Hmm. Some dissatisfaction with the way that Bonds are coming out (or, more to the point, not coming out) in some people's stories.

Bonds, in spirit (heh), are an excellent method for involving you in the game world but as implemented they don't actually do a lot to make that happen, outside of the whole Nettle Rite business (which can be fun but can also suck if that's all that Bonds are good for).

Accordingly:

• Everyone must have at least 15 points in Bonds, but no more than 20, "to start".
  
• No listed Bond can start at a strength of less than 2, nor a strength greater than 5 or 6 without excellent justification (there are few possible Bonds I can think of that would merit this). So, I'll be lopping off everyone's 1-point Bonds from their sheets. If this leaves you with less than 15 points, we'll need to do some adjustments of what's left.
  
• Nobles will be considered to have an infinite number of 1-point Bonds, which you can introduce during the course of play (or which I can point out when you act as if you care about something). These can be 'upgraded' as time goes by using the "Lines of Development" below.
  
• Bonds must be "things" of some sort, be they abstract like philosophies and goals, or physical like places, people, and possessions. They have to be riskable.
  
• Whenever you proactively involve a Bond in a session (or, if I put them at risk), you will be able to use a number of Miracle Points equal to that Bond's strength, but only for Miraculous actions which directly involve the Bond in question. So, if you had a strength 3 Bond for "Preservation of My Estate", then when acting to preserve your estate, you'd get an extra 3 Miracle Points specifically for actions involving that goal until the end of the scene. If you're also involving/risking an Anchor Bond in this scene to help preserve the Estate, then that Anchor's Bond strength would be available as well.
  
• Bonds used in this fashion get "tagged". At the end of a session, all tagged Bonds get one or two "lines" of development (depending on the severity of circumstance, and GM-Player negotiation and discretion). A line is a sentence you write underneath the Bond, describing the circumstance that Bond was used (e.g., 'Defended Estate against a Flower Rite').
  • Since we're adding this retroactively, folks can add Lines to their Bonds from previous sessions if appropriate: sadly, I don't know if we'll have that many to retrofit.
  
  
• In future sessions, if your Bond is involved in a circumstance that is similar to one or more of the lines listed with it, then its Strength is considered one higher for the purpose of determining MP availability (e.g., you have 'Met secretly in Locust Gardens with a Cammora representative', and another secret meeting in the Gardens is afoot, you'd be at +1 Bond strength).
  
• Once a Bond has over three lines (so, four+), those lines are erased, and the Bond's Strength goes up by one.

Thoughts?

Resulting modifications come, at least in part, from the Marvel Universe RPG's notion of "lines of experience", and notions from Fate RPG (www.faterpg.com) and the way you can risk Relationships to get rerolls in Trollbabe -- alot of this was originally via discussion with Fred Hicks on the Nobilis list.

"Your demands are as nothing to me!" The castle bellowed from every arrow-slit. "I am Radmonghast! I am impenetrable! I give you this one chance to depart in shame. Do otherwise and I will rain arrows upon you, pour molten sand from my turrets, and sally forth my knights to leave their horseshoe footprints in your bloodied remains."

"I have," I said calmly, "a map."

"Then let it guide you elsewhere!" Radmonghast thundered. Its people lined the causeway to shriek defiance.

"I also have," I continued, "A bottle of white-out."

After a long pause, a meek voice drifted across the moat from a single barely open window. "What is thy will, my Lord?" the chastened castle asked.

- from "Service Beyond the Soul", Tony Lower-Basch

Rites can do interesting things.

Anyway, on Saturday, the question of Rites came up.

Hmm. That's unclear. What do I mean by that?

They're not mortal magic.
They're not noble miracles.
They're not gifts.
What are they?

Yes, we can look at the list of Rites in the Gifts section of the book and see what they *do* (in many ways, they accomplish things that Noble miracles can't), but how do you explain them? How do you come up with guidelines for them?

IC, they seem like baby's attempt at Imperial (Imperator) Miracles. They're referred to as "Simple Rites" in the book, so it's quite likely they're a lesser form of Imperial miracle, hence "Simple" Rites. People using them are connecting to the Spirit World to create a sort of short-cut in the Prosaic/Mythic world. Greater Rites are beyond the scope of mortals and most Powers, presumably because they require the sort of understanding of the Spirit World that only Imperators have.

OOC, they seem to be intended for use when Nobles should clearly, as demigods, be able to do something, but there isn't an explicit mechanic for it. The default is "Humans can't do it, so it's not Aspect, and it's not Domain or Realm, so it's a Rite and depends somehow on Spirit." (In a sense, they're spirit miracles?)

Rituals and Magic Rites are much like programs and formulas. They are a methodology that taps into the very threads of Spiritus Dei that Creation is patterned from. In essence, the seeds for these powers exist in the framework of Reality already. In database talk, they would be stored procedures, so reality is sitting on some stored procedures and rituals are the database queries that access them. Results tend to be somewhat consistant and reliable. Cause and Effect. Maybe they are both less and more than Noble Miracles... maybe they're just how Spirit Miracles express themselves.

How to I make new ones? How do I design rules for them, since they are different from many other bits of Nobilis? (Though they still fit the feel of the genre, to me.)

