Hooks and Boons Wish List

This is the Hooks and Boons discussion list.
* Please write down which hooks and boons you would like the covenant to have.
==Boons and Hooks Summary Table==
Name 	Type 	H/B	Value	Page	Corbon	Jeff	Nick	Peri	Sally	Sam	Tim	Popularity	Notes
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Aura x 2 	Site 	B 	2 	8 	X 	X 	X 	X 	X 	X 	 	5 	
Road 	Site 	H 	-1 	11 	 	X 	X 	 	X 	X 	X 	5 	Automatic
Beholden 	External Relations	H 	-3 	21 	X 	X 	 	 	 	X 	 	3 	
Hidden Resources 	Resources 	B 	-1 	16 	 	X 	 	X 	 	 	X 	3 	
Regio 	Site 	B 	3 	7 	 	X 	 	X 	X 	 	 	3 	
Protector 	 	H 	 	? 	X 	X 	 	 	 	X 	 	3 	
Hermetic Politics 	External Relations	H 	-1 	22 	X 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	2 	
Wealth 	Resources 	B 	1 	16 	X 	 	 	 	 	X 	X 	2 	
Regio 	Site 	H 	-3 	9 	 	 	 	 	 	X 	X 	2 	
Urban 	Site 	H 	-3 	11 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	X 	2 	Unavailable
Ruined Covenant 	Surroundings 	H 	-3 	24 	 	X 	 	 	X 	 	 	2 	
Exceptional book 	External Relations	B 	3 	20 	 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	1 	Unavailable
Local Ally 	External Relations	B 	1 	21 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	
Centralised Kingdom 	External Relations	H 	-1 	22 	X 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	Automatic
War zone 	External Relations	H 	-3 	22 	X 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	Probably automatic
Manor House 	Fortification 	F 	0 	11 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	
Outbuildings 	Fortification 	H 	-1 	15 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	Unavailable
Missile Weapons (Bowmen) 	Residents 	B 	1 	18 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	Shortbows
Peasants 	Residents 	F 	0 	17 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	
Gender Imbalance 	Residents 	H 	-1 	19 	X 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	1 	
Mercer House 	Residents 	H 	-3 	19 	 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	1 	Unavailable
School 	Residents 	H 	-3 	19 	 	X 	 	 	X 	 	 	1 	Unavailable
Wealth 	Resources 	B 	3 	16 	 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	1 	
Contested Resources 	Resources 	H 	-1 	16 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	1 	
Vivid environment 	Site 	B 	1 	9 	 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	1 	
Mutable 	Site 	H 	-1 	10 	 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	1 	Requires Regio?
Monster 	Site 	H 	-3 	9 	 	 	 	 	 	 	X 	1 	
Roman Ruins 	Surroundings 	H 	-1 	25 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	1 	
Buildings 	 	B 	1 	? 	 	 	 	 	 	 	X 	1 	Possibly...
Building or Fortifications	 	B 	 	? 	 	X 	 	 	 	 	 	1 	Possibly...
Buildings 	 	B 	 	? 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	1 	Possibly...
Faerie Court 	 	H 	 	? 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	1 	
Festival 	 	H 	 	? 	 	 	 	X 	 	 	 	1 	
==Ambrosius/Tim==
===Current Hooks/Boons wish list===
Hooks
* Regio [Major]
Definition (Major): The Covenant is located in a magical regio that only native guides can safely navigate. The labyrinth of the regio may take many forms, though its precise nature must be described. The Redcaps, who collect such knowledge, report twisting causeways, tangled woodland paths, convoluted sewers, or paths trod through sunset clouds. To fail to follow the path is often to return to the mortal world, but in many covenants false paths lead to prisons, over cliffs, or into the lairs of monsters.
Versus...
Definition (Minor): The covenant is located in a magical regio that can be entered in many ways. The covenant may take measures to limit entry into the regio, but these are never perfect.
* Road [Minor] I'd like to see an intersection of a major and a minor road
Definition (Major): The covenant is on an important mystical trail of some kind, so that mystical creatures, from one or more realms, often turn up at the covenant.
Versus...
Definition (Minor): The covenant is on an important mundane road, river, or sea route, so that people often turn up at the covenant, bringing or causing stories.
