Post by Lux on Dec 15, 2023 23:08:26 GMT
Social capital is a system that is used to keep track of how much a character can use their social or political influence to gain the assistance of non-player characters. Social capital is tracked on your account and can be seen when using the "score" command.
Gaining Social Capital
Some player characters have automatic social capital income. These include landholders, clergy, certain extravagantly wealthy commoners, heralds, courtesans and harpers. I may consider other socially-oriented character types for automatic social capital income.
The Presence attribute affects social capital income.
Player characters hosting social events where they work with staff to decide on an appropriate cost will receive social capital for it.
Player characters buying clothes will get social capital for it.
Donating to a church will likely generate social capital. Let staff know if your character is trying this avenue.
Doing various things which would be held in high regard by NPCs, will generate social capital. I won't provide an exhaustive list, but it might be anything from winning a tournament to putting on a fine musical performance. If you feel your character has done something like this that would generate social capital, you can ask staff, but please limit such requests to one per week.
Spending Social Capital
Social capital functions as an intangible currency. If an NPC can reasonably be said to be within your character's field of influence, then you can attempt to use social capital to seek that NPC's assistance or otherwise influence that NPC. I will give some examples below, but they won't be exhaustive. A lot of use cases will be calls on my part as they arise. Not everything will be possible. Costs will be influenced by the usage of relevant social skills, any established friendship or hostilities with an NPC, as well as any obligations that NPC may owe.
For a run-of-the-mill, ordinary task which does not create any obvious risk for the NPC, and which does not cause them a financial burden, where the relationship is reasonably neutral, then two points of social capital will be as helpful as paying them one penny. It is from that baseline that everything else will flow. Social capital costs can be modified downwards in many ways.
Player characters may "give" their social capital to a player character employee or close associate, within reason. This is to allow heralds and so on to conduct negotiations and make authoritative offers.
Before you spend social capital, I will ask you to test a relevant skill. To avoid a situation wherein everybody relies on just one social skill, certain skills will work better in certain situations, and others perhaps not at all. For example, a formal engagement with somebody on the same social level may require diplomacy, whereas suggestion implies something much more informal.
Players may make a maximum of two requests that involve spending social capital per week.
Examples of costs
Here are some examples. I have obfuscated how the final numbers are arrived at because my current feeling is that it will probably work out better that way.
Example 1
A landholder wishes for the neighbouring knight's aid with driving off a group of brigands. They have a polite but somewhat distant relationship. The knight brings his squire and three archers along for a ten-day long excursion. They get a marginal success on a diplomacy skill roll. I determine that it will cost the player character 450 SC.
Example 2
A baron is asking one of their own bailiffs to come and help with those brigands. The baron and bailiff are friendly. The baron gets a major success on a command skill roll. I determine that it will cost 175 SC. Of course, it follows from this that even a baron cannot expect the unconditional support of all their vassals. If the baron had no SC, it would reflect him having overstretched himself or even burning bridges, and then being unable to get further support, at least for a time.
Example 3
An acclaimed bard wants to influence a knight who is a fan of theirs to intervene with the baroness in a nearby town over the matter of charges of obscenity and a suggestion of having had a dalliance with a visiting noble's spouse. The fine that has been declared is 30d, which is steep anyway, but there is every possibility that the bard will be beaten if the visiting noble's retinue catches up. It is a mess. It is also a big ask to step in, no matter how much of a fan the knight is. The relationship is friendly, but much as the knight likes the bard, they stand to lose face politically and have to deal with being on bad terms with a baroness for weeks. The bard gets a major success on a suggestion roll. I set a final cost of 98 SC.
Example 4
As above, but the bard's fan is in fact the baroness, rather than a neighbouring knight, and she finds the entire thing rather funny. Her guests are angry but do not have the same status. She has, because it would be unseemly not to, still issued a 30d fine. The baroness will have a bit of hassle soothing her guests but won't really lose anything but her time. The bard gets a major success on their suggestion roll. This favour then costs 60 SC.
Example 5
The chamberlain in a noble household wants to get some information out of a local toll collector about travellers. It is a pretty mundane request and simply requires the collector to go and check a ledger. I set the cost at a mere 3 SC. Small requests like this are why SC requests are limited to two per player per week.
Example 6
A merchant wishes to gain the support of another wealthy local commoner on the local council in petitioning for a new temple to be opened. It's not actually for a deity that the council member follows, so they don't really want to see it happen, but will support it if leaned on enough. The merchant indicates that they might hike their prices if they don't get support. Then, the merchant has a major failure in their indimidation roll. I set a cost of 156 SC.
Examples of where social capital is not used
A knight threatens their neighbour to stay out of a dispute over who is allowed to collect revenues from a bridge. The neighbour stands to lose vast revenue every year. Social capital will not work here. In other words, this example is more to say that some things have to be done piece by piece. I will not actually deduct social capital in such an instance, but this would certainly sour relations between the player character and the non-player character knight.
In a dispute over who is allowed to collect revenues from a bridge, a Crown official comes to adjudicate the matter. An interested party, having learned that this official is rather venal, sends someone along with a generous purse of 240d - a whole pound of silver, and equivalent to ten months' wages for a labourer. A suggestion roll plus the money is used to bribe the official. No social capital is required here, because ultimately, SC and silver are intended to be limiting factors on how much a PC can do, and the limiting factor in this instance is silver. Of course, a less corrupt official might not be so open to bribes, and so other solutions might then be needed.