• How and where do they fit in the heirarchy of all the other abilities and attributes available to Nobles? What niche to they fill?
  • They're simplified (and therefore somewhat false) understandings of immensely complex systems. For a mortal example... you get on your computer, you click a few times, you wait a few days, and a new book is delivered to you. The more you think about this sequence of actions... well, it's more comfortable not to think about it, just pay the fee and hope everything goes right.
• What are a Rite's limitations?
  • Hmm. Looking at the rites already mentioned in the book, a good rule might be that you can choose only two of the following three properties: Simple, Reliable, Precise. So if you want a reliable, precise Rite then it's going to require you to go to extreme measures to get the ingredients, or perform it, or whatever. If you want a simpe, reliable rite then its results are going to be fuzzy or poorly targeted. And so on.

    Example: The Nettle Rite is Simple and Reliable, but not really very precise -- who knows, really, what kind of results you'll get, if any? The Anchoring Rite (which actually has some other name that I can't recall) is... Reliable and Precise -- on the surface, it also looks Simple (feed the mortal tears or blood), but when you realize that it requires you either Hate or Love of the subject... that's not simple, and may be quite time-consuming.

• Where do Rites excel beyond other Noble abilities?
  • Many of the Rites are useful in places where a direct Noble miracle would be overkill. Most Nobles could create a huge plaque of something-or-other whose shifting patterns would show them the entrance to a Chancel. But then they'd also have a huge plaque of something-or-other to contend with. Easier to spot it with a Rite. (Which, as a rite, might be Simple and ... well, it depends on the design of the Rite, but Reliable OR Precise would make sense, depending on the person who designs such a Rite.)
• Is it easier to explain them in metagame terms? If so, what metagame role do they fill?
  • They're there to prevent people from having to think too hard about things their Noble clearly should be able to do, but which the cosmology does not immediately support. Patches to the original program? :)

Thoughts?

So, Simple Rites:
1. Touch on the Underpinings of Creation (the Spirit World), manipulating things in the Mythic/Prosaic in some way that is not always entirely understood, even by the person doing the Rite.
2. Are strongly tied to Spirit -- while pretty much everyone knows the at least five of the "Big Six" rituals in the book (Nettle, Anchoring, Redtooth, Passage, Witchhunter, Holy Fire) -- other less-common Rites exist -- knowledge of such rites and the design of new Rites falls largely to those more closely connected to their Spirit (3+).
3. May (for a Noble) be two of these three things: Simple, Precise, or Reliable.

Here's another thought: what are some Rites that would make sense to develop, and does the stuff I've mentioned above concur with these thoughts?

*The Rite of Ill-born Spring*

This rite is usually performed by Nobles who wish to know when and where the Estates of a fallen member of the Familia next become enNobled. It may only be performed by a member of the appropriate Familia, though once the rite is set in motion, anyone may observe the physical results.

The rite consists of planting the seeds of the flower(s) of each Estate one wishes to inquire after, in soil that has been mixed with dried petals from a blossom of the flower(s) from the design of the Noble that previously held the Estate. The seeds must be watered with the tears of one of the surviving Nobles for a day and a night to complete the ritual.

The seeds of a fallen Estate will remain dormant until a new noble is chosen for it (unconfirmed reports say that the rite occasionally reveals incipient commencements as well). Near sunset of that day, the seeds related to that Estate will suddenly sprout, growing to full maturity in a matter of minutes, and blossoming in full splendor in the light of the dying sun.

Advanced practitioners of this rite (those with high Spirit) may get results that enable them to gain greater insight into the nature of their new Familia by observing the growth of the flowers. For example, if two flowers of seperate Estates are suddenly twining together, it could indicate a potential close affinity or alliance between the two new nobles, or the fact that both estates are now held by the same Noble. Unusually pale blossoms could indicate a nascent Power of the Dark, unusually vivid ones may mean a power of the Light or Heaven, flowers that send roots, stems, or runners outside the confines of the vessel used for the rite might indicate a power of the Wild, etc.

Once mature, the miraculous blossoms will reveal hints of the location and identity of the new Noble. (In game terms, the Noble uses a level 0 realm miracle to feel for the connections between her own Estate and that of the new Noble, using the blossom as a bridge.)

Unfortunately, Nobles are slippery (at best) when it comes to divination, and divination itself is an unreliable power, so even the clearest of these hints takes the form of vague impressions and cryptic omens. Of course, once the Noble has correctly interpreted the basic place, it's usually a relatively simple matter to go there and use The Sight to discern who is a Noble and who is not.

Obviously, this rite is a useful tool, but one that most Nobles hope never to need.

Simple. Reliable. Not Precise. Seems to work.

What else have we seen with regards to non-book rituals?
- There's one that lets you tell where a currently open gate is directed -- probably Simple, Precise, but unreliable (auctoritas could mess it up, as may efforts by the Gatemaker... also requires you be near the Gate itself, and possibly that you've been where you're going.)

Here's another couple we've used:

Slow Bloom Ritual

Each morning, he arises with the dawn. Before breaking his fast, he goes to the garden and carefully examines every inch of soil. Sometimes, a tender green shoot pokes tentatively through the earth, yearning for warmth and light.
He smiles. His heart swells with pride. Then he crushes it beneath his boot. These shall only flower when he is no more. His harvest is a bitter one.

- Scorpion's Garden, by Anselm Markoff

The Slow Bloom ritual captures a miracle in the heart of a seed. To activate the ritual, the Noble need only perform the miracle while holding the seed, and spend two SMPs. The miracle will lie quiescent in the seed until the flower blooms, at which point the miracle will be performed as if the Noble had just done so. The target, intent, range and penetration of the Miracle must be set when the Slow Bloom ritual is performed. The miracle can also be used on a closed flower, one that will open again at dawn, in which case the miracle will be activated when the flower opens. The caster of the ritual may cancel the coming miracle by merely touching the seed and willing it so, but any miracle points spent are still expended. Many Nobles have boxes of seeds containing stored Miracles, which will bloom after they have been slain or imprisoned. Wise assassins strike first at greenhouses.

