Ceremony leaders at shrines

[Ivarenna]

OOC:

Rune Lords are the highest rank at shrines and also the lowest rank permitted to lead a ceremony.

In fact at shrines there is one Rune Lord, one Assistant Runelord and three God-talkers.

Rather than having the Rune Lord conduct all four ceremonies at the shrine each month, it might make sense to share the workload. This would allow the Rune Lord time off for heroquests, cult missions, going to the front etc.

So I would suggest:-

a) For shrines only, allow God Talkers and above to conduct ceremonies.
b) For shrines roll a D6 to see who conducts the ceremony in a given week.
1-3) one of the three God Talkers
4) the assistant Rune Lord
5) the Rune Lord
6) a visiting priest from another temple

Visiting priest table (D10)
1-4) assistant priest
5-7) priest
8-9) chief priest
10) high priest

When a player character becomes a god-talker at a shrine he/she just needs to be assigned a number so when a god-talker is chosen to conduct the ceremony it is clear whether or not he/she has been chosen.

If a player character has been chosen to conduct a ceremony he/she must do so if in Boldhome. O/w (if at the Front for example) rerandomise.

Anyway, just a suggestion. I appreciate that implementing this would be extra work. It could be simplified by not having visiting priests and selecting the Rune Lord to conduct the ceremony on both a 5 and a 6 on the D6.

[Ivarenna]

Alternative table for determining who conducts the ceremony (uses a D10):-

1-3) God-talker
4-6) Assistant Rune Lord
7-9) Rune Lord
10) Visiting Priest (see table)

[Puckohue]

When a player character becomes a god-talker at a shrine he/she just needs to be assigned a number so when a god-talker is chosen to conduct the ceremony it is clear whether or not he/she has been chosen.

If a player character has been chosen to conduct a ceremony he/she must do so if in Boldhome. O/w (if at the Front for example) rerandomise.

PC Rune Lords and above are free to lead ceremonies - or not - in whatever week they want to. This does not affect the NPC ceremony leaders - there can be more than one ceremony at a temple in the same week.

Of course, if the only Rune Lord at a shrine is a PC, we could end up having no ceremonies there at all, if the PC Rune Lord decided not to lead any.

At least two ways out:
a) let God-talkers and above lead ceremonies at shrines (as you suggest), or
b) make it mandatory for the highest ranking cult member of each cult to lead at least one ceremony each turn.

Alternative b would mean the current random determination of ceremony leader would have to take into account that the highest ranking member must be assigned a week each turn.

But now that I think about it, alternative a could still lead to no ceremonies at a shrine, if all five positions were held by PCs who decided not to lead any ceremony.

Maybe a+b?

As to visiting priests... I just don't know. Sure, if we want "balance" between cults, but Babeester Gor is a very minor cult, being mostly an appendage to the Ernalda cult, and I think that should have consequences in the game. But I'm not dogmatic about this.

[Fionn]

Members of minor cults are already penalized by limits on possible advancement, as well as by having fewer high-level celebrants to toady to. If additionally they have to spend a week every month leading ceremonies just when they thought they had escaped cult duties, everybody will join one of the two main cults for practical reasons, which would be a pity from a roleplaying viewpoint.

If PC Runelords are going to be compelled to serve it should apply to all cults; since there are multiple ceremonies each week, such PCs could lead a secondary service while the Priest leads the main one. Alternatively, you could either decree that leading (as opposed to attending) a ceremony does not take up the whole week; or else that a visiting Runelord takes up the slack if a PC does not want to celebrate.

A third possibility would be to make leading a ceremony more attractive; at present it is just the same as throwing a party limited to your own cult, plus a possibility of helping/harming one of the congregation. Perhaps there could be a small chance of Divine Intervention or (1/2 point of ) POW gain?

[Ivarenna]

When a player character becomes a god-talker at a shrine he/she just needs to be assigned a number so when a god-talker is chosen to conduct the ceremony it is clear whether or not he/she has been chosen.

If a player character has been chosen to conduct a ceremony he/she must do so if in Boldhome. O/w (if at the Front for example) rerandomise.

PC Rune Lords and above are free to lead ceremonies - or not - in whatever week they want to. This does not affect the NPC ceremony leaders - there can be more than one ceremony at a temple in the same week.

