Systems and Metasystems

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• The Campaign Influence System
• Court Action System
• The Rumormill
• The Game of Letters
• Favors and Debts
• Being in the Know
• Access and Letters of Introduction
• Feuds and Feuding

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Campaign Influence is the official, built-in way of selecting the future Emperor. The contender with the highest campaign influence at the end of the campaign will win, assuming the Empire does not find a work-around.

The following things contribute to Campaign Influence:

• Each samurai that publicly commits themselves to a Wind adds their influence rank+their status rank to that Wind’s total.
• If a samurai speaks for a House and publicly commits it to a Wind, they add the House’s Influence score to the Wind’s total.
• If a Wind receives Glory, it is added to their total.
• If a samurai receives Glory, they may choose to dedicate it or a portion of it to their Wind by publicly linking the Wind to their accomplishment.
• If a Wind receives Infamy or the Bad Reputation disadvantage, they will lose Influence equal to the points of Infamy, or 10 points for Bad Reputation.
• If a samurai backing a Wind receives Infamy or the Bad Reputation disadvantage, the Wind will receive half the penalty by association.
• Samurai who have publicly committed themselves to a Wind and gain Court Points in open court may convert these into Campaign Influence for their Wind.
• Winds who contribute to courtly debate will automatically convert their Court Points to Campaign Influence.

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Winter Court is a game about politics, and while any number of negotiations and counter-negotiations, deals and counter-deals, can be done between Houses, the deals between Clans and Families must be subject to Imperial Scrutiny. Winter Court is a formal place, and so there are formal rules. Much thanks to the good folks at Naishou for their hard work on this:

Every day except the first will see a court/council session take place in the Court forum in the early afternoon, at which the Empress and her officers will conduct necessary business--and hear petitioners. PCs can act to represent their factions’ interests in the council, either moving discussion towards their own ends or hindering the advances of others’ interests.

Each day, one officer or another will open court and begin to preside over business. The presiding officer will have a set TN determined by the position and influence they have. This TN will be the TN for all Court Actions for that session, because your business is directed to the presiding officer.

Attendees at the court may perform a number of actions in the court equal to 1 + the following modifiers (which are cumulative):
PC is from the Imperial Families, +1
PC is in an Imperial Office (e.g., Emerald or Jade Magistrate, Emerald or Jade Legionnaire), +1
PC is same Clan as presiding officer, +1
PC is from a Courtier School, +1
PC is from the same School type (bushi, courtier, shugenja, etc.) as presiding officer, +1
PC is from the same School as the presiding officer, +1
PC is Status 4+, +1
PC is Glory 4+, +1
PC is Infamous, - ranks in Infamy, minimum 1


Available actions are:
1) Advance/Introduce Own Position- The PC may state and work to advance his/her own position. If you want to introduce a treaty, this is what you would do. Doing so will require an Awareness / Courtier, Awareness Etiquette, Awareness / Perform: Oratory, Awareness / Perform: Storytelling, or Willpower / Intimidation roll, the TN of which is equal to the basic TN set by the presider. It is a Contested Social Skill roll. Success earns 10 Court Points; each Raise on the roll earns an additional 5 Court Points.
Failure with no called Raises earns 0 Court Points; failure with called Raises loses a number of Court Points equal to 10 x the number of Raises called (this can result in negative Court Point totals). Multiple actions may be spent on doing this; results are cumulative.

2) Concur with Another’s Position- The PC may work to support the position advanced by another. Doing so will require an Awareness / Courtier, Awareness / Etiquette, Awareness / Perform: Oratory, Awareness / Perform: Storytelling, or Willpower / Intimidation roll, the TN of which is equal to the basic TN set by the presider. It is an uncontested Social Skill roll. Success earns the supported PC 10 Court Points; each Raise on the Roll earns an additional 5 Court Points. Failure with no called Raises earns 0 Court Points; failure with called Raises loses a number of Court Points equal to 10 x the number of Raises called (this can result in negative Court Point totals). A PC may only Concur with a given PC once per court meeting, but a PC may concur with multiple PCs in a given meeting.