* Monster [Major]
Definition: A powerful mystical creature lives inside the covenant. The creature can be aligned with any realm, and should be too powerful for the player characters to defeat at the beginning of the saga.
Boons
* Buildings [Minor] Tower with appropriate outlying buildings
* Wealth [Minor] Personally, I'd like to see this manifest as an iron mine
* Hidden Resources [Minor]
I prefer road to urban, and there are two very interesting roads nearby. Monster is a great hook. :D --Admin 05:41, 11 February 2006 (PST)
The Regio definitions seem to be for Boons not hooks. --Samuel 04:18, 8 March 2006 (PST)
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==Bedo/Nick==
===Current Hooks/Boons wish list===
* Fortification - Free Choice - Manor House. Conventional for area, without going to the level of threat / local involvement implied by a castle
Query: There would no doubt be a manor house in Church Stretton, covering the manor of Stretton-en-le-Vale, and I would presume that within that manor, there would be no other manor house. I'm sure you have a better idea of the distribution of manor houses in the area than I do, but I thought that they were generally the seats of minor nobles? - J 
* Residents - Free choice - Peasants. Seems to fit area style, and provide a little limited defence without employing troops.
Hooks
* Major External Relations Hoook - War zone.
Definition: The covenant lies between two powerful noble holdings that are at war. Each side requires the magi to join it. Failure to assist, on either side, may lead to reprisal because the warlord considers the covenant in league with his enemy. This hook may be unknown.
* Minor Site Hook - Road (mundane)
* Minor Fortification Hook - Outbuildings.
* Minor Residents Hook - Gender Imbalance (rough count 24:6 at the moment)
* Minor External Relations Hook - Centralised Kingdom (reflecting English situation)
Boons
* Minor Site Boon - Aura x 2 - As stated, benefit of power
* Minor Residents Boon - Missile Weapons (Bowmen)
* Minor Resource Boon - Secondary Income (Sheep farming + toll on road)
* Minor External Relations Boon - Local Ally
I like your choices, but need to see a definition for "Bowmen", "Gender Imbalance", and "Centralised Kingdom" - especially "Bowmen". I am especially keen on 'Local Ally', have a good idea for how the bowmen boon can benefit the covenant and grow with it, and the "Kingdom" hook sounds like something that will keep Marcus amused. :D --Admin 05:38, 11 February 2006 (PST)
:Manor house & outbuildings I was thinking of based on the idea that we might have (somehow) come into the possession of some existing buildings - an existing manor - rather than having to physically build the covenant from scratch. One of the threads of the campaign might then be that of getting them into a more usable form over time. 
:Centralised Kingdom & road seem to reflect the location selected already, based on the basic ideas of the campaign as outlined. Following other discussion (and reading the covenants book) I will add War zone to my list for much te same reason. It wasn't historically a full-on war all the time, but it was an area where wars did occur fairly regularly, and certainly during the early time of the covenant.
:Gender imbalance seems to reflect the covenant balance we are setting up. 
:Bowmen. Both Wales and England were known for bowmen - having locals who are already skilled fits the feel and would give us some defence in early days at relatively low expense. Following other discussions, combining this with Peasants might well make sense. --OldNick 03:54, 15 February 2006 (PST) 
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==Marcus/Jeff==
===Current Hooks/Boons wish list===
Ideally, Marcus (and Jeff) would like a Covenant with some reasonable mundane connections. Here are two ideas which sort of reflect my thinking.
1) A Priory established by the Abbey at Shrewsbury. A Priory is a satellite establishment of a larger institution. This would come about if there was some immediate need to have some force of magi at the site and would have to be at the behest of either the Abbot of shrewsbury or possibly the prior at the Priory. This would get us in bed with the Church, which I think provides some interesting complications, although YMMV. This would work nicely with a regio, since the magi would live mostly in the regio while the covenfolk and monks lived outside, and in some cases might not even be aware of the presence of the magi. So, one complete possibility here is that the priory is established near some magical threat (Major Road, Ruined Covenant, etc.) and the Abbot, who does not believe that magi are evil, decides to install them there since they are best suited to protecting his monks. The monks themselves would be innocent of knowledge of the magi would live near/with/in the regio but not be part of the priory itself.
