Pinching Pennies? Monthly Expenses in Flashing Blades

Monthly expenses (food, shelter, etc.) 3 £ x Social Rank (see 3.8) - 3.72 Outfitting, Flashing Blades core rules (p. 12)

Mark Pettigrew cited Traveller as an influence on Flashing Blades, and it may be most evident in the treatment of careers and character finances. Like Traveller, Flashing Blades likes its player characters struggling to make ends meet and hustling to pay the bills, i.e., seeking out and accepting patronage opportunities. Salaries alone are rarely enough: a Social Rank 5 Minor Official (5.21 The Social Scale, p. 23) in the bureaucracy makes 70 £ annually (MINOR OFFICIAL, 5.53 Ranks and Positions in the Bureaucracy, p. 32) but has monthly expenses totalling 180 £ for the year. Given that most player character bureaucrats start at SR 7 (3.8 SOCIAL RANK, p. 13), the disparity is even greater and the need for additional funds more pressing.

Player characters don't simply rely on their salaries, of course, receiving an annual allowance (3.71 Yearly Allowance, p. 11) in addition to whatever salary - if any - they receive from their careers. The source of the annual allowance isn't defined; historically, people received income from rentes and other annuities, but inheritance, rich uncle, or a remittance to stay far away are all plausible explanations for a character's yearly allowance as well. Between a salary and a yearly allowance, an adventurer may make enough to meet annual expenses: an SR 7 Gentleman Minor Official bringing home that same 70 £ but with a yearly allowance of 300 £ will still have 188 £ left over, at least until the fermier général and the parish priest extend their hands for taxes and tithes.

Advantages such as Wealth, Title, and Land may add to an adventurer's yearly allowance, but the latter two also increase expenses in the forms of higher Social Rank and property upkeep, and with greater income comes higher taxes and tithes as well.

So, can a player character reduce their monthly expenses to better live within their means?

Before I can answer that we need to understand what exactly is covered by those monthly expenses. First, shelter for most characters will be a rooming house or a hostel, or more rarely an auberge (inn), which generally caters to travellers, not tenants. At Social Rank 3 and below, lodgings are likely shared, with 1-4 beds with straw ticking and cheap blankets in a rented room, pegs on a wall for hanging clothing, a tin basin and a pitcher of water in the hall for ablutions, and the possibility of a cut-down wine barrel for use as a tub with water drawn from a well in the garden. From Social Rank 4 to 7, rooms are usually private, with two thin mattresses, one of straw and one of feathers, covered by a thick wool blankets, a basin and pitcher on a table or chest of drawers, a small wardrobe, a stool or small wooden chair, and bathing water warmed in the kitchen. At Social Rank 8 and above, lodgings are a small suite with a sitting room or salon and a bedroom or bedrooms as well as separate shared quarters for servants. A mattress and thick comforter stuffed with goose down cover the bed, a decorated and gilt ceramic basin and pitcher sit on a carved chest of drawers, and an expansive wardrobe stands against a wall, with a covered, cushioned chair and footstool on a carpeted floor nearby. A glazed iron bathtub is concealed by a screen or secluded in its own small room for privacy.

Students and soldiers may also find lodging in a rented room in a private residence; d'Artagnan finds a room in the home of the cloth merchant M. Bonacieux after his appointment to the guards company of M. des Essarts on his arrival in Paris in The Three Musketeers, for example. Students of Theology, during their months of study and service, are expected to live in a community with other students not dissimilar to monks; the accomodations are comparable to that of merchants, but the cleaning and cooking are handled by the students themselves. Titled nobles of Social Rank 10 and above may find accomodation in the hôtel or townhome of another noble family, comparable to that of a rooming house but with better quality service - more on that in a moment; for such nobles, monthly expenses are halved as the accomodation is considered a display of hospitality expected of the nobility which is repaid by pourboires (tips or bribes) to the staff and service rendered to the family.