3) Deploy Broad Courtly Techniques- The PC may expend a court action to employ such Techniques as Speaking in Silence, Perfect Gift, Voice of Honor, Gift of the Lady, Know the Rhythm of the Heart, Finding the Path, Herald of Glory, Strength of Tradition, Every Lion Is Your Brother, Will of the Storm, From the Ashes, Voice of the Universe, Shallow Waters, Secrets Are Birthmarks, No More Masks, Piercing the Veils, The Heart Listens, Immovable Hand of Peace, Hand in Hand, Voice of Heaven, Destiny Has No Secrets, My Master’s Voice, Emperor’s Protection, or Blessings of the Emperor. This may only be done by a given PC once per court meeting, in addition to per-session restrictions that may be in place.

4) Present an Offering- The PC may expend a court action to present an offering to the court. A physical gift may be offered (with the gift-giving ritual assumed to be observed). If made by the PC, the roll to make the item is compared to the TN set by the presider, with success earning 25 Court Points and failure none. If made by another, the PC makes an Awareness / Courtier, Awareness / Etiquette, Awareness / Perform: Oratory, Awareness / Perform: Storytelling, or Willpower / Intimidation roll, the TN of which is equal to the basic TN set by the presider. It is an uncontested Social Skill roll, with success earning 15 Court Points and failure none; Raises will not provide any benefit. This may only be done by a given PC once per court meeting.

5) Quash Debate- The PC may expend a court action to bring court to a close. Doing so will require an Awareness / Courtier, Awareness / Etiquette, Awareness / Perform: Oratory, Awareness / Perform: Storytelling, or Willpower / Intimidation roll, the TN of which is equal to 20 + the basic TN set by the presider. It is a Contested Social Skill roll. Success causes the court meeting to end; each Raise on the roll earns 5 Court Points. Failure on the roll obliges the petitioning PC to leave the court meeting, forfeiting all earned Court Points from that meeting. Failure on a roll with called Raises additionally loses the PC Honor equivalent to a major breach of etiquette (Core pg. 91).
Note that the presider may do this at will, with no roll.

6) Refute Another’s Position- The PC may argue against the position staked out by another. Doing so will require an Awareness / Courtier, Awareness / Etiquette, Awareness / Perform: Oratory, Awareness / Perform: Storytelling, or Willpower / Intimidation roll, the TN of which is equal to the most recent Advance Own Position roll made by the PC whose position is being refuted. It is a Contested Social Skill roll. Success subtracts 10 Court Points from the target’s total; each Raise on the roll subtracts an additional 5 Court Points (this can result in negative Court Point totals). Failure with no called Raises subtracts 0 Court Points; failure with called Raises loses the refuting PC a number of Court Points equal to 10 x the number of Raises called (this can also result in negative Court Point totals). A PC may only Refute a given PC once per court meeting, but a PC may Refute multiple PCs in a given meeting.

Note that particularly strident, emphatic, or moving presentations may, at GM discretion, have additional effects. Even NPCs aren’t simply stat blocks, after all.[/list]

Please also note that only one court action should appear per post. If you are Concurring or Refuting, please quote the post to which you are responding for ease of reference.

A particular debate topic is resolved when the Presider is convinced either that there is a fairly broad consensus for or against a position, or that the position is in the best interest of the Empire or their personal agenda, depending on their character.

At the end of each Court session, players’ earned Court Points may be allocated to their Contender's Campaign Influence totals, or to their House, at their discretion. (Each player is asked to start a thread in their personal forum to track expenditures; players not stating otherwise will be assumed to award their points to the Clan.) Points invested in a House are translated to the House's Influence score at a rate of 10:1, minimum 1.

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The Rumormill is the (humorous) information nerve center of Winter Court. While the Scorpion and Otomo might get more of the straight dope, the Rumormill is full of those little tidbits that make life interesting, whether they are true or not.

