Fortunes of War - the RPPR Iron Heroes campaign

[clockworkjoe]

Fortunes of War

Opening: The Great Empire is in turmoil. The western provinces rebel and foreign kingdoms make trouble along the borders. General Xin, a renowned tactician, was charged with suppressing a rebellion in Jing Province, the farthest and wildest province of the twelve. The rebellion was started by a cadre of army officers who were ordered to lead their bands of commoner soldiers north to participate in the defense of Yuyang. However, they were stopped halfway by a severe rainstorm and flooding. The harsh laws of the Great Empire stated that anyone late to show up for government jobs will be executed, regardless of the nature of the delay. The officers realized that they could never make it on time and decided to organize a band that would rebel against the government, so they would die fighting for their freedom rather than by execution.

Because of the nature of the rebellion, many common soldiers joined, which led to a shortage of manpower. Xin was forced to recruit mercenaries, who were common in Jing province, as it was the center of trade between the Empire and many other foreign kingdoms. The campaign lasted several months, but gradually Xin’s army forced the rebels into a valley. Fearing the rebels could possibly escape before he could trap them, Xin ordered the servants, baggage, supply trains and other slow elements of the army be left behind and force march into valley. A scout’s report encouraged Xin to take this risky approach.

Four black crows were spotted on the general’s banner at dawn, an ill omen. Several officers advised Xin to take a more cautious approach, as the army would be highly vulnerable as they entered the valley. Xin ignored them and ordered the army into the valley.

The rebels were lying in wait at the valley’s entrance, hidden among high cliff walls. They waited until the last of the army had entered and then tumbled boulders down the exit, trapping Xin’s army. Xin was the first to die, struck by a volley of arrows. An officer rallied the army and ordered them to retreat into the center of the valley, where they would have a fighting chance. The army’s banner was abandoned in the chaos.

Before the ambush, Xin’s army was vastly stronger than the rebels but the ambush had evened it out. The rebels had few supplies and had suffered for months from low morale, poor equipment, and infighting among the officers. The ambush gave the rebels a second wind and they chased after Xin’s remaining army with a renewed ferocity.

The two armies slammed into each other in the valley, the rebels fighting for their freedom, the mercenaries fighting to avenge their dead general and their lives. To list the acts of valor and heroism of that day would take a day and a night. Officer’s Chen’s last stand. The Seven Brothers Wu testing their famed Spear Castle against the Horse Maidens. The Exalted Death of Monk Sakha. The duel between Guang, Favored Son of the Great Empire and the Wolf Ronin. All these acts of heroes and legends, destined to be forgotten by what happened as the sun faded into dusk.

A horde of the Warriors of the Grey Sky had used the rebellion to launch their own invasion of the Great Empire. They found the battle and their famed mounted archers had cleared the path out of the valley to wipe both forces out. Exhausted, neither army could do much to stop the slaughter. The remaining rebels and loyalists banded together to fight off the horde but they were doomed. The last rebel officer alive, a man named Sheng, did not want to see the Great Empire fall to the horde so he told a few remaining mercenaries of a secret exit out of the valley, on the condition that they warn the Great Empire. Sheng made each mercenary swear a blood oath to each other to keep each other alive in order to make sure the normally selfish mercenaries would work as a team.

The mercenaries managed to escape and went back to the remaining servants of the army. They took command and ordered them east. In order to keep the horde from killing them, the mercenaries posed as merchants. A few weeks later, they arrived at the capital and dutifully told the army of the horde.

The nobles and bureaucrats of the Great Empire do not like hearing bad news, especially from mercenaries. Furthermore, the court soothsayers declared Xin and all who served under him as cursed. No army would take the mercenaries now, even General Tzu’s new army, which is tasked with defeating the Grey Sky Horde.

