Manors

or: "hypothetical mechanics for a hypothetical domain game"

or: "back on my historically inaccurate victorian slash gothic bullshit"

 

Domain Building

First, pick a manor from this list:

1. Falin Castle - Leaning at an iconic 12 degree angle. Leans a little more each year.
2. Supersanctuaria - Commissioned as a church. No worship has ever taken place there.
3. Vernow Castle - Could have been the largest ship in the armada, but the shipwrights ran out of funds and pivoted to real estate.
4. Huginn Hall - Bird-blighted. In Winter, two enormous nagging ravens come home to roost.
5. Chene Castle - Revisionist memorial to the most embarrassing war ever fought on foreign soil.
6. Nefyrlane House - Brimming with horny ghosts.
7. Garfield Hall - School of racial philosophy. Generations of scholars have studied here in search of the world’s most devastating slur.
8. Norfolk Castle - Former revolutionary hideout. Rumor has it the whole manor is rigged to explode. 
9. Titor Palace - Tall and narrow. Scrapes the clouds. Stabilized by a complex arrangement of sails.
10. Axiom Court - In days of old, eight knights swore an oath here. Attracts tourists, and posers.
11. Kayleigh Castle - Allegedly belonged to fairy royalty, who want it back.
12. Ynnit Castle - Sister-construction of Atward Hall. You own both, but one is an uninhabitable ruin. They can each go in different domains.
13. Estcher House - Belonged to a famous demonologist. Red wallpaper, drains in the floors. The locals call it "Chester House".
14. Belgetter Castle - Crawling with culturally insensitive gargoyles.
15. The Nameless Keep - Once held political prisoners. Directly acknowledging its existence is illegal; one may speak around it, but never of it.
16. Seratopa Park - Surrounded by acres of struggling vineyards.
17. Beerwolf Castle - Belonged to an oracle. Will be hit by a meteorite in a year.
18. Totenchaten House - The sky overhead is always clear: perfect for stargazing.
19. Morfeng Park - Designed by a blind, insane architect. Looks like a starfish, throwing up.
20. Canow Castle - Basement floods every spring goddammit fuck >:(

You are within your rights to rename the manor, but older relatives will never use it.

A manor's worth consists of four kinds of appeal: Religious, Intellectual, Tourist, and Supernatural. Rather than improving your domain, domain play primarily consists of raising the value of your manor.

Next, pick a domain from this list:

1. Eldon - Epicenter of the magical industrial revolution. The social season takes place here.
2. Summerseddy - Idyllic countryside where nothing ever happens.
3. Mania - Quarry town that slowly drives its residents insane.
4. Nova Ordea - Beautiful like a painting. Technically ruled by a foreign dictator.
5. Horse Town - Disturbingly American poisonous salt flats. Used to be a prison colony.
6. Ogwalia - Middle class necropolis.
7. Sceolan - Creepy pagan mountain town where skiing was invented.
8. Dioncalad - World's most over-funded police-yard.
9. Broug am Langotep - Four other families already lay claim to this highly sought after historic town.
10. Falnod - Cursed forest ruin where nothing will ever grow again. No locals to exploit; all supplies must be transported perilously and painstakingly thru the forest from somewhere with an actual economy. Don't pick this one, even as a joke.

Your manor goes somewhere in that domain.

There are intentionally less domains than manors, some of which are strictly better than others. This is because PCs don't own their domains: instead, all the manors in each domain vie for control of its resources.

Finally, you get a relation to host in your manor: an art school dropout, or an uncle who is terrified of ghosts, or an old family dog.

You get an additional (actually useful) relation for each point of appeal your manor has: a linguist, for example, if you have Intellectual appeal, et cetera.

If you don't want any relations (because living in a big empty house is your aesthetic), you can give them to other players instead.

Ideally, you do all of this before you roll your character. People are reflections of their environments, after all. I'm not your mom, tho, so do what you want i guess

Maids

You start with seven, and get two more when you level up. They keep your manor running smoothly.

Your House pays their salaries AND their funeral expenses, so don't expect more if they all die.

 

Shared Domains

If there's more than one manor in a domain, they all compete for its resources.

Example: It is tax season in Broug am Langotep, which generates 200/year in tourism and 50/year in church donations. You roll a d6 and add your manor's Tourist appeal; the four other families who live in the domain do the same. Whoever rolls the highest gets the 200. Then, repeat this process for Religious appeal. (This is on top of a significant yearly allowance/inheritance that all House scions get anyway.)

The intent is for PCs to spend all their money renovating their cool houses and all their time openly resenting their neighbors' cool houses.

When there's conflict over domain management (for example, interfering with local politics) make an Appeal check (as above) to see which manor is in charge. [WIP WIP this sounds so annoying but in a way that makes me laugh]

War

Everyone knows domain gaming is just wargaming in a trench coat and sunglasses.

In this game, you aren't allowed to raise an independent militia and point it at your countrymen (that's what assassins are for). Instead, if you want to engage in- good old-fashioned mass combat, the refined, socially acceptable way to do so is to engage in proxy gang warfare.

The player who picks first also picks the location. Your budget varies based on your manor's appeal and can be improved by working closely with gang leadership.

1. The Evolutionists appear wherever intellectuals gather. None of them can read, they just like throwing bricks thru church windows.
• 1 - Atheists (1hp, immune to miracles)
• 2 - Originmen (1hp, as chimpanzee on amphetamines)
• 4 - Missing Link
2. The Sunday Best appear wherever there's strong church presence, burning textbooks and kicking the shit out of scientists.
• 1 - Bookburners (1hp, max damage to wizards, sets off scrolls on attack)
• 2 - Inquisitors (2hp, d10 headsman's sword, +1 to Hit for nearby allies while singing)
• 4 - Decapitantes
3. The Werewolf Mafia exclusively serves scions of House Norbury.
• 1 - Pup (2hp)
• 2 - Howler (2hp, summon d4 wolves 1/battle)
• 4 - Silverback
4. The Carpenters Guild will only fight if fate is in your favor (1-in-20 chance).
• 1 - Carpenter (1hp, invisible until they're right next to you)
• 2 - Chainsaw (2hp, cleave, invisible until they're right next to you)
• 4 - Craneslayer

Each player controls all of their units directly (the units aren't aware of this; they don't know it's a game).

[WIP WIP WIP this is unforgivably WIP the actual takeaway is that i should write a self-indulgent skirmish wargame]

Attic, Closet, Basement

All manors are too big to live in, and are therefore too big to know. Keys get lost. Old bedrooms get closed up and forgotten. You’ve never seen the floor plan, and you’ve likely never set foot in the basement. (You have servants for that.)

Manors tend to have lots of stuff in them, tucked away, just out of sight. At any time, you can assert that a treasure or artifact is actually an old family heirloom, and try to remember where it is in the house. If you succeed, you learn whether it is in the attic, the closet, or the basement.

The servants, of course, can’t find it. You’ll have to go down there yourself.