The Maiden Saga: Role Playing Game (5 page)

Aprina – Scholarship
– an educated Aprinian will know secrets that seem to others like magic and which may be employed in negotiation. Doubles wisdom. Cost – 10.

 

It is possible for any PC to purchase the Specialist Attributes belonging to a people other than their own, but at double cost, so that if your PC is Hai but wishes to be a magic user you must deduct 60 Game Points from your initial 64, leaving only four points, which must go to your Basic Attributes at 1 each.

This may be done at the start of the game, or at any time during play. The exception is magic, which must either be purchased at the start or after successfully undergoing trance. A Stranger may purchase up to two attributes at normal cost, excluding magic.

For example, you might decide that Raiklin has Scholarship, or choose to play Kaea, a Hai girl almost broken by the travails of becoming a witch, or Oily Jansen, the off-world con artist we met earlier, who has been marooned by the people he cheated and is now playing to full Maiden Saga rules rather than the basic Core Rules. Note that Raiklin has had to subtract his 10 Game Points from his personal pool of 64 and not his people's pool of 36, and that he must retain at least 1 point from this pool for each attribute. Kaea may now seem weak but she has the ability to summon a demon. Oily Jansen can now select his Primary Drive, in this instance Guile.

 

Glory Points -

 

Now calculate your Glory Points by adding up the scores of your Basic Attributes. Divide this total by ten and round up or down to the nearest whole number. Thus, from our examples; Irqual has 6+6+3+8=23, 23/10=2.3, 2.3 rounded down is 2. Irqual therefore has 2 Glory Points, Oily Jansen has 3, Kaea 0.

A PCs Glory Points are the player's Game Score.

 

 

You now have a character. Next you need to learn how to play.

 

At the start of the game the PCs find themselves somewhere in the world of the Maiden Saga. They may have a mutual goal, they may have individual goals, they may prefer to simply potter about and see what happens. In any case, the aim of each individual player is to maximise their Glory Points at the expense of the others. No, this is not one of those nice games in which you all work as a team. Everyone is out for themselves, and while you may prefer to play purely for honour and glory, it is recommended that players add a little spice to the game; perhaps by putting a set amount into a pot which goes to the winner at the end of the evening, or by giving Glory Points a pecunary value. Better still, if the company is sufficiently depraved, forfeits may be employed, in whatever manner players deem fit.

It will help if players have read the books, but in practise reading these rules will do, especially the examples. Having decided where you are, and presumably more or less what you are doing, the GM should give a brief summary of the situation and of any NPCs who happen to be about. The player to the GMs left should then make the first move, their PC interacting with either an NPC or another PC, a Conflict. Most conflicts between characters involve persuasion rather than violence, at least at first.

Basic play works as described in the Core Rules. Once the Conflict is complete it becomes the turn of the next player, and so on. Thus the situation develops, quickly taking on a life of its own, with PCs gaining Glory and improving their abilities as they go along.

 

 

“‘Where do I find these pushers?' Sulitea demanded. ‘In the compound?'

‘You cannot go to the pushers!' a slave exclaimed. ‘They will beat us for what we have done.'

‘I won't tell them,' Sulitea responded. ‘Now where are they?'

None spoke, except to each other, a general murmur of dissatisfaction.

‘Tell me!' Sulitea shouted. ‘Tell me, or I will have the big Ice Cannibal split your skulls for what little brain there is within!'”
Innocent

 

In a simple encounter your opponent will either be another player's character, a fellow PC, or a character from the background scenario, an NPC, who will be controlled by the GM. When you come into conflict with a NPC you choose which Additional Attribute to play. When in conflict with a PC you roll a single die to determine who chooses, highest score wins. If you draw, roll again. The Additional Attribute chosen must make sense in the context of the game, which is a matter for the GM.

 

The conflict now begins. If you are playing against a NPC, the GM always throw first. If you are playing against a PC, then whoever
lost
the initial throw of the single die throws first.

 

If the Additional Attribute chosen is also your Primary Drive, then you can also make sixes by adding together the digits on the remaining dice. So, if you throw – 6,6,4,3,2,1 – you have scored 2 Hit Points, unless you are playing in your Primary Drive, in which case you can add the 4 and the 2 to make a third 6, thus scoring 3 Hit Points. No dice can be counted twice, so you cannot use your 3, 2 & 1 to make a fourth 6.

 

 

For example -

 

Irqual the Makean staggers out of an inn in Port Ergan. He has brought a cargo of nymphs north and sold them to Bormontal the Nymph Breeder at a good price, replenishing his stock with Hai glass and Ythan potions. These take up little room and he is wondering what else might conveniently fill up the hold when he sees somebody walking along the docks, looking lost. This individual is of moderate build, no obvious people and dressed in a mauve suit of extravagant cut. The Vendjomois might pay five or six imperials, perhaps for use as a clown, and after all, the hold needs filling. Irqual accosts the stranger.