You are Xin’s Crows – the cursed remnants of his army.  Your only chance of fulfilling your destiny is to become traveling merchants, selling to Tzu’s army.  While you cannot fight in an army, your reputation makes you an intriguing curiosity – a sideshow. They will tolerate you for the duration of the war, as reminders of Xin’s defeat. Once the war is over, you must return home with whatever fortune you have earned.

---
Character Creation Rules to follow in next post

[clockworkjoe]

Rules
Fortunes of War uses the following systems:
•   Iron Heroes: the core rules and character creation. Optional rules from Mastering Iron Heroes will be used.
•   Fantasycraft: Extended weapons list, reputation rules,
•   Reign: Company rules

Be sure to look at the errata for Iron Heroes found on this web page http://ironheroesfaq.pbworks.com/w/page/9827528/FrontPage

This PDF summarizes the relevant changes http://ironheroesfaq.pbwiki.com/f/IHRevisionSummary.pdf

I would recommend printing out any errata of your character's major abilities.

Character Creation rules

Attributes:  You start with a core of 10 in all six ability scores. You have a pool of additional points that you may spend to improve your scores. Each point you spend increases a single ability by 1 point until that score reaches 15. For each point above 15, it costs 2 points to improve an ability. For each point above 17, it costs 4 points to improve an ability by 1.

In addition, you can pick one of your scores as a weakness. In such a case, you drop that score to 8 and cannot spend points to improve it at this time. In return, you gain 2 bonus points to spend on your abilities.

Player characters start with 24 points to spend on their ability scores. You cannot purchase a score higher than 18 in this way.

If you don’t want to allocate them manually, you can use one of 3 arrays:

Standard Ability Scores: 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, 10
Focused Character Scores:  18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8
Jack of All Trades: 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14

Companies: Each PC has inherited a portion of the supply train from Xin’s army – which includes supplies, some cash, carts, and servants.  Each PC starts with 2 to 4 points in their company. A company has 5 qualities:
•   Might: Military strength – number of guards, their level of training, and so forth.
•   Treasure: The economic health of the company – not just current cash, but cash flow, investments etc.
•   Influence: What a company knows or can learn and how persuasive it is. Social and political pull.
•   Territory: Land and holdings for the company – this also measures the quality of the company’s supply train and logistical ability.
•   Sovereignty: The inner strength and loyalty of your company. This must be at least 1 each game session or the company will dissolve. Note that you can leave it 0 at the start of play and temporarily raise it for each game session.

A quality is rated from 1 to 5. A company may have a 0 in any quality other than sovereignty.

Temporarily Raising qualities: Once per session, a character can raise a company’s quality by 1 with a skill challenge. This can be a speech to raise influence, a training session for guards to raise might or any number of possible actions. A character can raise another company’s quality. This raise only lasts the current game session.

Raising a quality by 1 requires only 1 character. Raising a quality by 2 requires 3 characters – 1 to raise it by 1 and then 2 to raise it a second time. Raising a quality by 3 requires 5 characters and will permanently lower another quality by 1 for all involved companies.

Using a company: A company can perform actions as directed by the character. Each action is based on two qualities plus any appropriate assets or modifiers. Roll according to ORE rules and if a match is made, the action is successful.  Every time a quality is used, it suffers a -1 penalty for the rest of that session.  (A penalized Sovereignty does not force a company to dissolve)

Side missions: Any number of characters can perform a side mission to give a bonus to a single action. In general, a side mission can add a bonus of +1 to +4 on the action rolled.

Assets: An asset is a unique advantage enjoyed by your company. They provide bonuses in certain circumstances.

Category asset: Provides a +1 bonus in a broad area – for example, quality horses provide a bonus on any action related to mobility – raiding an enemy or moving supplies to the frontline.
Narrow asset: +2 bonus on a specific type of action or only when certain prerequisites are made. For example, a cadre of ninja acolytes provide a bonus on sabotaging rival companies or a holy artifact that gives a bonus on any action where it can be ceremonially displayed.
One time asset: Gives a +3 bonus on an action but can only be used once – for example, a mole inside an enemy company or a favor from a powerful general.

