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electricpaladinThe Game: Houses of the Blooded
Publisher: Wicked Dead Brewing Company
Familiarity: Low, but growing. I’m probably going to run a one-shot of this one, soon.
Houses of the Blooded is about playing one of the ven, a beautiful and passionate people who existed in the time between the fall of the sorcerer kings and the rise of Atlantis. For a while, they ruled the world. Then, they vanished, setting the stage for the rise of the early human nations.
The Ven are passionate, obsessed with dichotomies. They don’t have crushes, they have Romance. They don’t have enemies, they have Revenge. The ven are everything I want out of a roleplaying game: passionate, interesting people doing really stupid things for the sake of their desires, ideals, and ambitions, getting into trouble… and then having to get out of it. Or dying of it. Houses of the Blooded, after all, is a game about tragedies.
Houses of the Blooded has a random character generation system, which is great because I can jump right in even though I don’t have any ideas. Even better, I could ignore the random character generation if I wanted to and do it all by choice. I love options.
Step 1: Background
Here’s where the rolling starts. Background is the only part of character generation that is random, because you can’t pick your family. Normally, I’d ignore this and go ahead and pick my family anyway, because I like to approach character generation like a writer and transition into a game player once the game starts. For now, though, I’ll follow the rules. Fortunately, though, this part isn’t completely random, really. I get three points to shift a die roll up or down with.
First I roll for my parents’ house. I get two 5s. That means both my parents are from the House of the Serpent.
Next I roll to determine which of my parents was dominant in the relationship. I get a 5 for my mother and a 6 for my father. I’m going to take that to mean that my parents were both huge personalities, but my father a little more so. Their rages and arguments (and their on-again, off-again, tumultuous Romance) were legendary, but my father always ended up getting the upper hand.
Now, because I feel like it, I shift through my dice until I find a suitably Serpenty-one. There we go.
Once parents are out of the way, I can move on to children. I roll my place in the birth order. I get a 4. I’m the fourth born son of this outrageous couple. Then I roll a single die and subtract one from the total to determine how many children are still living. I roll another 4, meaning that three children are still alive. I have a dead older sibling. For each sibling I roll a die to determine gender (sisters are odd, brothers are even): sister, brother, sister, me. Because it strikes me as more dramatic, I’m going to decide that it’s my older brother who is dead.
To determine my family’s standing, I roll a die for each of my parents. My mother is a Countess, but my father is a Baron. That doesn’t make any sense, so I’m going to spend one of my points to make my father a Count, too.
Next I pick a House. Of course, I have to pick one of my parents’ Houses, and both my parents are from the House of the Serpent, so I am, too. The Serpent is mysterious, knowledgeable, and wise. The Serpent knows the price of power and has paid it.
Now I pick my names. My family name is Mwrr, the name of the Serpent. My public name is Alexai, which means “the hand and the sword.” I should also name my family. My father is Haroon, which means “my father rejoices” and my mother is Niassa, “the ungentle night.” No, I won’t tell you my secret name – pray you never find out. My surviving sisters are Fyx, “I am alive,” and Tzao “born of fire.” My brother was Vangalio.
Incidentally, Vangalio and Fyx were twins. Twins in ven culture are creepy and villainous, and it’s rumored that the only way to produce twins is through a sorcerous ritual. Of course, I am from an all-Serpent family…
Next I pick an age. I think this is a game of spring, almost summer. The baby of the family has just struck out on his own. Alexai Mwrr is 19 years old.
But is Alexai married? The ven do marry early. The dice say… no. Alexai is not married. Darn. On the one hand, I like the idea of deciding who he’s married to, but on the other hand, now I get to play it.
And finally, titles. Like all starting characters, Alexai is a Baron.
Step 2: Virtues
Now, I pick virtues. There are six of them, but I only get five. One of them is Alexai’s weakness. I’m going to continue the idea of Alexai coming from a home shaken by a great Romance and the fact that he’s not married yet and pick Beauty as his weakness. Alexai isn’t good at culture, or poetry, or Romance. He’s going to have a hard time attracting a mate, and he knows it.
