Situation Box: High Society

This material is from "Into The Theldesia #7: Adventurer debuts in the Ball", which also contains setting information on how Adventurers and Lander nobility interact with each other. (Summary: They don't if they can avoid it.)

= Situation Box: High Society =

When playing LHZ, have you ever thought "This situation would be more fun if it were a minigame?" It doesn't matter whether you're a player, GM or scenario designer; minigames are fun for all three. But they're not easy to come up with. That's why this Situation Box is a convenient resource for minigames that will be appropriate for various situations.

This Situation Box, "High Society", is focused on situations such as those which Shiroe and his comrades encountered while attending the Lander ball in the anime and negotiating with the nobles there. It containes 14 Scenario Actions and two information charts that can be used to construct a unique minigame.

New Keywords

 * Information Chart (Normal/Secret)
 * These tables can be used with the standard 'information gathering' system. Information serves as social currency and can be used to increase the Social Counter.


 * Social Counter
 * The Social Counter indicates the degree to which the party has gained influence in the eyes of the Lander nobles. It is shared amongst the entire party. As the counter increases, the PCs will be able to fit into high society more easily. The counter begins at 0 and cannot drop below 0.


 * Fame Token
 * Fame Tokens indicate how well known the names of the PCs are among Lander nobility, and are shared amongst the entire party. They begin at 0 and cannot drop below 0. If the players accumulate too many, marbles or coins can be substituted for the physical tokens.


 * New Tags
 * [Morning]
 * [Afternoon]
 * [Evening]
 * [Night]
 * The life of nobles is dominated by custom and tradition. These tags indicate at which times of day each scenario action is appropriate. The time of day is determined by the GM, or sometimes specified by the scenario.

Scenario Actions
Listed below are various Scenario Actions that the PCs can use to interact with high society. Choose the ones that are appropriate for the mission. It is not necessary to use them all; you may also create your own original ones.

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 750px;" ! colspan="2" width="40%" | Expose Scandal
 * rowspan="5" valign="top" | The target of this action must have the [Scandal] tag. (Success) The target loses 2 Fame Tokens and the [Scandal] tag. (Failure) The target loses the [Scandal] tag. You lose -3 from your Social Counter. (Self: Chindon'ya, Courier, Scribe) You gain +2 to the Action Check. (Connection to Target) You gain +2 to the Action Check.
 * colspan=2 |
 * colspan=2 |

! Type ! Timing ! Check
 * Scenario Action
 * Main Process
 * Basic (Operate or Negotiation / Easy Difficulty+1)
 * }

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 750px;" ! colspan="2" width="40%" | Prepare
 * rowspan="5" valign="top" | Target one of your allies. Their next Scenario Action gains +1D to the Action Check. (Self: Maid, Elder Maid, Tailor) You gain +2 to the Action Check.
 * colspan=2 |
 * colspan=2 |

! Type ! Timing ! Check
 * Scenario Action
 * Main Process
 * Basic (Analyze or Disable / Easy Difficulty)
 * }

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 750px;" ! colspan="2" width="40%" | Make Speech
 * rowspan="5" valign="top" | This action targets all of your allies. For each target that has performed an action with the [Entertainment] tag this round, you gain 1 Fame Token. (Difficulty: Hard) Instead of gaining 1 Fame Token for each qualifying target, you gain 2 tokens. (Self: Admiral, Commander, Tactician) You gain +2 to the Action Check.
 * colspan=2 |
 * colspan=2 |

! Type ! Timing ! Check
 * Scenario Action
 * Main Process
 * Basic (Negotiation / Normal Difficulty)
 * }

Information Table: Normal
Roll 1D with any modifiers acquired from previous Information Table rolls.

Information Table: Secret
Roll 1D with any modifiers acquired from previous Information Table rolls.

= Sample Mission: The Adventurers are Cupid =

Your friend, the Lander Knight Wazza Yaktor, and a young noblewomen named Friune Mareene have cultivated a deep love between themselves quite unbeknownst to anyone else. However, whom they shall love is not something a noblewoman may decide of her own accord. In fact, her lordly father is right now preparing to force her into a political marriage! Her future consort is to be Oray Do Por, the second son of an influential noble, well known for his uncannily porcine appearance. At this rate Mareene shall soon find herself bride to the "Pig Prince Oray."