Improving qualities: A character can improve qualities in one of three ways:

Combining companies: A peaceful merger between two organizations
Conquest: Taking over a company by force, coercion or subterfuge.
Reward: A character can improve a quality through getting specific rewards.

The rules for improving qualities are in the Reign book and are too complex to summarize here. I will say, in general, it will be very easy to raise a quality from 0 to 1, moderately challenging to raise it from 1 to 2 and very difficult to raise a quality to 3. Raising a quality to 4 or 5 will be nearly impossible.

Starting Builds: Each of Xin’s Crows has a unique background, so their skill levels will not identical. Each player can choose one of three starting builds:

Balanced: The character is a standard level 3 character and owns a 3 point company.

Company focused: The character is level 2 and owns a 4 point company with 1 asset.

Martial focused: The character is level 3 and owns 2 point company. The character gains +2 to a single attribute (the attribute may not exceed 18), 2 bonus feats and +1 bonus to his primary mastery rating.  The character receives 3 bonus glory points for his martial goal.

All characters receive the Faithful Friend mental trait for free. All are considered friends with each other and receive the bonus when play begins.

Class: Any base IH class is accepted, barring the Arcanist.

Goals: All characters must pick two goals for their character: a monetary and a martial goal.

Monetary goal: This goal can only be achieved through wealth.  This goal will be judged on a sliding scale. Even if your final treasure is 1 when the war ends, your character can achieve some partial success in that goal. A 5 in treasure is the ultimate measure of success.

Martial goal: This goal can only be achieved through feats of strength/prowess. In general, it will be a challenge for a level 10 character. Depending on the goal, a high Might quality may help achieve the goal.

Cohort: Each PC has a cohort – an aide de camp that may replace the PC if the character dies. It is not necessary to stat the cohort out but please give them a name and description.

Reputation: Each character starts with Renown 1 and 30 reputation. The rules for spending reputation are in Fantasycraft.  In general, 30 reputation can permanently improve a quality from 0 to 1 or buy one or more assets.

Glory Points:

A character who performs a heroic act, worthy of legend, may gain glory points. These glory points can be kept and used during the game or saved for the final mission. In general, a PC that gains a glory point may choose to save it for the final adventure and gain 2 glory points for that adventure.  The GM can assign from 1 to 5 points of glory for any act.

All PCs start with 3 glory points.

As a character gains glory points, he can spend them for the following benefits:

•A bonus on an attack, skill check, or saving throw.
•A chance to remove deadly effects or counter spells that target him.

Spending Glory Points: At any time, you can spend a glory point to gain a bonus on any attack, skill check, ability check, or saving throw. You can spend 1 point per roll. If you decide to spend the point before rolling, add 1d10 to the result. If you decide to spend the point after rolling, add 1d6 to the result. In other words, if you wait to see whether your attack hit or your check succeeded before deciding to spend a glory point, your maximum bonus will be smaller.

You also can spend glory points to remove conditions and effects from your character. When you spend the points, you stop suffering from the effect. However, any damage it has already inflicted upon you remains. For example, if you fail your saving throw against a giant snake’s poison, you suffer the initial ability score damage as normal. You then can spend glory points to remove the poison. The initial damage remains, but you don’t suffer the poison’s secondary effects.

Condition/EffectPoints to Remove
Disease 2
Poison 2
Paralysis 4
Fear effect 6
Mind-affecting effect 8
Death 10

There is one exception to this rule: You can spend 10 glory points to try to avoid death. In this case, you gain one of the following benefits (your choice):
• If you suffered hit point damage from an attack (as opposed to a spell) that killed you, the killing blow automatically misses instead.

• If you fell victim to an effect that allowed a saving throw, your save automatically succeeds instead. Note that you still might die if the reduced damage is high enough.

[clockworkjoe]

a few notes:

Sovereignty will be the easiest quality to raise in gameplay, especially if your character makes oaths and promises to the servants in the company. Living up to those promises is another matter...

