Well, after a couple of mild bumps, we seem to be on our way. After three weeks we're beyond 5 pages now. Hopefully the posting will speed up now that we're up to four people, because at a rate of 5 pages for every 3 weeks means it will take another 4 months just to finish the first chapter.
I hope everyone is still enjoying themselves. You're all doing well so far, having already acquired around 150-200 XP already, except for Zurgrim who just started. But as outgoing and talkative as he is, he'll probably catch up quickly enough. (Nuke, I sent you a PM regarding some of Ryan's motivations.)
You may have noticed that at one point Ryan tried to haggle with the weaver over prices. This was settled with a CHA check. Had he failed the check, the weaver would have insisted on the full price. But since he passed, he got a 10% discount. The Bartering NWP will give you a bonus to such checks. Having a high prestige can also increase the discount (although a low prestige can result in a mark-up).
Speaking of prestige, that's the big topic I wanted to discuss today. I've mentioned it in passing, but now I want to go in full detail.
Prestige is an important part of this game, so I made up a new mechanic for it. Tardiff is a very LN country, so all of its culture and taboos surround doing what is expected of you, obeying authority (whether from the crown and gentry or the church) and not disrupting the status quo. Indeed, most of the moral and ethical dilemmas you come across in this game will not be choosing between Good and Evil, but rather choosing between what you want to do and what you are obligated to do.
This game is also an exploration of things like classism and racism (well, fantastic racism, anyway), and so they play large roles in how the NPCs you interact with see you.
And that's where your prestige score comes in. It's essentially a measurement of how the NPCs view you. It affects their relationships with you, as well as your political standing in a given community. If your prestige is high, then people are more respectful of you. Lots of doors open up to you, also. However, if your prestige drops too low, bad things happen. The villagers might form a mob with pitchforks and torches and come after you. So the higher your prestige, the better.
Prestige can also be used as a sort of currency. If it's high enough, you can deliberately lower it without consequence. For instance, let's say your character falls in love with someone beneath their station, like a bastard, or a race that is considered inferior. Obviously, you would take a big hit to your prestige were you to marry them. However, if your prestige is high enough, you can take that hit and still be okay. In-game, this would mean the locals don't approve of your marriage, but they respect you enough that even after it's done, you're still well off. This is another reason why you want a high prestige. If it's high enough, you can trade it in so you can do the stuff you want to do.
Based on your background, you may start the game with a high or low prestige. Things that affect it are your race, breeding, and whether you are a local or not. As the game progresses, your prestige will go up or down depending on your actions. People have to witness things to affect your prestige, though. For instance, if you were having an affair with another person's spouse, that would affect your prestige...but only if people find out about it. If you keep it hidden from the public, it won't affect you. This is also part of the reason why I wanted everyone to have a dark secret. If that secret gets out, your prestige will drop like a rock.
Right now, the prestige scores are as follow:
Ladonna has a score of 4: +1 for being human, +2 for coming from a respectable family (her father is sergeant of the watch), +1 for being born in the village, +1 for having a job, but -1 for refusing a marriage to someone of a higher station (a merchant).
Rivi has a score of -4: -2 for being a half-elf, -1 for being a bastard, -1 for having no family in the village, -1 for not being born in the village, and a +1 for having a job.
Ryan has a score of 6: +1 for being human, +2 for coming from a respectable family (his father is a kohen), +1 for being born in the village, +1 for having a job, and +1 for being an acolyte of Gonto
Zurgrim has a score of -1: -1 for being a dwarf, -1 for having no family in the village, -1 for not being born in the village, +1 for having a job, and +1 for being a veteran of the Battle of Buho
Now, none of you knew about this system beforehand, so it was impossible to game it. But the two humans have positive scores as they have prestigious families and were born in the village, while the two demi-humans have negative scores and were not from the village or have any family there. I'm not sure if that was a coincidence, but I think it's pretty interesting.
Rivi will have to work much harder than the others to earn the respect he needs for this game. Ryan, by far, has the most wiggle room. However, these scores could change drastically, depending on your character's actions. I'll alert you between chapters whether your prestige falls or rises.
Things that improve your prestige include acquiring wealth, acquiring political power or influence, marrying above your station, having a job befitting your station or that is above it (for instance, Ladonna waiting tables is fine as a peasant, but if she's still doing that once she's improved her station, people will start to look down at her for it), living a middle-class or wealthy lifestyle (see this
post), following the law, being a faithful follower of Gonto (or at least pretending to), maintaining the status quo, doing things that benefit the community, acquiring lands or titles, associating with people above your station (especially if you are openly friends with them) or being in good standing with the church or the gentry.
Things that damage your prestige would be doing anything embarrassing or dishonorable, marrying below your station, having a job beneath your station, living a squalid lifestyle, breaking the law, worshiping a deity other than Gonto openly, trying to break the status quo (like the Equalists), doing anything that harms the community (especially if it's for selfish reasons), associating with people beneath your station (including just being friends), or upsetting the church or gentry.
(Note that, as adventurers, your characters are probably destined to do some of these things. Adventurers regularly upset the status quo just by existing, but that's okay. Part of the fun, I think, will be juggling adventuring with being respectable.)
Now this is a new system, untested, so I may need to change this later on if it becomes too hard or easy, but for the time being, I'm going to say that everyone should have a goal to have a prestige of at least 10 by the end of the arc (when the party reaches 5,000 XP). This should be enough to get you an audience with the baron, who is the most important and prestigious person in the village. On the other hand, if your prestige drops to, let's say, -10, then the villagers turn on you and you'll likely wind up burned at the stake or something. (If you are about to do something that will drop your prestige to -10 or lower, I'll warn you ahead of time, at least for the first arc.)
At least so far, nobody has done anything to impact their prestige yet, in-game.
If there are any questions, let me know.