A single morning meal is provided for lodgers of SR 3 and below, consisting of a thick vegetable soup or stew and brown bread with thin beer or table wine to wash it down; monthly expenses also cover a midday and evening meal, usually purchased from a street vendor. Meat is rare and usually consists of mutton or goat meat added to the stew or baked in a crust, or a fish ragout if near the ocean or a substantial river. If a SR 3 or below rooming house serves meat in its meal more than two or three times a week, the absence of dogs in the neighborhood may be noticeable. Meals are served in wooden or clay bowl or on platters with drinks in clay mugs. At SR 4-7, lodgers may expect to receive a morning and evening meal as part of their expenses; the stew will usually have meat, typically the aforementioned mutton and goat, and roast chicken is common table fare as well. The fish ragout is supplemented with whole fish roasted on a spit. Boiled vegetables are served as sides. Beer and wine remain the most common beverages, with rum or brandy available for an extra fee beyond what's covered as part of a character's monthly expenses. Service is on pewter bowls and platters, while drinks are served in clay or pewter mugs. At SR 8 and above, meals come in courses of four or more, with a variety of meats: roasted mutton and fish are common, with beef and especially wild game appearing with some frequency. Along with platters of boiled vegetables, raw celery is considered a delicacy and exotic New World vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes may be present as well. Good wine and spirits are served in crystal decanters and goblets while meals are served on china imported from the East Indies or silver bowls and platters.

Finally, the rules specifically mention food and shelter, but what's about the ever-elusive "etc."? Some services may be covered by monthly expenses. At SR 3 and below, maids will change and launder the characters' bedlinens monthly and the character can get their clothing laundered and crudely patched on the same schedule as well; swashbucklers are a rough and tumble bunch as a rule, and stains and tears should accumulate readily in the course of their adventures. Between SR 4 and 7, linens are changed and quarters swept and dusted weekly, and a washer woman will launder clothing as needed while a seamstress will skillfully mend the garments on the adventurer's behalf. A young boy, perhaps a son of the owner or a servant, can be expected to bear messages for the adventurer, and to carry a torch at night, for the price of a small tip folded into monthly expenses; the boy's safety is the adventurer's responsibility and should be considered carefully in the assigned task. A groom will tend to an adventurer's horse as part of the cost of upkeep (3.72 Outfitting, p. 12 under Transportation); the groom will hotwalk, brush and feed the horse and summon a veterinarian if needed. At SR 8 and above, servants abound: chambermaids see to the linens every few days and sweep and dust daily while laundresses launder and seamstresses expertly repair and alter clothing on request. One or more ladies' maids or gentlemen's butlers will assist the adventurer with dressing and attend to the character's bath. A concierge will make sure that the accomodations are kept up and summon workers to perform necessary maintenance as needed. Messengers may be dispatched not just around town but to neighboring cities on the player character's behalf.

For all characters, monthly expenses include incidentals ranging from clay pipes and tobacco to woolen hose to shoe repairs by a cobbler, at the referee's discretion.

Okay, that's what your money gets you. What if you can't afford to live at the standard expected of your station?

Characters who cannot afford, or who choose not to pay, the monthly expenses associated with their Social Rank will find their effective rank decreases; a SR 7 Gentleman who pays 15 £ per month for expenses will find that others treat them as having SR 5 instead. This may affect opportunities such as membership in a club, admission to seminary to pursue a career as a Student of Theology, or to advantageously apply to a regiment. The most important consequence to the adventurer due to a lower effective Social Rank is the loss of influence.

Sometimes, however, influence may have direct effects on the game, in one of two ways. First, any character may expect informal, polite requests to be granted by those three Social Ranks or more below his own, if he can roll his own Social Rank or below on a D20. Thus a Marquis could ask a small favor of a Baron or a Bishop, and have his request(s) granted on a roll of 13 or less on a D20. Polite requests are defined as those which are easy to grant, and which are of minor significance to the person asked (such as a Magistrate waiving a small fine, a Captain looking after someone in his company, a Baron allowing hunting on his estate, etc.). The possibilities are endless. Polite requests, no matter how polite they may be, will also often be influenced by bribery or reciprocal favors.

