Post by Ymbert Montgomery on Jul 14, 2019 16:53:38 GMT
This is the start of a series focusing on important concepts in En Garde! Today we're going to look at:
Toadying
In the social whirlwind that is Parisian society it's vital to be seen out and about with the right people. Characters can always benefit from being seen in the company of their social betters. For the social elite, it's a bit more complicated. It's good to be seen surrounded by sycophants, but only if they aren't too low class.
Any number of people can toady to you in a week, but you can only toady to one person. It's also not possible to both toady and be toadied to in the same think.
Toadying is an important part of the game as it is both one of the most effective ways of gaining Social Points and encourages player interactions. All toadying must be recorded in the orders of both the toadyer and the toadee.
Toadying at Clubs
This is perhaps the most common form of toadying. If you go to a club and toady (by arrangement) with a higher status character you'll gain Social Points. Even better, if you're there as a guest you can attend clubs your low Social Level would normally preclude you from.
You do need to Carouse at the level of your host (which costs their Social Level in Livres); naturally you can't fail to keep up with their lifestyle. The same goes for any guests you take with you like Mistresses. While technically you could choose not to carouse this is likely to raise eyebrows for everyone apart from Priests.
Private Parties at Clubs
This is very similar to standard Club Toadying. It's an easy way of advertising the fact you're available to be toadied to without talking to everyone individually.
Your club will be happy to host your party in a private room. Simply announce the month and week and any guest list restrictions (nobody under SL 5, mistresses not allowed, no members of the Cardinal's Guards etc.) Anyone who wants to turn up within those restrictions can do simply by mentioning they're attending the party in their orders.
While normally the host of the party is toadied to, some parties have a “guest of honour” of higher Social Level than the host. In this case that person is toadied to instead.
House Parties
If you want to have more control over who attends a Party you can hold it at your house. Each level of Property has a maximum number of guests from 1 (a Room) to 50 (a Chateau). All guests toady to the party host and carousing costs are as normal, unless the host graciously choose to cover them.
Benefits of Toadying
If you toady to someone you get the difference between your social levels divided by two (round up) in Status Points. You also get Status points equal to the difference between the Club Rank and the highest Club you're eligble to join (if toadying at a club) or the difference between the Property Rank where the party is and that of the highest property you'd be eligible to buy (house parties)
The person getting toadied to gets 1 Status Point for each toadier within 0-3 Social Levels of his own. He gains nothing if they're 4-6 points lower than his Social Level. A 7-8 difference actually requires him to lose 1 Social Point, 9-10 loses him 2 and 11 or more loses 3 Social Points.
As you can see, you are unlikely to be allowed to toady to someone much higher in Social Level than you without finding some kind of inducement to offer!
Note for Cads and Bounders
If someone says they're toadying to you in their orders and you've expressly forbidden it without their knowledge they'll be turned away (even if the event is taking place at their normal club) and will be forced to do nothing that week while you and your friends chortle at their humilation. Naturally, this is a very good way of making enemies of the lower classes...
Toadying
In the social whirlwind that is Parisian society it's vital to be seen out and about with the right people. Characters can always benefit from being seen in the company of their social betters. For the social elite, it's a bit more complicated. It's good to be seen surrounded by sycophants, but only if they aren't too low class.
Any number of people can toady to you in a week, but you can only toady to one person. It's also not possible to both toady and be toadied to in the same think.
Toadying is an important part of the game as it is both one of the most effective ways of gaining Social Points and encourages player interactions. All toadying must be recorded in the orders of both the toadyer and the toadee.
Toadying at Clubs
This is perhaps the most common form of toadying. If you go to a club and toady (by arrangement) with a higher status character you'll gain Social Points. Even better, if you're there as a guest you can attend clubs your low Social Level would normally preclude you from.
You do need to Carouse at the level of your host (which costs their Social Level in Livres); naturally you can't fail to keep up with their lifestyle. The same goes for any guests you take with you like Mistresses. While technically you could choose not to carouse this is likely to raise eyebrows for everyone apart from Priests.
Private Parties at Clubs
This is very similar to standard Club Toadying. It's an easy way of advertising the fact you're available to be toadied to without talking to everyone individually.
Your club will be happy to host your party in a private room. Simply announce the month and week and any guest list restrictions (nobody under SL 5, mistresses not allowed, no members of the Cardinal's Guards etc.) Anyone who wants to turn up within those restrictions can do simply by mentioning they're attending the party in their orders.
While normally the host of the party is toadied to, some parties have a “guest of honour” of higher Social Level than the host. In this case that person is toadied to instead.
House Parties
If you want to have more control over who attends a Party you can hold it at your house. Each level of Property has a maximum number of guests from 1 (a Room) to 50 (a Chateau). All guests toady to the party host and carousing costs are as normal, unless the host graciously choose to cover them.
Benefits of Toadying
If you toady to someone you get the difference between your social levels divided by two (round up) in Status Points. You also get Status points equal to the difference between the Club Rank and the highest Club you're eligble to join (if toadying at a club) or the difference between the Property Rank where the party is and that of the highest property you'd be eligible to buy (house parties)
The person getting toadied to gets 1 Status Point for each toadier within 0-3 Social Levels of his own. He gains nothing if they're 4-6 points lower than his Social Level. A 7-8 difference actually requires him to lose 1 Social Point, 9-10 loses him 2 and 11 or more loses 3 Social Points.
As you can see, you are unlikely to be allowed to toady to someone much higher in Social Level than you without finding some kind of inducement to offer!
Note for Cads and Bounders
If someone says they're toadying to you in their orders and you've expressly forbidden it without their knowledge they'll be turned away (even if the event is taking place at their normal club) and will be forced to do nothing that week while you and your friends chortle at their humilation. Naturally, this is a very good way of making enemies of the lower classes...