Revised Royal Court

[gaston]

A few suggested amendments to the Court Rules:

The phrase 'Grand Court', which doesn't appear in the Court Calendar, should be replaced by 'Court Reception'.

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*Characters attending Court functions at the Tuilleries MUST be accompanied by their mistresses each week.

Weeks of Government at Tuilleries should not be considered 'Court functions'. Ministers are closetted with the King in a room to which ladies don't have access anyway, so why should mistresses have to attend? And what about Ministers who don't have wives or mistresses at the time? Taking companions from the Lady's Slipper is hardly appropriate, but Ministers suffer severe penalties if they don't attend Government Meetings...

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*** Characters at the Frontier must be at Court for the whole month,

Should read *** Characters attending Court at the Frontier or in a Province must attend Court for the whole month, whether or not their rank would usually allow them entry.

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It should now be the Minister of Foreign Affairs (rather than the Minister of War) who must attend receptions for Minor envoys (perhaps with his Intendants?) and the MoFA should also have to attend Major envoys (or is that what is meant by MoF?).

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The first two paragraphs of 30.33 should be deleted and the third paragraph be replaced by

"Any mistress [or should this be 'any wife'?] attending court may be spotted by a Court Dignitary and become eligible for Court Appointment in accordance with Rules Section 49.9. Where the roll for the King is concerned, on a roll of 2 (or 2-3 if Beautiful) the King has noticed a player's wife/mistress in a less disinterested fashion instead."

[huillaume]

About envoys and who must be there to receive them, I'd say a minor envoy could be received by the Intndent of Foreign Afairs, unless a ball is also held, in which case all the ministers are expected to (but if they don't penalties should not be as severe as not attending the government sessions).

In any case a full Minister must attend an Envoy, at least one of his intendents (secretaries, for the Minister of State) must attend too (if there are PC and NPCs holding this appointment, roll for who must, though he can volunteer or influence some other to take his place).

[Valerie Valanon]

Some thoughts on "Circular Court" and the provinces.

Since it is a major affair to relocate the court to one of the provinces to be held there, it also means that many things have to be organized beforehand. All in all a few hundred people need to be accomodated, fed and entertained. As we speak of the King of France, he will own a fair number of castles around the country, which probably means, that his accomodation will be no problem. Which leaves the other nobles attending the court to be accomodated appropiately, including their entourage.

One month in advance is needed to get all things done and afterwards another month is needed to get everything back to Paris. Which makes it highly unlikely, that the court will be held in one of the provinces in consecutive months.
It is also highly unlikely, that during the winter time court will be held elsewhere than in Paris or the Ile de France (i.e. Fontainebleau), since the roads during the cold and wet winter months are more difficult to travel.

Therefore I would propose a yearly recurring sequence of places, where court will be held, dependent on the seasons.
Winter season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu
Spring season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, one of the provinces
Summer season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, frontier
Fall season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, one of the provinces

To organize the relocation a new appointment is invented: The Royal Chamberlain.

[Viscomte or higher, Min SL 12, Admin and Etiquette of 4+; appointed by the Queen; 12 SP / month; class 8 favor; die roll of 7; no monthly pay, but a budget per relocation]

His task is to organize the relocation of the court to one of the provinces. To do this he spends one week minimum during the month before the court is held in a province working on this relocation, mostly with administrative tasks. Naturally he will be among the entourage, when the court is held in the province. So he spends the whole month at court and would even be excused from military service at the front. Some things in Royal France are much more important than to fight at some distant front line.

To fulfill all the tasks during the relocation, the Royal Chamberlain gets a budget for each relocation of the court of 3500 Livres. The costs of such an affair are enormous. To simplify it, the combined SL of all nobles of rank is multiplied with 5, the modifier for level 2 Conspicous Consumption. For the seven members of the court alone the SLs total is 177. The combined SLs of all other nobles attending court is calculated by 200 + 5d6*10 SLs. The total sum is also affected with the province´s multiplier for a wealthy or poor province.
For example, the court will take place in Champagne during April. The total sum of SLs will be 177 (for the court itself) + 200 + 170 [(3+6+1+2+5)*10] = 547. Multiplied with 5 and the 10% addition (for Champagne) it amounts to 3009 Livres. That leaves nearly 500 Livres for the Royal Chamberlain.