In addition, influence of Social Rank may be used, on rare occasions, to force those of lower Social Ranks to perform services which may be difficult or dangerous. Such services may only be requested of one six or more Social Ranks below the character, and may only be asked once per year (unless the character increases his or her Social Rank that year, in which case, he may ask 2 services). Such services may not be outrageous (e.g. asking an NPC to lay down his life for the character, or to give the character large sums of money) and the request must be within the power of the person requested. The person requested has a choice: to grant the request, or to automatically lose one Social Rank himself. A small reward or bribe is almost always offered for such services, Examples of difficult requests might be a Treasurer of a Royal Order bullying a rich merchant to go into an investment with him (perhaps with the lure of possible profits), a Lt. General forcing a townsman to quarter troops in his house, a Grand Duke squeezing a Secretary of a Noble Order to admit him to the Order, etc. Of course, some such requests may be granted through threats or violence, rather than influence. - 5.22 Influence (p. 23)

A character with a lower effective Social Rank will find their influence is constrained to that of their temporary rank.

A character who does not pay the monthly expenses for at least four months will find their chances of promotion reduced by the difference between their Social Rank and their effective rank; frex, a character with SR 7 paying only 15 £ per month for four months will find their chances of promotion reduced by two. Finally, at the referee's discretion, a character who lives at a lower rank for six or more months may have their actual Social Rank reduced by one.

Can living at an effectively higher Social Rank improve influence and chances for promotion? That's a subject for another post.

Plus de trousseau: More Skill-Based Equipment for Flashing Blades

My Flashing Blades house rules include five new skills for characters to choose. In keeping with my Te Deum pour un massacre-inspired stuff-for-skills house rule, here are items a character taking the new skills may expect to receive.

Skill	Item
Falconry	A gauntlet with a tassel, jesses, a field leash, and a swing lure
Musician	A musical instrument and 1D6 sheets of music
Naturalist	A plant press, a bottle of grain alcohol, and 1D6 glass jars with stoppers and horsehair threads
Physician	A fleam, a metal bowl, and a clay jar with 2D6 leeches
Surgeon	A trousse including scalpels, hooks, a clamp, a probe, needles and flax thread, and a bone saw

Student of Theology: Seminary and Minor Orders in Flashing Blades

Characters who wish to join the Clergy must have Theology and Latin skills, and must start as Students of Theology. Gentlemen with the necessary skills may choose to start the game as Students of Theology, in whichever school of theological thought the wish. All others may roll 2D6 at the beginning of each year after the start of the game, in an attempt to roll the entrance number of a school, to become a Student of Theology. As characters may not roll to enter a school at the start of the game, all characters who are not of Gentleman background must wait a year to enter a school of Theology.

To study Theology in the 17th Century, one commonly went to a school or college run by one of the powerful monastic orders of the times. Each order has its own requirements for years of study needed to be ordained, and the amount of time each year which must be spent studying Theology. . . . At the end of a character's study as a Student of Theology, he is ordained into the Priesthood. - 5.42 Joining the Clergy, Flashing Blades core rules (page 30)

A Student of Theology in Flashing Blades undertakes a three or four year period of study in order to become a Catholic priest, so what exactly happens during that time?

The last half of the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth centuries, known today as the Counter-Reformation, was a time of renewal and retrenchment for the Roman Catholic Church in response to the rise and spread of Protestantism. One of the principle events of that period was the Council of Trent, conducted in two dozen sessions between 1545 and 1563 under the auspices of three different popes; the Council attempted to address what the Church perceived as spiritual laxity and temporal abuse by the clergy. Among the recommendations - known as the Tridentine reforms - was to improve the education and training of priests, and this led to the founding of seminaries, what the game calls a "school of theological thought."

The Student of Theology in Flashing Blades then is a seminarian. Seminarians, during their periods of study, live in a community, similar to monks. They are expected to be devout, dilligent, sober, and chaste. They wear eccesiastical garb and attend services several times a day, with periods of study in between.

Seminarians also take minor orders. The minor orders are offices within a parish church or abbey responsible for assisting the priests in running the church and performing Mass. The minor orders are porter, lector, exorcist, and acolyte.

The Porter is responsible for locking and unlocking the doors of the church and ringing the bell. Porters also act like doormen or guards, keeping the congregation safe during services - in the era of the Wars of Religion, this is no small thing.

The Lector reads non-Gospel biblical passages during services; Gospel readings are limited to the major orders.

The Exorcist of minor orders is not Father Merrin from the eponymous movie; exorcism of demons is left to ordained priests. The exorcist's main responsibilities are assisting with baptisms, performing "minor exorcisms" - mostly annointing with oil and praying over the infant - in preparation for consecration.

