Sir Joscelin de Bonivant, brother of the Order of St Lazarus (the Leper Knights)

Sir Joscelin de Bonivant, brother of the Order of St Lazarus (the Leper Knights)

Templar archetype:

Adv Faith, Endurance, Fine Armaments, Tough (2); Dis Zealous, Disfigured

Ive gone for the above advantages/disadvantages and heres why.

I agree that a Templar archetype is the best to start from and have taken Faith and Zealous as standard for this I take it being Zealous means Im more likely to struggle with the Unknown and so am required to take the double sanity check with worst result being applied. Faith can be used for anything and not just the Fervour ability I take it?

Ive also taken Endurance with the thinking being that the illness Ive born has made me used to battling through pain when necessary. Tough because as a knight he has been used to fighting throughout his life.

I decided to go with Fine Armaments thinking that Joscelin would have had decent enough armour before going on crusade, and then whilst part of the Order of St Lazarus would have had access to much better stuff, as well as having the pick of any that was left by knights of the order who had died. Hopefully my actual armour will stand up to being considered fine (mail hauberk, mail leggings, Norman helm with aventail, gorget, possibly some gauntlets). Does this advantage have any in-game effect?

For a final disadvantage I kind of made one up in the form of Disfigured due to the disease that I have suffered. I was thinking this would take the form of (particularly ordinary) people being wary/fearful of me. For the most par they wont necessarily be hostile, but they wont want to stick around me. I intend to try and keep the disfigurements covered up to some degree to try and counter this though. What do you think to this? Upgrade/downgrade it as you see fit.

Zealous means that your struggle more with the unknown as you mentioned and you are pretty fanatical about issue of faith (see templars in kingdom of heaven and head of the templar order in ivanhoe etc), distrustful of sarcens, jews etc

Faith can be used for some basic 'magic' ing game effects you will have 4 points of faith for the weekend - they can be used for fevour, bless a wound, to intimidate or inspire a person etc. fairly modest but workable effects are in order. for fervour the trigger for crew to be aware of is 'gods wills it' so please use 'deus volt' in normal circumstance if you get my drift. it will come down to roleplaying mostly - if some one has taken a mortal wound and you are to save them then much praying, frothing about god and ranting on in latin etc is needed, saying 'my the power of jebus I heal you wound' wont get you far. fine armourments will give you 'extra' armour normal- mail is three points so you will have 4 or 5 plus your helm. happy for disfigured to count in the way you describe.

BackgroundHe is a knight from a family of minor Norman nobility who took the cross and travelled to fight in the Holy Land, primarily as there was little chance of him inheriting land at home and the opportunity was there to gain some land and wealth in the Holy Land. However not long after arriving he contracted what appeared to be leprosy and as was customary he was sent to join fellow sufferers at the Hospital of St Lazarus. During his time at the hospital, Joscelin repeatedly took up arms as a brother-knight of the Order to battle the Saracen. Through his good works in fighting the heathen, prayer and fasting Joscelin received the blessings of what he has interpreted as a miracle and his leprosy it seems was cured, although not before it had left its mark on the young knight. During his military service as a brother-knight he often had occasion to work and fight alongside his brethren from the Order of St John, and here he became firm friends with a Hospitaller knight, Sir Reynald (John Birchett). Knights of St Lazarus traditionally undertook a foraging or scouting role to distance them from the main body of troops and minimise the spread of infection. They also had a reputation for little care for their own personal safety due to their disease. He now returns to the west, to press a distant family claims to estates in England, where he plans to build a new lazar house and hospital in honour of his miraculous cure a cause brought to him in a holy vision from the lord God. Given his apparent recovery from leprosy and his survival in numerous fights with the Saracens, Joscelin believes that he has been singled out and saved by God and as a result he believes he will not simply perish in some minor skirmish. God has a purpose for Joscelin! This, along with his time amongst the knights of St Lazarus can make him singularly rash in combat. Unlike many who went on crusades whose faith was irreparably damaged as a result of what they saw, Joscelin returns with his faith enhanced. His travelling companion for the journey to England is Sir Hugh De Maris - the hero of the Battle of St.Maria's-on-the-Hill, knighted personally by King Richard. Over the long days they spoke at length of their up bringing Hugh feeling the call of the crusades and his strong relationship with his sister Blanche. The journey back over dusty path and rolling sea was long and hard, filled with ill luck and frustration, but a few days ago Joscelin and Hugh made landfall in England. Yesterday, a breathless messenger brought news both dire and strange to Hugh, in one days time, Blanche is to meet him at the village of clearwell a place frequented by Blanche her concerns seem dire. News has reached her that Lord Ealhelm, whos father was ever a friend of Hughs father has been fouling attacked. His hall has been burned to the ground, the lord and his brother Ealmund are missing. Hugh directs his porters to follow the signs to the old village of Clearwell. Joscelins business takes him to speak with Reynold de Beure, whos lands sit to the north of clearwell agrees to accompany him. The small party arrive to the village at noon, it is a tawdry saxon place. Hughs retainers set camp and he make small talk with the headman of the village Dudwin. The ill new of the battle as his lords hall weighs heavy upon Dudwin. Evening falls and as Joscelin prays following a meal of a thin stew, the sound armoured men approaching the village gate can be heard and the shouts of confrontation echo across between the huts...Nasal helmet, gorget, hauberk, leather gambeson, mail leggings, belt, gauntlets

