero would be great before winter
 
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[ ] Plan Steady Trade
-[ ] Yes
Shepherd Goods
--[ ] Beaver Pelts x2 (2 Points)
--[ ] Deers Herd (4 Points)
--[ ] Asylum (2 Points)
--[ ] Support x2 (2 Points)
--[ ] Secrets of the Blood-Links (4 Points)
--[ ] Hairs (2 Points)
Union Goods
--[ ] Food x1 (2 Points)
--[ ] Razorweed Leaves x1 (2 Points)
--[ ] Wintering Rights (3 Points)
--[ ] Asylum (2 Points)
--[ ] Songs of Death (7 Points)

Okay, how's this look for trade? Beaver Pelts to ensure we have them if Strongarm shows up earlier than expected, Deer Herd for a steady supply of meat and furs, Asylum as a mutual trust-building exercise (and it could be useful if our hunters and/or Wildsmen end up getting lost and/or injured), x2 Support for assistance on certain Expeditions (with one being specifically Burn the Lesser Pit, while the exact nature of the 2nd is up for debate), Blood-Links to Animal better, and Hairs for gunpowder sieves.

On our end, we can pretty easily part with one season's worth of food with our huge stockpile, and it'll give them an actual Winter Reserve, which they seem to seriously need. Razorweed Leaves is another easy sell. Wintering Rights could be exchanged for Steel Tools if needed, but Wintering Rights might help them more this year so they can recover from that spot of bad luck. And Songs of Death for more "help them retain/regain their ties to humanity."

The expectation with this plan is that we'll set up another trade with the Shepherds early next year, where we can do Winter's Protection (plus some Steel Tools) in exchange for the other stuff we might want, like Wolves.

Hopefully this is acceptable, or at the very least, should only need one or two minor changes.
 
By the way @Chimeraguard I will finish my simonite omake in the next few hours and I will spend it in an OOc question to ask about Malcom...

Since you are really good at this, can you help me formulate a question that would cover all our bases there?
 
Fanhunter696 said:
By the way @Chimeraguard I will finish my simonite omake in the next few hours and I will spend it in an OOc question to ask about Malcom...

Since you are really good at this, can you help me formulate a question that would cover all our bases there?
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Hmm... "What will the action unlocked by the 'A Path' choice for the gift from the First Walker entail in terms of progress required, risks, and results for completion?"

How's that work?
 
Watcher's Eyes said:
To be fair for David he seems shrewd enough to keep the mystique of tobacco being rare and a hard plant to acquire so he'll keep his mouth shut about how easy tobacco can be made here so that he can buy here in bulk in his mind cheap and he can sell it for big in Europe without telling anybody his golden goose. mutually beneficial agreement
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He can try, but I wouldn't bet money on him being believed for long. If Tobacco is presently being cultivated in New Spain, that would kill his chances of being believed. If someone tries cultivating Tobacco in France (where it can grow IRL), his credibility is killed. If he takes too many precautions against people trying to cultivate the crop domestically, same thing happens.
Fanhunter696 said:
That is 3 dices for the Harvest, 2-3 for the Wards, 2 from the Blades, 2 from Skirmishers, 2 from Warriors´s Son, and a single dice for Sara...

That still leaves us with 16 dices, I think that we can spare two for an expedition...
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That wasn't an exhaustive list, as I figured listing everything from Chimeraguard's draft plus the probable additions from our discussion would be too much of a hassle. Even then, you underestimate how many dice are involved. The list of how many dice we need for each action I mentioned actually leaves only ten dice free by my count. Harvest will probably take four (since that's how much we used planting), Further Out (Raid prep) would take two, and Rites of Death would take three.

Chimeraguard said:
Hopefully this is acceptable, or at the very least, should only need one or two minor changes.
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I'd prefer doing the tools though. Inviting the Shepherds for a Winter where we're planning to unleash smallpox seems like asking for trouble. We can cut the Lordskin Clothes action for a Lord's Bones action to free up the Craft AP.
 
Hunter531 said:
I'd prefer doing the tools though. Inviting the Shepherds for a Winter where we're planning to unleash smallpox seems like asking for trouble. We can cut the Lordskin Clothes action for a Lord's Bones action to free up the Craft AP.
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Hmm, I thought the Wilds would be comparatively safe, since Union itself would be drawing all the attention and they wouldn't be inside the town, but I could see the logic of keeping them outside while Smallpox is going to be in the general vicinity just to be safe.

Though, I'm reluctant to get rid of Lordskin Clothes, because I want to make sure we have at least one item's worth of "better than mundane clothes on your back" armor. Though...I suppose we could have the Lord's Bone be made into armor (all else being equal, I'd prefer ammunition so our mundane muskets could theoretically injure a Lord, but if needs must...)