Glory will be rewarded for combat and martial actions.

Reputation will be rewarded for social, economic and political success - i.e. be the best merchant, cleverest, etc.

The campaign is divided into two major sections: The war is made up of six adventures. Each adventure will on average level your character up and give you a chance to improve your business - raise a 0 or 1 quality by one or get an asset - maybe raise a 2 quality to 3.

So the 'ideal' character will be level 9 and have a company with an average quality of 2.

The second half of the campaign will be fulfilling each PC's destiny. All challenges will be set for level 9 or 10 characters and companies with 2 qualities or better. You will feel any deficiencies you have.

[Cthuluzord]

Here's my character:

Vo Ninyon (Harrier)

My Fen-father was one of the heretic lore masters rounded up in the last Great Inquisition. He lectured that in texts long ago forgotten with fire, it said the Womyn of the Valley were servants to a Queen that was a man. He said that all was backwards in that ancient time, that it was men that hunted for the house, that there were many wives for only one husband. This Queen (he was named Qwing or some such nonsense) has so many wives he didn’t know what to do with them, so he trained the strongest among them to be his bodyguards. He cast them from his bed and subjected them to the lessons of the hardship until they were killers.

We students had many questions. Why would he wish the most attractive of his wives from his bed? If he must be Queen, why was he not gelded like those few others permitted high vocation? If he hated these womyn, why show them such devotion through trial? Did he think death at their hands would permit him to the Sky's Hunt?

Fen-father said that it was just the way of things back then, just as things are the way they are now. Unquestionable. We girls were still baffled, but he ended by saying that the bodyguard womyn cut the male Queen down and set things right with the spirit of the World. He spoke no more of it after that day, put off by our reaction persistent confusion, but I never forgot. I’d always figured it was a lie, but I could never fault him too much for it. It is in the nature of a man to lie; they are weak to the whispers of the Father Mischief from whence they were pulled. He was an otherwise nurturing Fen-father, modest of dress and obedient to his Matrons. He was allowed his eccentricities, for a time.

After the sisters from the Coven cut-off his hands to prevent him scribing more madness, they dragged him to the Trying Rock where we waited. The head Justicatrix held out the knife to me and my fen. She said, “Cut the lies from his mouth.” She waited, certain one of us would be womyn enough…

It was I who sliced out his tongue. The Coven priestesses moved to pitch him over the side, but I waved them off and kicked him myself. I watched him fall into the pit of youngers, each made rabid with two days and nights of chewing war weed. They beat him into a useful man before he passed, and I was sent on my first hunt the next day.

Years later, when the Slaver Raids were at their worst, I remembered that Fen-father. We killed those strangely-colored men badly in those days, burned them in their ships and sliced them to pieces from the canopy as they traipsed drunkenly through the underbrush. But we only mobilized after many ships had already landed and sent parties down the Valley. After all, what damage could a few boys playing dress-up ever do? We figured it would be short work to teach their shameful, coward Queens that real womyn must be sent to war.

Yet no sooner could my war party clear the beach and begin pursuit of the earlier invaders than more ships would appear on the horizon. It was like slaughtering bulls for a feast. They would pour from the belly of their fat craft like dumb animals, even laughing at the sight of our fearsome Kraal formation. They dared approach with swords sheathed, and amorously mewling in their nonsense language until the moment spear met throat. We tried to kill as few as necessary—no glory found in slaughtering boys—but their persistence begged for the lessons of the Trying Rock. We obliged.

Though I dared not give such blasphemy voice, I wondered if these fools came from a land infected by the Fen-father’s madness. I tried to imagine a whole culture beguiled by Father Mischief and convinced the Grand Mother loved the weaker half. The tragedy of such a culture was dizzying to think of, and I found myself more sympathetic than ever before with the brutal work of the Coven.