‘Ho, you. You are now my property.'

The stranger, Oily Jansen, steps back in alarm.

‘What is this!?'

 

They are now in conflict. Both are PCs, so they roll a die. The score for Irqual is 3, for Oily Jansen, 4. Oily Jansen has won and chooses his Primary Drive, Guile. He has 20 Game Points against Irqual's 7, a huge advantage.

As Oily Jansen has chosen which Additional Attribute to use, Irqual throws first. He scores – 6,3,2,2,1,1 – and so gain a single Hit Point, reducing Oily Jansen's total to 19.

Oily Jansen throws. He scores – 6,6,6,5,2,1. Guile is his Primary Drive, so the 5 and 1 can be added together to make an additional six. That gives him has 4 Hit Points, reducing Irqual's total from 7 to 3.

Irqual throws. He scores – 6,6,5,5,5,3 – gaining two more Hit Points. Oily Jansen's total is reduced to 17.

Oily Jansen throws. He scores – 6,6,4,3,2,1 – gaining three Hit Points and reducing Irqual's total to 0.

Irqual is out of points and must concede defeat.

 

Their conversation might have gone something like this, opened by Irqual with typical Makean subtelty.

‘I said you are now my property. Come with me to my ship, unless you wish to be kicked all the way.'

Oily Jansen, the veteran of a thousand acrimonious discussions on a hundred planets, quickly counters.

‘One moment. You should know that I have an incurable and highly infectious disease.'

Irqual ponders, scratching his chin.

‘A disease you say? You look healthy enough.'

Dropping his trousers, Oily Jansen reveals a hideous pustule, carefully prepared for just such an eventuality. Irqual is convinced.

 

Oily Jansen has won, and therefore gains Glory. Normally he would gain 1 point, but as Guile is his Primary Drive he gains 2 points. Had Guile also been Irqual's Primary Drive, Oily Jansen would have gained 3 points. Had Guile been Irqual's Primary Drive but not Oily Jansen's, it would be 4 points. Oily Jansen had 3 points of Glory to begin with and so now has 5.

 

Irqual has lost, but he has the choice of sacrificing a point of Glory in order to retaliate, this time on his choice of attribute. Annoyed, and faced with a weedy individual who is also diseased, he decides to kick Oily Jansen over the side of the dock. His choice is therefore power. Irqual has 12 Game Points, Oily Jansen 5.

 

Oily Jansen realises Irqual's intention and attempts to strike first.

 

He scores – 6,6,4,4,2,2 – but as Power is not his Primary Drive he gains only 2 Hit Points.

 

They begin to fight. Given their relative Game Points and that neither has Power as their Primary Drive, Irqual's chances of winning are 12/17 (70%) and Oily Jansen's 5/17 (30%). In this case Irqual wins, kicking out with all his strength to send Oily Jansen flying over the edge of the dock. A splash from the darkness below signals the end of the combat.

Irqual has won and regains his point of Glory. Oily Jansen has lost and chooses not to continue the conflict. If nothing else happens, then all Game Points are reset to their original values, but Oily Jansen keeps the Glory Points he has gained. He can retain these or cash them in at a rate of 5 Game Points per Glory Point, which he can spread among his Basic Attributes and any Additional Attributes used in the conflict, to a maximum of five per attribute, thus gaining experience.

However, something else might happen to prolong the scenario. In the fight between Irqual and Oily Jansen, the Makean has not come out unscathed. A punch on the nose and a well placed knee have reduced his Game Points from 12 to 8. Furious, he lashes out at a passing dwarf. The dwarf is a NPC, so Irqual has the right to choose Power, but the dwarf is no weakling and has 8 Game Points in Power. Irqual has expended 4 Game Points in Power without a chance to recover, neither has Power as a Primary Drive and so in the ensuing combat they are evenly matched. If the dwarf happened to be carrying an axe or a gun this would not be the case, but we will come to weapons presently.

Power and Guile are easily played out and represent the two basic ways of resolving a conflict, force and negotiation. In role-play terms the remaining attributes can be considered as conflicts of one or the other; Craft relating to Force; Pride, Allure, Greed, Wealth and Wisdom relating to Negotiation. In practical terms all conflicts can be resolved by dice in the same manner.

 

Interaction does not necessarily mean conflict, and definitely not immediately, but is an essential part of the game.

 

 

For example -

 

Kaea, waking from the mushroom induced haze in which she has finally learnt how to commune with spirits, finds the Princess Talithea Mund looking down on her from horseback. Kaea is in central Mund, the nearest place to get the right sort of mushroom, she has no Glory Points and very few resources. She would dearly like to get back to Hai, where she can recuperate and start on the long path to becoming an effective witch, but even in her addled state she knows that the Mund are not going to like the idea of a Hai witch. Kaea would like Talithea's help, but her beauty is of little use to her so if she wins the initial role of the dice she chooses guile, in which she has 7 points against Talithea's 10.