Simple, Precise, unreliable.

The Nameless "Guilt" Rite
This was the one we used (tied to a Tamarisk bloom) to cause the flower to bloom when in the presence of the person who had commited a crime against the person in question. Sort of a Witchhunter Rite crossed with a Geiger Counter. I'd say that was Simple, Reliable, but Imprecise (since even after it bloomed it didn't really tell you specifics, and it performed in a number of unexpected ways (it bloomed both around the Sword, and around Friendship, which you weren't expecting).

Actually, this would be a good 'anti-Nettle' Rite... you could use to figure out who Nettled you just so you could be sure you were getting revenge on the right person.

I've been talking over on Random Encounters about making magic magical in an RPG and that touched on another discussion I've been meaning to have over here about the (missing) mythic elements within the Chrysalis campaign.

What I mean in saying this is that most of the sessions fail to have a mythic tone to them. Most of this lies squarely on me -- to have a mythic feel, I have to provide both a mythic storyline and mythic elements to the setting, and I'm not usually doing that.

Presuming (and PLEASE speak up if that's not the case), adding that sort of flavor to the game is something that you guys would find a more mythic tone 'good' (I'm guessing that's so, since Nobilis itself is that kind of game), I want to discuss some of the problems with what's going on and also mention a few things that I think might help change things a bit -- your thoughts on any portion are welcome... very nearly required, in point of fact.

Problems, Solutions

P1: Imagery (or: The Myths of Gen-X are, appropriately, sadly, and very nearly anagramatically, X-men)
For whatever reason (and I have some theories about that), my generation lacks a certain exposure to myths and fairy tales, so the sort of symbolism normally associated with mythic types of stories sometimes escapes me. For an example, take a look at the Miami fight, which should have been Merlin in the Hollow Hills and came out like Avengers Assemble.

S1: A concious effort on my part to create set pieces that evoke more of a mythic feel. As ***Dave pointed out, I'm hampered in this somewhat due to the places were a lot of stuff is taking place -- Miami, New Orleans, two fairly prosaic chancels... the Real World. I have a much more successful time with this when we're in strange locales (because it's easier and I'm lazy :). Still, no reason that Miami in the Mythic is any less mythic... it just doesn't immediately occur to me to present it that way.

I also think it would help to review some of the flores in the GWB that really captures the mythic-within-the-modern-world -- I might put together a collection of such fiction bits and mail them out to everyone as a way of creating a little bubble that contains a more helpful mindset.

P2: Actions and Activity (or: 9mm Berettas are not invited to Ragnarok)
Generally, very much of what we're doing in the game is grounded strongly in a Prosaic idiom. Not all of this is bad; in fact, for several people, the conflict between their mythic (noble) self and prosaic (human) self is part of the story that's Important and Should Be Told. That said, there isn't any homely charm to the prosaic events of a Noble life if there's nothing to contrast it to. Donner's ongoing... thing... with Gwen is interesting -- it (and his overarcing 'man trying to be a god trying to be man' story) is generally more interesting when contrasted with things which are not normal.

Yesterday, I asked Jackie why one of her characters she's played in Nobilis (Jasmine), tended to act more like a proper demi-god and the other (Macy) tended to act like like a bad-ass superhero. Her response had the succinctness that suggested I should have already guessed the answer:

Perception of who they were before they were more. Different people chosen for different reasons. Macy is a weapon and Jasmine is a tea shop owner - very different people.

So, back to one of ***Dave's comments, it's also true that some of Problem2 (and Problem1) comes from the nature of many of the characters: Sian hates the mythic and searches for her humanity. Donner works to retain his prosaic self and reality. Macy is very much as she was before her enNoblement. June is very connected to her earthly self. Et cetera.

P2 Corollary: It's hard to think in terms of the actions surrounding the myth when I'm constantly retranslating every damn action into Game Rule Terms.

S2: Lead by example. Simply put, Mythic actions (and by this I mean the lyrical or poetic description of a mythic event that one has caused, not the game-term 'miraculous action') demand Mythic response.

S2 Corollary: Something that's leeching the magical imagery out of the game is that I'm very focused on making sure everyone understands the rules right now because I'm trying to teach them, so that even when we DO describe something in very evocative terms, I then break it down from the subjective-immersive to the objective-non-immersive.

I'm considering simply removing that element from the games for awhile -- you describe the action and how badly you want it (not unlike a 'blind spend' in Amber) and I'll tally the miracle points and cost, describe how that feels and give tangible results, and we'll worry about the specific points only after/between games. If everyone trusts me to be fair and stick with the rules behind the curtain, I will do that in the future, though I'm ALWAYS willing to stop and explain the mechanics of something if someone requests it.

I had more luck doing some of this earlier in the campaign when I didn't really have time to worry about the rules I didn't know -- now that I believe I understand them, they tend to interfere more... or I tend to vocalize them more, which causes problems by codifying the miraculous, breaking the fourth wall, and letting the air out of the Belief Suspension Balloons.

There's more, but the rest I think might evolve out of comment-window discussion.

In messing with the Nobilis Chancel-creation Tool, I realized that we'd sort of done some things oddly in Storyville.

