She/They
Currently running Silent Heaven, a small-town horror MU.
https://silentheaven.org
In two weeks, this thread has become the third most popular thread of all time on BMD, even beating out the Arx thread. That means that since the birth of BMD, no other game has negatively affected MU* players as broadly or as painfully as Star Wars: Age of Alliances.
People have mentioned in this thread that Cujo seems like the kind of person to be obsessed with being the biggest and ranked at the top, so…
Congratulations Cujo, you’re finally #1 at something.
Based on how big the MU Peeves Thread is, I was expecting to run into a lot of issues now that I’ve become a game-runner.
To my surprise, I absolutely love it. Silent Heaven is one month in, and I love all the players. I haven’t run into anything that’s made me want to crawl away and hide. Making and running a game has been one of the most fun and rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life.
OVERVIEW
Silent Heaven is a small-town roleplaying game focused on personal demons amidst a backdrop of supernatural horror. The only people who find their way to the town of Silent Heaven are those who aren’t okay, even if they act like they are. Your character is among this twisted cast of characters. Everyone hopes to find that road to salvation, but temptations lurk around every corner.
Be bad. Be vulnerable. Embrace your sorrow. Will you face your darkest times and recover? Or will you succumb to the town and be lost forever?
The worst thing that can happen is getting comfortable with living here.
FEATURES
Silent Heaven is a unique world set in an unspecified location. It draws inspiration from many sources, including Silent Hill, LOST, American Horror Story, Omori, and much more.
Silent Heaven is made using the Evennia codebase with a custom gameplay system.
Gameplay Overview:
RPI-lite: MUSH-style RP + coded support for supplementary skills.
No Alts: You may have only one character at any given time.
No Grinding: XP is earned through logging in each day + bonus XP for roleplaying for about 30 - 60 minutes.
Simple Crafting: Craft a unique description and custom name for any item, giving it a bonus to its effect.
Simple Combat: A customized conflict system focuses on coming to solutions that don’t involve costly violence. Simplified locational combat allows you to spend more time RPing during and after conflicts.
Traditional Grid: Movement directions are only North, South, East, West, Up, and Down. Room sizes and shapes vary.
Character-driven storylines: The best rewards are for doing what would tell a good story rather than gaming the system or playing to win.
Characters cannot die: For some mysterious reason, if a character would die, even if they’re fatally bludgeoned, the town seems to keep them alive. Why? That’s a spoiler.
End of the road: When your character reaches max XP, a special Storyteller-run plot will help to determine the ultimate fate of your character.
Unique-ish Features:
Consent Checklist: A customizable checklist allows you to choose the themes you want to see in RP. Your character may be terrified, but we want to make sure everyone is having fun that they enthusiastically consent to OOC. Consent may be revoked at any time. Revocation will be respected, and you don’t need to supply a reason why you’re revoking it.
Whispers: The quietest voices spread around town via mysterious wind currents, making it difficult to keep secrets.
Shelter: Retreat to your safe space when you need downtime. Public locations become less safe as more characters gather in one spot. Don’t stay outside too long, either. There are monsters out there. Some of them even look like monsters.
Panic: Suffer emotional damage that can’t be healed through conventional means.
In-depth NPCs: Each NPC is a complete character with a history, goals, and fears. Though you may befriend some of them, NPCs almost always have an ulterior motive. They wouldn’t have found their way to Silent Heaven otherwise.
Intersectional-LGBTQIA+: Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. are unwelcome. Pronouns aren’t tied to your character’s sex, gender or outward appearance. You can even randomize your character’s pronouns.
Drugs & Toxins: Provide beneficial drugs to those who need help, or poison your enemies. Lace your creations into food, or even create chemical weapons.
Blood Tests & Forensics: Diagnose patients with mysterious ailments. Collect blood samples and other metadata from locations to find out who’s been up to what.