Your friendly neighborhood gms (at least one of which is an inveterate Rumormill contributor), will have a certain number of rumors each day, but that does not mean that you should deny yourself this powerful tool.

To make a Rumor, your character must succeed at a Courtier (Gossip)/Awareness check against a TN equal to 25 Characters may call Raises on this roll to conceal the fact that they are the source of the gossip. Each such called Raise increases the TN a player must roll to identify you as the source by 5. Please post these Rumors in your personal folder. Remember, those of you with the Rumormonger disadvantage, to make those checks. You will certainly encounter situations that require it.

You can try to find out who spread a rumor. In fact, it might be a good idea to do so. You may make a roll in either your pf or as part of a scene in which you roleplay trying to find out who did the action. This roll should be an Investigation/Awareness roll. Each rumor with a discoverable source will have its TN to discover printed right next to it, but is calculated thus: Base 25+5 for each successful raise to conceal on the Rumor roll. Some rumors, that is those whose makers did not call raises to conceal, simply have their authors on them.

If a negative rumor gets traction (is repeated in the Rumors section 3 times over at least 2 days by your enemies without being addressed by you), you may end up with a Bad Reputation disadvantage. Not all negative rumors are serious enough to warrant this, but we will definitely warn you if things are getting there. A public retraction or apology will end this process and restore your honor. A duel will also resolve the question entirely, either restoring your honor or giving the Bad Reputation disadvantage. Mentioning the issue after a retraction, apology, or duel is a major breach of etiquette, unless the duel resulted in a Bad Reputation, in which case the reputation is plain fact and can be repeated (but try not to be tiresome or rude).

Friendliness and Rumors:
Rumors are submitted anonymously. They are from characters by characters. It is not a good idea to make them directed at a player, even subtly. It is also not a good idea to assume that a negative rumor about your character is about coming after you as the player. We will make an effort to address and suggest tweaks to rumors that we think might go over the line, but obviously we cannot anticipate how people may read things. Please be patient with each other, and remember to make a conscious effort to understand each other when you disagree.

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What is the Game of Letters?

The Game of Letters is a courtly game and communication service. It allows messages to be delivered publicly in order to demonstrate the skill and subtlety of the communicators. It also allows for plausible deniability. As names are not signed to the messages, no one can say with utmost certainty who is writing to whom. That does not always stop people from finding out, but it is Bad Form to break the polite fiction of anonymity. That anonymity lets samurai discuss topics--love, feuds, the Succession, etc.--that would not be okay to discuss in public.

The Game of Letters is not meant to be a way to arrange mundane meetings or to do preliminaries for negotiations. Everyday communications like those can be sent via PM.

How do I Play?
A Letter in this context is sent using Games: Letters/Awareness roll. This roll is used to determine how well you get your intent across. Please post the text of your letter (always a poem, traditionally but not always a 31-syllable poem in the 575-77 structure), your intent, where your note is sent, and how it is sent in your Personal Forum. Note that you need not indicate an intended recipient, merely a location or route for the letter to travel. Please see the primer below for some suggestions about the intricacies of the Game.

You may include rolls like Artisan: Poetry/Awareness or Artisan: Origami/Awareness to your Game of Letters post. We will, of course, post those along with your text (see the example below), but they should be understood to be indicative only of your character's skill at that element of the Game, not the degree to which the intent of the letter can be deciphered.

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Keep track of favors done for other samurai, and favors done for you. Keep track also (this is particularly important) of favors done, gifts given, and deals made at the clan level. Reciprocity is a cardinal rule of Rokugani society. People who fail to return favors or pay debts suffer shame personally and severe social stigma in public settings.

Favors, gifts, and deals done on the clan level and recognized by superiors will be repaid, if not by some in-character deal (please link your post discussing and/or promising a repayment of a favor, gift, or other boon in your pf. If there is no link, I won't be able to find it, and I won't have time to look for it), then through a poll in your clan or faction pf. Your daimyo--all of them--take these things very seriously.