2) A more mundane set up. Several companions have links to various nobility and one, Lily, specifically mentions giving land to the covenant in her background. Given that, the follow-through is much like option 1, only without the need for a specific threat and instead a need for some sort of fuedal contract. "Giving us land" isn't really a fuedal concept, I would suggest that if this option is pursued that we are instead given a charter like a town, which probably means our true nature is known to the granting noble, or that we impersonate monks or hermits and the land is "given to the Church." 
Be warned! Marcus is built to interact with the world, so most of my boons and hooks will reflect that. Bearing in mind some of the comments on the mailing list, I will not say that we should have Mercer House, School and so on. Instead, I will suggest that some of those could be built in game as we move along. If there is a threat, then we could find ourselves in the fuedal hierarchy, perhaps through Lily or another intermediary, and actually serving as fuedal overlord of the area.
I don't have Covenants, but those of you who do can probably see where I'm going with this and figure out other good ones.
====Hooks====
*Protector - Priory, village or both.
*Beholden - to the Abbot, the noble, or both.
*Road - either minor or major, or both
*Urban - as an alternative or adjunct to Road.
*Ruined Covenant - this could also be the source of the problems that force the Church or the Nobility to call us in.
====Boons====
*Aura of 5 - why not if we can afford it?
*Buildings or fortifications - depending on the rationale of how we get started this might fit. If we are protecting an existing priory or being made Lords of a village, then buildings might come with the job.
*Hidden Resources is always fun
*Regio - I sort of like the idea of hiding the magic side of thing in a regio in the middle of either the village or the priory. In fact, the idea that the Priory was founded on the ruins of a covenant where the mundane ruins are now in the dominion, but the magical ruins are in a regio on top of the same space kind of sings to me.
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==Longinus/Corbon==
===Current Hooks/Boons wish list===
*Beholden, minor hook
*Politics, minor or major (or both) hook
*Protector, minor hook
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==Phaedrus/Samuel==
===Current Hooks/Boons wish list===
==== Hooks ====
*A Magical regio to explore.
*Beholden. Preferably minor and towards someone/thing local.
*A faerie road. (For Eirlys to handle.)
*Protector. The local willages has been bothered by faeries and other "wierd stuff".
==== Boons ====
*High non-warping aura, minor boon(s)
*Could we get a bonus to aging rolls to help us keep our specialists?
*Wealth? I would prefere to have this in a "Hiden resource" type of way, fighting for money does not seem very interesting as a major part of the saga. A bunch of stories to establish ways to get good suplies (and expanding them when needed) and the like could be interesting.
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==Mnemosyne/Perikles==
===Current Hooks/Boons wish list===
*Boons: A good, high magical aura (though not enough to cause Warping).
*Boon: Building (a tower or great hall or something)
*Boon: Hidden Resources (Maybe a store of magic items, a secret vis source or even some books, - possibly hidden in the regio or somewhere)
*Boon: Regio (Yay... who doesn't like having their own pocket realm? Alteratively we could make this a hook and make it part of the story to uncover it, perhaps tying in with the hidden resources)
*Hook: Contested Resources (maybe a new vis source or some cash resource).
*Hook: Politics (minor one, as the major one is going to be VERY difficult to hide from the Quaesitores... namely Mnemosyne).
Boons
* Aura (minor) X2 (Listed by players.)
::This will raise the aura from the baseline level of three, to five, which is the highest aura that doesn't warp grogs.
Could someone describe the hooks/boons from Covenants:
* Ruined Covenant (Major hook) - Sounds interesting, we could place it in a Major Regio to get some really involved stories. But for it to qualify as a _major_ hook there has to be something special about it...
* Whatever could represent "hidden" sources of wealth, especially wealth that our suroundings benefit from. (A toll-both is just glorified robbery.)
==Boons and Hooks - Definitions and Arguments==
*This is the list that Nick kindly typed out on the forum. I suggest that anything you would like a proper description of be put in bold writing, so that the people with a copy of Covenants can add one if they like.