Also, I think with trade largely settled, we can get to work on the Council membership.

[ ] Union Council Draft
-[ ] [Council] People's Will: New members of the Council must be approved by at least a third of the Assembly.
-[ ] [Council] Oath: New members of the Council must swear an oath before God, Saints and the Ancestors to serve impartially and advise wisely, without care for their own advancement. Those that betray this oath will be punished by:
--[ ] Expulsion from the Council, without possibility of joining it again.
-[ ] [Council] Experience: New members of the Council must have gone through at least one Winter in Union.
-[ ] [Council] Expulsion: If two-third of the Assembly or Council, or half of both, vote for it, a Councilmenber may be expelled from its seat.

The People's Will I think is an obvious gimme to make sure the Council has popular approval. Oath I thought would be good as a general thing, but disenfranchisement or worse for failing it felt like a precedent I didn't want to set. Making sure the Councilmembers have gone through at least one Winter seems important from a cultural perspective, and if Councilmembers are for life, making sure there's some sort of release valve if a Councilor is extremely unpopular felt important.

I don't want to take Sponsor, Council's Will, or Accomplishment, since those feel to me like they'd entrench elitism and/or power blocs. Unsure about Veto though, so what do you guys think? And are there any other write-ins that you feel would be important to add?
 
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Penitent
  • Sidestory
    • Penitent:

    Brother Pierre, Penitent of the Order of Saint Lazarus sat down in the barely lit cell with his eyes closed while praying silently, not that he could do otherwise, as he had taken a vow of silence like most Simonites who decided to take the mantle of penitent… After such a vote he was only supposed to speak on 3 occasions: during the Holy Confession, in emergencies, and when the time was to teach another volunteer the dangerous knowledge that has been kept under three locks on his mind.

    It was curious that someone like him would have ended up willingly sacrificing his life, his freedom, and his voice to keep the world safe… Unlike some of his peers, he had only entered the monastic life because his family had too many mouths to feed, and it was the only way someone with his background could get a formal education. It was totally by chance that the young Dominican encountered some of the evils that lie beyond the perception of the common men, as it was by that same chance that he encountered the Order of Saint Simon trying to cover it up…
    People called the Simonites paper pushers and Inquisition dogs, but they always gave potential recruits a choice as they did to him, he could have easily forgotten everything and returned to his comfortable life as scribe and secretary of the Church in a prosperous town of Lombardy, but the knowledge that there were things like he saw lurking in plain sight didn´t allow him to do it.

    So he spent the next 30 years in the Order, searching for scraps of Occult lore anywhere, libraries, ruins, old ladies' tales… So that that dangerous knowledge could be searched, contained, and censored, but never destroyed, because no matter how dangerous that knowledge was it was much worse to face the Enemy without the means to stop it… It was a fulfilling life, one that he felt proud of, so when his twilight years came it made sense to fulfill the ultimate duty for his order and become the prison of some of the most dangerous secrets that he had helped to unveil…

    Now he had a peaceful life in his small monastery, a solitary one despite how many of his brothers tried to involve themselves with him so that he felt less alone with his burden, but one he was content with knowing that the secrets that could cause so much damage them rested safely in the cage which was his mind and that if anyone willing to use that evil found them somehow, there were people like him with the knowledge to stop them before they could cause catastrophic damage…

    Well @OldShadow this is an small omake I have been working this afternoon... I find the lore that you have created regarding the Church Orders that deal with the Supernatural really fascinating, and I felt like the Sinonites could have a little extra love...
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Chimeraguard said:
    Though, I'm reluctant to get rid of Lordskin Clothes, because I want to make sure we have at least one item's worth of "better than mundane clothes on your back" armor. Though...I suppose we could have the Lord's Bone be made into armor (all else being equal, I'd prefer ammunition so our mundane muskets could theoretically injure a Lord, but if needs must...)
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    Shields should cover most of the chest and torso though, even more if they're fighting in formation. It's why I'm so gung ho about getting them. They do most of what armor does at a fraction of the Craft investment. As for what I'd prefer to use the Bone for, I'd rather make weapons out of them. Lordbone bullets are too disposable for my liking. Sooner or later, we will hopefully kill or drive off the Lords.
    Chimeraguard said:
    Unsure about Veto though, so what do you guys think? And are there any other write-ins that you feel would be important to add?
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    We definitely should include a veto, so as to make it harder for bad actors to take power. Beyond that, we should probably include a proviso that Winters not spent in Union do qualify for the limit. I also like making the limit two Winters instead of just one, with another proviso grandfathering in the Escapees.