Obviously, the points are a bit messed up, since the previous total came out to 1. I messed up how 'normal magic' and 'magical inhabitants' works. Oops.

Recommend a variation like this:

Currently paid for by the two Realm points invested by players, as the Chancel isn't 'really important' yet... that's happening over time, so I don't have to sweat the balancing act yet.

In Locus Noctis, we see...

I've been thinking a lot about conflict and opposed Miracles tend to work. I'm not entirely happy with the standard way of doing it from the book, and I had been doing it another way for a couple of sessions, but I decided to give the 'straight' rules a try.

The thing is, I perceived the straight rules as being somehow different from the variant rules I was using; they aren't, they just require more math.

I hate math.

What I like about Nobilis is that you've got your 'normal optimum' in each Attribute and those lovely little Miracle Points that can be used to stage things up to a Greater Effect if you need it... you can't really said you've Given It Your All in Nobilis until You've dropped 8 MP's on a Word of Command whose very invocation ruptured your spleen. THAT'S effort.

What I don't like is dealing with the rules on spending MPs towards Penetration rules and Auctoritas.

-=-=-

Therefore, I'm going to (re)implement a house rule regarding miraculous conflict and how it works with Auctoritas:

Way it currently works: An attack must have 'penetration' defined ahead of time or it goes poof if it hits any sort of Auctoritas, or if it hits an Auctoritas higher than the Penetration you decided to use.

Example:
Player one has Aspect 4, Spirit 1.
Player two has Domain (cold) 4, Spirit 4.

Way combat works now:

1. Player 1 punches player 2 as an Aspect 4 miracle. Player1 defines no Penetration on the attack, so nothing happens. Poof. P1 eventually has to declare (on some later action) that the attack was Aspect 0, Penetration 4 to get a crappy effect (and he probably has to make several attacks to "get the range": "I try penetration 1... no? how about 2? no? damn..."), or spend miracle points to keep the attack high and still penetrate... and still keep guessing for awhile. Ugh.

2. Player 2 uses a Domain Cold attack on Player 1. Domain 4, but no penetration. It goes poof. There isn't much Auctoritas there, but it's enough.

The Way I want it to work: Auctoritas interferes with any incoming miracle, moving it down in strength to a degree equal to the strength of the Auctoritas... the remaining strength of the attack or effect gets through.

How it would look with the same characters:

1. Player 1 punches Player 2 as an Aspect 4 miracle. Player 2's Auctoritas of 4 pushes the punches strength down to an Aspect 0 miracle, which is basically a competent Mortal's punch, and that is what connects... a bruise at best, unless P2 is already hurt. Player1 knows he's going to have to 'push himself' (spend MPs) to do serious damage, but doesn't have to specifically allocate MPs towards penetration.

2. Player 2 uses a Domain Cold (4) attack on Player 1 (who has Spirit 1). P1's auctoritas pushes the Domain 4 miracle down to a 3, which isn't enough 'miracle' for Lesser Creation of Cold (need level 4), so it basically becomes a illusory ghost miracle within P1's auctoritas (actually, at level 3, it strengthens and preserves any existing Cold in the area, but doesn't create any of it's own), and P2 knows that he needs to pump it up (but necessarily by how much).

Anyway, this means the players don't have to worry about declaring Penetration or crunching numbers at all. Here's what they see:

1.
"I punch him. Aspect 4 Miracle."

"His auctoritas is strong, pushing out against every hostile move you make in his direction... you're landing punches, but they don't have any more oomph than a mortal brown belt."

"Damn... okay, time to push."

2.
"Freeze the area: lesser creation of cold... something like a sleet storm."

"The area is rimed in ice and several of the mooks are knocked to the ground by the slippery conditions and the incredibly painful slivers of ice blasting through the air, but the air around your main opponent contains on the mist of his breath as it mists in the air and the ghostly images of the effect... nothing significant seems to be reaching him."

Both players know they have to spend MP's to overwhelm the Auctoritas, but they don't have to declare a Miracle/Penetration split, just overall "Oomph". The net effect on their MP's is EXACTLY the same, but the combats play faster, with less focus on number crunching and math.

The limits on how many MPs can be spent on any action remain exactly the same: 1, 2, 4, or 8.

The interesting thing is that this is exactly how the rules play out in the Great White Book... it's just more complicated. :P

Just stuff I've cleared up in re-reading bits of the book.

- One may only sustain one miracle at a time. If you decided to do a level 6 Aspect miracle of 'defeating an entire army, one man at a time, over the course a week's constant battle', then you can't sustain any other miracles during that time. However, you can perform other 'instant' miracles or use Gifts while sustaining a miracle, provided the second miracle/gift use doesn't cost any MPs to perform.

- I'd previously said that you couldn't do two miracles at once (as in: one long, one short). As you see above, that's not the case, but you can still only perform one miracle per 'round' when in conflict situations -- answering a prayer counts as a miracle, thus answering a prayer in mid-combat is probably a bad thing.

- In the event of using Penetration vs. Auctoritas, it states at one (and only one) point in the book that ties go to Auctoritas. Every other example given in the book indicates that ties breach Auctoritas -- that's what we've been doing, and that's what we're going to keep doing. (I.e.: Penetration 5 penetrates Auctoritas 5).

- I'm still trying to figure out how 'points spent to make a more power miracle' layer with 'points spent on penetration of the miracle'. More on that later.