The Acolyte is the highest ranked minor order, lighting candles and carrying them in ceremonies and processions, administering bread and wine to the priest during Mass, and otherwise assiting the priest.

Before the rise of seminaries as part of the Tridentine reforms, "porter-lector-exorcist-acolyte" was a pathway to the priesthood, and seminarians are still ordained in the minor orders. As part of their training, Students of Theology will serve in a parish church; principally this will be as a lector, reading Holy Scripture - literacy in Latin, remember - during Mass and, particularly in the last year of their studies, as an acolyte and more rarely as a porter or exorcist. Much like the Student of Law's stage and clerkship, this gives the seminarian practical experience in the service of a parish church, working alongside priests and a pastor and interacting with congregants - and for the referee, another pathway for enmeshing the player character seminarian in the life of the setting through rumors and patronage.

An interesting thing about ordination in the minor orders: it's open to the laity. This does in fact open another pathway to the priesthood for characters who don't want to be seminarians, but it's also an opportunity to involve a character in the life of a parish church without the responsiblities and strictures of ordination as a priest. As a quick and dirty house rule, say roll 8+ to become a porter with promotion to lector - literacy in Latin required - on 8+; promotion from lector to exorcist requires a 9+, and promotion to acolyte - Theology skill required - from exorcist requires 10+, all on 2D6, of course. Service is four months a year for each minor order. Promotion attempts are rolled once a year as per the core rules, so the time to ascend through the minor orders is variable and probably pretty lengthy, but that fact that one can rise to acolyte while keeping a wife and family and pursuing another career might be appealing.

So how about Aramis? We know Aramis becomes a priest as well as superior general of the Jesuits, an ambassador, and a duke over the course of the novels, but what about Aramis the King's Musketeer of the first book? Well, we know that Athos and Porthos intervened "at the moment of my ordination," as Aramis describes it, so it would appear he is a lapsed seminarian who plans to return to the Church at a later date, which means he's probably ordained in the minor orders already.

Now, a reminder: Flashing Blades is a game of swashbuckling adventure, and priests historically fought duels and carried on affairs and participated in politics, so none of this should imply a life of mundane service for player character clerics. Through active participation in a parish church, a seminarian will become close to priests, curates, and pastors, and quite possibly members of the bishop's curia, and will get to know parishioners as well; awareness of the politics of both the Church and the local community should follow. A better understanding of the Student of Theology experience should open doors to adventure, not close them.

Monsters in Motion

Sometimes I run across something that seems so simple and so obvious it feels like it doesn't need to be said, and then I'm surprised when other gamers say, "I never thought about that before."

I was reminded ot this by JDJarvis' post this week at Aeons & Auguaries, "Monsters don't have to stay in their rooms."

Many published dungeons seem to treat the monsters in any given room and the entire room itself as if it is frozen in amber waiting for the PCs to turn up. The used of pre-written description text sure doesn't help dispel this notion (I recall one adventure with 6 or 7 paragraphs describing a room and in the last sentence it mentions the 1st thing PCs would notice... a Beholder). Many critics, DMs and publishers seem to forget that while the published dungeon may be fixed and as is on the page the monsters don't have to stay in their rooms.

As I'm preparing to run Flashing Blades again, this seems particularly relevant to me, 'cause it's tied very closely to how I run my games. I have a list of locations; I have a list of non-player characters - families, really. Characters are associated with certain locations, sure, but then I populate my chance encounters - my preferred term-of-art for 'random encounters' - all over the city with those characters. The chevalier de Rochebaron, knight-captain of the military Order of Saint-Jean, is of course associated with the order's commandery in Sainte-Argene-sur-Barmie, but he can also be found in a chance encounter in the Place du Vicomte, or on the Quai Sainte-Barbe, or in Le Dauphin tavern.

I find this makes the setting feel like a real place more than just about anything else in my referee's quiver, and it also creates coincidences, something that can feel very forced without a random element behind it. Frex, you may run into Lèbre, a "seller of holy water" - one of the random encounters in a church from the FB core rules - at Saint-Papoul's on Tuesday, then run into him again at the abbey of the Cordeliers on Saturday, without specific intent on my part as the referee beyond a non-player character showing up in places where it makes sense for him to appear.