*Also, regardless of whether or not a description has been added, players may add arguments for and against a specific Boon or Hook, so that all the arguments for any given Boon/Hook are in the same place.
Link with a couple of definitions:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ArcanumMagica/message/164
===Site===
Major Site Boons:
*Aura
Pro: This will raise the aura in the laboratory areas, whilst leaving the grog-areas unaffected. Intended for raising the aura about five without affecting the grogs. 
*Conscious space
*Fantastic environment
Definition: The covenant is on land which is exceptionally beautiful and pleasant.
*Immunity
*Natural Fortress
*Regio
Definition: The covenant can only be entered by those who know how to navigate the regio.
*Time Dilation or Contraction	
Major Site Hooks:
*Constantly Mobile
*Highly Mutable
*Magical Disaster
*Missing Aura
*Monster
*Road
*Regio
*Urban
Minor Site Boons:
*Aura
Pro: This will raise the aura from the baseline level of three, to five, which is the highest aura that doesn't warp grogs.
*Difficult Access
*Healthy Feature
: It's +1 on aging rolls, and provides the Healthy location on ArM5 page 170 - can be taken up to three times. (tot +3 for first, +5 for three?)
*Hostile Environment
*Immunity
*Mystical Portal
*Regio
*Seclusion
*Unnatural Law
:Some natural laws suspended in covenant's aura.
*Vast Aura
:Aura fills an large area, perhaps up to five miles across. Explanation implies tends to be on edge of unknown area.
*Vivid Environment	
Minor Site Hooks:
*Corrupt Area
*Cursed
*Evil Custom
*Erratically Mobile
Anti: The covenant doesn't physically move around.
*Faerie Aura
*Flickering Aura
*Haunted
*Mutable
*Poorly Defensible
*Regio with Unexpected Entries
*Regio
*Resident Nuisance
*Road
*Warping to a Pattern
:Warping isn't random, but follows a theme that is possibly tied in with the history of the site.
*Weak Aura
*Uncontrolled Portal
*Unhealthy Environment
*Urban
===Fortifications===
Free Choices:
* Island
* Manor House
Anti: There are a number of manor houses in the area, but they do not like in a magical aura.
* Castle (Major Hook)
* Ringwork (req Castle)
* Small Tower
Pro: This is fine, assuming it is crumbling.	
Free Choices:
* Island
* Manor House
Anti: There are a number of manor houses in the area, but they do not like in a magical aura.
* Castle (Major Hook)
* Ringwork (req Castle)
* Small Tower
Pro: This is fine, assuming it is crumbling.
Major Fortification Boons (alternatives to default Castle):
*Curtain Walls and Mural Towers
*Magical Fortress
*Superior Engineering	
Major Fortification Boons (alternatives to default Castle):
*Curtain Walls and Mural Towers
*Magical Fortress
*Superior Engineering
Minor Fortification Boons:
*Artillery
*Bedrock
:Built on bedrock, rather than soil / loose stone. No wells, hard to have cellars, but hard to undermine in a siege
::Pro: That definitely happened to one of the local castles.
*Edifices
*Important Buildings
*Shell Keep (req Castle)
*Tower Keep (req Castle)
*Vast & Labyrinthine
*Writ of Crenellation	
Minor Fortification Hooks:
*Crumbling
Pro: Outstanding. This is a very good choice for a starting covenant.
*Outbuildings
:Minor hamlet of buildings around about, with servants, peasants; not walled or pulled down to improve defences.
*Wooden
Pro: This is very common in this area.
=== Resources ===
Major Resources Boon:
*Wealth 
Question: How does this differ from the Minor boon in the basic rules?
:Fabulously wealthy - live like kings. One Typical income raised to Legendary.	
Major Resources Hooks:
*Indebted
*Indiscreet Resource
:Gathering one local resource involves overt criminal acts.
*Natural Disaster
*Poverty
Minor Resources Boons:
*Hidden Resources
*Right
*Secondary Income
Question: how does this compare to Wealth?
:Two independent Typical sources of income. Diversification reducing vulnerability, as well as increasing income
*Vis Grant
*Wealth
:Wealthy even by standard of nobles. One Typical income is upgraded to Greater.	