I choose one Virtue at 4, two at 3, and two at 2. Alexai’s Prowess is 4. He was raised to be a swordsman, to avenge his brother. His Wisdom and Cunning are 3 – the legacy of his House. Finally, his Strength and Courage are 2. He has not yet been tested, and his body is only average in its raw potential. I get to add one to Alexai’s Wisdom because of his House.
Step 3: Phases
Alexai is still in Spring, so I get to pick two Aspects and one Contact. Aspects are ways of describing my character that give me an advantage, a liability, and a way that someone might control or limit my behavior (called an Invoke, a Tag, and a Compel). The book suggests I do something to mitigate my weakness (missing Virtue).
For my first Aspect, I choose Beautiful Vengeance. Alexai’s singleminded quest for revenge for the murder of his brother is beautiful to the ven. It’s the kind of thing that happens in their operas, and it has passion, grace, and beauty… things Alexai has a hard time communicating any other way. Alexai can invoke it whenever his passion and dedication could impress other ven. On the other hand, it can also be tagged whenever a cool head and a calm heart would be wiser. And, this Aspect can be used to compel Alexai to act the part of the beautifully revenge-driven ven in social situations.
For my second Aspect I will pick Alexai’s family name – Mwrr, blooded of the Serpent. This Aspect can be invoked whenever Alexai is seeking knowledge, it can be tagged whenever worldliness would be better than knowledge, and it can be used to compel Alexai to enforce his House’s cryptic, shadowy reputation. Firstly, Alexai is trying to ferret out a secret – who murdered his brother? – and secondly, I want to obliquely imply that Alexai’s House and family are going to be important in his story without tying him down to an Aspect.
Finally, I get a single Contact, someone I know. Unfortunately, that Contact is supposed to be another player’s character, so I’ll have to skip that step for now.
Step Four: Devotions
I have three points to divide up amongst the suaven, the gods of the ven, themselves sleeping ven. These three points determine which of the suaven Alexai worships.
I will spend two points to be devoted to Falvren Dyr, old one-eye, the suaven of the Sword. I’ll spend my last point on Talia Yvarai, the suaven of Romance. Alexai is focusing on his purpose, but trying to hedge his bets and find some succor for his weakness.
Step Five: Domain
As a landed noble, Alexai has a Domain. As a Baron, his Domain consists of a single Province, which can in turn contain ten Regions. Until I spend points or actions to explore and exploit them, these regions are blank slates; mine in theory, but not in fact.
Alexa’s Domain is called Rosurran, the Rose Lands. It is a beautiful place, thick with life. The terrain is hilly to mountainous and completely overgrown with trees and sharp-thorned wild rose bushes.
Two regions are spoken for, though: my Castle and my Village.
The Castle is named the Last Rose Spire. It is, in fact, dominated by a huge narrow tower and overgrown with rose vines. It is very mysterious and really quite beautiful… not that Alexai can recognize that.
The Villlage is called Tandelatha, which means “Morning Song.” It’s a happy, cheerful place full of well-treated peasants who sing as they go about their day and hold many pleasant, rustic celebrations at night, with dancing and drinking and smiling. That way, Alexai can look broodingly at them and contemplate the weight of his mission.
I get five points to spend on my Province, five more regions I have explored.
First of all, I want a Ruin on my lands. Ruins don’t do me any good until I’ve explored them, but tell me; what self-respecting Serpent with a taint of sorcery hanging over his family doesn’t have a Ruin of the Sorcerer-Kings on his land? The ruin is called the Falling Star Temple, a sprawling one-storey structure full of reflecting pools and pillars and haunted by a sense of peace and inevitability.
Next I’ll take a Plains, the Asuana Valley. No one remembers what the word meant in the language of the Sorcerer Kings, so everyone just uses the old word without translating it. The Asuana Valley produces wine. Next to the Asuana Valley are the Broken Mountains, a low, ancient mountain range whose mines give up a bounty of metals. The Last Rose Spire is in these mountains, incidentally.
At the foot of the mountains, to the south, is the Asa Shohasen, the Forest Sublime. It produces food. The Falling Star Temple is hidden within the Forest Sublime. The Forest Sublime is also the southern edge of Alexai’s territory.