Because Randy asked about it as a possibility, and John also mentioned more anchors it in passing:

Extra Anchors Gift

Miracle level: Total maximum # of Anchors, minus 1.
+1 Automatic
-3 Self-only
-1 Comprehensive Use
+1 Uncommon

FINAL COST: Total maximum number of anchors you'd end up with (counting the ones you already have), -3

So, if you wanted Six anchors total: 6 - 3 = a 3-point Gift of Spirit.

The maximum anchors possible would, I suppose, be 11 (an 8-point gift).

"Hello there, little toaster spirit."

"HI!"

"I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"I TOAST!"

"Yes, about that... do you remember what happened in here yesterday morning?"

"I TOAST! I TOAST BREAD!"

"... Quite. Were you toasting bread yesterday mor--"

"I TOAST BREAD AND THEN I POP! TOAST! POP!"

-- From Interrogatus Interruptus: Murder Investigation in the Mythic

Or, as ***Dave puts it: "Mythic Realm = Toontown"

It seems that the interaction of Mythic and Prosaic Realities is one aspect of many Nobilis games that people have problems with; it's harder to consistently visualize and every HG has their own take on how the Mythic works, it's harder to know by what rules it operates.

I've been thinking about the Mythic and the way that it is often taken as sort of a running punchline and how that's not really what I'm aiming for most of the time. (Most of the time. :) I'd love to hear some more about this.

The 'toontown' perception that I mentioned above comes, I think, from me presenting the Mythic in a fairly specific way. I've gone the route of portraying spirits as being relatively 'pure' things -- pure in a Taoist sense -- they are purely themselves, not unlike a young child, and as such they come off as somewhat childlike in their intensity of self-ness. (In a sense, they are like the little forest spirits seen in Princess Mononoke - curious about things, but fairly simple and very straightforward.)

For instance, I was recently describing an excrucian ship that had crashed on the shores of Locus Noctis. In the mythic, residual energy rolled off the ship like dry ice smoke. The local spirits were all very curious about the alien thing; small wave- and water-spirits splashed against the hull, scrabbling to get higher up on the ship before eventually losing their grip and sliding back down (like, I suppose, an energetic pre-schooler trying to climb a slide from the bottom up).

Now personally, I was pretty proud of that visualization -- I thought it captured the 'child-like sense of curiosity/wonder of a pure wave-spirit' that I was going for. Spirits aren't always useful, that's true, anymore than a toddler is always useful... but that doesn't mean they never are -- you just have to know how to deal with them.

Now, I've also run more sophisticated spirits (perhaps 1 in 10 spirits might be able to have a reasonably useful conversation with a PC) -- naturally, these are spirits of more complex things -- for instance, the Spirit of a legal contract might be quite well-spoken and erudite, at least as far as the subject matter of the contract goes.

Still, for every talkative phone-spirit, there's a toaster spirit. :)

With everything starting up anew this weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to lay out what RSB calls a 'play contract' and state a few things for the record.

First, the Play Contract:

General
Players (including me) should refrain from any deliberate attempts to make other players uncomfortable. In addition to physical or verbal harassment, this includes inappropriate descripts of in-character behavior or drives, sadism, child abuse, and other miscellany that may offend. Character can certainly engage in controversial or deviant behavior (if necessary for their character concept), but if the issues raised are known to make one or more players uncomfortable, we'll keep the descriptions of such things short and to the point.

That said, we are all adults with (I think) both an interest in a strong and compelling story and a level of maturity that can allow for elements of the game to become uncomfortable ("grin and bear it") in order to achieve a 'good' scene. I will proceed with that assessment in mind.

Autonomy
You control the minds and emotions of your character(s). If I or another player describes your PC's mental reaction to something, you can always correct them. They can always clarify why they made that description, but that can't argue -- it's your character.

This is 100% true of your nobilis characters and about 70% true for your mortal anchors: keep in mind that I or another player might be playing one of your anchors (in order to be involved in a scene). Hopefully, everyone has a good idea of the character's involved and can play them accordingly. Purposely 'messing' with another character's anchor will not be permitted, but as we are adults, I expect the shared roleplaying of some characters will only add to the game.

Sex & Violence
Not to put too cynical a point on it, but most stories boil down to sex and violence and since this is a story we're all telling, we can expect both elements to make an appearance.

Sex Plots and character actions can feature the full range of consensual human behavior, but descriptions of same will not be lascivious or unnecessarily graphic.
Violence Violence tends to follow the style of darker action movies and comics. Death can sometimes be casual and sudden for some, and violent forms of expression might be commonly used by PCs and NPCs alike. PCs are expected not to kill one another -- anyone else is fair game.

Emphasis, Genre, and Expectations
Just a few bits to give you an idea of the sorts of things I tend to end up running, one way or the other.

Estates It's difficult to give good advice on what type of characters will work. Part of the wonder of this group is that you all will think of character concepts that I never would have and then make them work.

I think that general Estates work better than specific ones. I think that responsible/dedicated characters will work better than irresponsible/desultory ones. I'm willing to be proven wrong on both points.

Estate vs. Personality: It is very easy to fall into the trap of choosing your character's Estate and then basing everything in their personality on making them a perfect fit for that Estate. Equally dangerous, is the contrarian bent of making everything in the characters personality the direct opposite of what would be expected from their Estate.

Theme
There are many kinds of stories you can do in a Nobilis game; it works for a light-hearted, comedic, over-the-top powerfest -- it also works for dark and brooding metaphysical horror. Different groups (in fact, different characters) might be doing either or both in a single session, but it can ruin one story if another type of story overwhelms it, or if a character just doesn't fit.

