Maelstrom Rules - Advantages

Key Concepts
You may only purchase advantages at character creation. They represent benefits that you have accumulated before you enter play. The advantages can be bought to different levels and each level costs one point.

Members of the awakened races and group allies cannot purchase advantages. Your choice of culture may limit the advantages that you can purchase.

Social status can only be purchased if you have a retinue of characters who are loyal to you.

Some advantages are only available to you if you pre-book for an event.

Limitations
You have a total of five points to spend on advantages and skills combined. You cannot spend five points on each.

Members of the awakened races (dryads, eidolons, facets, golems and undead) cannot spend any points on advantages. If you are not a full member of your group, as explained in Chapter Two, then you cannot spend any points on advantages.

Humans from Kamakura and dracoscions from Maya cannot spend more than two points on advantages. You cannot purchase any level of social status if you are from the Free Islands.

You may only spend points on a blessing if you pre-book for an event and submit a character background. You may not purchase this advantage if you create a character at an event.

Allegiance
The allegiance that is chosen by your group limits the number of points that you can spend on the different advantages available. The maximum number of points that you may spend on each advantage is listed in the table below. For example, a member of a church group cannot spend more than four of their five points on social status.

Blessing
You have been blessed by your deity. You may only take this advantage if you are a devotee. You will receive a more powerful blessing, the more points that you spend on this advantage. The nature and duration of your blessing is at the discretion of your deity.

All blessings are created individually by our plot team. You must submit a background so that they have some idea of what blessing would be appropriate for your character and your devotion. You will not receive your blessing until we have had at least two weeks to study your background in detail. You are encouraged to submit an idea of the blessing you would like to receive so that the plot team can take this into consideration when creating a blessing that is play-balanced for the points you have spent.

Buildings
You have been given funding and support to ensure the construction of one or more buildings in the New World. The buildings that you can choose and their point costs are shown in the table below.

Work will begin on the construction of these buildings as soon as you inform your backers of the most suitable location. The building work will be completed three months (one full downtime) from the start of construction. If your allegiance already owns a building of the relevant type in the Known World then you may receive documents granting you the right to take control of that building instead.

In either case you will owe a significant debt for the construction of the building. You do not have to pay the capital off but you will be expected to pay any interest. The building remains the legal property of the creditor until the debt is paid in full. If you cease playing your character then your creditor will attempt to reclaim the building.

Farms, mines and plantations require a large workforce to operate them who must be paid. You can use them to mine precious metals or produce cash crops such as cocoa. These can be sold in the Known World during downtime or sold to other characters at events. Cash crops must be stored in a warehouse after they are produced or they will rot.

Guild houses, taverns, playhouses, pleasure houses, dens of iniquity and gambling dens require a character to run them during downtime. They produce a profit by providing services such as drugs or prostitution to the people of the New World. The wealthier the local residents are then the more money the building will produce.

Shrines, churches and basilicas provide centres of worship for the inhabitants of the New World. They enhance the ability of any priest who uses them to sway the local inhabitants.

Barracks and military encampments are built to recruit new units of men-at-arms. Palisades, fortified walls, fortresses and watchtowers provide defenses against attack.

Workshops and smithies can be used by characters to craft items. They reduce the time required to make special items. A shipyard provides similar aid to a shipwright; many of the larger ships can only be built in a shipyard.

A deep water port provides docking facilities for ships, allowing shipments to be loaded and unloaded as well as letting men-at-arms embark or disembark from a ship. Without access to a port it is difficult for a ship to load or unload cargo.

Myrmidons receive very different buildings. Any buildings selected by a myrmidon will be substituted for a myrmidon equivalent. Please discuss your options with us if you intend to purchase a myrmidon building. If you cease playing your myrmidon character then control of the resources will be given to another member of your hive.
Income
You have lands, estates or investments that earn you money from the Known World. Every character receives some money to purchase starting equipment, but the money you receive is increased.

The character will earn the full value of your income immediately after every event that you attend. These coins will be in your pack at the next event if you do not spend them in downtime.

The more points spent on income then the more money that you will receive.

Men-at-arms
You have command of a body of fighting men. Your men-at-arms will begin with a set of simple crafted weapons and the skill to use them suitable for your culture. They will begin with good morale and discipline.

If you are from the Known World then you will need to pay your soldiers wages, otherwise their morale will fall significantly and they may desert. You will not need to pay your men-at-arms if you are a member of a native allegiance. You receive ten men-at-arms for each point that you spend on this advantage.

Men-at-arms are non-player characters, their behaviour and appearance at events is controlled by our plot team.

Resources
A resource is a site imbued with great magical or religious power. You control one or more of these sites which will be on land owned by your tribe or hive. The resources that you can choose and their point costs are shown in table 5.3.

Rituals can only be performed at events if the hosts locate the event at a ritual site. Ritual sites can be used to perform rituals during downtime. The more powerful the ritual site, the less mana is required to perform the ritual.

Mana crystals form in mana sites and can be collected by the owner during downtime. The more powerful the mana site, the faster mana is formed there.

A sacred site provides a hive or tribe with a focus for worship which may help win the favour of a deity.

If you cease playing your character then your resources will be given to another member of your tribe or hive.