Finally, the east of the Asuana Valley is the sea. The Shoreline there, called the Theatre of the Sun, produces trade.
Next I get to spend five points on Vassals to help me run this place.
Firstly, I’d better have a Staff for the castle. Alexai hasn’t named them, but they like to call themselves the Root, a reference to the castle’s name and the fact that nothing would run properly if it weren’t for them.
Alexai is out for blood, so I think a personal guard is also in order. They are called the Rose Guard, and they are also based out of the Last Rose Spire. I’d also like to give Alexai a band of Roadmen (knights) to keep his Domain safe. They call themselves the Serpent’s Shadow, as they exist to remind the Domain and everyone in it that they exist under the shadow of a great house.
Given what a goon Alexai is when it comes to Beauty, I think he’d better have a Valet. A personal servant who travels with Alexai, makes sure he is dressed properly, grills him on the names of his host (or his guests!), and generally makes sure Alexai doesn’t make a fool of himself. His name is Favan. Three things that are true about Favant (a standard way of making some things true about an NPC without making too much true):
He used to be a servant in a castle owned by the House of the Fox.
He is loyal to Alexai.
He knows too much.
Finally, I’ll give Alexai a Spy Network. They are called the White Rose. Alexai is out to solve a decade-old murder, and he needs all the help he can get.
Step Six: Bonus!
Now I get five bonus points to spend on whatever I like.
First of all, Alexai needs a Blood Sword (what good vengeance-seeker isn’t complete with a magical sword that might leap into his hand at the worst moment?). I’ll make it a two-point Blood Sword, meaning it adds two dice to my fighting. Also, it’s made out of orichalcum and it can kill specters.
I will also give Alexai a Sorcerous ritual. Of course, Alexai knows how to lay the Curse. And once he finds out who killed his brother, he will lay the Curse. Oh, yes.
I’ll add one point to the White Rose, making them a level 2 Vassal. I want Alexai’s spies to be good. He’ll need them.
And… I’ll take an extra Aspect. How about a quote, from one of his early instructors in swordsmanship: “he fights like a demon!” It can be invoked for bonus dice in a fight, but only when Alexai throws caution to the wind and fights to win, to kill, as though he Hates his foe with all his heart. It can be tagged to grant bonus dice to an opponent who fights with more brains than brutality. Finally, it can be used to compel Alexai to fight this way, even when he doesn’t really want to, because he’s afraid that without that vicious inner demon he won’t survive to achieve his revenge. Even when he’d rather leave his opponent alive…
Done and Done!
Who is Alexai? He is the last son of a family struck by tragedy. He is wise and canny, and very good with a sword. He is cunning. He has some courage and some strength. But he does not know beauty. His sisters love him, but they cannot protect him from his fate. He must find his brother’s murderer and kill him. Maybe then he can enjoy his life.
I’m seeing Alexai as a man caught between life and death, Romance and Revenge. He knows he should be looking for a wife, looking to settle down and begin a life, but he has this vendetta hanging over his head.
Alexai is about the danger of Love, and how Love leads to Death. He came from a family full of Love, where the parents were engaged in a passionate Romance with each other, an oddity in ven culture, but that same Love has driven his family to craft their youngest son into an instrument of Vengeance.
Love and Death. Hope and Hate. The ven.
Also, because he’s going to be so important to Alexai’s story, three things that were true about Vangalio…
He was beautiful
He was loved
He had many, many enemies.
So, what do you all think? This is my first attempt at a Houses of the Blooded character, and while I like to think I got it all right, I know I probably didn’t.
I want to say that making this character was remarkably easy and fun. Something about the Aspects really helps a character jump out and bite. And the random part was a lot more fun than I expected. I may sit around with the charts and a d6 and see what comes out.
*Sigh* I really like this game. If only someone else around me did, too. Even Abby isn’t fond of it.
Up next… I don’t want to use all my new games up right away, so I think I’ll do Mage: the Awakening. Got an idea and everything.
Publisher: Wicked Dead Brewing Company
Familiarity: Low, but growing. I’m probably going to run a one-shot of this one, soon.
