04 Night's Watch.pdf - Chaos Bleeds

CHAPTER 1: The Night’s WatchImproving the Castle through AdventureThe most common way to improve the resources of a castle, just as witha noble house, is through adventure and campaign on the part of theplayers. As a result of their oaths, any Coin or Glory the charactersmight earn is turned over to the Night’s Watch, specifically to the bettermentof their castle. Donating Coin and Glory functions identicallyto the rules presented in the SIFRP core rules, save that brothers of theNight’s Watch are not allowed to use Glory to gain bonus dice; theirGlory can only be invested in the castle.Castle ActionsEach castle may, over the course of the month, engage in one specificcastle action. These actions allow individual castles to affect their fortunesfrom month to month, as help them to grow and maintain theirresources. A castle commander can elect to engage in a specific actionwhen the relevant Fortune roll is made, and reaps the benefit of the actionat the end of the month, when applicable.By no means is this list exhaustive, and players and Narrators areencouraged to come up with other ideas for castle actions.Manage ResourcesThis is perhaps the most important, and most dreaded, of the optionsavailable to a castle commander. In effect, the castle is exchanging resourcesof one type for those of another, often at a loss. On the Wall,this is often done to maintain important holdings in the face of continuedill fortune at the expense of other, less vital resources. A castleis able to exchange one resource in a month at the normal rate, or mayrush the issue and exchange two resources at the “rushed” rate. The conversionrates for these resources can be found in Table 6-19: ManageResources in the SIFRP core rules.Begin ProjectsBig RangingsIt is expected that the rangers are making regular exploratory foraysinto the Far North. A big ranging, by comparison, represents a seriousinvestment of men and resources to reclaim a specific area or to wagewar against a specific foe. Use the rules found in Chapter 10: Warfarefrom the SIFRP core rules to adjudicate the battles and determine howthe outcomes affect the castle’s resources.Petition the SouthA castle of the Watch can send wandering crows to the South to gatherresources in the form of recruits and tribute, or even travel all the wayto the Iron Throne to petition the King. Such a trip is not undertakenlightly or without expense, but the rewards can often be worth the riskof investment.Sending a group of wandering crows requires the castle to spend aminimum of 2 points of Wealth, to fund their journey and allow themto clothe, bribe and bargain with the noble houses they meet. For every2 points of Wealth spent, the castle can add the result of a 1d6 roll toeither their Power or Wealth resources at the end of the month.Sending a group to petition the King requires a far more substantialoutlay, but the risk can be worth the outlay. Petitioning the King requirestwo months, and a cost of 5 Wealth to ensure that the brothersare presentable, and that the proper palms have been greased. At theend of the two months, the castle is able to add 1d6+6 to its Power orWealth. Unlike with wandering crows, this number can be broken upbetween the two attributes as the castle commander sees fit.A castle can begin the construction of a holding by investing some or allof it its cost at the start of the month. Once this happens, at least someof that resource must be invested each month in order to continue workon the project though they can also engage in other castle actions afterthe first month. The project is completed at the end of the month thatthe final payment is made for the project.Failure to pay for the project during one month pauses the construction.Failure to pay for two months in a row cancels the construction asthe workers, fed up with waiting, disperse. If a project is canceled onehalfof the invested resource is lost.ExampleThe commander of Queensgate wishes to build a sept to honorQueen Alysanne. According to the core rules, septs require an investmentof 15 Wealth to create, though Queensgate currently onlyhas 6 uninvested Wealth. The commander decides to put 5 Wealthtowards the construction to begin. In subsequent months, he mustinvest at least 1 new Wealth in the project to keep work progressing.It sounds like the castle commander needs to spend some timemanaging resources.41