Of course the outcome of the whole affair will affect the position of the Royal Chamberlain. Two dice are rolled on the following table:
2: Total disaster - Royal Chamberlain loses 3xSL in SP and is dismissed immediately, -1 for all appointments through next half year
3-4: In need of improvement - Royal Chamberlain loses 1xSL in SP; on a 1-2 on one dice he is dismissed and given 1d6x100 Livres for his attempts
5-9: Passing well - Royal Chamberlain earns 3 extra SP and a class 8-favor
10-11: Success - Royal Chamberlain earns 2d6 SP, a class 9-favor and may toady to one member of the Royal family next month at court
12: Grande Success - Royal Chamberlain earns 3d6 SP, earns a bonus of 1d6x500 Livres and gets a title attempt

It is possible to modify the outcome of the whole affair:
+1 per successful admin-try for any week invested in the month before the translocation
+1 per successful etiquette-try for any week during court
+1 per any three weeks of help by paid workers (each cost 50 Livres / week), max 3
+2 per each PC noble, who owns an estate in the province and offers it for accomodation; this includes the Royal Chamberlain´s own estates
+3 per each level of Conspicous Consumption above level 2
-1 per act of sabotage by other players (1 during the preparations, max 1/week of court; if sabotage during court failed, the person responsible will get a trial, as it counts as an murder attempt against the King)
-2 per failed admin-try for any week invested in the month before the translocation
-2 per failed etiquette-try for any week during court
-3 per week the Royal Chamberlain is missing at court

[huillaume]

Apr 30, 2020 17:54:01 GMT Valerie Valanon said:

Therefore I would propose a yearly recurring sequence of places, where court will be held, dependent on the seasons.
Winter season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu
Spring season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, one of the provinces
Summer season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, frontier
Fall season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, one of the provinces

The modifiers in the court location table (34.7) already point this way...

Apr 30, 2020 17:54:01 GMT Valerie Valanon said:

To organize the relocation a new appointment is invented: The Royal Chamberlain.

Or be one of the duties for the Royal Steward...

[gaston]

There are a lot of appointment holders who should have opportunities for Audiences with the King who do not currently do so.  I suggest the following amendment to rule 34.9.  (Maximum of one audience per season previously discussed.

34.9 Audience with the King: Characters attending Court may request an audience with the King. No more than one audience per season will be granted to any character. The Royal Steward organises who gets an audience with the King, and will grant them on a 7+ (may be influenced - level 7). Bonuses to the roll are as follows:
________________________________________
Senior Ministers +4
Royal Chamberlain +4
City Governor +4
Other Ministers and CPS +3
Provincial Governors +3
Maitresses en Titre +3
Other Court Appointment Holders
(except Royal Equerries) +2
Colonel of Royal Foot Guards +2
Directors / Royal Appointment Holders appointed by King +2
Intendants, Secretaries of State +2
Commissioner of Public Health +2
Maids of Honour +2
Captains of RFG, CG and KM +1
Royal Equerries, Ladies in Waiting +1
Directors / Royal Appointment Holders appointed by third parties +1
________________________________________

[Ymbert Montgomery]

Apr 30, 2020 17:54:01 GMT Valerie Valanon said:

Some thoughts on "Circular Court" and the provinces.

Since it is a major affair to relocate the court to one of the provinces to be held there, it also means that many things have to be organized beforehand. All in all a few hundred people need to be accomodated, fed and entertained. As we speak of the King of France, he will own a fair number of castles around the country, which probably means, that his accomodation will be no problem. Which leaves the other nobles attending the court to be accomodated appropiately, including their entourage.

One month in advance is needed to get all things done and afterwards another month is needed to get everything back to Paris. Which makes it highly unlikely, that the court will be held in one of the provinces in consecutive months.
It is also highly unlikely, that during the winter time court will be held elsewhere than in Paris or the Ile de France (i.e. Fontainebleau), since the roads during the cold and wet winter months are more difficult to travel.