Generally, I think it helps you predict the feel of the game if you know some my current influences.

Story Sandman, American Gods, Neverwhere, Dark City, Perdido Street Station.

Combat (as it would be in high-Aspect scenes)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, The Hulk, Pirates of the Caribbean, Grosse Pointe Blank

Scenes & Plotting
Gilmore Girls, anything by Joss Whedon, Alias (graphic novel or TV show)

Mythic Imagery
Baron Munchausen, City of Lost Children, Ghormenghast (in some places), Underworld, The Hulk, Amelie.

Overall feel
I like to have fun and laugh, and I like things to get creepy from time to time. Hopefully, I'll creep you out sometimes without going into that Call of Cthulu zone where your chance of survival is a joke. That said, actions have consequences.

Characters should be capable of treating their responsibilities seriously and of dedicating the greater part of their lives to the often unsavory tasks associated with defending reality (and themselves) against those who would destroy everything. At the same time, the character should also have some interests and pursuits other than those necessary for the maintenance of their Estate.

Experience Level
With a few exceptions, everyone's assumed to have had some experience as a Noble: enough to learn pretty much everything in the rulebook (excepting those described as a secret).

Rules
I direct you here.

Absent the right flower (or the knowledge of which flower is the 'right' flower) is it still possible to contact another Noble knowing nothing more than their Estate.

If you are in the presence of an instance of an Estate, you can direct a prayer to a Power associated with that Estate. As with any prayer, there's no guarantee that the Power is listening or will answer (your odds, as with flowers, are increased by continuing to try the connection, since it's not possible to "leave a message"), but your nature as a Power will make the prayer more noticeable than an ordinary mortal's prayer. Also, the more important the instance of the Estate, the more noticeable the prayer.

There's also no guarantee that the prayer won't also be heard by some other power than is intended; if you go to a hydroelectric plant, intending to contact the Power of Electricity, they may very well be overheard by the Power of Water, the Power of Potential, and the Power of Concrete -- that said, a similar risk exists when using flowers to direct your thoughts (especially if you don't actually know the Power you're contacting -- familiarity works in your favor) -- while wormword works for contacting the Power of Lost Things, it is the flower of Absence, and might certainly be an appropriate flower for any number of Powers.

Just as a quick summary to set the stage:

Contribution MP rules as they stand:

• Character Thought Record for a session, done before next session: 1 MP
  
• Keeping the Game Quotes for a session, done before next session: 1 MP
  
• Keeping the Game Log for a session, done before next session: 1 MP and 1 DynP*
  
  * - DynP = Dynasty Point (essentially a pool of miracle points that anyone in the group can draw from if necessary, or you can trade them in for stuff if you collect 25). The group currently has five of these.

These basically work like a Restriction that gives you 1 MP when it affects you. There are a few differences, which I've been working out. With a little input from the Nobilis list, this is what I came up with:

• Contribution MPs gained are added to on of the character's MP pools at the beginning of the following session. That's the only time they can be added -- if the contribution wasn't done before that point in time, the MP for the contribution is never gained. Ditto DynP's.
• UNLIKE normal MPs gained from encountering your in-game Restrictions, the MP's earned from contributions CAN take your total above your normal maximum. That is, if you've done your thought record but, at the beginning of the next session, all of your MP gauges are at 'full', you may still add that MP somewhere, thus raising a gauge above the normal max.
• The MPs from this contribution can be added to any pool, so long as all the pools are currently maxed out or higher. If one of your pools is below it's maximum, you have to fill it first before you can 'overfill'.
• If you can overfill a pool, you may overfill any pool you want... they don't have to be overfilled evenly.
• If we get to a session where all MP pools would return to 'full' status and you have some pools overfilled, they stay overfilled. They don't get any fuller. (You'll want to make a mark to show where your normal 'max' is.)
• If you wish, you can buy a "Social MP" (explained here) by trading in three 'overflow' MPs from the SAME pool.

Example 1: Lee turns in a thought record for session five before session six starts...

... wait, that's a bad example :)

... oh, what the heck, it might happen. :)

Example 1: Lee turns in a thought record for session five before session six takes place. At the beginning of session six, he gets a 'Contribution MP'. All of his MP pools are full, so he can add this to whatever pool he likes, overfilling it by one.

Example 2: De turns in a thought record for session five before session six takes place. At the beginning of session six, she gets a 'Contribution MP'. Most of her MP pools are full, but she's down 3 AMPs from session five, so that's where this regenned MP has to go.

I realize that some of you have regens from Contributions 'waiting in the wings' at the moment, so if you've kept track of them then by all means add them in -- I trust you. If you've done contributions but you don't know how many of those Contribution MPs you've used, talk to me and we'll figure out a roughly equitable number.

The question:

Is there any real reasoning behind not allowing players to spend 3 miracle points to get +3 Miracle Level, requiring instead the Deep Miracle for 4 miracle points to go the full 4? I can understand the point of not allowing 5, 6, or 7 (holding back for the Word of Power, and the benefits/dangers therein), but why exactly is the advantage of going 1, 2, 4, 8? As opposed to 1, 2, 3, 4 --> 8?

I've likened it to throwing a baseball.