Surcoat, shirt, damask tunic, belt, green tunic

Hose, braies, shoes, white shorts, trousers

Gloves, coif, hood, leprosy scars, spirit gum, latex

Sword, scabbard, knife, shield, spear

Sleeping roll, irons, bowl, horn tankardCreating a character:

As words are more important than numbers, to create a character, first off write a background and talk it through with us. Most of you have already done this and your stories are getting woven in to the events background. Also, if you have any ideas or preferences for the kind of things you'd like to do please let us know. We will follow up backgrounds with more in depth briefs.

Next pick an archetype; we've created several to reflect various positions in society. The average person in the world has one edge, appropriate to background. The player characters are generally experienced/famous/heroic so can take three advantages and up to two disadvantages for a total of five. The first three advantages listed are the suggested ones to be taken for each archetype, advantage and disadvantages should be worked in to your background appropriately. Saracens automatically have the Saracen disadvantage, but are immune to sanity checks.

Some advantages and disadvantages are restricted to particular archetypes, but we're open to any suggestions and possible new edges. The Outlaw disadvantage can be taken by any archetype. In some cases this may cancel out the effects of other advantages such as followers or lands. Some advantages can be taken more than once, in which case there is a number in brackets to indicate.

We have created a Wolfs head archetype to represent a general rougish type background that live by their wits and skill rather that strength or arms and riches.

TemplarA) Faith(2), Tough(2), Fine Armaments, Literacy, EnduranceD) Zealot (must be taken if faith is selected)A use of a templars faith is the "fervour" ability as described in the rules below which allows them to be 'Brutal' for a fight

Many of the above advantages and disadvantages are self-explanatory, some in-game effects are described below:Captain - You are an inspirational leader, oath-sworn followers gain +1 'global' armour at all times, and an additional +1 if rousing speech is given (once per day).

Weak - the first wound of each day is checked for twice and the worst is taken

Tough Once per day the level of a wound can be reduced by one (can be taken more than once)

Endurance - once a day, you can fight through the effects of a wound until the end of the battle. Or if severely wounded you may make effective action (maybe not wise?)

Brutal (Men-at-arms) - You are mighty and feared in battle, crew will be briefed to react accordingly - you will batter down shields, your enemies will take flight if facing you on their own. In addition, the first wound each day is automatically considered to be a scratch and blows from Bastard Swords/Dane axes don't knock you from your feet (you still MUST stagger from the impact). "Named" bad guys will possibly also have this ability and be somewhat resistant to its effects.

Fervour (Templars) - Effects as above, but some working up and impassioned speech making is required, the 'tell' for this ability is to shout "GOD WILLS IT!!!!" at the top of your voice before going to righteously smite your enemies. (Requires the use of a point of faith)

Special weapons: You have the strength and skill needed to wield one of the following weapons: Bastard Swords and Dane axes, War pick, Crossbow and Long bow. See the combat section for an explanation.

Treat wounds - You have some training in leachcraft and can Treat light wounds and stabilise severe/mortal wounds (but the treatment of them within the time frame of an event is beyond your skills (but you can assist someone skilled in leachcraft to make the treatment more lightly to work).

Medicine - You are widely experienced in surgery and medicen and can Treat light wounds and stabilise severe/mortal wounds with relative ease. In the case of a serious/mortal wound after a period of treatment (poultices, resetting bones, surgery, etc.) and then rest by the wounded party a second draw is possible that may reduce the severity of the wound.