Therefore I would propose a yearly recurring sequence of places, where court will be held, dependent on the seasons.
Winter season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu
Spring season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, one of the provinces
Summer season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, frontier
Fall season: Tuileries, Louvre, Fontainebleu, one of the provinces

To organize the relocation a new appointment is invented: The Royal Chamberlain.

[Viscomte or higher, Min SL 12, Admin and Etiquette of 4+; appointed by the Queen; 12 SP / month; class 8 favor; die roll of 7; no monthly pay, but a budget per relocation]

His task is to organize the relocation of the court to one of the provinces. To do this he spends one week minimum during the month before the court is held in a province working on this relocation, mostly with administrative tasks. Naturally he will be among the entourage, when the court is held in the province. So he spends the whole month at court and would even be excused from military service at the front. Some things in Royal France are much more important than to fight at some distant front line.

To fulfill all the tasks during the relocation, the Royal Chamberlain gets a budget for each relocation of the court of 3500 Livres. The costs of such an affair are enormous. To simplify it, the combined SL of all nobles of rank is multiplied with 5, the modifier for level 2 Conspicous Consumption. For the seven members of the court alone the SLs total is 177. The combined SLs of all other nobles attending court is calculated by 200 + 5d6*10 SLs. The total sum is also affected with the province´s multiplier for a wealthy or poor province.
For example, the court will take place in Champagne during April. The total sum of SLs will be 177 (for the court itself) + 200 + 170 [(3+6+1+2+5)*10] = 547. Multiplied with 5 and the 10% addition (for Champagne) it amounts to 3009 Livres. That leaves nearly 500 Livres for the Royal Chamberlain.

Of course the outcome of the whole affair will affect the position of the Royal Chamberlain. Two dice are rolled on the following table:
2: Total disaster - Royal Chamberlain loses 3xSL in SP and is dismissed immediately, -1 for all appointments through next half year
3-4: In need of improvement - Royal Chamberlain loses 1xSL in SP; on a 1-2 on one dice he is dismissed and given 1d6x100 Livres for his attempts
5-9: Passing well - Royal Chamberlain earns 3 extra SP and a class 8-favor
10-11: Success - Royal Chamberlain earns 2d6 SP, a class 9-favor and may toady to one member of the Royal family next month at court
12: Grande Success - Royal Chamberlain earns 3d6 SP, earns a bonus of 1d6x500 Livres and gets a title attempt

It is possible to modify the outcome of the whole affair:
+1 per successful admin-try for any week invested in the month before the translocation
+1 per successful etiquette-try for any week during court
+1 per any three weeks of help by paid workers (each cost 50 Livres / week), max 3
+2 per each PC noble, who owns an estate in the province and offers it for accomodation; this includes the Royal Chamberlain´s own estates
+3 per each level of Conspicous Consumption above level 2
-1 per act of sabotage by other players (1 during the preparations, max 1/week of court; if sabotage during court failed, the person responsible will get a trial, as it counts as an murder attempt against the King)
-2 per failed admin-try for any week invested in the month before the translocation
-2 per failed etiquette-try for any week during court
-3 per week the Royal Chamberlain is missing at court

Coming back to this I like the look of it but I'm not quite sure how it works. Would the seasonal courts be randomly determined between those areas or would it be the same every year?

[Valerie Valanon]

Sept 20, 2020 0:03:39 GMT Ymbert Montgomery said:

Coming back to this I like the look of it but I'm not quite sure how it works. Would the seasonal courts be randomly determined between those areas or would it be the same every year?

The seasonal courts would be randomly determined between the areas, i.e. for Winter season it may be Tuleries (Dec), Louvre (Jan), Fontainebleau (Feb). Spring season: Louvre (Mar), Brittany (Apr), Louvre (May); Summer season: Tuleries (Jun), frontier province (e.g. Savoy, strengthening the morale of the Royal Troops - Jul), Fontainebleau (Aug); Fall season: Louvre (Sep), Provence (Oct), Fontainebleau (Nov).

To determine which province will be selected, roll a dice as in the character generation rules, excluding the Ile de France from the results. Similar will go for the choice, which frontier province will be selected.

[Ymbert Montgomery]

I'll be implementing this from the Winter turn.