Rituals and fat͓̖̟̥̠̺̩̙̽̉̒͆̈͊͛̓̏͘ȓ̶̢̧͙̼͓͛̄̆̒͗͊̅͡͡l̮̮͉̻͎̰̘͛̋̓̚̕j̸̧̰̥̜͍̜̗̔̏̄̈̽̿͜͝o̮̻̗̱̻̖̎̌̇̉͒̐͝i̷̮͖͚̦̖̊̽͗̈́͗̈̕͘͜͡l̶̞͎̯͚̱̓͊̽͊͂̐͟͝f͖̬̻̩̜̾͛̒͐̌͝k̴͕̦͎͚̬̘̫͚͍͌̏̌̑̈́͗̐̚̚͠j̧̛͍͇͚̫̱̹͍̘́͊͊͑̀͘͠͝:̴̡̩̪̟̓͑͆̿͜͠ a̮̖̜̯̭͍͎̅̔̓̈̅͒̕̚͟͡ć̸̡̬̞̬̫̺̾̍̏̚t̖͓̻͉͌͋̅̆̽͛̌͘ͅǐ̧̛̤̱͍̱͈͍̾͆͂̽̀̿͘͞ǫ̶͇̦̮̻͕̣̦̠̽̿̈́̂̑͟n̷̢̧̛̹̗͈̯̞̈́̾͐͘̚͝s͎̪̤̠̗̫̓͑̏̈̔̅͂̂͘͝ h̷̨̺̠̱̮̤̯̰̯́̄͐̄͞a̶̺̤͍̘̤͑͌̾͆̔͌͘̚̚͡v̸̥̤͍͍̲͋̀̐͗̍̀̄͗͡ȅ̢̱͔͖̪̳͚̿̀̍̿͌̌̎̉͠ f̵͇͔̣̗̗̮͖͖̼̊͆́͆͡a̡͙̘̘͚̥̼͗̂̿̓͌͘r̶̛̯̟̗̙̳͑̓̅̉̈̏͆͞-̨̪̘̼͎̺̬̟͂͊̀́͒͂̚r̸͔̻̠̬̼͕̊̀̂͆̅͞è̸̢̛̗͔͔̬͈͋͂͡a̵̧̲̫͙̘̅̈̊̏͗ͅc̷̡̨̪̙̰̺͛́̃͐̑͐͛̽͢͠ḩ̸̨̹̫̞͖̲̳͍̱̓̄̆̉͂̆̎́͞i̸̢͙̪̦̱̥̰̯͙͎͑̑̑́̏̓̽ñ̵͈͈̠̬̜̙͔͈͊̀̀̕͘͞͡g̷̺̦̰͓͖͒̒̿̎̈ c̶̨̢͓̺̪̭̬͔̳͑̐̅͋̒̀͘͟ò͓͔͔̜̙̫̠͉̫̔̇̐̚̚͠n̵̨͇͖̱͋̐̉̌̏̋̾͟ś̡̟̺̻̥̩̼̟̏̔̉͢͞ė͖̞̻̠̟̑͆͗̄ͅq̷̨̜̺͌̋̉̃̍̈́̃̔͜͟͝u̵̞̯̱̹͙̫͌́͊̂̑̅̅̈́͟ͅę̸̖͖̦̼͒̔̄̉͒̏̕n͖͓̙̞̼͓͈̯̋͛̈́̇̚͡ͅç͎̟̦̰̜̑̈́̋́́̓̔͡ę̸̢̖̖̲̳̭̊̇̆͌͋̇̉̀̕͝s̶̛̖͈͙̺͔͑͂̕̕͡.̷̠͈̦̦͍̩̜͍́̃̓͛͛̽͌͢͟
CONFLICT BETWEEN CHARACTERS
Throughout your character’s story, your character will likely engage in conflict with other characters, whether they’re NPCs or PCs. Conflict helps move stories forward. However, there’s a firm line between what’s acceptable and what isn’t.
You’ve likely heard of Player vs. Player (PvP) gameplay, where you compete against other players in a game, whether it be via combat, social prestige, or deception. We don’t do that in Silent Heaven. As a community, we’re expected to be friendly, respectful, and supportive of our fellow players.
It’s important to be able to separate conflict between characters (CvC) and conflict between players (PvP). We’re all having a good time as players putting out characters into dangerous situations. We encourage OOC check-ins to make sure everyone is still enthusiastic about what’s happening, and coming to an amicable resolution if things are starting to get uncomfortable.
Overall, Silent Heaven is a dangerous place, and your character will naturally fall into CvC. Bad things will happen to your character just as often as good things. Treat each player with care and respect. Keep conflict in-game. Know your limits.
