Hi All,

I'd like to ask you all for a little more imput with regards to the prestige system which is in place, but currently unused.

The way the prestige system was set up was that the combination of job/task, age, generation & prestige would all meld into a kind of standing within the guild.

What that means is that your rank within the guild isn't only determined by how old you are or what job/task you fulfil but also by what you actually do for the guild.
I've always found it hard in a guild when the higher positions are already taken, to get any kind of respect within said guild. That's why I wanted to have something more dynamic than a static list of rank.

With adding prestige to the mix, it's possible for someone with a lower job/task still to get recognition and respect within the guild.

There's a list of all the different prestiges you can have in the rules section of the webpage. The way I had envisioned it is that in the individual profile sheets (click on name) will show the percentage to completing a certain prestige. While completed prestige levels would show on the main members page for quick glance recognition.
It would be up to the Branch Heads & Jade, Aly & myself to assign prestige, and the branch heads in turn would be graded by Alynora, Jade & myself.
Another added bonus is that this opens the doors for some political intruige within the guild and various positioning of individuals.


The difficoulty with this system is the registration of the prestige levels.

Now the question is, do you actually like/want this prestige system ?
Do you find it something which would bring deapth to the character and the house.
And if you do, what do you think is the best method of registering this prestige ?
Another thing is how to represent the achievement of prestige, I'm not really fond of simply the titles, so I was thinking along the lines of tattoos or something. I've you've achieved something then you will receive a tattooo or somesuch. Also let me know what you think about it or if you have better suggestions.


Regards,

Garod

Being somewhat slow witted, it took me a fair amount of time to decipher the prestige system as it now stands, I think a fitting analogy would be the military system, ie. within such you have rank but also military honours, (medals).

Prestige is a rather complicated system which has obviously been created with much care and attention to detail.

Although I have yet to have any practical experience of the system as it now stands, I would tend towards the point of view that rp'ing respect to others is preferable to titles.

Hi Fargo,

Yes it's something like medals, but a vampire society has very complex connections to one another. In the end the prestige system is simply a way of registering what you've done, ultimately it'll show in game in how you treat other vampires. The tattoo thing was basically only something to show up on the webpage as a type of "medal" as you put it.

For example Fargo would treat a newly turned vampire of another branch as an insignificant being when it comes to guild politicing since the new vampire has gained no respect within the clan. On the other hand someone who has received much prestige would be treated more respecfully.

Now add in age, generation & task, it turns into a pretty complex mishmash, (maybe too complex ?) but that kind of also makes it fun, because it makes people consider how they address others before speaking. Making them wonder how respectful you should be.

I guess for ease of decifering it, you'd give everything a rating in your mind from 1-10 add it all up and you get a number, if that number is higher than your own number, be respectful, if it's lower, then you can see how disrespectful you can be and get away with it

And yes it's not really being used right now, which I find a bit of a shame, because it opens up quite a bit of RP intruige, storylines within the guild.

For example you don't get along with someone who is ranked higher in your specific branch, so what do you do to garner more political power than that person so you can tell him no ?
Well you latch onto someone else who is very prestifious and you do things for him. That way you will gain recognition within the House to a point where you might be more respected then that person.. etc etc...

Regards,

G.

this all sounds slightly complicated, but I need to see it for myself, in the private sections I'm waiting for admition to I assume? though I would actually like something concrete like medals or something that would also show the people outside the house that the member is respected within it. Perhaps even something to give to those unturned. But we don't use uniforms I guess..
You most likely have this, but engraved weapons and spellbooks are nice rewards. The thought of tatoos I like very much, it should be easy to manage in the profile area as well. An alternative would perhaps be jewelry ? So many variations possible there.

Hi Noxiata

Also remember I didn't want to make it too obvious,easy to know whom you need to show respect. It should also be part of the character how he views himself and others. That's why I said the character would need to give everything a rating and then compare it to himself. This would allow for a learning curve.
A young vampire not knowing how this works would get his fingers slapped a few times before they understand, and as they raise in "rank" they can adopt caution when addressing others, or be a bit more recless and challange the authority/respect of the others. In the end it will again be a learning experience if he can get away with it or have his fingers slapped.
Remember I'm trying to get away from a solid structure and go towards something more ephereal where your character has to partially feel his position and standing in his guild.

We still have some ideas we'd like to put to the guild, but are waiting with that untill most people have access to the private board since these things are best discussed on a more private venue.

With regards to medals, I'm against too visible in UO itself. This because vampires aren't really supposed to anounce their presence to others and especially not guild related things when on the hunt.

Fargo mentioned some engraved things, so that might be an idea, but it'd not be something to be used outside of the guild domain unless it's reasonably obscure and wouldn't betray the guild to the world.

Regards,

G

As I recall, Hutula's newer version of S-C rules did have something such as jewels given as a reward system. Outside of combat situations within the RP community the guild is allowed to use such things. However, this requires a lot of discipline of the player to make sure to remove the jewels for any ROE combat.

There has always been a lot of information in the website on this sort of thing (which has been there for a long time). And yes, under the private sections. But please see the posts (and pm) of Garod regarding information that is contained there. I do know that we may be reviewing some sections and updating it accordingly.

Which brings me to some other questions... Noix, are you still using S-C rulesets to play? If so, please let us know if there are any things that we will need to be aware of specifically for your character.

I was actually thinking jewelry with no stat or skill adjustments. As you stated, we should never reveal our nature. Like bronze jewelry with different stones. However I assume people are aware we have a structure of sorts in the family, or are aware of us. Hence mentioning the name Tremere may cause conflict of interest, but that's just because were mysterious secretive, not known vampires I guess?

I am completely for keeping it within the family as well, we have no need to display anything like this, we have our titles for that too. And I need to find this prestige system..


No, not really. She uses a animal taming ring the few times she needed to hunt monsters. Amel uses nothing except jewelry without bonuses.

On another note, the magic jewelry in S-C could be used for pvp in dark dungeons, malas & felluca, since we had no real way of managing day and night and there was supposed to be a difference of how powerfull the kindred was. But it was neglected as the guild completely declined.