Open World View - Contrary to the usual bigoted attitudes found in these times, your travels have exposed to you a variety of cultures across a variety of lands and as a result have a more enlightened attitude to the world and its possibilities. As a result you always check twice on the crucifix for sanity checks when encountering the unknown and take the least sever result.

Combat and mechanics:

Watch/remember: Ivanhoe, Kingdom of Heaven (especially the extended edition), Robin of Sherwood, Name of the Rose to get a notion of the pitching of all these events and the proposed system. Fighting is horrible and dangerous. People coming back from the Crusades are often shattered from the horrors they have seen or endured. The unknown and supernatural is out there in deep forests and forgotten places (Herne the Hunter and far worse) and is best left well alone by all sane folk, people of real 'faith' (rather that just paying lip service) are fanatical, but equally can wield real powers over people.

Kindly Nathan has let us borrow the spinny random crucifix system utilised at Last Kingdom, each player will have one and is used for combat wounds, faith effects (magic is deliberately going to be pretty low-key and random) and sanity checks (see the unknown section later). Everything else is based on a simple system of advantages and the premise of if you can do it so can your character, with character background and relationships bring far more important than 'skills' and hit points.

Example: Some one hits you (assuming it breaches armour) the person staggers back from the blow and checks the spinny random crucifix and role-plays the result accordingly

Or

faith is used to bless a wound to speed the healing process after much prayer, ritual, touching of relics and holy water the spinny random crucifix is checked and both parties role-play the result.

Flat side: (Combat: scratch) (Faith: effect fails)Single diagonal line:(Combat: Light wound) (Faith: effect fails/works if you got the major faith/fanatic advantage)Cross: (Combat: severe wound) (Faith - effect works)Hole (Combat: mortal wound) (Faith - effect works)

The spinny random crucifix Combat1) You get hit in an unarmoured location or armour is breached (all weapons are considered the same for this, except for 3 special weapons (see below))2) You check the widget, there are four results:

Scratch (Carry on fighting after some excessive staggering and moaning)

Light wound (Quickly treatable by someone with the treat wounds advantage, you are out of the fight due to pain and shock) If you take several of these the effects add up.

Serious wound (Deep cut, fracture etc, needs a splint/heavy bandages type of treatment by some one with medicine advantage, treatment/recovery time 1hr plus) (you need the Endurance advantage to do anything more than hobble about after treatment)

Mortal wound (oh dear, a great deal of attention by some one with medicine advantage is required for the person to survive)

You then role-play the result accordingly.

Armour protects from wounds:Armour only protects where it covers, (deliberate head hits are NOT allowed, though Helmets are recommended if you intend to fight a lot and they add immeasurably to the look of the period).

Leather/gambeson etc - Every other blow is deflected by the armour (every hit should be reacted to with an appropriate staggering/moaning/shouting)

Mail shirt/Hauberk + Gambeson-Provides: 3 points of protection, every fourth blow causes a wound, (Poor/good quality mail gives higher/lower protection. Every hit should be reacted to with an appropriate staggering/moaning/shouting)

Full armour - Mail Hauberk and Gambeson, coat of plates, steel splinted greaves and vambraces: 5 points of protection, every sixth hit causes a wound (Every hit should be reacted to with an appropriate staggering/moaning/shouting) (requires the advantage - fine armaments)

Helmet - +1 armour to the chestFull face helm +2 armour to chest.

So, max points is from full armour, coif and helm. No more than seven points to the chest and five to every other location. The only way to get more is by the addition from the Captain/Leader advantage to oath-sworn followers.

If you get hit with a particularly mighty blow on an armoured area you take a wound (at your discretion).

Special weapons (require an advantage to use effectively):

Bastard Swords and Dane axes: Count as doing Two points of damage for the purposes of considering armour - if you're wearing no armour (or your amour has been reduced to zero points) you check for two wounds (and take the most severe). If you are wearing leather or your mail has one hit left it soaks the fist point and you take a normal wound. Solid blows from them knock you from your feet (even if blocked). At your discretion if a shield gets repeatedly struck by one it is considered to be broken.

War Pick: Goes through armour automatically and causes one wound. Armour remains at its current value of protection.

Crossbow: Strikes as per a normal weapon

Longbow: Goes through Armour automatically and causes one wound (amour remains at its current value of protection). Crew will be briefed to react appropriately to this ability, though please draw as much attention to yourself as possible as folk may not notice who's shooting at them in a big ruckus so this may not work with every shot.

Leachcraft:

Treat wounds: You have some training in leachcraft and can Treat light wounds and stabilise severe/mortal wounds (but the treatment within the time frame of an event is beyond your skills (but can assist someone skilled in leachcraft to make the treatment more lightly to work).