If this style of roleplay suits your preferences, then Silent Heaven is for you.
LORE AND WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Lore? There’s plenty. But you don’t need to know anything ahead of time. As a fresh resident to a mysterious town, discovering it all in-character is part of the excitement. Want to learn more about that church? You could ask someone about it, or find and read some literature about it, or even go there yourself to soak in some history.
It’s perfectly acceptable for your character to ask someone, “What the f—k is going on in this town?” In fact, it’s encouraged. It’s an excellent way to spur roleplay and delve into how your character reacts to the unknown.
If you like solving mysteries, this town has plenty of them.
LIMITATIONS TO WHAT YOU CAN ROLEPLAY
The following should be OOCly assumed to be true:
Your character enters Silent Heaven as a modern-day human with no supernatural powers.
Nobody who successfully leaves Silent Heaven can ever find their way back in. There are no ‘return visits.’
There is no way to ‘fix’ the town of Silent Heaven. While your character may have influence on the future of NPCs and landscapes, the backdrop of a hidden town full of cursed characters will not change.
Silent Heaven isn’t in any set location. Outside contact within Silent Heaven will never happen. For what it’s worth, consider the town to be on an entirely different plane of existence.
The timeline of Silent Heaven diverged from the real world in 2010, and anything after that never happened. Humans still exist. Scientific and technological advancements continue as normal. This alternate world history is intentionally an amorphous blob, because your character’s storylines will center around being in a town isolated from the rest of the world.
LAUNCH DATE?
My goal to launch Silent Heaven is December 2022. That’s 7 months from this post. Early 2023.
Coding is 85% complete. There are only 8 major systems left to code.
Building is 25% complete. All remaining NPCs, items, and rooms are fully planned out. It’s just a matter of writing them all and putting them into the game.
To those who’ve already read this post in the previous forum, thanks for putting up with the repost. I’ve updated it to better reflect what Silent Heaven has become over the past year. Everyone’s guidance and suggestions have been invaluable.
I’ll also be posting updates with all the new major features I’ve added in the past 3 months:
But for now, I need a breather.
In the meantime, please feel free to join the Discord server, where I post regular updates and a ton of screenshots.
Stay spooky!
One accusation is concerning.
Two unrelated accusations is a pattern.
Any more than that is unquestionable guilt.
I’ve never seen a callout that deviates from these rules.
After discussion in the Silent Heaven discord server, we’ve decided to restrict this mechanic to NPCs/monsters only. PCs will have the option to opt-in. By default, it’ll be blocked.
This is probably the way I should have done it originally. But I’m always open to changes, and I think this’ll be a positive one.
Springboarding off the MU Peeves Thread, where the topic was spreading plot seeds everywhere, I have something good to share.
I’ve lucked out with my playerbase. At first, I created this chart where I’d make sure every character got a plot seed, and each plot seed was duplicated across multiple characters. That way, everyone would feel included and have something to do.
I only had to do that once.
I can drop a plot seed on nearly any character, and when I wake up, the entire town knows. My players will run around shouting to everyone about every new seed I toss out, and nobody’s left in the dark.
Now, six months later, I don’t need to give a plot seed to anyone. I make one change to the grid, or move one NPC to another room, or hide an item somewhere, and within an hour, someone’s found it and is spreading that knowledge to the rest of the town and sharing hypotheses about what it means. I don’t even need to announce that a change has been made. They find it, they include newer players in their discoveries (or sometimes notice it and tell the newer players to go check it out), and everyone gets excited and has fun.
I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I’m thankful nonetheless.
Silent Heaven usually gets 1 new account created per day.
The day after Arx ended, Silent Heaven started getting 5 new accounts created per day. It has not stopped.
Around the same time, Andruid also posted an article about Silent Heaven! You can read it here: https://writing-games.com/silent-heaven-supernatural-horror-game/
I’m sure the player numbers will even out over time, haha. For now, though, I’m thankful that the core SH playerbase has been so supportive and accommodating to the new players. We’re doing our best behind the scenes to improve the game as well!
So I have to give my thanks to everyone who’s given Silent Heaven a try in the past week. Even if it didn’t hook you, I’m still appreciative that you gave it a try. And if you had a problem, my DMs are always open.