In terms of favors and gifts you might like to trade, consider the following:
You have abstractions of their house's wealth and a free hand to describe its nature in the form of your House's Wealth stat. Your other House Stats might provide some ideas as to what kinds of favors you could offer.

Your clans have lists of commodities for trade. Part of the commodities for each clan includes a service that clan can perform for another that is unique to that clan. These are intended to serve as fodder for deals between clans.

In terms of favors on a clan-to-one-person basis, our feeling is that if one is speaking for a Great Clan, one can give pretty much anything that isn't the special purview of another clan and makes sense in a Feudal Magical Sino-Japanese (with emphasis on the latter) society.

For propriety and security's sake, you'd want to get your idea approved by your delegation head before you promised a castle, territory, or military intervention, but arranging introductions, giving material gifts (armor, clothes), or social things (writing a play, spreading a rumor, etc.) that do not come with a mechanical benefit would be perfectly acceptable as a matter of course.

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Characters may make Lore: Heraldry checks against any samurai character, including marriage candidates, to see what they have heard of that character before.

You may also use Lore: [Great Clan X]/Intelligence skills to remember details of members of specific clans. The higher the Status or Influence of a character, the easier it will be.

The way these skills will work is that the base TN is 35. For each rank of Status or Influence (only use the higher of the two), you reduce the TN by 5.

You can also chase rumors about a subject with a Courtier/Awareness check at TN: 25, though rumors need not always be perfectly accurate. More (and more verifiable) facts may be ascertained with dedicated in-character research. Consider carefully where further information can be obtained, and from whom. Don't be afraid to pursue the unknown!

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There are certain social benefits to Status and Influence. The most important of these is that they unlock access. A PC can always access their Delegation Head (or Heads, in the Lion's case), but to qualify for the time of a High-Status individual outside of that specific role, you must meet the following thresholds.

To see a Daimyo: Status or Influence 3
To see an Imperial Officer: Status or Influence 4 (Status 2 if they share your clan)
To see da Empress: Status or Influence 5 AND a letter of recommendation from an Imperial Officer.


One can petition for letters of introduction to any character. Your delegation head can get you one introduction to a daimyo or Imperial Officer. More such introductions may become available as your delegation heads maneuver.

If you should choose to back a Wind, that affiliation will allow you to drop the requirements for other backers of that Wind. In effect, the Wind will be making all the introductions you need.

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Feuds and Feuding Process

1. Select someone you'd like to write a feud with. This should be based on in-character choices. Who is the natural opponent of your strategy?

2. Write that character's player in a pm explaining your idea for the feud. This could be a one-off confrontation, a subtle running exchange in the Game of Letters, or a multi-layered and multi-party intrigue. See if they'd like to be your adversary.

3. Decide who wins. Feuds are complicated beasts, and the stakes often become too high and tempers too short as the moment when the chips are down approaches. You can and should solve that problem by knowing the outcome in advance.

4. Decide the outcomes for both sides. The winner is going to win the confrontation. What do they achieve from it? The loser...well, not everyone will be keen on losing at first, so the important thing to do is to try to understand what both sides earn in the confrontation. The winner is going to achieve certain things, but they should come at a cost--a low cost for low stakes, and possibly a high cost for high stakes. What does the loser get?
Firstly, whatever you guys decide between yourselves--feuds can be messy, and the ultimate winner need not have been successful at every turn. Did the ultimate loser gain something (influence, a contact, something tangible) along the way?

Secondly, we have in our files a list called the Circle of Hate. If the losing character or faction struggled valiantly and lost against a faction connected with an NPC (all characters are connected with at least one NPC by virtue of being members of a delegation), then an NPC opponent of that faction will reach out to them with a connection or some support. This should go some way to assuaging the bitterness of defeat.

5. Let us know what you've decided. The agreement should appear in the pfs of all parties to the feud or disagreement. We'll check things over to make sure we understand what's going on and that everyone's on the same page. That will also ensure that the Circle of Hate will kick in correctly. We'd hate to miss your cool conflict!