When I returned home, I found my farm smoldering. I thanked the Grand Mother I’d taken my oldest, Ashanti, on the campaign as war shadow. But all else was lost. They’d burned all they had not stolen, and the tracks of those not led toward the prisoner’s convey ended in bloody remains.

They had killed my youngest, Mirwill. He’d always been a bitch-boy at heart, and he’d died with a knife in his hand. My first husband Lok was gone. Dragged away with the others. The slavers were gone with their prizes, days ahead and bound for the river. There would be no way to catch them before they found their surviving brothers on the sea.

I was told this. I was told I could trade for other husbands. I was told to be grateful I still had a daughter to carry on the line. But I left the next day anyway. I would know Lok’s scent again, would fall asleep to his songs.

It was taboo to mingle war bands from other villages, blasphemy to sail beyond the sight of the motherland, but we all went anyway. We could not affront the honor of our mothers by allowing our men to be violated in some foreign land. The look in our eyes told the Coven’s customs chief this, and we left the dock with salutes rather than flaming arrows.

We found one of their bloated ships as we crossed the forbidden sea, and I, foolish with rage, ordered the attack immediately. We soon discovered it was not even a slave vessel. The foreign Queens had sent more men to die for them, and these were of an even more perverse nature. They masqueraded in war vestments. The disgusting things screamed the battle cries of berserker womyn.

We sisters of vengeance, bled them deep, but there is no room to maneuver on the deck of a burning ship. We lazily accepted our blows like prideful studs in need of a good slapping. Then only I remained.

Like the snake that envenoms its hawk mid-flight, our tiny ship tangled with its raptor and dragged it downwards in a doomed spiral. Bleeding, clutching my flotilla of wreckage, I could not think of my shame or my fallen sisters…only that Lok’s ship was not the one sinking beneath me.

I awoke on another cursed craft, choked with the bad humors of men. These did not attack, but instead dared to patronize, treating me as if I’d long ago donned the shackles of age. It was a sickening sweet dismissal, a subtle refusal reserved for unruly boys. It hurt worse than any wound I’d received in battle.

And when we landed in Jing province, I found a world gripped with such madness—a world where everything holy was profaned, where weakness was celebrated and strength ignored. My sisters were nowhere to be seen, and the native’s matrons hid themselves from sight and remained mute. In the city, I saw them subjected to depravities unimagined by the Valley’s lowliest field stud.

Fen-father had been right.

I fell to my own shame and fear. I fled into pride and manly cowardice. I fought and I drank until the conniving boys that survived my wrath paid me to do both for them. I wandered the strange land in a daze, alternately ridiculed, reviled, and, after the blades flashed, feared.

I fought a war undreamed of since the prophecy of Grand Mother’s Final Hunt. Men died by the scores to defend some alien honor, and a few even surprised me by dying well. After days of greedy slaughter, the usurpers came, descending from the peak of a valley that looked like a hell-blasted mirror of my own. And while my employers and foes both reacted with fear at their sight, I found myself finally cleansed by rage. I recognized these standards: the slavers had come.

Lost in my blood-fit, I did not die in that day, escaping the horde with a pack of other sell-spears lucky or hard enough to survive. They swore themselves to each other, and torn momentarily from their perverted values by the testament of my gory blades, bide me do the same. I was repulsed to think of making a Blood Sisterhood with these men, but that was the thinking of a man. I would no longer be too prideful to dodge the blow, nor too weak to return for victory.

I made a vow to steep myself in the spirit of Mischief possessing this land and bend it to my purpose. I would be debased until Lok was found…until I could return home and ensure no sister ever again had to set foot in this savage place.

[clockworkjoe]

I will reward good character back stories: Caleb gets +2 glory and a unique asset: Keen - your forces kill with enthusiasm  - +2d whenever you roll Might against a company with a lower permanent might

[Salkovich]

Holy shit.

[Jason]

Damn, Caleb. How am I supposed to follow that up?