Let's say you're standing on the pitchers mound. You have an attribute of 2 (which in this example is not a particularly good throwing arm -- you're probably the replacement pitcher for a recreational softball league :). Throwing the ball to any of the bases is about like doing a level 1 miracle. Simple. Piece of cake. Maybe Throwing it quickly is a 2. Also a Simple miracle. No problem.

Throwing it really hard, but the same distance (as in, putting penetration on it and getting to home plate fast), is going to cost you 1 MP. You've still got distance control.

Throwing it to the shortstop if he's playing deep for his position is 2 MP. It's hard, but you still know that x-effort = y-distance. Your ARM also knows there's a significant difference between throwing it hard to home plate and throwing it out to the deep shortstop.

Now if you have to go further out, things get hairy. You've got a guy playing shallow right field (technically, 3mp for a level 5 result) and a guy playing Deep Center field (4 mp for a level 6). The problem is, when you start to talk about stuff that is that far out (Deep miracles), you can't really think about different efforts -- for you, getting it to the shallow guy and the deep guy both require a Big Throw, it's just that one probably gets there with some zip on it (penetration) and one just... gets there. To your ARM, it's pretty much the same distance/effort.

Beyond that, there's really only one level of effort: Over the Fence. You can (maybe) throw it that far, but you're going to hurt your arm or shoulder doing it... you probably won't be throwing anything for a while after that. That’s a Word of Command.

I'm thinking of including a new way for you to spend your (as yet non-existent) Character Points, something I found in the Live-action book that seems like quite a lot of fun and usefulness.

They're called Social Miracle points. You start with none and can buy them 1:1 with CPs. They basically let you drastically speed up 'social' processes that would take multiple game sessions to affect normally, call in favors, that sort of thing, and let a few things take place 'automatically', off stage, between game sessions, so you don't have to (for instance) waste multiple game sessions making sure your secrets stay secret.

There are quite a few examples, appended below

Influence is represented in this idea as a pool of Social Miracle Points (I might simply call them "Influence Points" to remove any confusion), distinct from regular miracle points. The two kinds of miracle points are not interchangeable and do not intermingle. Characters have none of these Social MPs by default, but can purchase them for one character point each.

There would be specific goals achievable through the use of Social MPS.

• The completion of a project that receives effort from both PCs and NPCs, organized at least in part by the pc.
  
• Digging up information available in society but not to any player character.
  
• Social manipulation, such as attracting important people to a celebration or enticing a given NPC to ally with the character.
  
• Handling a specific social crisis - e.g., covering up a violation of the Windflower Law, exposing the same, or preventing some event that would blacken the name of a group.

In the setting, this mechanism represents the character or characters drawing on their personal social credit to convince others of and organize others towards the goal. Characters can achieve similar goals through roleplaying; this system is intended for cases where the goal interests the Hollyhock God or players but struggling to achieve it is not worth a significant portion of the game's focus.

Some examples of goals and their costs follow. Normally, one resolves a task either with roleplay or with Social MPs, with player interest guiding the my decision on the matter. However, some tasks may require both, and facilitating one's Social MP expenditure with a small amount of roleplay, planning, and positioning can reduce the MP cost. Note that one can spend Social MPS on someone else's behalf.

• Announcements. Announcements backed by one Social MP reach large numbers of NPC Powers. Announcements backed by three to five Social MPS have social significance. Thus, if a Power announces the alliance of three Familiae and someone spends five Social MPS, it becomes socially awkward for any Familia to disentangle itself later. Unless someone spent a similar number of Social MPS to endorse the separation, any Familia that breaks the alliance would receive less trust and more scrutiny from miscellaneous NPCS.
• Background Investigation. Anyone can ask around to find the name, design, code, known abilities and character traits, and public history of a Noble, as well as any current gossip about them. Spending one Social MP allows a PC to do so subtly, without word getting back to the subject, and generally returns the information more quickly.
• Concealing One's Background. One can spend Social MPS to keep one's life relatively private. These MPS both oppose background investigations (subtracting directly from the MPS spent on such) and reduce the information found through open inquiry.
• Cover-Ups. Spending Social MPS can impede the normal social channels of communication, keeping some of the events of the game secret. Characters may wish to conceal a major Code Fidelitatis violation, an interesting artifact or secret learned during the game, or protect other information from leaking. The HG can specify a cost between one and ten Social MPS for keeping it hidden. (It costs one Social MP even if the information is already perfectly concealed, since the PCs evidently don't know that.) This silences gossips and in general makes the news less interesting. It does not stop strongly motivated NPC witnesses or PCs in general from telling interested parties directly.
• Downtime Socializing. Characters can spend Social MPS to improve their relationships or undermine others' relationships with NPCs during downtime. Generally, the more entrenched the NPC's opinions are about the character, the more Social miracle points this action requires - one can gain the favor of an ambivalent NPC without a single Social miracle point, but changing someone's stance slightly from love or hate requires at least five.
• Events. Any character can hold a celebration, festival, council, wedding or other social gathering during the game. Spending one Social MP in advance makes it notable; the plots slows down slightly at the right time to allow it to take place. Spending three Social MPs makes it a meaningful event, more likely to attract plot than coexist with it. Spending five or more Social MPS ensures that important NPCs attend, and may even catch the attention of an Imperator or two.
• First Impressions. One can spend Social MPS to make a good first impression on an NPC. Although interaction can quickly turn this impression around, it never entirely erases it. The cost depends on the NPC'S good nature, ranging from one Social MP for a pleasant Power to five Social MPS for Scorn's-Regal Joktan.
• Interaction. Spending Social MPS can ensure that an NPC who is not a member of the usual cast of characters for the story makes an appearance. The cost depends on the NPC'S importance; an insignificant Power costs one Social MP, while Scorn's-Regal Joktan again costs five.
• Research. Anyone can ask PCs and NPCS about a given place, Imperator, mythic creature, or situation, with appropriate results. If additional information is available, the HGs can provide it for a standard cost of three Social MPs.

