NukaNESIOT I: Regicide Roulette (V 0.1)

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Prestige is to put it mildly, how you win the game! It is your official scorecard to how close you are to actually winning this game. It is heavily accumulated when you wear the crown, but you can of course earn some prestige even when you are merely a Duke or a Countess. Prestige can be accumulated with gold or risking your life, and like gold, a portion is lost from one generation to the next. Prestige will be public up to a point, though in the later stages of the game, your numerical score will be hidden.

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Dueling: The epitome of civilized men and women is ceremonial murder. Legal, and often times encouraged, two men or women will line up against each other in the intent to fight or even kill one another for honor, sport, and revenge!

Challenge: To first start a duel, you need to challenge someone. You are allowed to challenge one person a turn, but can accept as many challenges as you’d like.

First, you must determine what kind of duel you will participate in. The first, and more common duel is to First Blood. This is considered a more sporting duel, and will have the effect of granting a good amount of prestige for the victor, and a fair bit of humiliation for the loser.

The second, and more deadly version, is to Death. Duels to the death are generally frowned upon, and if there is no provocation for it, then as an instigator, you will lose prestige, even if you are the victor. However, if the character or character’s family had previously killed or attempted to kill you or a member of your family, or another action of similar magnitude, you are free to challenge duels to the death, and you will gain a high amount of prestige for victory.

All challenges MUST be made in public, and must include the type of duel it will be. All acceptances must be made in public as well.
Some other notes on accepting duels:


-You are allowed to decline a duel with no penalty if you have a significantly amount of prestige over a player

-You are allowed to decline a duel with a slight penalty if they are of near equal prestige to you

-You are not allowed to decline a duel with a character that has a higher prestige than you.

-There is no penalty to fighting multiple duels in one turn in terms of succeeding in each duel individually.

-In the event that you are challenged to multiple duels, you are allowed to decline all but one without penalty. The duel with the highest prestige opponent takes precedence. If you choose to accept more than one duel, the second duel will go to the character with the second highest prestige. If you challenged an opponent and they accepted your duel beforehand, then they will be entered in the roster of your opponents, and prioritized by prestige order. If your opponent who you initially challenged had not yet accepted, your challenge may be rescinded without any penalty.

-If, under the above rule, a duel was postponed, the challenge will not be automatically reissued.

-If you decline five duels without accepting one (ever), you will no longer be allowed to challenge others to duels, but you will also no longer lose prestige for declining duels.

Here is an example of how a turn might work. A has 110 prestige and challenges B, with 175 prestige, to a duel. C, with 200 prestige, D, with 140 prestige, and F, with 40 prestige, all challenge A to a duel as well. A must this turn, duel C no matter what. If he chooses to duel a second opponent, B will come next (If B accepted), and then D. He can decline F’s challenge with no penalty, though A can duel him if he so chooses.


Fighting the Duel-Once we have the challenges sorted out of the way, it’s time to actually fight the duel! When you are dueling, each character starts off at 50% vs 50% chances of winning. From here, you will select a “Dueling Style” which will function as a rock paper scissors style fight. The available styles are “Attack”, “Defense” and “Balanced”. Attack will beat Balanced, Balanced will beat Defense, and Defense will beat Attack. The “winning” dueling style will add 15 additional percent points to winning the duel, and it will be 65% to 35% chances. There also may be modifiers at play that can lessen or raise your advantage (See Categories: Rewards, Cheating)


Rewards-Why fight in a duel you might ask? Well the big thing is prestige of course. Duels are risky, but if you have no money to build a fountain or the friends to get elected sovereign, duels are a free way to potentially earn prestige, though how much will depend on the type of duel it is, and your relative prestige against one another. You can also do things such as gable on your own duels (or duels of others!)

The other big reward is experience. If you win 3 duels, you will gain the modifier “Expert Duelist”, which will be a 15 point increase in your chances of victory against other duelists. If you have won 5 duels, with AT LEAST 2 of them being duels to the death, you will gain the title “Masterful Duelist”, which will be a 25 point (total) increase in your chances of victory.

Aside from those, the only other reward from dueling comes from random events, and perhaps can help foil assassination plots. After all, if you’ve survived the fury of the rapier, perhaps you might be able to dodge an arrow or two.

Cheating-There are some instances that, for whatever reason, you might not want to “play fair” in these duels. Luckily, nothing about this game is “fair”, and cheating is wide open for use in duels, and there are cheating options for any type of duel and outcome you wish to seek!

Cheap Tricks-Employ a variety of dirty tactics to defeat your opponent. Sand in their eyes, use of outside interferers, anything you can think of really! This will add a 5-15% chance of your victory, but is seen by everyone. You will lose prestige for the duel, and you will double the prestige loss if you lose the duel. While the duel will not be stopped, your character will be tainted with the brush of a cheater, and no character will lose prestige for refusing to duel you. Be sure to only use this in a duel you must win.
Cost: 5 GP

Paralysis Drop-Before a duel begins, many tend to take a swig of water or wine or mead. However, if the Paralysis drop is in there, the duel will end as quickly as it started. The limbs go numb, and the muscles stop functioning, making it a near guaranteed victory. Of course, using this tactic will severely damage your prestige. Has a higher chance of success than normal food poisoning
Cost: 15 GP

Assassin-A special assassin only used during duels, this should only be used in certain extenuating circumstances. While this assassin is a guarantee of success for both your victory, and for your opponents death, your character might be treated as if he is dead, and will suffer the largest possible prestige drop possible in the game. As a small consolidation, this assassin is specially trained to hide as your dueling second, and will only initiate his attack if it seems as if you are going to lose. This is a 100% guarantee kill unless your opponent ALSO hires an assassin. The assassins will cancel one another out, and the duel will proceed normally.
Cost: 50 GP

Throwing the Duel-Not technically cheating, but deserves a special mention. If you so wish, you may “throw” a duel for whatever reason. Simply indicate that you wish to do so, and you will lose the duel, taking a normal prestige hit. There may be a small chance of discovery though, and if it is discovered, both you and the victor will suffer further prestige hits.
Cost: Free!