[clockworkjoe]

CAMPAIGN STRUCTURE

The war will have 6 adventures. Each adventure is meant to give each PC the following rewards on average:

1 level of experience
3 quality raises

A quality raise does one of the following

Raise a quality by 1 if the quality is 1 or less (i.e. can raise a quality up to 2 but no more)
Gain an asset
3 quality raises can raise a quality by 1 (up to quality 4)

Of course each adventure will not have equitable distribution of rewards

The adventures

1.   The Capital City: start the business venture, first impressions, establish contracts, prepare for war.  Main goal is to find a market niche or two.
2.   Adventure 2
3.   Adventure 3
4.   Adventure 4
5.   Adventure 5
6.   The final battle with the Grey Sky Horde: Victory or loss – time to move on.

The Capital City: Market Niches

Businesses provide the quality raises. Without a business, the character gains no quality raises for their company.

Each business type has certain quality requirements in order to be profitable.   A company can only support 1 business if the quality matches the requirement. However, a company with a greater quality number can sponsor multiple companies.

Quality 2 can support 2 businesses with a 1 requirement. Quality 3 can support 4 businesses with a 1 requirement or 2 with requirement 2.


Vice:  Supply drugs, gambling, women, and other vices to the soldiers – tolerated as it keeps morale up. Incredible demand but fierce competition- newcomers will be attacked by at least one gang. Hard to keep up with army when far from city. If the business becomes too profitable, the army officers get angry and cause trouble.

Requirements: Influence 1, Might 1, Treasury 1. Territory is necessary when beyond the reach of civilization. Sovereignty helpful to keep followers from skimming profits.

Demand: 20 raises.
NPC Competition: 18 raises among 6 NPC companies.  Any newcomer will be attacked by criminals. Any defeated NPC company will be replaced after 1 adventure.
Note: Any company that gets more than 3 raises per adventure will be punished by army officers. If the demand goes above 20, all vice businesses are punished.  This punishment can be avoided or stopped with a successful side mission or asset usage.

Food, common: The rations provided by the army are not good, to say the least. Many supplement their rations with food provided by vendors. This is a safe but low paying business.

Requirements: Territory 1 Treasury 1. Territory goes up when the army leaves civilization.

Demand: 6 raises.
NPC Completion:  8-adventure number among that many groups – many small vendors but no large competitors.
Note: Hawkers and other means can be used to increase demand.

Food, luxury: Officers enjoy high end food. A small but highly profitable market.

Requirements: Territory 1 Treasury 1, and Gourmet connections Asset. Territory goes up when the army leaves civilization.

Demand: 7 raises
NPC completion: 5 raises held by 1 NPC competition.
Note: Only skilled presentation of food can increase demand.

Guards/Protection racket: A highly dangerous but potentially profitable business. Xin’s crows cannot serve in any army but they can protect other merchants and extract payment from cowering soldiers and servants. Push too far though and risk execution by the army’s officers.

Requirement: Might 1. Influence 1 to engage in a protection racket.

Demand: 1d4 raises for normal guard duty.
Protection racket: Up to 6 raises can be extracted from the fearful.

NPC competition: 3 raises among 3 NPC companies.

Note: Every raise of profit extracted by protection racket requires 1 point in influence. It is possible to risk and extract more out of it but that requires a company action (i.e. rolling dice) failure indicates severe criminal punishment.


Amulets, charms, healing and fortune telling: Soldiers need healers, soothsayers and shamans to tend to their wounds, ease their minds and give them the confidence they need to fight. A highly variable market.

Requirement: One appropriate asset (fortune teller, healers, contact at the local monastery etc)

Demand: 1d10 raises

NPC completion: 6 raises among 3 NPC companies


Military equipment: Most of the gear is provided by the quartermasters, but soldiers often demand aftermarket specials to give them the edge in a battle. The army may need special orders on occasion too.

Requirement: All qualities must be at least 1.

Demand: 10 raises

NPC competition: 8 raises among 2 NPC companies.