    Edit: Expulsion is also attractive, for the same reasons as Veto.
     
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    Fanhunter696 said:
    Penitent:

    Brother Pierre, Penitent of the Order of Saint Lazarus sat down in the barely lit cell with his eyes closed while praying silently, not that he could do otherwise, as he had taken a vow of silence like most Simonites who decided to take the mantle of penitent… After such a vote he was only supposed to speak on 3 occasions: during the Holy Confession, in emergencies, and when the time was to teach another volunteer the dangerous knowledge that has been kept under three locks on his mind.

    It was curious that someone like him would have ended up willingly sacrificing his life, his freedom, and his voice to keep the world safe… Unlike some of his peers, he had only entered the monastic life because his family had too many mouths to feed, and it was the only way someone with his background could get a formal education. It was totally by chance that the young Dominican encountered some of the evils that lie beyond the perception of the common men, as it was by that same chance that he encountered the Order of Saint Simon trying to cover it up…
    People called the Simonites paper pushers and Inquisition dogs, but they always gave potential recruits a choice as they did to him, he could have easily forgotten everything and returned to his comfortable life as scribe and secretary of the Church in a prosperous town of Lombardy, but the knowledge that there were things like he saw lurking in plain sight didn´t allow him to do it.

    So he spent the next 30 years in the Order, searching for scraps of Occult lore anywhere, libraries, ruins, old ladies' tales… So that that dangerous knowledge could be searched, contained, and censored, but never destroyed, because no matter how dangerous that knowledge was it was much worse to face the Enemy without the means to stop it… It was a fulfilling life, one that he felt proud of, so when his twilight years came it made sense to fulfill the ultimate duty for his order and become the prison of some of the most dangerous secrets that he had helped to unveil…

    Now he had a peaceful life in his small monastery, a solitary one despite how many of his brothers tried to involve themselves with him so that he felt less alone with his burden, but one he was content with knowing that the secrets that could cause so much damage them rested safely in the cage which was his mind and that if anyone willing to use that evil found them somehow, there were people like him with the knowledge to stop them before they could cause catastrophic damage…

    Well @OldShadow this is an small omake I have been working this afternoon... I find the lore that you have created regarding the Church Orders that deal with the Supernatural really fascinating, and I felt like the Sinonites could have a little extra love...
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Nice, canon.
    Thank you ! I really like writing about the Order, and monastic life in Medieval/Early Modern Europe is part of my historical interest.

    Interestingly enough, one of my oldest quest idea was to play a monastery of an Order related to the supernatural, with a system of points/actions according to the division in three part of monastery life introduced by the Benedictines (Labor, Study, Prayer).
     
    Hunter531 said:
    Shields should cover most of the chest and torso though, even more if they're fighting in formation. It's why I'm so gung ho about getting them. They do most of what armor does at a fraction of the Craft investment. As for what I'd prefer to use the Bone for, I'd rather make weapons out of them. Lordbone bullets are too disposable for my liking. Sooner or later, we will hopefully kill or drive off the Lords.
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    That is true, but Shields would be a lot less useful for our primary fighting force on Expeditions (the Son's Skirmishers) than armor. Hmm, weapons would let us replace the last of our poorer-quality steel equipment...but I do want to make sure that we have one suit of armor. So, what about the first set of Lordsbones is armor, the second we use for weapons?

    Hunter531 said:
    We definitely should include a veto, so as to make it harder for bad actors to take power. Beyond that, we should probably include a proviso that Winters not spent in Union do qualify for the limit. I also like making the limit two Winters instead of just one, with another proviso grandfathering in the Escapees.
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    Hmm, I'm reluctant to use a grandfather clause at all just for the precedent it would set doing so at Union's foundational step, but if everyone else is supportive of the idea...

    [ ] Union Council Draft
    -[ ] [Council] People's Will: New members of the Council must be approved by at least a third of the Assembly.
    -[ ] [Council] Oath: New members of the Council must swear an oath before God, Saints and the Ancestors to serve impartially and advise wisely, without care for their own advancement. Those that betray this oath will be punished by:
    --[ ] Expulsion from the Council, without possibility of joining it again.
    -[ ] [Council] Experience: New members of the Council must have experienced at least two Winters in the New World.
    --[ ] With the Escapees being given a one-time grandfathering clause in so they are not excluded.
    -[ ] [Council] Veto: The Captain shall have a veto on any new members of the Council, that may be overruled by a two-third vote of the Assembly or Council.
    -    [ ] [Council] Expulsion: If two-third of the Assembly or Council, or half of both, vote for it, a Councilmenber may be expelled from its seat.

