Heraldry

[WayneO42]

I just started reading George R R Martins Song of Fire and Ice books and one thing I love about them is the use of heraldry. I also have been looking at a lot of pictures from LARPS around the world and I have noticed that heraldry or organization identifiers (Face paint, clothing color, tabbards, etc) seem to play a huge role in LARPS outside of the U.S. It is cool to look at a picture of a melee and know by the clothing and devices who is on who's side. I would love to have that sort of thing in Final Haven. What do you all think? Examples of Phanterran heraldry can be found HERE. Below are some of my ideas to maybe help this along. :

1) Guilds whose members (The public ones anyways ) wear a guild device or colors gain a percentage bonus to their overall allegiance. This bonus would come in the form of a reduction in the amount of allegiance needed to reach and maintain a guild level.

2) Houses are required to have a device and house colors in order to go beyond level 1. They can achieve the same bonuses as guilds when their members wear the colors or the device.

3) Characters with the "Priveledged" lifestyle are encouraged to have personal devices.

[Tonia Glowski]

Where on the link page are we looking for heraldry related ideas?

Also, since I've never played CARPS I don't know the answer... but don't you guys usually make house tabards and use house colors? That's the only thing I've ever known to be done for houses generally.

[WayneO42]

Where on the link page are we looking for heraldry related ideas?

At the top of each page about a barony is the crest of the barony and the crest of the duchy it belongs to.

Also, since I've never played CARPS I don't know the answer... but don't you guys usually make house tabards and use house colors? That's the only thing I've ever known to be done for houses generally.

At CARPS, house members generally wear a house belt hanger (A piece of cloth hung from the belt with the house symbol on it). In fact, of all the LARPS I've been to, belt hangers seem to be the norm. I would just like to see FH really kick it up a notch.

In a world where your survival really depends on help from others it would seem like bold statements of belonging would be common. You want to attract attention to yourself and say "Hey, we are the coolest guild, join us and live well.". More members equals stronger guild which equals better chance for survival. To me, belt hangers really dont make that strong of a statement. Its kind of like *Shudder* the greek societies in college. They want lots of members who are "Worthy" (i.e. can hump a goat while piss drunk) so they can hold the best parties. In FH you want to recruit the most promising newbies to make the strongest guild so you dont end up being EATEN by a goat who is piss drunk.

BTW: If anyone paints a bedsheet with "RUSH the guild of Light" and hangs it from the inn, I WILL hurt them

[Tonia Glowski]

Oh my... LOL... I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Anyways, I've got a decent amount of sewing experience. If anyone is looking to get some favors (aka belt hangers) or tabards with house colors or a design, shoot me an email.

As for the heraldry stuff, I apologize Wayne. Now that you point it out, I understand what you were getting at... I saw that heraldry stuff months ago when you shot me the link. I was thinking something different this time when I visited the page. I love the stuff you've got so far.

By the by... the stuff listed on that page... is that considered open for general knowledge (obviously dependent on roleplaying the character concept)?

Thanks in advance.

[Eilonwy]

Err...personal devices, eh? Well, if I can't get my butt to an event soon it won't matter. Otherwise, has anyone come up with heraldry of any kind for Caledonia? Though I must admit, it would be cool to have my own device for once. Hmmmm....

[Kathryn Skress]

Hmm... "Rush the Guild of Light" you say...

As for Caldonia, I imagine it being a big mug of beer on a puke green background... but that's just me.

[dier_cire]

No, no, no...
it's rush Gamma Omega Lamda (GoL, though omikron might work better and Gamma isn't really G but eh close enough for guild boys)

and rushing requires a 5 resource entrance fee

[Peace420]

I most definitely like the idea of Heraldry and such, even though my guild wouldn't have such a thing. And obviously I dislike the idea of a mechanical advantage for doing so. The way that you guys have set things up you want specialized guilds and any spy or assasin or thieves guild would then get shafted for role-playing. No self respecting shady guild would walk around sporting some Heraldry or guild colors so that they could easily be expunged. I don't think that things like bonuses for being a good guy should be built into the system.

[GM_Chris]

Heraldry does not need to be displayed. it could be a tatoo on the arm that no one but those in the organization would see.

I mean wouldnt it be cool if 3 years from now FH had 4 chapters with over 500 members. People can travel to different larps and you would not nessesarily know a person in your guild except for the heraldry.

-Chris

[Dallid]

The man thinks big.

I certainly for heraldry! Every character I've played has had some form of heraldry on them. Heck, Reginald and Bakka each went through several! I'm currently working on improving Dallids (red cross on a yellow background).

I look foward to seeing the guilds introduce some heraldry, and am certainly willing to help make banners n' such!

[Peace420]

LOL a tatto is the worst thing that you can do, you can burn or discard a tabbard or some such thing a tattoo is forever, a quick inspection of a captive would easily reveal their allegiance. Think big red A on the forehead.

[Dallid]

Yes, but it fits the evil guild arch-type:

(1) Once marked, you are a member until death.

(2) You should never, ever get caught in the first place.

[GM_Chris]

Yep exactly as Doug says it fits the arch type. Even the illuminatti has a means of identification.

Without identification then anyone from anywhere could claim to be part of your house.

Babylon 5 had a thieves guild who tatoo'd with a scar. Not sure if the scars were the same or just all unusually in the same spot. Then you had to recite who your mentor was and who your mentors mentor was all the way till you could prove you know what you are talking about.

Disc world assasin guilds oporate in the open and anyone who murders outside the guild are killed on site. Lots of options.

-Chris

[Keil]

I love the idea of heraldry. As far as the evil guild heraldry, it could even be things like a common mask worn by members of the guild when they do a job, or that they don for negotiations or mass battles, to protect the identity of it's members. (ie: if caught kill yourself before you can reveal the members of your guild, or if captured upon your escape you must kill everyone who knows you are a member before you may return to the good graces of the guild. and so on) That way no one will know that they are a member of the feared “(insert spooky name here)” guild, unless they have the mask on. I have always loved the idea of secret societies like that, they add an element of fear and mystery to a game. Anyway, there's my 2 cents.

Colin

[Peace420]

You guys have never read the "Things that I will never do when I'm an evil Overlord" I believe not having any mark to show your allegiance is around #30 or so, just because it's been done in the past doesn't make it a good idea. But I digress, If FH evolves to where only members of an assasins guild can do killing, then that would be a completely different situation. Situational things like masks donned when doing a job or soufa worn when doing a job, that's totally different than walking around with some symbol saying "I belong to an evil organization." I love the idea of secret societies but when you display it for all to see it stops being secret at that point and becomes known by a few who put minimal effort into finding out what the black tear next to the eye means. Prisoners thought that would be a good idea not very long ago now anyone with a small amount of street knowledge knows exactly what that is.

Chris did any of the people on those shows get caught? What happened when they tried to deny their allegiance to the org that they had been marked by? I'm guessing death and dismemberment or at least imprisonment, neither of which appeal to me much.