Note: The army will only give raises equal to the average quality of a company unless there is an appropriate asset (contact in army officer, blood relative to an officer etc)

Special order: The army will have 1d20 worth of raises per adventure for special orders but this amount is kept secret. The selection process is secret as well.

Any other ideas for business/markets?

[Cthuluzord]

Dude, do whatever! I'm just psyched to be playing fantasy seriously for once.

And you get free perks for writing stuff up! My company now really enjoys beating on people weaker than them. I'm sure that will come in useful.

[Cthuluzord]

Ross--Maybe a mail service for the footmen? You'd need some sort of horse related asset, but you could make money running messages back and forth between the marching horde and city. There could be military contracts for that as well.

[clockworkjoe]

messenger service is a vital military duty - thus you are not eligible for it. However, sending letters to home could be a side business - very limited market though since most of the soldiers and their families are illiterate. The officers might want to try it though. It will be a novel i.e. new business.

Requirement: Territory 1, scribes asset

Demand 1 raise

NPC Competition: 0

[clockworkjoe]

some business things to note:

The game assumes that you normally peacefully divide up demand among all competition. While you may badmouth them and promote yourself, they do the same so the market is shared equally among all competitors. If you want to make more profit, you need to increase demand and/or reduce competition.

Increasing demand is typically a company action and can be done through any number of methods.

Reducing competition can be done by several methods: taking over NPC companies, destroying NPC companies (socially or physically) or negotiating with NPC companies.

[clockworkjoe]

LEVELING UP

Each adventure will have a single specific goal. Any player that accomplishes the goal gains a level. Failure to meet the goal means the character does not level up.

If the goal requires a group effort then every player character gains a level if the goal is achieved, regardless of their personal contribution.

The goal for each adventure will be stated at the start or near the start of the adventure. All characters will be aware of what the goal is.

The first goal is to establish a business that services Tzu’s army in some capacity.

Personal goals: Each character may describe as many personal goals as they desire. Each personal goal should be an ongoing task or code of conduct– one that can never be completely finished. For example, protect the weak from bullies or convert others to my religion would be good personal goals.

Characters will have chances to fulfill their personal goals during gameplay and they may seek out additional opportunities at any time (in other words they can go looking for trouble)

Fulfilling a personal goal will be an encounter appropriate for a character of level (2+adventure number) – it may be a fight, a skill challenge, or a social encounter. If the character wins the encounter, regardless of how it was achieved, then the character gains a reward. No one else gets a reward unless their personal goal was also fulfilled.

Characters may use their companies to help fulfill their personal goals. This takes a company action.

Rewards: The reward for a personal goal varies but in general it will have one or more of the following:

Glory
Reputation
Company asset
Bonus skill points
Bonus feats

Opportunity cost: A character can fulfill one personal goal per adventure without penalty. If the character fulfills more than that, his company suffers. The exact penalty will vary but a character may lose business to competition, suffer a temporary penalty on a quality, or be unable to raise a quality through skill challenges or side missions. 

Side Quests: Every once in a while, a side quest will become available for one adventure – this is treated as a personal goal but all characters may fulfill it for a reward. For example, a traveling sensei may be able to train characters that impress him.

[FuzzyDan]

Dammit.

I was gearing up to join in on this game, and then my D&D group (not a current RPPR affiliate) has decided that the Wednesday night block is going to be their preference for us to do epic tier.

Otherwise I was going to be an older, semi-retired tactician who was more focused on enjoying his older years and the wonders of life's simple pleasures, but must now get back in the mindset of an old War Hawk to rebuild his family's status and glory for the sake of his nephew (the cohort, since his son died in the aforementioned battle).

[Cthuluzord]

Is nobody going to write up a character background? Seriously? Just me?

Great. Now I'm that guy...

Whatever! I'll own it! I'll write up a gawdamned family tree for my character! I'll tell you her measurements! I'll draw portrait after portrait at the game table!

You'll see...you'll all see...