I was looking at the unread threads the other day, and I was amused that the other thread titles could be legitimate answers to this thread’s question.
Yes, all those things could definitely stop someone from running a game!
Wanna know all the features I’ve been working on for Silent Heaven?
There’s a lot. There’s so much that I’m almost done with coding! There are only 2 major systems left, plus a handful of odds and ends.
@Meg was excited about Cooking, so let’s start with that first!
Find a kitchen and type COOK. You’ll get to choose to cook from a recipe you’ve saved, or write a new recipe.
Let’s start by adding a new recipe.
First, you get to choose which ingredients you’re including in your recipe. There are lots of ingredients, so they’ve been sorted into 9 categories, for your convenience.
Your character’s cooking skill determines what ingredients they’re able to work with. More cooking skill = more ingredients to choose from.
Do kitchens run out of individual ingredients? Nope, we’re handwaving that.
Did I forget an ingredient you want? I’ll add it!
Once you’ve assembled all your ingredients, it’s time to choose your cooking method! Again, a higher Cooking skill means you unlock more advanced cooking techniques.
Now add some flavor, literally! Adding a flavor is just for flavor.
Almost done! Write a pretty description of your food!
Now that you’ve described it, how are you serving it? On a plate? In a glass? Maybe you’ve cut out a slice for someone…
Finally, give it a name!
Now you get to review and edit it and change anything if you spotted an error.
You good now? You like that recipe? Let’s get COOKING!
AMAZING.
Let’s EAT this masterpiece.
Your character will munch away in the background while you RP.
If you want to speed things along, you can STOP all that patient eating and finish it like a seagull.
There’s no penalty for doing this; it’s just flavor. If the cook’s skill is high enough, eating food will give your character a minor bonus for the rest of the day. It’s nothing crazy, just a little reward for chilling and RPing with your character’s friends who cooked this delicious food. Remember to say thank you!
You’re welcome to eat as much as you want, and you’ll get a little notification when your character is pleasantly stuffed. You can keep eating after that, but…
To keep your sensibilities quelled, I’ll only show the storyteller-side notification.
There’s a number of storyteller-side notifications like that so that any NPC witness can be animated and join in on the fun, if the scene calls for it.
That’s all there is for cooking!
As always, please feel free to join the Discord server, where I post regular updates and a ton of screenshots.
I would be ever so thankful for help with writing NPC, item, and room descs. It’s not at all necessary, but If you’re interested, there’s a channel on the Discord for writing requests. Give me a nudge and I’ll find a few things you can contribute to.
Stay spooky!
I want to congratulate all of us for our quick response to an unacceptable situation. In less than two weeks, we collectively rescued nearly everyone and set up our own shelter. Everyone who helped organize the exodus deserves praise.
@RedRocket said in The 3-Month Players:
The kind of people who log in to a world of darkness game just to sit in a bar and make small talk are baffling to me.
Just go join a discord or a forum.
The same thing is true of people who hang out in bars just to hook up for TS. Why are you on a roleplay game with a complicated combat and stat system when you could just go to one of many games where you can literally be anything and bang anything you can imagine.
If they’re having fun and not harming anyone, is that a problem?
In Last One Standing and LA2043, I know it was because the lead storyteller burnt out. In those early months, you need to give your players lots of story opportunities, and actionable and tangible things to do when you’re not around. And you need to be there practically day in and day out.
Launching a game is the easy part.
@Jumpscare said in Why MUSH?:
Yeah, at least with Ares games, it takes 3 months for the story to be abandoned.
I kid, but I really have played so many Ares games that fizzle our within 3 months.
Sure, but I’ve played on so many PennMUSH games, TinyMUX games, etc. that fizzle out within 3 months too. For as long as the hobby has existed, the vast majority of MUs have never really taken flight. Ares just helps more at least get to the “open” phase.
That’s a good point! And I think Ares does a great job of it.
The trailing off without resolution is why I don’t RP on forums anymore. At least in a MUSH people don’t start and abandon a story a week.
Yeah, at least with Ares games, it takes 3 months for the story to be abandoned.
I kid, but I really have played so many Ares games that fizzle our within 3 months.
I think what draws me most to MUSHes is the amount of effort that goes into making the world. It feels like you’re playing in the world, instead of other methods of storytelling where you’re writing the world. It’s more rigid than a sandbox, but less rigid than a linear story-based video game.
