I only need to work on the Warfare rules next, and then the Basic Rules and Character Creation rules are finished. Except for the Disciplines themselves, of course.
Romance
Love among samurai can be a perilous affair. Yet it occurs with disturbing frequency, as it exemplifies the virtues of Courtesy, Compassion, and even Courage. Samurai worth their honor cannot allow themselves to fear such a glorious passion as love, of course. Anymore than they can resist any other kind of opportunity for honor or glory, any other kind of duel. Thus, Romance becomes a competition where every lover is a fierce duelist.
Even if Romance invariably leads to Doom.
One Romance: You can only have one Romance active at a time, unless some ability says otherwise. And that's Romance, not marriage. Do not assume that in Hachigoku marriage, concubinage, or Romance are at all the same thing. You can certainly have a Romance with your spouse, but that's not necessarily so by any means.
Judgment: Romance begins with a flirtation, a test of wits meant to assess both the interest and worth of both parties. By engaging in some flirtatious banter, or even attempting an impressive use of a High Skill or Bugei Skill, one lover makes an advance. The other chooses whether to express interest and make their own advance. If they don't, that's the end of the Romance. It never gets off the ground. If they do, both lovers make an Awareness roll. The one with the highest roll can decide who Focuses first. If there's a tie, compare Awareness, Void, or Void Points, in that order.
Focus: Now that both lovers are interested, one lover (chosen by the winner of the Awareness roll) must choose to Focus. Each Focus represents an escalating flirtation, a back and forth game of teasing, endearments, poetry, compliments, small gifts. Feel free to get creative. This need not happen in a moment, but can actually extend the length of a Story before a lover calls a Strike, but no longer. The Romance TN begins at 5. If Focusing, the Romance TN raises by +5 (some special abilities may alter the point value; consider each increment a separate Focus). Now the other lover has the opportunity to Focus or Strike. This continues back and forth until one lover calls for a Strike, each Focus raising the Romance TN. You can only Focus a number of times equal to your Void Ring Rank, or spend a Void Point for an additional Focus beyond that. Certain Skill, Advantage, or Okuden rules may allow you to Focus additional times as well.
Strike: When a lover calls for a Strike, the other lover makes a Sincerity/Awareness roll (TN 5 + Focuses). It's important to note that the Seduction Emphasis has no role here; such a seduction is a transactional affair, and has no place in starting a true Romance. If this roll fails, the Striking lover has their opportunity to make the roll with the same TN, except removing the last Focus (which usually just means -5, but special abilities may alter that number). If both lovers fail the roll, the Romance never begins. The interest may exist, but the chemistry is all wrong. Neither party may again attempt to initiate a Romance with the other until the Insight Ranks of both parties change.
If either lover succeeds on their roll, the Romance has begun. The first lover to succeed holds the Favor. The Romance has become almost a skirmish between lovers, as each proves their love and garners a reward in turn. The lover holding Favor issues a challenge, tasks that begin as small things and progress: compliments, honorable favors (lessons, permissions, gifts, etc.), dangerous favors (dueling challenges, quests, etc.). The most passionate lovers may even request dishonorable favors. Assassinations. Poison. Betrayal. All for love.
Each time a lover completes a challenge, they gain the Favor in the form a reward. Like the challenges, the reward progresses from small things to more grand or intimate gestures: a smile, a compliment, a gift, a touch on the sleeve, a touch, a caress, a kiss, more...
The Romance sparks, flames, peaks, then fades into ashes over time. The cycle of exchanging the Favor is integral to the life of the Romance, and the Romances strength is measured as an Advantage with Ranks (just like Traits or Skills); both lovers gain a single Romance Advantage, shared between them. The Romance Advantage has a pair of Ranks: Actual and Potential. The Potential Rank is the maximum strength of the Advantage, equal to the number of Focuses made during the duel. The Actual strength begins equal to the lowest Awareness Rank between the two lovers. As each Season passes, the Actual Rank increases by 1 Rank, as long as Favor has been exchanged. If Favor has not been exchanged at least once during the Season, the Actual Rank decreases by 1 Rank. While it is assumed Favor should be exchanged during a Story, a lover can spend a Season Action to determine the exchange occurs sometime during the Season, outside the Story. If the Favor is still exchanged during a Story after spending a Season Action, this merely means that an additional exchange has happened, but the Actual Rank does not increase by 2 Ranks, just the normal 1 Rank.
Once the Romance reaches its Potential maximum, its Actual Rank begins to fade at the rate of 1 Rank per Season, despite the ongoing exchange of Favors. If Favor fails to be exchanged, the Romance loses 2 Ranks that Season. Once a Romance reaches 0 Actual Ranks, it is finished and done. The ashes of Romance hold no power.
The Romance Advantage grants the lovers certain benefits:
- Favor's Champion: Whenever the lover makes a roll directly involved in answering a challenge issued by their love, they can spend a Void Point to gain a +XkX bonus to the roll, where X is the Actual Rank of the Romance.