Note that any of these things can be accomplished through roleplaying, and should be, if it's central to your character's story. However, sometimes there's simply something you'd wish to accomplish by calling in a few favors and that's that. (This can be seen, in some cases, as a 1-point-day-of-effort-I'm-saving system.)

Subjective resolution of 'off-screen' activities like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth (like most subjective resolution systems). Anyone who knows me knows this. Therefore, I favor something like this for that kind of activity.

[To use CryHavoc as an example, this is the sort of thing that Diego or Fineas would be burning any number of points on (influencing public perception, gaining allies quickly with a note and a gift, etc.); Thirteen or Jacob might do so rarely (for off-screen intelligence gathering, mostly), and Toriana very rarely or not at all.]

Just a quick summation of the things you can do as game contributions to regen miracle points faster.

Character Thought Record for a session: 1 MP
Keeping the Game Quotes for a session: 1 MP
Keeping the Game Log for a session: 1 MP and 1 DP*

Note: All benefits are halved if it's not in before the next game, with enough time for me to read it.

* - DP = Dynasty Point (essentially a pool of miracle points that anyone in the group can draw from if necessary). Normally, you get one of these every session. I'm going to be a bastard: the DP for each session is generated when the Game Log reaches me or this page.

The way Anchors sort of need to work (if you haven't had a chance to dig deep into the book yet) is that there has to be love and/or hate involved in the Noble/Anchor relationship, and it needs to be a two-way street. You might be an unfeeling, unemotional son of a bitch, but when it comes to these guys, that is an ACT :)

Bottom line, humans might be insects to you, but Anchors aren't -- disgusting little tools, maybe, but they definitely EVOKE that strong hatred. Generally, that means that you, have a reason to hate them or love them, and the emotion should be personal.

Lemme give you an example: let's say I'm a god (har, har). There's a guy from High School I could probably make a Hatred Anchor out of -- I hated him: I hated how he acted, I hated what he did to people, and it was PERSONAL for me.

Conversely, we have Osama Bin Laden. I hate how he acts, what he says, what he stands for, what he does... but I couldn't anchor him, at least not at the moment -- it's not *personal*: If I hung out with the guy for a month (or a week, or a maybe just a day), that hate/disgust could probably become a personal thing. It would certainly help if he was torturing me or my loved ones, etc. I'm sure there's some people in New York that could anchor him, sight-unseen.

Love works the same way: a significant other is an easy example of an anchor that's easy to make, but while I might absolutely worship Joss Whedon's work, there's no way I could anchor him (well, maybe during the second season I could have :)

Nobilis have mortal servants, known as Anchors, who will work for them and can also serve as servants, representatives, and someone they can even perform miracles through anonymously.

For my reference, there are essentially four different types of Anchors, or more accurately, Anchors usually each have one ability, either chosen from the list below or designed by the player with me:

Aid Miracle: calling on the Anchor with this ability helps out with a small, predefined set of tasks or miracles. For example, a persuasive Anchor can help sway opinions, a hound-spirit can help you hunt. *

Earthly Magic: the Anchor possess some earthly magic that you don't (most certainly not the same thing as a Miracle, basically creating magical equivilants of 20th century tech), which gives you access to it.

Influence: the Anchor has mortal influence, can obtain wealth for you, or provide useful information or assistance within the area of their speciality.

Agent: the Anchor is multitalented and can be given tasks on a session-to-session basis, such as retrieving needed tools that you don't have time to go after or protecting an area from spies or sabotuers -- in mundane RPG campaigns, anchors talented enough to be a Noble's "agent" anchor would be the PC. Their relative effectiveness is generally a function of your Spirit. *

Addendum
Your Noble can not directly control the actions of their Anchor except by performing an Aspect miracle through them (with the appropriate cost in AMPs). This means, particularly, that an Anchor is a representative, not an avatar. They can convey messages from their Noble, but do not constitute the same thing as having the Noble in attendance in a social situation.

I've been trying to figure how to do things where you might be inclined to pick up a secondary Estate just to get a specific feel for the character -- Frex, "J'hon Wu, the Power of Guns" might want to have doves burst into frame whenever he does an Aspect miracle of 4 or higher.

A 'book' example of this is Delerium of the Endless and her butterflies/fish/whatever -- a more subtle example might be the sound of wings whenever Death is around.

The problem is, even spending 1 point on something like this is a heck of a lot for a special effect.

Alternately (ripping off an idea I saw on a website last week), I might have players pick a manifestation of their power (though perhaps not part of the Estate itself) that would accompany expressions of their power (regardless of which actual Stat's being used).

To use an example from the current game, the Power of Electricity might decide that his manifestation is a minor power surge or fluctuation in the area affected. When he tries to search for somebody with Divination, they might figure out that he's looking for them by the lights flickering in the area a little and the static on the television.

This might add some fun and maybe provide information indirectly (NPCs would also have recognizable manifestations the players could pick up on). For stealthy stuff, a Power could usually restrain their manifestations, although if they couldn't it'd probably be a good Handicap :).

Dunno. I'm just thinking out loud today.