Now, adventure designers can encourage this sort of thing pretty readily, to wit:

Key to Level One -
30. Abandoned Storeroom Nine kobolds took up residence in this abandoned storeroom, from which they search for a dragon medallion they believe is somewhere on this level of the dungeon. From 2-4 kobolds will be out searching at any given time.

Random Encounters -
1. 2-4 kobolds from room 30, out searching for the lost dragon medallion

And Bob's your uncle.

Student of Law: An Alternate Approach to Legal Professions in Flashing Blades

Any character who wishes to be a Student of Law must have Magistracy and Latin skills. Gentlemen may choose to start the game as Students of Law. Characters from other backgrounds may roll at the beginning of each year after the start of the game to become a Student of Law: a roll of 8 or more is required to be admitted to a College of Law (+1 to the roll if Social Rank is 8 or above). A character must be a Student of Law for 6 years before he becomes a Lawyer. Each year, a Student of Law must devote 4 months, distributed as he likes, in study. - 5.52 Entering the Bureaucracy, Flashing Blades core rules, page 32

A Student of Law in FB has one of the longest apprenticeships of any player character, so what exactly happens during those six years?

Before I get to that, first I want to expand what it means to be a "lawyer" in Flashing Blades. Advocacy in 17th century France is divided between three different professions: notary (notaire), procurator (procureur), and lawyer (avocat).

A notary handles contracts for goods and services, prepares and executes wills, and attests to and certifies some legal documents. It is a bureaucratic office, in FB terms equivalent to a Minor Official as described in 5.53 Ranks and Positions in the Bureaucracy (p. 32), rather than a legal profession; alternatively, it can be a minor job as in 5.103 Minor Jobs (p. 39), with Bureaucratics skill as a requirement and paying 12 £ per month. Because of the importance of notaries to contracts for business and finance, Banking + Bureaucratics = Notary makes a useful pseudoskill for preparing or examining contracts.

Procurators in 17th century France have two roles. In public service, procurators work with magistrates to prosecute violations of the law; they're responsible for gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses and presenting same to the court. They are not prosecutors per se; inquiries at trial are conducted by magistrates directly, using the evidence and testimony collected by the court procurator (procureur du roi). In private practice, procurators assist clients in preparing and filing necessary affadavits and other documents with the court and conduct pleadings before a magistrate; they do not, however, make arguments before the court. Similar to a notary, procurator is a bureaucratic office, equivalent to an Official of the Realm as per 5.53 Ranks and Positions in the Bureaucracy (p. 32); rather than working as a entry-level bureaucrat and a Minor Official, a player character is a Clerk of Law for six years then automatically becomes a procurator. A Clerk of Law may begin with either the Bureaucratics or Magistracy skill.

A lawyer's scope of practice is focused on interpreting and applying the law before the court. This is most often accomplished not by oral argument but in written briefs; a lengthy brief for an important case may even be printed and bound as a book! Lawyers work closely with procurators; in fact, clients hire procurators and procurators then engage lawyers to argue the client's case before a magistrate.

Okay, now that we know what a lawyer is in FB, I can circle back to that six years a prospective avocat spends in preparation. First, there's three years of study of the law at a university; law students listen to lectures and read cases, much like contemporary attorneys do, but they also attend court hearings and discuss the proceedings with their professors, many of whom will be practicing lawyers themselves. Law students may be a rambunctious bunch; their case studies tend to immerse them in local politics.

Next comes two years of internship - le stage - working in a lawyer's practice; the student of law will assit in preparing briefs and may actually represent, under supervision, pro bono clients such as the indigent, which is an obligation for lawyers throughout France. A student of law during le stage should find themselves meeting with procurators on active cases and preparing briefs, especially for peasants and craftspeople.

Finally, the last year is spent working as a clerk for a procurator. Clerks of law spend much of their time copying documents and preparing pleadings; working in a procurator's office provides the student of law with a practical foundation of legal documentation as well as developing a working relationship with procurators they will need for the rest of their career as lawyers.

The life of a Student of Law should be much more than classrooms and study; they're immersed in local politics and may be active participants as well, work with the poor, and prepare actual cases for court. The referee can use campaign turns spent by the adventurer discharging their student obligations as an opportunity to introduce non-player characters and opportunities for patronage. Their careers as lawyers become an extension of their experiences as students of law.