Houses of the Blooded is about playing one of the ven, a beautiful and passionate people who existed in the time between the fall of the sorcerer kings and the rise of Atlantis. For a while, they ruled the world. Then, they vanished, setting the stage for the rise of the early human nations.
The Ven are passionate, obsessed with dichotomies. They don’t have crushes, they have Romance. They don’t have enemies, they have Revenge. The ven are everything I want out of a roleplaying game: passionate, interesting people doing really stupid things for the sake of their desires, ideals, and ambitions, getting into trouble… and then having to get out of it. Or dying of it. Houses of the Blooded, after all, is a game about tragedies.
Houses of the Blooded has a random character generation system, which is great because I can jump right in even though I don’t have any ideas. Even better, I could ignore the random character generation if I wanted to and do it all by choice. I love options.
Step 1: Background
Here’s where the rolling starts. Background is the only part of character generation that is random, because you can’t pick your family. Normally, I’d ignore this and go ahead and pick my family anyway, because I like to approach character generation like a writer and transition into a game player once the game starts. For now, though, I’ll follow the rules. Fortunately, though, this part isn’t completely random, really. I get three points to shift a die roll up or down with.
First I roll for my parents’ house. I get two 5s. That means both my parents are from the House of the Serpent.
Next I roll to determine which of my parents was dominant in the relationship. I get a 5 for my mother and a 6 for my father. I’m going to take that to mean that my parents were both huge personalities, but my father a little more so. Their rages and arguments (and their on-again, off-again, tumultuous Romance) were legendary, but my father always ended up getting the upper hand.
Now, because I feel like it, I shift through my dice until I find a suitably Serpenty-one. There we go.
Once parents are out of the way, I can move on to children. I roll my place in the birth order. I get a 4. I’m the fourth born son of this outrageous couple. Then I roll a single die and subtract one from the total to determine how many children are still living. I roll another 4, meaning that three children are still alive. I have a dead older sibling. For each sibling I roll a die to determine gender (sisters are odd, brothers are even): sister, brother, sister, me. Because it strikes me as more dramatic, I’m going to decide that it’s my older brother who is dead.
To determine my family’s standing, I roll a die for each of my parents. My mother is a Countess, but my father is a Baron. That doesn’t make any sense, so I’m going to spend one of my points to make my father a Count, too.
Next I pick a House. Of course, I have to pick one of my parents’ Houses, and both my parents are from the House of the Serpent, so I am, too. The Serpent is mysterious, knowledgeable, and wise. The Serpent knows the price of power and has paid it.
Now I pick my names. My family name is Mwrr, the name of the Serpent. My public name is Alexai, which means “the hand and the sword.” I should also name my family. My father is Haroon, which means “my father rejoices” and my mother is Niassa, “the ungentle night.” No, I won’t tell you my secret name – pray you never find out. My surviving sisters are Fyx, “I am alive,” and Tzao “born of fire.” My brother was Vangalio.
Incidentally, Vangalio and Fyx were twins. Twins in ven culture are creepy and villainous, and it’s rumored that the only way to produce twins is through a sorcerous ritual. Of course, I am from an all-Serpent family…
Next I pick an age. I think this is a game of spring, almost summer. The baby of the family has just struck out on his own. Alexai Mwrr is 19 years old.
But is Alexai married? The ven do marry early. The dice say… no. Alexai is not married. Darn. On the one hand, I like the idea of deciding who he’s married to, but on the other hand, now I get to play it.
And finally, titles. Like all starting characters, Alexai is a Baron.
Step 2: Virtues
Now, I pick virtues. There are six of them, but I only get five. One of them is Alexai’s weakness. I’m going to continue the idea of Alexai coming from a home shaken by a great Romance and the fact that he’s not married yet and pick Beauty as his weakness. Alexai isn’t good at culture, or poetry, or Romance. He’s going to have a hard time attracting a mate, and he knows it.
I choose one Virtue at 4, two at 3, and two at 2. Alexai’s Prowess is 4. He was raised to be a swordsman, to avenge his brother. His Wisdom and Cunning are 3 – the legacy of his House. Finally, his Strength and Courage are 2. He has not yet been tested, and his body is only average in its raw potential. I get to add one to Alexai’s Wisdom because of his House.