It would be well within the power of Adventurers to rescue Mareene by force and allow her to marry Yaktor. However, this would severely damage the relationship between Adventurers and Landers, and it would never be recognized as a proper marriage. The Adventurers must instead achieve their goal through persuasion.

The sample mission "The Adventurers are Cupid" is a demonstration of how to use the tools in "Situation Box: High Society." Venture into the world of Lander nobility in order to bring your friend love and happiness!

How to Play
"The Adventurers are Cupid" is a Mission that makes use of the Round Progression rules.

The objective of the mission is to enter noble society and persuade the majority that the knight Yaktor and the lady Mareene should be man and wife. Using force to achieve the objective would not bring Yaktor and Mareene happiness. You must act as Cupid for the two in accordance with the rules of nobility.

For this purpose, it is necessary to use the Social Counter. You must curry favor with the nobility in order for them to grant weight to your words.

In this Mission, each day is divided into four rounds; [Morning], [Afternoon], [Evening] and [Night]. The mission begins in [Afternoon], and must be accomplished no later than the [Evening] of the next day (a total of six rounds.) Each round lasts about four hours of in-character time.

Before You Begin
The party begins with their Social Counter at 0 and zero Fame Tokens. Get some markers, such as marbles, ready to use later.

However, the Pig Prince Oray begins with 3 Fame Tokens.

Difficulty
If you wish to play this mission on Easy difficulty, have the players start with their Social Counter at 5.

If you wish to play this mission on Hard, have the Pig Prince Oray begin with an extra 2 Fame Tokens, for a total of 5.

What's the Social Counter?
The Social Counter represents the influence of the party in Noble society. As it increases, Nobles are more likely to pay heed to the words of the PCs. The Social Counter starts at 0 and cannot decrease below zero.

What's a Fame Token?
Fame Tokens represent how recognizable the PCs are within noble society. As it increases, Nobles are more likely to think of the PCs as noteworthy individuals. The number of Fame Tokens starts at 0 and cannot decrease below zero.

Playing the Mission
The PCs must focus on increasing their Social Counter in order to convince the nobility to pay heed to their words, and make them sympathetic to the love between Friune Mareene and Wazza Yaktor. The GM may invoke various events as the Social Counter increases.


 * 7 or above: You have achieved some small measure of repute in noble society. Nobles generally remember your names and faces, and no longer act in an affected manner around you.
 * 14 or above: You are well known to the nobility by now, though your words still have little influence.
 * 21 or above: You have become notable figures in noble society. Some nobles will listen to what you have to say.
 * 28 or above: You are now considered among the leading celebrities in noble society. Nobles eagerly follow the trends you set, and your every word spreads with the blink of an eye.
 * Oray loses a Fame Token: You have dealt a powerful blow to Oray's reputation! An increasing number of people think his conduct unbecoming of a noble.

All the actions available in "Scenario Box: High Society" are available in this mission.

Score Calculation
At the end of the sixth round, the Fame Tokens you have collected give you a bonus to your Social Counter.


 * 1-3 Tokens: Increase your Social Counter by the number of Fame Tokens you have.
 * 4-6 Tokens: Increase your Social Counter by the number of Fame Tokens you have times two.
 * 7-9 Tokens: Increase your Social Counter by the number of Fame Tokens you have times three.
 * 10 Tokens: Increase your Social Counter by the number of Fame Tokens you have times four.

However, for each Fame Token that Oray has, the PCs take a -5 penalty to their Social Counter.

Victory and Failure

 * Victory Condition: At the end of the Mission, the Social Counter must be equal or above the number of PCs times 7. All the PCs roll once on the [Exhaustion: Money] table. All the PCs may also roll once on the [Treasure: Valuables] table.
 * Failure Condition: At the end of the Mission, the Social Counter is below the number of PCs times 7. All the PCs roll once on both the [Exhaustion: Money] table and the [Exhaustion: Spirit] table.