Retainers
You employ the service of an intelligent non-player character who is loyal to you. Each retainer costs one point. If you spend additional points on this advantage then you may purchase skills for your retainer at the normal cost. Your retainers are always of the same culture as yourself. Cultural skills cost one point less for them, as usual.

E.g. a Gnoll retainer with the craft ship and work wood skills would cost five points.

If you are Merisusi then you may choose whether your retainers are mokosh Merisusi or avian Merisusi. If you are Kamakuran then your retainers are human. If you are Mayan then your retainers are dracoscions. If you are from the Free Islands then your retainer is the same race as yourself.

Retainers are non-player characters, their behaviour and appearance at events is controlled by the our plot team. Retainers are capable of most actions that a normal character can attempt with one exception. Because they are not as intelligent and imaginative as yourself, they cannot research new skills by themselves. They must be taught by another character or use a scroll, item, or building to learn a new skill.

Your will need to pay wages to your retainer each downtime before he will act. The more skilled your retainer, the more you will need to pay him. If you do not pay him sufficient wages he may seek alternative employment. If you cease playing your character then any retainers you control will seek employment elsewhere.

Scrolls
A scroll is a special item that can be used to learn magic. For each point that you put into this advantage you must select a single arcane power (cantrip, incantation, ritual, powder or talisman). You own a scroll that can be used to learn how to cast that spell or to make that preparation or talisman.

You do not have the skill to use the magical power on your scroll until you have studied it during downtime. Only one character may study a scroll at a time.

Ships
You are in command of one or more sailing vessels, although you also owe a great deal of money for the ship. This debt will be to your allegiance. If you have no allegiance then you owe this money to the Sacuza trading house.

E.g. if your allegiance is Bakhana then you owe the money for your ship to the Bakhana trading house.

The ships that you can choose to start with and their point costs are shown in table 5.4. There is more information about these vessels and their abilities in the Almanac.

Operating a ship is an expensive business. The crew must be paid before they will allow the ship to be sailed anywhere. The debts on large ships can be colossal and you will have to make regular payments just to prevent the interest accruing. If the ship is damaged then you may have to pay for expensive repairs. In addition you will need a navigator if the ship is to cross the Maelstrom.

Paying for the upkeep of a large ship is beyond the financial resources of even the wealthiest starting character. If you cannot make money from operating a ship then you may lose it.

If you owe a debt on a ship then it remains the legal property of the creditor until the debt is paid in full. If you cease playing your character then your creditor will attempt to reclaim the ship.

Social Status
You are considered to be an important and influential member of your allegiance by people who live in the Known World. Social status does not automatically correspond to a noble title, a rank or a position of authority. It may do but it is perfectly possible to be an influential individual without these things.

If you purchase social status then you should submit a background which describes the nature of your influence. This will help the plot team take account of your character’s importance.

Characters with social status have several significant advantages, the most important being leadership. The character that has the highest social status in a nation, faith or trading house at an event can choose the leader of that allegiance.

If you purchase social status then you automatically receive additional benefits dependent on your group’s allegiance. If you are a member of a nation or a trading house then you receive the allegiance advantage for your allegiance. Each point spent on social status gives a point of the equivalent allegiance advantage.

E.g. if you purchase three points of status as a member of the Fidelian nation then you will also receive a three point blessing.

If you are a member of a faith then you receive one free skill for each point spent on social status. You will receive the skills initiate, lay to rest, consecrate, supplicate and excommunicate in that order; one skill for each point spent on social status.

E.g. if you purchase three points of status as a member of the Teacher faith then you will also receive the skills initiate, lay to rest and consecrate for free.

You can only purchase the social status advantage if you have a large enough retinue of characters who are loyal to you. The table below shows how many characters must be in your retinue for you to purchase a level of social status. Your retinue may be your vassals or servants or they may simply be your friends and allies. You cannot be part of your own retinue.

You may not know how many people will be in your retinue at your first event, so you can spend as many points on status as you wish. If your retinue is not large enough for the level of social status that you have purchased then you will still receive the additional benefits of social status, but your status will be reduced accordingly.

E.g. if you purchase four points of social status as a member of the Flembic nation then you will also receive four points of Income. If you have four characters in your retinue then you will still receive four points of income but only start with two points of status.

To qualify as a member of your retinue a character must be pre-booked as a member of the same group as you. They must be classed as a full member of your allegiance and they must have given their loyalty to your character. If they do not meet all of these requirements then they do not count as part of your retinue.

Members of the New World races cannot be full members of a Known World allegiance so they can never count towards your retinue.

It is possible to change your social status in play, although it is much easier to lose status than to gain it.

Retinue
You can only purchase the social status advantage if you have a large enough retinue of characters who are loyal to you. The table below lists how many characters must be in your retinue for you to purchase the level of social status.

To qualify as a member of your retinue a character must be pre-booked as a member of the same group as you. They must be classed as a full member of the group and they must have given their loyalty to your character. If they do not meet all of these requirements then they do not count as part of your retinue.

You only need a retinue if you wish to purchase the social status advantage. If you have the social status advantage then you do not count as part of the retinue of another character unless they have a higher social status than yourself.

 

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.