I prefer roleplaying where what matters most is the interactions between characters, and MUSHes are right in that sweet spot.
I love writing, and MUSHes are my favorite medium.
I haven’t played anywhere since I started running Silent Heaven in June 2023. But maybe you’ve seen me before.
Last One Standing - Claire, whose plot to bomb their captors during a ceremonial performance was prevented because another PC damaged a book she was reading.
Arx - Lilia’s third player, who tried hard to hide her dark secret while teasing it around, and was told OOCly that people knew already.
This is a Glitch - Katlin, who was ready to leave a huffy negative review about how thoroughly glitchy the resort was.
The Free Zone - Prim, the doctor who got savagely eaten by zombies and was never the same after she was rescued.
Minor appearances - I was only in one or two scenes and I don’t remember my character name: Gray Harbor, Spirit Lake, Liberation, Sindome, Haven, Concordia, LA2043, and that one short-lived Canadian zombie apocalypse Ares game from 2023.
@Ominous said in Lords and Ladies Game Design:
@Jumpscare I get a Coup (the card game) vibe from this.
Halfway through writing it, I thought, “This is coming together a lot like Coup. But with more emphasis on roleplay.”
Here’s a light-crunchiness intrigue system for a MU game. There are five steps, which I’ll expound on at the end of this post.
Roleplay in AresMUSH scenes as normal, except you have the option to conduct a secret exchange with any character in the scene. If you both agree on an exchange, anyone in the scene can protect the secret via being clandestine or by standing guard.
Play as many scenes as you like!
Use your class’s special abilities throughout the week as desired. More on those later!
At the end of a week, conduct covert actions. Relish in excitement as secrets are revealed.
At the end of a month, spend influence on Royalty. Gasp at which Royalty survive and who gets the axe.
There’s nothing in here regarding worldbuilding. You can invent your own Kingdom, all the House customs, Royalty naming conventions, etc. and layer it all on top of this system. This is only the crunch that gets things rolling and gives every player something to do.
This system is untested and likely unbalanced. I came up with this in only a few hours. I have no idea how well it’d play out. But it comes with just enough moving parts that it’s easy enough to slip in balancing fixes as needed.
Characters in higher positions aren’t meant to hold their positions forever. This allows for political shifts and eventual turnover. The lower you are on the hierarchy, the easier it is to get by.
All scenes with secrets in them are public for everyone to view, except for the secret. Public scenes can be considered IC knowledge when read.
Messenger scenes (AresMUSH text scenes) are secrets themselves!
Suggestions and questions are welcome! Please forgive me if I use the wrong term somewhere, haha.
Each character is a member of one of 5 different social classes. Some classes are separated into two or three designations: Independent, House, or Court.
Independent - An independent character holds no loyalty to any House, and therefore can make deals that benefit anyone with little risk. Conversely, without House support, your character does not receive any wealth each week.
House - A House character is loyal to a specific House. As a reward for their loyalty, they receive weekly wealth. In general, as part of a House, your character should be focused on supporting the other members of your House. Your character can take actions against someone in their own House, but every coup comes with a risk.
Court - A Court character is part of the Kingdom’s council, responsible for uncovering conspiracies and maintaining peace among the Houses. They’re a neutral party, or are supposed to be. Bribes are always a thing; it just takes the right character to accept them.
Here are the 5 classes, ordered from lowest to highest.
You are among the lowest class. Your home may be part of a House’s land, but you owe loyalty to nobody. You can pack up and move anywhere and be anywhere in a day’s time. You aren’t competing with anyone at the higher classes, but they’ll always come to you when they need something.
Special abilities:
Crafting - Roll to create materials based on the location of the scene you’re in. Can be used once per day, but also can be saved over time for a better roll. This can be done in a Vignette or part of a larger scene.
Escape Artist - You can’t be arrested.
Class Change - With enough wealth, you can buy your way into a modestly better life, moving into any other class except Royalty.
You’re the reason everyone else above you doesn’t have to worry about the minutiae of the world. You keep things moving so they don’t have to. It’s an ideal position for anyone who doesn’t want trouble.
Special abilities:
Manufacturing - Combine materials into salable items that the other classes want or need (to be determined). Each type of manufacturing needs its own production facility.
