BlogNomic: The First Dynasty of Desertfrog

Add a new rule to the ruleset, entitled Duels:

As a weekly action, a Nobleman may make a Call Out another Nobleman by making a post with “I Call Out” and the name of the targeted Nobleman in its title. A Nobleman posting a Call Out is, for the purposes of that post, the Antagonist; the Nobleman named in the post’s title is the Respondent.

Once a Call Out post has been made, it becomes an active Duel. The Antagonist and the Respondent both then have 24 hours to send their Strategy by private message to Louis XIV. A Strategy may consist of an amount of Power and the names of a selection of the Items owned by the Nobleman sending the Strategy. If either the Antagonist or the Respondent to a Duel fails to send a Strategy within the 24 hour timeframe then their response is considered to be zero Power or Items.

After a Duel has been active for 24 hours, Louis XIV should calculate a Duel Score for the Antagonist and Respondent in that Duel. He does so by adjusting the Power bid by each Nobleman by any modifiers implicit on Items put forward in the respective Strategies. The Nobleman in a Duel with the greatest Duel Score is the winner of that Duel; if there is a tie then the winner is determined at random. Louis XIV should then post the results of the Duel as a response to the Call Out thread. Once he has done so, that Call Out thread ceases to be an active Duel and cannot become Active again. Both participants in the Duel then loose the Power and Items bid in their Strategies, the loser has their Prestige reduced by 2 and the winner has their Prestige increased by 3.

Add a subrule to that rule, entitled Gambling:

Any Nobleman who is not a participant in a particular Duel may Gamble on the outcome of that Duel. They do so by making a single Gambling Comment on a Call Out post, which must include a quantity of Money and the name of a Nobleman upon whom the bet is being placed.

The total quantity of bets placed on a particular Nobleman in a Duel is referred to as “x’s Prize Purse”, where x is the name of that Nobleman. The proportion of a Prize Purse bet by an individual Nobleman is that Nobleman’s Share.

When Louis XIV posts the result of a Duel, he should also include the size of the two Prize Purses, and a breakdown of the payouts. Noblemen who bet on the winner do not lose their stake, and gain a proportion of the loser’s Prize Purse equal to their Share (rounded down). Noblemen who bet on the loser lose their stake.

In the rule Items, change the first bulleted list as follows:

* A Name
* A Type (either Physical, Favour of the King, Military or Duelist). If the result is Physical, it must also have a randomly determined subtype (Art, Furniture, Food, or Romantic Gifts)
* Impacts, as follows:
** If the Item is Physical, Favour of the King, or Military, a sequence of either one, two or three Impacts (the number selected at random, then each Impact selected at random; the same impact may be selected more than once for an item). If the Item is of the Favour of the King type, all Prestige-affecting Items are have their Prestige impact tripled; if the Item is of the Military type, all Power-affecting Impacts have their Power or Duel Score impact tripled;
** If the Item is Duelist, a single Impact, randomly selected from Risky (+3 Duel Score), Dangerous (+4 Duel Score) or Lethal (+5 Duel Score)
* If the Item is Physical, any Characteristics relevant to that Item’s Subtype

Add the following to the list of Impacts in the same rule:

* Useful (+1 Duel Score)