Gaining Social Capital
Some player characters have automatic social capital income. These include landholders, clergy, certain extravagantly wealthy commoners, heralds, courtesans and harpers. I may consider other socially-oriented character types for automatic social capital income.
The Presence attribute affects social capital income.
Player characters hosting social events where they work with staff to decide on an appropriate cost will receive social capital for it.
Player characters buying clothes will get social capital for it.
Donating to a church will likely generate social capital. Let staff know if your character is trying this avenue.
Doing various things which would be held in high regard by NPCs, will generate social capital. I won't provide an exhaustive list, but it might be anything from winning a tournament to putting on a fine musical performance. If you feel your character has done something like this that would generate social capital, you can ask staff, but please limit such requests to one per week.
Spending Social Capital
Social capital functions as an intangible currency. If an NPC can reasonably be said to be within your character's field of influence, then you can attempt to use social capital to seek that NPC's assistance or otherwise influence that NPC. I will give some examples below, but they won't be exhaustive. A lot of use cases will be calls on my part as they arise. Not everything will be possible. Costs will be influenced by the usage of relevant social skills, any established friendship or hostilities with an NPC, as well as any obligations that NPC may owe.
For a run-of-the-mill, ordinary task which does not create any obvious risk for the NPC, and which does not cause them a financial burden, where the relationship is reasonably neutral, then two points of social capital will be as helpful as paying them one penny. It is from that baseline that everything else will flow. Social capital costs can be modified downwards in many ways.
Player characters may "give" their social capital to a player character employee or close associate, within reason. This is to allow heralds and so on to conduct negotiations and make authoritative offers.
Before you spend social capital, I will ask you to test a relevant skill. To avoid a situation wherein everybody relies on just one social skill, certain skills will work better in certain situations, and others perhaps not at all. For example, a formal engagement with somebody on the same social level may require diplomacy, whereas suggestion implies something much more informal.
Players may make a maximum of two requests that involve spending social capital per week.
Examples of costs
Here are some examples. I have obfuscated how the final numbers are arrived at because my current feeling is that it will probably work out better that way.
Example 1
A landholder wishes for the neighbouring knight's aid with driving off a group of brigands. They have a polite but somewhat distant relationship. The knight brings his squire and three archers along for a ten-day long excursion. They get a marginal success on a diplomacy skill roll. I determine that it will cost the player character 450 SC.
Example 2
A baron is asking one of their own bailiffs to come and help with those brigands. The baron and bailiff are friendly. The baron gets a major success on a command skill roll. I determine that it will cost 175 SC. Of course, it follows from this that even a baron cannot expect the unconditional support of all their vassals. If the baron had no SC, it would reflect him having overstretched himself or even burning bridges, and then being unable to get further support, at least for a time.
Example 3
An acclaimed bard wants to influence a knight who is a fan of theirs to intervene with the baroness in a nearby town over the matter of charges of obscenity and a suggestion of having had a dalliance with a visiting noble's spouse. The fine that has been declared is 30d, which is steep anyway, but there is every possibility that the bard will be beaten if the visiting noble's retinue catches up. It is a mess. It is also a big ask to step in, no matter how much of a fan the knight is. The relationship is friendly, but much as the knight likes the bard, they stand to lose face politically and have to deal with being on bad terms with a baroness for weeks. The bard gets a major success on a suggestion roll. I set a final cost of 98 SC.
Example 4
As above, but the bard's fan is in fact the baroness, rather than a neighbouring knight, and she finds the entire thing rather funny. Her guests are angry but do not have the same status. She has, because it would be unseemly not to, still issued a 30d fine. The baroness will have a bit of hassle soothing her guests but won't really lose anything but her time. The bard gets a major success on their suggestion roll. This favour then costs 60 SC.
Example 5
The chamberlain in a noble household wants to get some information out of a local toll collector about travellers. It is a pretty mundane request and simply requires the collector to go and check a ledger. I set the cost at a mere 3 SC. Small requests like this are why SC requests are limited to two per player per week.
Example 6
A merchant wishes to gain the support of another wealthy local commoner on the local council in petitioning for a new temple to be opened. It's not actually for a deity that the council member follows, so they don't really want to see it happen, but will support it if leaned on enough. The merchant indicates that they might hike their prices if they don't get support. Then, the merchant has a major failure in their indimidation roll. I set a cost of 156 SC.
Examples of where social capital is not used
A knight threatens their neighbour to stay out of a dispute over who is allowed to collect revenues from a bridge. The neighbour stands to lose vast revenue every year. Social capital will not work here. In other words, this example is more to say that some things have to be done piece by piece. I will not actually deduct social capital in such an instance, but this would certainly sour relations between the player character and the non-player character knight.
In a dispute over who is allowed to collect revenues from a bridge, a Crown official comes to adjudicate the matter. An interested party, having learned that this official is rather venal, sends someone along with a generous purse of 240d - a whole pound of silver, and equivalent to ten months' wages for a labourer. A suggestion roll plus the money is used to bribe the official. No social capital is required here, because ultimately, SC and silver are intended to be limiting factors on how much a PC can do, and the limiting factor in this instance is silver. Of course, a less corrupt official might not be so open to bribes, and so other solutions might then be needed.