Ley Line Questions

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

I don't know if these questions will be answered in the revised Regent Guide. If they will be, just tell me and I'll wait

Anyway, there are a few things I'm not sure about with ley lines:
If a ley line connect province A to province B and another ley line connects province B to province C, does province C then count as having a connection to province A?
If it doesn't, then can I forge a hookup in province B to connect the two ley lines?
Is there any way to meld existing ley lines together? That way I can hook a more powerful ley line into an existing network if I get access to one, instead of redoing the entire network.

[DM B]

Hi,

Currently you can't forge together existing ley lines. You can only EXTEND existing ley lines.

So you can have two ley line (or more) terminating in the same province, without them being linked.

Based on this question I'll probably make a new rule allowing the forge extension to link existing lines.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Well, I would certainly like that - it makes it easier to do what you want with existing ley lines (the one you start the game with) instead of rebuilding a new network from the ground up.

[X-Mhoried/Constantine Mhor (Wiktor)]

Oh dear, we haven't even started yet and she already considers expansion!

PS: Yeah, such a ruling might help arcane practitioners.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Obviously, the question to ask is: Does it help arcane practitioners too much? Honestly, I don't think it does... but keep in mind that I've got zip experience with these rules.
My experience with ad&d rules and the vanilla brcs document was that mages needed a little love, that was my experience from running it for a small group of players.

Being able to link together ley lines doesn't seem overpowered though, and it kinda makes sense.

[DM B]

It doesn't make them any more powerful, just makes things more flexible.

Just remember the following:

- ley lines connect two provinces/sources, not anything in between (you have to use hookups for that)
- a very long line with loads of hookups is very vulnerable to being deactivated or destroyed

Example: You could, in theory, make an incredibly long line that hooks up in loads of provinces, but along comes Meganno and...poof...no more ley line...

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Uh... according to the Regent Guide, hookups work to prevent destruction of networks - it's only destroyed from the point where it was attacked and until (but not including) the closest hookup. Has that changed?

Is there anyway to build a resistant ley line network that brings the power of a single high-level holding to a set of low-level sources? I'm having a hard time seeing it, if hookups and/or extensions doesn't make the network resistant.

[DM B]

Uh... according to the Regent Guide, hookups work to prevent destruction of networks - it's only destroyed from the point where it was attacked and until (but not including) the closest hookup. Has that changed?

Is there anyway to build a resistant ley line network that brings the power of a single high-level holding to a set of low-level sources? I'm having a hard time seeing it, if hookups and/or extensions doesn't make the network resistant.

You're right with regards to the hookups - they do limit vulnerability a bit - but they cost 1RP to maintain too. And if you cut the line, you're suddenly stuck with several shorter lines.

Hmm, we really need a rule for forging togeterh exisitng lines, or toerhwise you can't even repari severed ones, just make completely NEW lines, and that isn't conceptually sound.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

So a secure ley line network is one that terminates and originates in the same province, but crosses a whole bunch of provinces in between, with plenty of hookups. That way you actually have a failsafe - it will never take more than one action to get your network back to full strength... assuming that action succeeds. Interesting, if a little academic

[DM B]

So a secure ley line network is one that terminates and originates in the same province, but crosses a whole bunch of provinces in between, with plenty of hookups. That way you actually have a failsafe - it will never take more than one action to get your network back to full strength... assuming that action succeeds. Interesting, if a little academic

You can't start and end a ley line in the same province.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

BUt then there really is no way to create a secure network, other than have lots of hookups. No matter what, if you have one large source that you want to connect to several smaller sources, a single attack will rob you of access to your large source in all provinces except the one with the source itself.

Not that I see this as a problem, it will still only take a single action to recreate the network... but all this talk of more or less secure made think there was a way. Of course, the safest way is to have multiple large sources supplying an entire network, but that's a luxury only few mages have.

EDIT: At any rate, thanks for answering my questions. I think I got it now.

[DM B]

There isn't supposed to BE a safe way!!!

But you CAN make several lines originate from a single source, thus building a sort of redundancy.

Btw: I think the looping issue was the reason you were not allowed to combine existing lines in RoE I...to avoid this matter.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Got it, no safe way, just many degrees of unsafe. Makes for conflict and uncertainty, which helps create drama and story. Groovy.

And yeah, if you allow the extension action to connect existing lines, you should include a "no loops" note.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

A new question has popped up. THe wording on the ley line actions is a little ambivalent - what exactly is meant "province crossed"? This figures both in DDC calculation and RP cost.

Does this include the origin and terminus province? The wording kinda suggests that it is each province between the two, meaning it is base DDC 10 to connect two adjacant provinces. It makes quite a difference in cost and DDC, so inquiring minds wishes to know

[DM B]

It should be "province border crossed" or "province crossed, except the origin province.

In any event, adjacent provinces cost 1 RP, DCC 10 +1