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Moderator Note: Yes I am aware that it might be ridiculous that a 26 year old seasoned military officer is dueling at the same level (initially at least) as a 56 year old silver baron, but there is little I can or will do about it. I am also aware that some of you have characters that are far too old to reasonably be expected to duel. In this case, in game you will have a “second” so to speak to duel for you, such as a son or daughter. If that character is beaten and killed, your character will be “eliminated” so to speak (heart attack from the shock, depression from watching your child die, the disgrace for letting your child die for you, ect. w.e you want), and will count as a normal death

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New Position:

Master Architect-Another minister available to the monarch, the Master Architect is in charge of ensuring both the capital and the Palast Rin have buildings that are not in danger of collapse, still in style, and do not unnecessarily clutter the city or Palast. The Master Architect makes all buildings for the monarch 25% cheaper. However, this position usually does not draw a royal salary. Instead, the Master Architect usually makes his income from bribes; any character (aside from the monarch) must have a building permit to construct any structures, and often the Master Architect charges around 10% (or more!) the cost of the building that is being created for “administrative work”. Also, the Master Architect can, if deemed necessary, destroy buildings (aside from those held by the monarch of course) by paying 75% of the cost (rounded up) of said building. The character who owned the building will lose 50% of the prestige (rounded down) from the loss.

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Structures-An easy, safe, non lethal way to gain prestige is by building! Elodasians love buildings, and the capital is oft called the city of monuments for good reason. Though permission is needed from the crown or its ministers to build one, if one can afford the cost of these structures, they will have their name etched into the history of Elodas.

Fountain-An impressive fountain, it is a true display of Elodasian (or more likely Pierramontian) engineering. Synchronized water flows, fill it with wine or mead, the fountain is the early and easy way to get your foot into the buildings arms race.
Cost: 25 GP
Grants: 5 Prestige

Statue-What better way to immortalize yourself than to create a statue? Be it on horseback, sword in hand, or holding a scroll or scepter, the statue can help immortalize your role in the history of Elodas.
Cost: 50 GP
Grants: 13 Prestige

Garden-The garden is a fixture of palace life. Parties, courtships, and murder plots can all be held in the luxurious gardens, and you will be the toast of the palace for your creation. How ironic would it be if you were killed while relaxing here though?
Cost: 75 GP
Cost: 25 Prestige

Tower-The ultimate in statements of your power and wealth, the tower is one of the lasting impressions one can make on the capital’s landscape. Impressive and practical, the tower shows that you are atop of both the world and society.
Cost: 100 GP
Grants: 50 Prestige


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Events: One last way to earn prestige of course is events! What kind of palace would it be if we didn’t have events? Though there are only a few right now, there may be more added in the future!

Coronation (Monarch only, only upon election)-You only get one, so to speak. A coronation is your chance to showcase your wealth and power, and is the best time to do so. Make it count! (1 GP Spent=1 Prestige Gained)

Masquerade Ball-The people of Elodas love to dance, and one of the most fashionable things to do is to hold a masquerade. Though not particularly prestigious in itself (you are all expected to hold parties as nobles) is the fact that you can deny entry to certain persons, giving them a prestige hit. Don’t be too surprised though if you have a duel challenge waiting for you soon. The biggest possibility of a masquerade though, is the opportunity to murder someone. With a mask on, plots are much more likely to succeed and much less likely to be discovered. Have fun! When holding a Ball, please announce so in the thread, and if you intend to go, please RSVP inside your orders.
Cost: 15 GP
Grants: +1 Prestige, -3 Prestige to those who do not attend, -5 Prestige to any who are denied entry.

The Great Hunt-A strong tradition of Elodas is hunting the great boars and stags of the forest. Though it can be dangerous to hunt, from both accidents and “accidents”, it still is an excellent pastime. The host is the “Master/Mistress of the Hunt” and they are allowed to invite any character they so choose (and can pay for) for a chance to ride with them and have a shot at glory. The more characters that are in your party, the higher your prestige gain (or loss!) will be. Of course, too large a party and you may never find the Great White Bull or one of the other legendarily deadly creatures that is rumored to lurk the forests, and too small a party and you may not be able to kill it! The ultimate chance at prestige though is if the King or Queen accompanies you and you alone on a hunt. Who knows what can happen! A character can only join up to one hunt per turn
Cost: 5 GP per character that joins the hunt (can be paid for by the Host) (Max: 10)
If the Monarch is hosting or is a part of the hunt: 10 GP per character
Gains:
For Participants: A chance of anywhere +3 to -3 Prestige (Up to +5 if the Monarch is present) depending on the success of the Hunt.
For Master of the Hunt: A chance of anywhere from +10 to -10 Prestige Depending on the Success of the Hunt and who joins the Hunt.
If a Great Beast is Found: The Master of the Hunt determines who may kill it, for an additional 3 to 10 bonus points of prestige.
If the Monarch Hosts the Hunt: If they choose to invite just one person, that character will gain +10 prestige. The monarch will gain prestige only from the success of the hunt. If inviting more than one character, normal rules regarding prestige apply once more.