Construction - Use materials to redecorate, upgrade, and expand land (rooms).
House Advantage - If you choose to join a House, in addition to weekly wealth, you’ll have free use of the House’s specialty facilities.
Secrets need muscle to protect them, and princesses need muscle to uncover those secrets. If you want a steady position that won’t be derailed by politics and you don’t mind getting a little dirty from time to time, an enforcer’s life is for you. If you don’t care to be dictated by anyone, you can work outside the constraints of Houses as a Mercenary. However, if you crave more dictation, you may act as a Seneschal for the Court.
Special abilities:
Lay of the Land - When infiltrating a physical secret, you bypass Stealth checks if nobody is assigned to defend it. If part of a House, this cannot be used on your own House.
Armory Access - If you spend your influence on a coup, it gains +1 influence.
House Advantage - If you choose to join a House, you will receive weekly wealth and your pick from the House’s arms. Additionally, guards have the responsibility of carrying out arrest attempts of colluders within your House.
Court Advantage - As a neutral party among competing houses, your goal is to sniff out conspiracies and bring to justice anyone who may cause unrest in the kingdom. You receive weekly wealth and some of the best tools to carry out your mission.
Someone needs to run around and get everything done. If you love interacting with all levels of society, a diplomat is the perfect choice. Why should it matter if you read secret messages from time to time? You’re getting everything done for everyone, and growing your notoriety at the same time.
Special abilities:
Message Carrier - When infiltrating a messenger scene, you bypass Stealth checks if nobody was assigned to defend it. If part of a House, cannot be used on your own House.
Influence Trade - You may publicly publish secrets to gain 1 influence per secret.
House Advantage - If you choose to join a House, you will receive weekly wealth. However, your influence has restrictions – your influence cannot be used to sabotage Royalty in your House, or to support Royalty of another House. People know you, too – if you take part in a Conspiracy or Coup, your name will always be made public as a supporter, even if it fails.
Court Advantage - There’s nobody to hold you accountable for your actions except a Seneschal. Because of this, you’re typically expected to support your Seneschals.
You’ve landed this seat; now all you’ve got to do is keep it. With an ever-increasing influence target to stay in power, you’re always one step away from being the target of the next coup.
Special abilities:
Bribery - You can secretly take wealth from any House to instantly have wealth available. This can be done in a Vignette or part of a larger scene.
Favors - You can grant up to 5 additional covert actions (below) to other characters, with a maximum of 2 additional actions to any one character.
Marriage - With the other character’s permission, you may promote anyone to Royalty of your House through a marriage with your character.
Above the Law - You can’t be arrested.
Each character has 12 stats, best organized in a grid, for their abilities to keep and find secrets. For example:
Physical | Social | Messenger
Stealth 3 4 1
Search 2 3 1
Strength 1 3 2
Support 2 4 5
The columns are the type of secret:
The rows are actions that can be taken on a secret:
I envision character creation to be something simple, like assigning one 5, two 4s, three 3s, three 2s, and three 1s. Maybe a bonus for starting as a Vassal, such as changing one 1 to a 4.
At the end of each week, you have X amount of covert actions, based on your class and any actions gifted to you by a Royalty’s Favors this week.
There are 3 actions you can take:
You may target any scene with a secret from the past 4 weeks with your covert actions. After 4 weeks, a secret can no longer be spied on. If you have multiple covert actions, they can all be used on the same scene, if you want.
Everyone has 2 days to submit their covert actions. After the deadline, all covert actions are resolved at the same time:
Normally, covert actions aren’t revealed, though I imagine there can be items developed by Merchants that do all sorts of exciting effects to add twists to covert actions.
Any secret in a scene your character was in that’s successfully protected for two weeks nets your character +1 influence.
If you don’t submit your covert actions in time, you can hold them over until the next week. If they’re not used by then, they’re gone.
At the end of each month (or 4-week period?), everyone has 4 days to spend their accrued influence on votes of support, acts of sabotage, or a conspiracy and coup. You may also purchase influence with your wealth, unless you’re a member of Royalty.
Each member of Royalty has a support goal they need to reach to hold their position. This number increases each month until it’s no longer sustainable. Votes of support are worth +1, and acts of sabotage are worth -1 when checking if the goal is reached.