    With that, is there anything else we'd want to add or remove?

    For the particularity, in general the sentiment seems to be Voices Heard. I personally still like The Voice of the People, but not enough to really argue the point.

    First Walker discussion is still ongoing, but I think most of us have decided on the Token, with a small dissent for the Path instead.

    So that just leaves what we do with the Anchorless.
    [] [Anchorless] : Bound
    The Anchorless will be bound and filled with Sara's Soul. +1 Sara Die, Sara becomes far better protected and dangerous in a fight, thanks to being followed by empowered ghosts. Will increase Sara's tiredness due to overuse of her soul.

    [] [Anchorless] : Dreams
    The Anchorless will be bound to Sara's dreams and feed on her feelings. +1 Sara Die due to being able to act even when asleep through the Anchorless. The Anchorless will evolve and gain in power, if in an uncontrolled way.

    [] [Anchorless] : Mind

    The Anchorless will join Sara's Mind. +1 Sara Die and 1 Re-Roll for Sara's Dies per turn, due to increased mental faculties. Sara will have additional voices in her head, which could cause mental complications.

    [] [Anchorless] : Nothing
    Sara does not want any of the proposed methods. Anchorless action stay available.
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    Bound would tire her out more, which makes me reluctant since we rely on her remaining unfatigued when she's the one supporting our most powerful combat asset. On the other hand, it would also make her more resilient, and the fatigue might be alleviated because the Silent Blades are being partially taken up by the Mourners now, plus Sara should be fully rested when the Silent Blades did nothing but stand in place and let the Mourners Death-Sing at them for a couple months. Still not my first choice.

    Dreams doesn't seem to have negative effects that would hit Sara herself, but there's the question of what happens to the Anchorless. Honestly, that feels like something where I'm wondering if @Hunter531 would be willing to spend a Question asking what the effects would be. But even without that, Dreams kinda feels like the best choice to me. The Anchorless are so reduced and such blank slates that I don't think that being influenced by Sara's emotions will make them any worse-off.

    Mind is the one that I'm opposed to most. Sara is stressed enough as it is without having extra voices in her head.

    Nothing would mean we don't get the die and have to try the action again. I suppose this would be nice if considering what we know about the Silent Blades now we want the Anchorless to be inside them. But I'm opposed to this for the opportunity cost. Sara's actions ATM are largely tied up, which is why her getting another die was so appealing. Which means it would be quite a while before we could even put the Anchorless inside the Blades. As the saying goes, "perfect is the enemy of good-enough", so I'd prefer we pick one of the choices that actually gets Sara her die.
     
    Yes, but the point is that I want one set of armor made before Winter comes. And Lordsbone costs only one Craft while Bark costs two.

    Most of our (heavy) armor will probably end up being Bark, but Bark costs twice as much Craft.

    Plus, for weapons, we have (as I understand it) equipment for our Militia as 2x Good Steel, 1x Mediocre Steel. So one set of Lordsbone weapons is all we need for our militia to be fully kitted out in Good Steel or better weapons. Which means there's a margin for getting a set of armor out of Lordsbone without too much opportunity cost in weapon quality.
     
    Chimeraguard said:
    That is true, but Shields would be a lot less useful for our primary fighting force on Expeditions (the Son's Skirmishers) than armor. Hmm, weapons would let us replace the last of our poorer-quality steel equipment...but I do want to make sure that we have one suit of armor. So, what about the first set of Lordsbones is armor, the second we use for weapons?
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    I figured we'd do the weapons first, since we aren't going on any expeditions this year. I'm fine with having the second one be used for armor, although I was originally thinking that would be a second unit of weapons.
    Chimeraguard said:
    Dreams doesn't seem to have negative effects that would hit Sara herself, but there's the question of what happens to the Anchorless. Honestly, that feels like something where I'm wondering if @Hunter531 would be willing to spend a Question asking what the effects would be. But even without that, Dreams kinda feels like the best choice to me. The Anchorless are so reduced and such blank slates that I don't think that being influenced by Sara's emotions will make them any worse-off.
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    Them being a blank slate makes them more likely to be affected by Sara's emotions imo, not less. Combine that with the fact that Sara, like everyone else in Union, is repressing a whole lot of negative emotions in the name of survival, and I'm less than eager to bind them to her dreams. Seems like it could go very badly if they gain power from feeding on her negative emotions.

    Plus, I think her going into a fight more tired is outweighed by the fact that she will be going into said fight significantly deadlier.
    Chimeraguard said:
    Yes, but the point is that I want one set of armor made before Winter comes. And Lordsbone costs only one Craft while Bark costs two.