Step 3: Phases
Alexai is still in Spring, so I get to pick two Aspects and one Contact. Aspects are ways of describing my character that give me an advantage, a liability, and a way that someone might control or limit my behavior (called an Invoke, a Tag, and a Compel). The book suggests I do something to mitigate my weakness (missing Virtue).
For my first Aspect, I choose Beautiful Vengeance. Alexai’s singleminded quest for revenge for the murder of his brother is beautiful to the ven. It’s the kind of thing that happens in their operas, and it has passion, grace, and beauty… things Alexai has a hard time communicating any other way. Alexai can invoke it whenever his passion and dedication could impress other ven. On the other hand, it can also be tagged whenever a cool head and a calm heart would be wiser. And, this Aspect can be used to compel Alexai to act the part of the beautifully revenge-driven ven in social situations.
For my second Aspect I will pick Alexai’s family name – Mwrr, blooded of the Serpent. This Aspect can be invoked whenever Alexai is seeking knowledge, it can be tagged whenever worldliness would be better than knowledge, and it can be used to compel Alexai to enforce his House’s cryptic, shadowy reputation. Firstly, Alexai is trying to ferret out a secret – who murdered his brother? – and secondly, I want to obliquely imply that Alexai’s House and family are going to be important in his story without tying him down to an Aspect.
Finally, I get a single Contact, someone I know. Unfortunately, that Contact is supposed to be another player’s character, so I’ll have to skip that step for now.
Step Four: Devotions
I have three points to divide up amongst the suaven, the gods of the ven, themselves sleeping ven. These three points determine which of the suaven Alexai worships.
I will spend two points to be devoted to Falvren Dyr, old one-eye, the suaven of the Sword. I’ll spend my last point on Talia Yvarai, the suaven of Romance. Alexai is focusing on his purpose, but trying to hedge his bets and find some succor for his weakness.
Step Five: Domain
As a landed noble, Alexai has a Domain. As a Baron, his Domain consists of a single Province, which can in turn contain ten Regions. Until I spend points or actions to explore and exploit them, these regions are blank slates; mine in theory, but not in fact.
Alexa’s Domain is called Rosurran, the Rose Lands. It is a beautiful place, thick with life. The terrain is hilly to mountainous and completely overgrown with trees and sharp-thorned wild rose bushes.
Two regions are spoken for, though: my Castle and my Village.
The Castle is named the Last Rose Spire. It is, in fact, dominated by a huge narrow tower and overgrown with rose vines. It is very mysterious and really quite beautiful… not that Alexai can recognize that.
The Villlage is called Tandelatha, which means “Morning Song.” It’s a happy, cheerful place full of well-treated peasants who sing as they go about their day and hold many pleasant, rustic celebrations at night, with dancing and drinking and smiling. That way, Alexai can look broodingly at them and contemplate the weight of his mission.
I get five points to spend on my Province, five more regions I have explored.
First of all, I want a Ruin on my lands. Ruins don’t do me any good until I’ve explored them, but tell me; what self-respecting Serpent with a taint of sorcery hanging over his family doesn’t have a Ruin of the Sorcerer-Kings on his land? The ruin is called the Falling Star Temple, a sprawling one-storey structure full of reflecting pools and pillars and haunted by a sense of peace and inevitability.
Next I’ll take a Plains, the Asuana Valley. No one remembers what the word meant in the language of the Sorcerer Kings, so everyone just uses the old word without translating it. The Asuana Valley produces wine. Next to the Asuana Valley are the Broken Mountains, a low, ancient mountain range whose mines give up a bounty of metals. The Last Rose Spire is in these mountains, incidentally.
At the foot of the mountains, to the south, is the Asa Shohasen, the Forest Sublime. It produces food. The Falling Star Temple is hidden within the Forest Sublime. The Forest Sublime is also the southern edge of Alexai’s territory.
Finally, the east of the Asuana Valley is the sea. The Shoreline there, called the Theatre of the Sun, produces trade.