- Heart's Knowledge: Whenever the lover makes a roll directly for or against their lover (such as defending or attacking them), they can spend a Void Point to gain a +XkX bonus to the roll, where X is the Actual Rank of the Romance.
- Lover's Leap: Whenever their love is in sight and is about to suffer Wounds (but before damage is rolled, if necessary), the lover can spend a Void Point to push their way through the Scene to come to the defense. They take the Wounds on themselves, in full. Nothing stands in the lover's way. Not samurai. Not monsters, nor Fortunes. Nothing. Not even Honor.
A Romance can end before it's time. There are two honorable ways to end a Romance: a lover can complete a challenge and ask for no Favor, signaling the Romance's end, or a lover can gain the Favor and then decline to issue a new challenge, signaling they lost interest in the Romance. At the end fo the Season, the Romance Advantage vanishes.
There are, of course, other ways to end the Romance. Dangerous ways. Dishonorable ways. A lover could fail to complete a challenge, and earn a lover's scorn instead of forgiveness, or a lover could refuse Favor after a challenge's completion. Either of these could because of a whim or as revenge against some wrong. Or, a lover could invoke their love's Doom.
At any time during the Romance, the lover can shout “Doom!” whenever their love makes a roll. Whatever the result, it fails. Utterly. Spectacularly. If it's an opposed roll, the other highest roller gains the effect of Raises equal to the Romance's Potential Rank. The Romance is over.
If a Romance ends with in a dishonorable way, the Romance Advantage becomes the Heartbroken Disadvantage for the lover wronged, and the Heartbreaker Disadvantage for the vengeful lover.
The Heartbroken Disadvantage has Ranks equal to the original Romance's Potential. Every Season it loses a Rank as the heart's wound slowly heals, vanishing when it reaches 0 Ranks. While active, whenever the lover's heartbreak is present or mentioned by name the lover suffers a -Xk0 to all rolls for attempting actions. This lasts for the rest of the Scene, but can be negated for the entire Scene by spending a Void Point. In addition, the heartbreak can spend a Void Point to gain a +XkX bonus when making a roll directly against the lover (as in not being for the lover's benefit). In either case, X is equal to the Disadvantage's Rank. The lover can opt to spend a Season Action and replace the Disadvantage with the Lost Love Disadvantage permanently as they work through the pain and lessen the loss into a long, stable ache.
The Heartbreaker Disadvantage has no Ranks. Anyone making a roll involving a Romance with the heartbreaker gains a +2k2 dice. This includes during Judgment and Focusing, as well as when invoking the benefits of the Romance Advantage. All the benefits. Also, the heartbreaker's Glory becomes Infamy at the end of the Season as awareness of their indiscretion spreads through Hachigoku's courts.
The Glory of Romance: Does Romance gain the lovers Glory and Honor? Not directly. Engaging in Romance does grant Honor and Glory gains as usual for a duel in terms of challenges and victory, but not in terms of Favor. However, the activities that result from chasing and giving Favor often do produce Glory and Honor. Or more often cost Glory and Honor as duty to the Romance and duty to one's superior conflict. Because of the potential danger of Romance interfering with a samurai's duty, public revelation of the Romance loses each lover Honor and Glory Points equal to the Romance's Potential Ranks. Yet, the temptation to announce one's passion is strong, and living in denial would be discourteous and cruel to the Romance. Thus, samurai often attempt to reveal their love through obscure comments or poems that are performed publicly to announce their involvement in a Romance, but veil the name of their lover. Doing so successfully is an Act of Virtue.
Liaison: Romance for samurai, it should be stressed, is not usually marriage. It is not usually sanctified, but merely tolerated. Up to a point. By the definition, adultery is engaging in activity that could produce an illegitimate heir. Until that line is crossed, Romance is relatively harmless as far as most samurai are concerned.
Most.
But once that line is crossed, it ceases being a Romance and becomes a Liaison. The Romance becomes a danger to a marriage. And thus a danger to your daimyo as marriage contracts stand in breach, or perhaps vows of celibacy have been violated. Most samurai understand this and end a Romance before it goes too far.
Most.
Others will risk anything to keep the passion alive. The Romance Advantage is replaced with the Liaison Advantage, if the Romance has reached its Potential already. There is only so much satisfaction to be gained from flirtation. The Liaison functions as a Romance for all intents and purposes—including ending it—except its Rank no longer decreases regardless of Favor or Seasons. As long as both lovers spend a Season Action and acquire a separate Shelter for their trysts, the Liaison continues to exist at its maximum potential. If this condition isn't met, the Liaison once again fades into being a Romance.
Just so we're clear: Sex. The two lovers are having sex. If this bothers your samurai, don't get involved in a Romance. Good luck with that.
Of course, being discovered in a Liaison is dangerous. So dangerous, it's definitely considered an Act of Vice if discovered. So dangerous, it could mean a duel of honor. A duel to the death. From the lover's spouse. From their family. From their daimyo.
Think of the children.
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