Of course, if the only Rune Lord at a shrine is a PC, we could end up having no ceremonies there at all, if the PC Rune Lord decided not to lead any.

At least two ways out:
a) let God-talkers and above lead ceremonies at shrines (as you suggest), or
b) make it mandatory for the highest ranking cult member of each cult to lead at least one ceremony each turn.

Alternative b would mean the current random determination of ceremony leader would have to take into account that the highest ranking member must be assigned a week each turn.

But now that I think about it, alternative a could still lead to no ceremonies at a shrine, if all five positions were held by PCs who decided not to lead any ceremony.

Maybe a+b?

As to visiting priests... I just don't know. Sure, if we want "balance" between cults, but Babeester Gor is a very minor cult, being mostly an appendage to the Ernalda cult, and I think that should have consequences in the game. But I'm not dogmatic about this.

Thanks for your thoughts on that.

The combination of a+b sounds the best but for b maybe make it mandatory just once per period rather than once each turn.

Agreed that Babeester Gor is a somewhat minor cult. So fairly relaxed on your ruling on visiting priests. As regards balance, if balance promotes maximum game fun from having more variety of player choices then go for balance. But definitely not balance for its own sake. I guess one benefit of being in a smaller cult is that one can be a big fish in a small pond. And that is consistent with letting god-talkers lead ceremonies as per above. But not sure if there should be other in-game benefits or not. If Babeester Gor is considered an appendage to Ernalda then one way of achieving a bit more game balance would be to allow Initiates to attend a ceremony of an associate cult as their second week of cult duties.

[Ivarenna]

Members of minor cults are already penalized by limits on possible advancement, as well as by having fewer high-level celebrants to toady to. If additionally they have to spend a week every month leading ceremonies just when they thought they had escaped cult duties, everybody will join one of the two main cults for practical reasons, which would be a pity from a roleplaying viewpoint.

If PC Runelords are going to be compelled to serve it should apply to all cults; since there are multiple ceremonies each week, such PCs could lead a secondary service while the Priest leads the main one. Alternatively, you could either decree that leading (as opposed to attending) a ceremony does not take up the whole week; or else that a visiting Runelord takes up the slack if a PC does not want to celebrate.

A third possibility would be to make leading a ceremony more attractive; at present it is just the same as throwing a party limited to your own cult, plus a possibility of helping/harming one of the congregation. Perhaps there could be a small chance of Divine Intervention or (1/2 point of ) POW gain?

Thanks Fionn. Good points. Particularly re leading ceremonies.

By the way I interpreted the rules on ceremonies to mean praise and attacks could be made against anyone, not just those present in the congregation!

[Puckohue]

a possibility of helping/harming one of the congregation.

As noted above, the target can be any character.

make leading a ceremony more attractive; at present it is just the same as throwing a party limited to your own cult,

If you lead a ceremony you don't have to pay for your guests' carousing. In fact, you get half of what they donate straight down your own pocket.

[Puckohue]

a) let God-talkers and above lead ceremonies at shrines (as you suggest), or
b) make it mandatory for the highest ranking cult member of each cult to lead at least one ceremony each turn.

The combination of a+b sounds the best but for b maybe make it mandatory just once per period rather than once each turn.

Maybe even only make it mandatory that someone (could be a God-talker or above) leads a ceremony at the shrine each Turn, but it's the Rune Lord's responsibility to make sure that happens? Remember: NPC God-talkers would lead ceremonies every week, so the no-ceremony-problem would only occur if all ranks were PCs (so higlhly unlikely). PC God-talkers would have to be told to lead a ceremony (in a week of their choice) in an announcement.

allow Initiates to attend a ceremony of an associate cult as their second week of cult duties.

Good idea!

Anyway, parallell to this I'm thinking about court attendance. I think it'd be appropriate if the highest cult official would have access to some court activities, which would mean early access to court for minor court officials.

[Ivarenna]

Maybe even only make it mandatory that someone (could be a God-talker or above) leads a ceremony at the shrine each Turn

Makes sense. To clarify, will player character God-talkers/Assistant Rune Lords be able to (volunteer to) conduct a ceremony even when the Rune Lord is an NPC?

Anyway, parallell to this I'm thinking about court attendance. I think it'd be appropriate if the highest cult official would have access to some court activities, which would mean early access to court for minor court officials.

Interesting!