    Most of our (heavy) armor will probably end up being Bark, but Bark costs twice as much Craft.

    Plus, for weapons, we have (as I understand it) equipment for our Militia as 2x Good Steel, 1x Mediocre Steel. So one set of Lordsbone weapons is all we need for our militia to be fully kitted out in Good Steel or better weapons. Which means there's a margin for getting a set of armor out of Lordsbone without too much opportunity cost in weapon quality.
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    I thought we were talking about this in the context of "what will we give up to get the steel tools made"? It's not like we're going to be launching major expeditions in the middle of Winter?
     
    OldShadow said:
    Nice, canon.
    Thank you ! I really like writing about the Order, and monastic life in Medieval/Early Modern Europe is part of my historical interest.

    Interestingly enough, one of my oldest quest idea was to play a monastery of an Order related to the supernatural, with a system of points/actions according to the division in three part of monastery life introduced by the Benedictines (Labor, Study, Prayer).
    Click to expand...
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    Dammit I never thought it would be good enough to be considered canon, I am honored...

    Well @OldShadow I would like to use my bonus for this OOC question "What will the action unlocked by the 'A Path' choice for the gift from the First Walker entail in terms of progress required, risks, and results for completion?"

    Thanks to @Chimeraguard to help with the elaboration of the questions...
    Watcher's Eyes said:
    Ok True didn't read that bark was more expensive so for the omake question @Fanhunter696 you using it now
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    I am using it now...
     
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    Fanhunter696 said:
    Well @OldShadow I would like to use my bonus for this OOC question "What will the action unlocked by the 'A Path' choice for the gift from the First Walker entail in terms of progress required, risks, and results for completion?"
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    It would be quite easy, just a 100 points project in Expedition, with little risk, allowing to meet the Hunter.

    However, the Hunter is for now...more or less without higher intellectual capacities.

    You could bring him to Union with food, and use it as more or less an attack dog (very useful in Winter, the Hunter can slay a lot of things with the bones he ripped out from monsters and use as weapons). Expect some risks in Union (with a beastial man able to burst someone's head like a watermelon with a punch) and something like Healing the Wounded to give him back the ability to think.

    The result would be a martial hero, in the berserker/Doomslayer sense.

    To give a peek behind the scenes, Malcolm (the person that became the Hunter) had good success for his survival rolls...and rolled quite low for mental saves. Winters in the Wild are not good for sanity.
     
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    Hunter531 said:
    I figured we'd do the weapons first, since we aren't going on any expeditions this year. I'm fine with having the second one be used for armor, although I was originally thinking that would be a second unit of weapons.
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    Mmm, I was more thinking that the boost from "No Armor" to "Some Armor" would be more significant in terms of defense against Winter (or combat in general) than "mediocre/poor weapons" to "Better Weapons." Since everyone is using steel weapons in Union, even if in some cases it's poorer quality steel, but we have basically no armor beyond the clothes on people's backs, and not all the weapons our people are using can be used well along with a shield.

    Hunter531 said:
    Them being a blank slate makes them more likely to be affected by Sara's emotions imo, not less. Combine that with the fact that Sara, like everyone else in Union, is repressing a whole lot of negative emotions in the name of survival, and I'm less than eager to bind them to her dreams. Seems like it could go very badly if they gain power from feeding on her negative emotions.

    Plus, I think her going into a fight more tired is outweighed by the fact that she will be going into said fight significantly deadlier.
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    That is a fair point. I suppose one drawback is that Sara will likely need to fight more often for the foreseeable future. Since with the greater strain on her, it's important that we make sure we don't accidentally increase the strain by having the Silent Blades do strenuous work away from her. Which in turn means she has to accompany them to reduce the strain.

    But that is less of an issue if she's better at fighting and defending herself then that's less of a problem...
    OldShadow said:
    It would be quite easy, just a 100 points project in Expedition, with little risk, allowing to meet the Hunter.

    However, the Hunter is for now...more or less without higher intellectual capacities.

    You could bring him to Union with food, and use it as more or less an attack dog (very useful in Winter, the Hunter can slay a lot of things with the bones he ripped out from monsters and use as weapons). Expect some risks in Union (with a beastial man able to burst someone's head like a watermelon with a punch) and something like Healing the Wounded to give him back the ability to think.

    The result would be a martial hero, in the berserker/Doomslayer sense.

    To give a peek behind the scenes, Malcolm (the person that became the Hunter) had good success for his survival rolls...and rolled quite low for mental saves. Winters in the Wild are not good for sanity.
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    Hmm. A 100 points project is theoretically doable without sacrificing too much, thanks to the Warrior's Son getting an extra die. It would be cutting things quite close though.
     
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