Post by Ymbert Montgomery on Jul 21, 2019 23:19:02 GMT
Any hotblooded young French man is expected to be seen reguarly enjoying the company of the ladies and your characters are no different. (With the sole exception of the clergy, who can get female companionship but may find their superiors are unimpressed).
This is so important that without any female companionship a character will lose 2 Status Points the first month without female companionship, increasing by another 2 for each executive month.
Mistresses
Probably the most common way of achieving your female companionship requirements, a full list of eligble young ladies currently in Paris can be found here - liminalengarde.proboards.com/thread/15/ladies-paris
As well as their Social Level, this tells you of any attributes the ladies in question have. The four possible attributes are:
Beautiful - This mistress gives an extra Status Point if she is attached to your character.
Influential - This mistress moves among the great and good and grants extra Influence for the character's use.
Wealthy - This mistress is independently wealthy and costs nothing to maintain her upkeep.
Noble - This mistress is titled in her own right. She can only be courted by Titled Nobles and legitimate sons of Titled Nobles. This can only be done by characters no more than one below her Title. (So a Commtess could only be courted by a character who is at least a Viscomte or the legitimate son of one).
Courting
Naturally, to gain a mistress one must first court her. Courting takes a weekly action and success is in no way certain.
The bigger the difference between the mistress's Social Level and the Character's the more difficult she is to court. Married, engaged and attached mistresses are harder to court. Unattached and pregnant mistresses are easier to Court. It is not possible to Court a mistress more than 6 Social Levels higher than your own.
Courting costs a minimum of 3x the Mistress's Social Level and the character can increase their chance by 1, for each extra 3x SL they spend. (This additional money may not be paid for a Wealthy mistress). This is on a d6 and, as long as she isn't socially unattainable, always has a chance of success and failure. The base chance without extra spending is:
The Lady's Slipper
This is so important that without any female companionship a character will lose 2 Status Points the first month without female companionship, increasing by another 2 for each executive month.
Mistresses
Probably the most common way of achieving your female companionship requirements, a full list of eligble young ladies currently in Paris can be found here - liminalengarde.proboards.com/thread/15/ladies-paris
As well as their Social Level, this tells you of any attributes the ladies in question have. The four possible attributes are:
Beautiful - This mistress gives an extra Status Point if she is attached to your character.
Influential - This mistress moves among the great and good and grants extra Influence for the character's use.
Wealthy - This mistress is independently wealthy and costs nothing to maintain her upkeep.
Noble - This mistress is titled in her own right. She can only be courted by Titled Nobles and legitimate sons of Titled Nobles. This can only be done by characters no more than one below her Title. (So a Commtess could only be courted by a character who is at least a Viscomte or the legitimate son of one).
Courting
Naturally, to gain a mistress one must first court her. Courting takes a weekly action and success is in no way certain.
The bigger the difference between the mistress's Social Level and the Character's the more difficult she is to court. Married, engaged and attached mistresses are harder to court. Unattached and pregnant mistresses are easier to Court. It is not possible to Court a mistress more than 6 Social Levels higher than your own.
Courting costs a minimum of 3x the Mistress's Social Level and the character can increase their chance by 1, for each extra 3x SL they spend. (This additional money may not be paid for a Wealthy mistress). This is on a d6 and, as long as she isn't socially unattainable, always has a chance of success and failure. The base chance without extra spending is:
Difference in Social Level | Roll Needed |
-6 | 6 |
-5,-4 | 5 |
-3,-2,-1 | 4 |
0,+1.+2 | 3 |
+3 or more | 2 |
Courting another man's mistress is always cause for a duel if successful and gives cause when unsucessful if she tells her lover about it. (50% chance).
Turning up on a mistress's door step at the same time as another man leads to cause for a duel unless someone stands down (must be ordered in advance). If more than one character refuses to stand down the courting attempt is automatically unsuccessful, however the winner of any resulting duel will get +1 to his courting attempt that month.
It is strongly advised to consider what circumstances you are going to stand down on. In particular, fighting a member of the same regiment is very illadvised, sending the offending parties to the Front in disgrace for a full year! (This is highly likely to kill you).
Turning up on a mistress's door step at the same time as another man leads to cause for a duel unless someone stands down (must be ordered in advance). If more than one character refuses to stand down the courting attempt is automatically unsuccessful, however the winner of any resulting duel will get +1 to his courting attempt that month.
It is strongly advised to consider what circumstances you are going to stand down on. In particular, fighting a member of the same regiment is very illadvised, sending the offending parties to the Front in disgrace for a full year! (This is highly likely to kill you).
Maintaing Mistresses
It is not enough simply to acquire a Mistress. One must also pay for her support (unless she's Wealthy). This costs 3x her SL per month and starts the same month as you successfully court her. If you fail to pay this she will automatically dump you.
You must also spend time with your Mistress or it isn't considered Female Companionship. The Beginner's Guide has a full list of associated activities, from visiting her at home to taking her to Church to going to a club with her.
