Vanth’s Guide to Playing a Kick-Ass Noble

[a strange shadow]

For more advice, read this: http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cg/Courses/cgt411/covey/48_laws_of_power.htm

Pick a few to excel at, choose a few for weaknesses, and bam, instant political character.

(don't try to be perfect. That's stressful and ultimately boring)

[JustAnotherGuy]

Thank you for this guide.  It has already help me think of a few new things for my role I currently play.

[path]

Vanth...that was awesome. Thank you very, very much. I've always steered clear of leadership roles, but now I feel intrigued.

[Dahomey]

Makes me want to play a minion, hehe.

[edited] Correction. One of those minions that run other minions. Though, this has given me a number of ideas for the leader roles as well.

[Gimfalisette]

[edited] Correction. One of those minions that run other minions. Though, this has given me a number of ideas for the leader roles as well.

Having played both sponsored leader roles (noble) and unsponsored leader roles (Sergeant), I have to say that there are far more similarities between the two than differences. Everything a noble can and should do, a Sergeant can and should too, except at a slightly less-exalted level.

[askaran]

Wow. I could've used this about three months or so ago. real good stuff.

[John]

Makes me want to play a minion, hehe.

If you have the right boss (and the right boss is someone who does everything Vanth said), playing a minion is the most enjoyable role in Armageddon. I played under Pearl (who at the time was a minion herself) and I have yet to ever have an experience that equalled it. I've seen awesome stuff, I've done crazy shit. But nothing compared to being employed by a nobleman who had Pearl as their servant.

I've played D&D a bit, and I miss being able to play a noble's servant who never uses a combat command ever.

And everything Vanth says is true. I've attempted to player nobles before, I failed horribly. Had I followed Vanth's guide, there would have been less failing. Although one thing did dishearten me a bit

Blackmail is sadly underused in Arm.

What, what what? How is blackmail underused in Arm? Has Armageddon gone and gotten soft over the years? Blackmail is classic Armageddon. If you haven't been involved in a blackmail plot, or at the very least witnessed blackmail happen, you've only cracked the surface of what is the game called Armageddon. Its like saying "elves are too friendly." If elves are friendly (as in, are acting nice and it isn't some extravagant plot to steal something from you  ) something's wrong.

As for this being too IC, I disagree. This advice isn't just advice for nobles. Its advice for all characters to follow to one degree or another. No, not everyone will have minions. But you should definitely have spies, "allies" and "enemies" at a bare minimum. If you haven't got any enemies yet, make yourself some pronto. If you don't have enemies, you're doing something wrong.

At least, that's this old Grognard's opinion I'm sure my memories are being looked through rose-tinted glasses. But damnit, I enjoy my memories so I'm keeping them 

[Intrepid]

And everything Vanth says is true. I've attempted to player nobles before, I failed horribly. Had I followed Vanth's guide, there would have been less failing. Although one thing did dishearten me a bit

Blackmail is sadly underused in Arm.

What, what what? How is blackmail underused in Arm? Has Armageddon gone and gotten soft over the years? Blackmail is classic Armageddon. If you haven't been involved in a blackmail plot, or at the very least witnessed blackmail happen, you've only cracked the surface of what is the game called Armageddon. Its like saying "elves are too friendly." If elves are friendly (as in, are acting nice and it isn't some extravagant plot to steal something from you  ) something's wrong.

Hey, wait...what?  Elves can't have the same expression range of emotions that humans do?  I wholeheartedly disagree.  If I've just landed a huge amount of money from an Oashi noble, I'm going to be smiling and in a good mood.  Hell, I might even buy the other humans and elves in the bar a round of drinks, just to spread said Oash's sid around to people who'd never otherwise get to partake in it.

It's backhanded generosity, sure, and it might not be the last time that day that I'm stealing from someone, and you should be suspicious of me being "all smiles"...but don't forget that no race in our game is that pigeonholed as to never be friendly with someone to the side of them, or never be in a good mood.  That's really two dimensional.

[John]

I don't want to derail a thread about nobles, so I'm going to reply in this thread.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Marvelous.

Made me think back a lot about the last time I was a Noble's minion. Looking back at those times with a "Vanth-ified" set of eyes, I saw a LOT of those strategies at play in how he treated my character.

Very enlightening and interesting. Very.

Edited to add: Specifically, the advice on dealing with minions seemed spot on to me. (Since I've never played a noble, and have no intention of ever doing so.) Trusting them with small things that seem important, always taking them aside to speak in private, and sharing with them little snippets of what's on your mind - these are all great ways that I've experienced nobles make an extremely loyal minion out of my PCs.

[DustMight]

I wanted to mention that I've done all of the things you shouldn't do.  *sigh*

One day I'll play another templar/noble and do it right!  Damnit!

[Agent_137]

Submit it as a document in the submissions area?

I don't see this as a document under the Roleplaying Section of the website yet. It should be. Individual posts lose visibility over a very short time span.

[Aldiel]

Wow, this is great.

[Fredd]

This guide would be great if there were enough players in game to be minions. meh

I dont know what else to do. I vote every day....

Honestly following this guide roughly, I've never had any sort of problems finding minions, at any time of the day I play (meaning even 4 am est, i find people I get to do my work for me)

[IssacF]

Nice guide.

If I play a noble one day I will probably be extremely manipulative, pissed off when I don't get my way like a little kid throwing a tantrum and doing weird things for kicks. I would probably play him similar to the VtR Ventrue/Toreador.

[Zoan]

Playing a noble like Lelouch would be fun. Amazing at setting up convoluted plans, and falling to pieces when a gear jams in the great machine you built.

[Kevo]

I had forgotten about this guide!!

Wow. Upon rereading it, I can see what happened with some of my PC's and where I went wrong.



...am now plotting.

[Jihelu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuHfVn_cfHU&ab_channel=MikeMohamed
This was needed.

[amyandthepup]

I don't know if this was mentioned in earlier posts, but here's another reason why this guide is awesome, and I think should be put somewhere that's easily accessible, without wading through the forum topics:

New players. What if new players come in, not used to the twists and turns that is Armageddon intrigue, and they need some good, generic info to help get them started someday (if they ever want to play a noble)?

People who don't know how to think in that moble or leader mindset. Say you're used to being on the bottom rung in society on any given game, but your mind just is not wired to think in the ways of a noble, with his minions, lies, skemes, turning on people if it suits him?

No, this type of RP is not for everyone, but I can assure you that this guide helped me understand aspects to this type of character I never, ever would have figured out if someone hadn't told me. Explaining the finer points to a type of character is wonderful. It needs to be done for all the types of chars, in my opinion. Rinth, desert elf, Templar, etc. We need guides for each of these, in my opinion.