If it’s reached, the member of Royalty keeps their position. If it isn’t, they’re deposed – stripped of their wealth, and sent to live as a Vassal.
A conspiracy and coup is a two-month action.
The first month is spent on organizing a Conspiracy against a member of Royalty. It requires at least 10 influence spent for a Conspiracy to be active. When this happens, the game is notified that there’s a Conspiracy developing against the targeted character. If the Conspiracy isn’t successful, nothing is announced, and all influence spent on the conspiracy is secretly refunded.
On the second month, influence is spent on pushing the Conspiracy to a Coup. The amount of influence spent on the Coup must be more than the amount of influence spent in support of the member of Royalty. If this number is reached, the coup is successful, the target is killed and the player gets to play out a death scene if desired. The voters of the Coup are kept a secret, and they can vote to promote a character to Royalty after the death scene.
If the Coup isn’t successful, however, the names of every character who voted for the Coup are revealed.
Each House has their own customs and goals, as well as opposing Royalty who may not have your character’s best interests in mind. It’s completely okay to break these rules IC to further your character’s goals or to attempt to ruin a Royalty’s day. When a Guard or Seneschal believe they have enough of a case against a character, they can attempt an arrest on that character.
When an arrest attempt is submitted, the targeted character can choose to go peacefully or make a run for it.
To make a run for it, the character abandons their wealth, then makes a plea to a specific House to be taken in. The Royalty of that House vote by the end of the week whether or not to take the character in. If a supermajority votes yes, the character becomes a member of that House at the same Class and is marked as “Wanted” by the previous House (if any) and cannot rejoin that House. Otherwise, the character is captured.
If going peacefully or captured, a Trial Scene happens where the arresting Guard or Seneschal presents their evidence. Another Guard or Seneschal is chosen to speak on the behalf of the accused. Both parties may reveal secrets that support their case.
After all evidence has been argued, the Jury may ask questions of both the accused and the accuser. In a Court Trial, the Jury is made up of Inquisitors who vote on whether the person under suspicion is guilty. In a House Trial, the Jury are the Royalty. If a supermajority is reached in favor of Guilty, the character is deposed – stripped of their wealth, and sent to live as a Vassal. Otherwise, the character is innocent and cannot be arrested for this matter again.
In a Court Trial, the arresting Seneschal gets +1 favor for a guilty verdict, and -1 favor for an innocent verdict. If their favor ever dips into the negatives, they’re deposed.
More mechanics can be built on top of this basic system, like Merchants focusing on land expansion and building projects to influence Royalty income, but the goal with this outline is to be as simple as possible to give a little crunch to the L&L MU formula.
With all of that out of the way, let’s summarize what we do with all of these game mechanics!
Roleplay a scene with other character(s) and decide whether or not to conduct a secret exchange with them. All characters in the scene decide whether to protect the secret via Stealth (being clandestine) or Strength (standing guard), or decline to protect it.
Play as many scenes as you wish throughout the week, but be sure to wrap up scenes with secret actions in them by the end of the week. You can open a continuation scene afterwards!
Use your class’s special abilities throughout the week as desired:
At the end of a week, conduct covert actions on any scene performed in that week, based on your available covert actions. Use items to cause special effects or boost your rolls. Relish in excitement as covert actions are resolved.
At the end of a month, spend influence to raise or lower the reputation of Royalty, or try to bloom a conspiracy into a coup. Gasp at which Royalty survive and who gets the axe.
And above all, don’t forget to enjoy playing your character!
That’s all! Please feel free to pick this system apart at your leisure.
I scribbled down an intrigue system just the other day. The intent was for it to be a simple system that could be mostly automated, through use of secret actions and other players attempting to either protect or uncover those secret actions.
It was themed for cyberpunk, but it’s really easy to change “corporations” to “houses” and “scrappers” to “vassals.”
Give me a bit to clean it up and I’ll post it here.
@Jennkryst The thing is, I’m not too big on combat. I like the more cerebral, emotional and espionage aspects of those settings, rather than becoming BeefHack McGunHands.
A solarpunk game where we use supernatural powers to take down corporations, heal the earth, and rebuild communities.
Or I’ll even compromise and ask for a cyberpunk game that doesn’t close within 3 months.