You must also spend time with your Mistress or it isn't considered Female Companionship. The Beginner's Guide has a full list of associated activities, from visiting her at home to taking her to Church to going to a club with her.
The Benefits of Having a Mistress
Fufilling your Female Companionship is a big bonus, but there are other social benefits for having a mistress. Each character automatically gets 1 Social Point for having a Mistress, 2 if their Mistress is Beautiful. If your Mistress is of higher social level you get half the difference in Status Points, rounded up.
Having a Mistress of considerably lower Social Level than you is frowned upon socially. For each negative difference below 4 you will lose 1 Social Point. (So a character with a Beautiful Mistress 6 Social Levels below him neither gains nor loses any Status Points for her).
Having a Mistress of considerably lower Social Level than you is frowned upon socially. For each negative difference below 4 you will lose 1 Social Point. (So a character with a Beautiful Mistress 6 Social Levels below him neither gains nor loses any Status Points for her).
Changing Mistresses
If you want to break up with a Mistress for any reason this is an automatic pre monthly action.
Alternatively, some gentlemen prefer to hedge their bets and start courting a new Mistress while still with the old one. If sucessful, the old Mistress is automatically dumped in favour of the new (and will never get attached to your character again). If unsucessful, there is a 1 in 6 chance the character has been indiscreet enough for his Mistress to dump him first. (And well deserved it is to!). If there is cause for a duel from courting a Mistress an indiscretion has automatically been committed.
If you want to break up with a Mistress for any reason this is an automatic pre monthly action.
Alternatively, some gentlemen prefer to hedge their bets and start courting a new Mistress while still with the old one. If sucessful, the old Mistress is automatically dumped in favour of the new (and will never get attached to your character again). If unsucessful, there is a 1 in 6 chance the character has been indiscreet enough for his Mistress to dump him first. (And well deserved it is to!). If there is cause for a duel from courting a Mistress an indiscretion has automatically been committed.
Pregnancy and Marriage
There is a possibility of a mistress falling pregnant. If this happens you'll be given several options, from the honourable option of a quick marriage to the moustache twirling villainy of hiring assassins to bump her off!
Aside from a pregnancy 'encouraged' marriage a character may choose to propose to his mistress if they've been attached for a full six months. This works the same as an unmodifed courting roll. (If you become eligible for this I'll draw the relevant rules to your attention at the time.
Aside from a pregnancy 'encouraged' marriage a character may choose to propose to his mistress if they've been attached for a full six months. This works the same as an unmodifed courting roll. (If you become eligible for this I'll draw the relevant rules to your attention at the time.
Mistresses and Changing Social Level
A Mistress may rise or fall in Social Level, depending on how well her beau is doing socially.
Bawdyhouse
Some characters may not wish to risk failure or wish to hedge their bets in the case of rejection. For those characters, Paris offers many fine (and not so fine) Bawdyhouses for the baser needs of a young man.
Getting female companionship at a Bawdyhouse costs your Social Level in Livres. Characters must also carouse, costing their Social Level again but gaining 1 Social Point. A character may optionally gamble, with up to 9 bets and no house limit. (See the Clubs guide for more details).
Any character visiting the Bawdyhouse has a 1 in 6 chance of being mugged on the way home, losing their SL in spare change and any gambling winnings.
It's worth noting that Bawdyhouse visits can be made conditional, depending on whether a courtship in the same month was successful or not.
Some characters may not wish to risk failure or wish to hedge their bets in the case of rejection. For those characters, Paris offers many fine (and not so fine) Bawdyhouses for the baser needs of a young man.
Getting female companionship at a Bawdyhouse costs your Social Level in Livres. Characters must also carouse, costing their Social Level again but gaining 1 Social Point. A character may optionally gamble, with up to 9 bets and no house limit. (See the Clubs guide for more details).
Any character visiting the Bawdyhouse has a 1 in 6 chance of being mugged on the way home, losing their SL in spare change and any gambling winnings.
It's worth noting that Bawdyhouse visits can be made conditional, depending on whether a courtship in the same month was successful or not.
The Lady's Slipper
It's fair to say that the Lady's Slipper is essentially a glorified Bawdyhouse, for gentlemen who prefer not to slum it too much.
The Club provides free female companionship to visiting members. Gambling and carousing are allowed, but a member visiting for female companionship may not bring guests, toady or be toadied to.
Any character (even one ineligible to join the club) can avail themselves of the Lady Slipper's female companionship for three times their Social Level. While far more expensive than the Bawdyhouse, there is no chance of being mugged.
Full membership of the Lady's Slipper is only available for characters of Social Level 6 and above. The Status Point rewards are less than other clubs of the same level, due to its tawdry reputation.
The Lady's Slipper does not allow Mistresses to attend!
Full membership of the Lady's Slipper is only available for characters of Social Level 6 and above. The Status Point rewards are less than other clubs of the same level, due to its tawdry reputation.
The Lady's Slipper does not allow Mistresses to attend!