Medicine: You are widely experienced and can Treat light wounds and stabilise severe/mortal wounds with relative ease. In the case of a serious/mortal wound after a period of treatment (poultices, resetting bones, surgery, etc.) and then rest by the wounded party a second draw is possible: two hours for a serious wound, four hours for a deadly wound. The healer who has done most of the treatment then checks their widget (op-ed) and if the result is less severe then the wound is considered one level lower. So a person with a mortal wound is successfully treated they as now severely wounded - very poorly but stabilised and a person with a treated severe wound is then functional but sore!

If the role-playing is sufficiently good by all parties involved this may succeed automatically. If the second check is the hole then the treatment fails and a severe becomes a mortal wound (The broken bone has caused massive internal bleeding that over time worsens the condition etc). In the case of a second mortal wound been drawn the patient expires unpleasantly. Suitable equipment e.g. a surgeons kit, poultices etc is encouraged. There may well be small quantities of healing medicine available that help with the above.

Faith: As stated previously the unknown and supernatural exist, all be it in a low key manner (no fireballs and flying demons thanks very much). Some people are connected to this in some way are generally treated with a combination of fear and awe. Whatever their explanation for their strange abilities they all use the same mechanics for effects.

People of faith: Christian priests, Fanatical Templars (obviously also Christians), Saracen sorcerers, hedge wizards (like the crazy lady in Robin Hood prince of thieves) etc can use their connection with their faith to create effects such as: heal a wound, intimidate/terrify a bad guy, inspire your fellows, have a prophetic vision etc.

There is deliberately no spell list as such, keep effects/instructions to victims simple (especially in combat), people will be briefed react more to well role-played spells. More complicated/better effects can be achieved through appropriate ritual prayer, chanting, drumming etc. If playing a character of faith, feel free to suggest some previous miracles/effects that your character created and is perhaps known for.

Effects: E.g. you say by my power, attack your friends you will be ignored/beaten, however appropriately role-playing hypnotising someone, stalking around them for some minutes, chanting instructions and weaving an appropriate story as your faith gradually over takes them - will have the desired effect of them going off to stab up their friend who they now think has wronged them terribly.

When using faith, as the end of the role-playing of the effect, check your the spinny random crucifix and raise both hands in the air then point at the target to indicated it was successful, if the effect fails you point down to the ground to show it didn't work. However if the role-playing of the effect is sufficiently impressive players and crew are encouraged to be still affected to an extent (rather than collapsing prone to the ground in terror you shake off the worst of the effects and flee in fear to live to fight another day or the mortal wound blessed will heal down to severe but in two hours rather than one)

You have a certain number of faith points to use per event that will be determined by advantages, in the region of 3-5. Even if the effect is unsuccessful you still loose the point (assuming the role-playing was good you still get some effect). Under certain circumstances it will be possible to gain further faith points during the course of an event, for example a priest's faith is bolstered when he discovers the resting place of a saint and prays there for some time or he returns some lost relics to a church etc. Like wise holy artefacts - a saints bones, a blessed gospel etc.

The Unknown:

Encountering the unknown can have disastrous consequences on your mind, reading the odd looking book discovered in the tightly locked chest in the dusty old cellar of a monastery or encountering a spectre of a long dead soldier in ruined fort or a sorcerer mediating at a strange idol force a sanity check on the spinny random crucifix

Flat side: (Combat: scratch) = you are unshaken

Single diagonal line: (Combat: Light wound) =shaken and unnerved

Cross: (Combat: severe wound) =terrified

Hole (Combat: mortal wound) = madness

Saracens, due to their beliefs, are completely immune to this, as are people with the superstitious advantage after all you believe in the troll in the caves, you never ever go in to the haunted wood, you father told you tales of Herne the Hunter so anything else isnt that unexpected?

Your average Saxon/Norman player character (note the player characters are of a heroic nature generally been quite experienced and worldly wise as their chosen career allows) checks twice for the first instance of the event and selects the least bad and subsequent encounters they check once.

People with Christian faith check once for the first instance and check twice and take the worst for subsequent encounters. No spending faith to ignore/resist this one as it is the staunchness of your faith that is your Achilles heel.

Faith can be used to rectify the effects of this (after the fact only) to some extent to inspired terrified comrades etc.

Instances where a check of this kind would be required will be both rare and obvious. Though dont go lightly into the unknown, there are things out there that are not to be meddled with.