Next I get to spend five points on Vassals to help me run this place.
Firstly, I’d better have a Staff for the castle. Alexai hasn’t named them, but they like to call themselves the Root, a reference to the castle’s name and the fact that nothing would run properly if it weren’t for them.
Alexai is out for blood, so I think a personal guard is also in order. They are called the Rose Guard, and they are also based out of the Last Rose Spire. I’d also like to give Alexai a band of Roadmen (knights) to keep his Domain safe. They call themselves the Serpent’s Shadow, as they exist to remind the Domain and everyone in it that they exist under the shadow of a great house.
Given what a goon Alexai is when it comes to Beauty, I think he’d better have a Valet. A personal servant who travels with Alexai, makes sure he is dressed properly, grills him on the names of his host (or his guests!), and generally makes sure Alexai doesn’t make a fool of himself. His name is Favan. Three things that are true about Favant (a standard way of making some things true about an NPC without making too much true):
He used to be a servant in a castle owned by the House of the Fox.
He is loyal to Alexai.
He knows too much.
Finally, I’ll give Alexai a Spy Network. They are called the White Rose. Alexai is out to solve a decade-old murder, and he needs all the help he can get.
Step Six: Bonus!
Now I get five bonus points to spend on whatever I like.
First of all, Alexai needs a Blood Sword (what good vengeance-seeker isn’t complete with a magical sword that might leap into his hand at the worst moment?). I’ll make it a two-point Blood Sword, meaning it adds two dice to my fighting. Also, it’s made out of orichalcum and it can kill specters.
I will also give Alexai a Sorcerous ritual. Of course, Alexai knows how to lay the Curse. And once he finds out who killed his brother, he will lay the Curse. Oh, yes.
I’ll add one point to the White Rose, making them a level 2 Vassal. I want Alexai’s spies to be good. He’ll need them.
And… I’ll take an extra Aspect. How about a quote, from one of his early instructors in swordsmanship: “he fights like a demon!” It can be invoked for bonus dice in a fight, but only when Alexai throws caution to the wind and fights to win, to kill, as though he Hates his foe with all his heart. It can be tagged to grant bonus dice to an opponent who fights with more brains than brutality. Finally, it can be used to compel Alexai to fight this way, even when he doesn’t really want to, because he’s afraid that without that vicious inner demon he won’t survive to achieve his revenge. Even when he’d rather leave his opponent alive…
Done and Done!
Who is Alexai? He is the last son of a family struck by tragedy. He is wise and canny, and very good with a sword. He is cunning. He has some courage and some strength. But he does not know beauty. His sisters love him, but they cannot protect him from his fate. He must find his brother’s murderer and kill him. Maybe then he can enjoy his life.
I’m seeing Alexai as a man caught between life and death, Romance and Revenge. He knows he should be looking for a wife, looking to settle down and begin a life, but he has this vendetta hanging over his head.
Alexai is about the danger of Love, and how Love leads to Death. He came from a family full of Love, where the parents were engaged in a passionate Romance with each other, an oddity in ven culture, but that same Love has driven his family to craft their youngest son into an instrument of Vengeance.
Love and Death. Hope and Hate. The ven.
Also, because he’s going to be so important to Alexai’s story, three things that were true about Vangalio…
He was beautiful
He was loved
He had many, many enemies.
So, what do you all think? This is my first attempt at a Houses of the Blooded character, and while I like to think I got it all right, I know I probably didn’t.
I want to say that making this character was remarkably easy and fun. Something about the Aspects really helps a character jump out and bite. And the random part was a lot more fun than I expected. I may sit around with the charts and a d6 and see what comes out.
*Sigh* I really like this game. If only someone else around me did, too. Even Abby isn’t fond of it.
Up next… I don’t want to use all my new games up right away, so I think I’ll do Mage: the Awakening. Got an idea and everything.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 08:29 pm (UTC)I suppose I should at least pick up the pdf, since it's a stupid-cheap five bucks...
no subject
Date: 2008-09-12 11:56 pm (UTC)I'm still game! I think Maria is too.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-13 12:38 am (UTC)