Minor Resources Hooks:
*Contested Resource
*Dwindling Resource
*Flawed Resource
*Illusory Resources
*Indebted
*Indiscreet Resource
:Gathering one local resource the covenant's resources attracts unwanted attention amongst a certain group.
*Natural Disaster
*Poverty
*Regional Produce
:A local produce is remarkable - bring in money and Reputation. Wines, cheeses, luxury meats.
Anti: The local produce of note is sheep, and therefore wool. A fictional product, probably some form of wool garment, could be a possibility though. Church Stretton had a 'Carding Mill' in the valley in later history... (Or simply very exceptional wool. Examples about - Brie cheese, serge de Nimes (denim), etc. "Stretton wool" would be a
reasonable not too ahistorical option, I think.)
*Vis Salary
=== Residents ===
Residents Free Choices:
* Hunters or Sailors
:Covenant's people have some military-useful skills due to life skills, but need payment.
* Peasants
:Covenant's defenders live as farmers, so don't practice as military, but have some weapons skill, are fit, and don't need paying.
Pro: While I don't think many of the grogs will be able to to justifiably possess martial training, I'm happy for them to be trained in-game. Axe-wielding milk-maids could act as a formidable deterrent.	
Residents Free Choices:
* Hunters or Sailors
:Covenant's people have some military-useful skills due to life skills, but need payment.
* Peasants
:Covenant's defenders live as farmers, so don't practice as military, but have some weapons skill, are fit, and don't need paying.
Pro: While I don't think many of the grogs will be able to to justifiably possess martial training, I'm happy for them to be trained in-game. Axe-wielding milk-maids could act as a formidable deterrent.
Major Residents Boons:
*Heavy Cavalry
*Magical (Soldiers) Requires Soldiers.
*Tame Nobleman	
Major Residents Hooks:
*Chapter House
:The covenant owns and controls a second, smaller site, far from the covenant's main buildings. May want independence etc.
Anti: Sounds like something for an established covenant - --OldNick 03:29, 15 February 2006 (PST)
*Diabolic Corruption
*Divided Loyalty
*Fractured Council
*Mercer House
*Rebellious Covenfolk
*School
*Superiors
Minor Residents Boons:
*Cavalry
*Crossbowmen
*Criminals
*Famous Resident
*Inhuman Residents
*Literate Covenfolk
*Local Language
:Local people speak a language that is somehow useful to their masters, by virtue of being locally known, rather than widely. 
*Loyal Covenfolk
*Missile Weapons
:Mundane tenants include people who are skilled with missile weapons. Examples include English peasants, required by law to practice the longbow.
*Strong Community
*Useful Curse
*Veteran Fighters	
Minor Residents Hooks:
*Alienable Land
*Dark Secret
*Distorted Covenfolk
*Dumping Ground
*Fosterage
*Gender Imbalance
:Too many men - perceived as a local threat. Too many women - perceived as weak and leaderless. Either way may give problems with local nobles.
*Guild
*House Church
:Christians practicing in the covenant. May weaken aura, may be heretics from local church.
Anti: They won't be there at the beginning of the saga.
*Incompetent Covenfolk
*Indigenes
*Inhuman Covenfolk
*Infants
*Possession Victim
*Refugee
*Rights and Customs
*Seed of Madness
*Spies
*Suffrage
*Superiors
=== External Relations ===
Major External Relations Boons:
*Autocephalous
:Remote area without a local feudal noble.
:Pro: Suits isolated places, not needed if Isolated.
:Anti: The local area is accounted for. This could be interpreted to mean that the area is in a murky border region where several nobles are hesitent to try and exert their authority, however. I'm not sure if murky border areas exist though, given how detailed parish boundaries are, for instance.
*Dedicated Covenant
*Exceptional book (major, external relations)
Definition: "The covenant has, legally and legitimately, gained possession of a copy of the finest summa ever written on one Art. This book is an excellent addition to the library, of course, but it is also a powerful diplomatic tool and source of prestige. If you select this Boon, you need not pay Build Points for the book. The book's (level + quality) = 35, with a maximum quality of 25 and a maximum art level of 20" (p20).
*Favours Owed
*Hedge Tradition
*Prestige
*Powerful Ally	
Major External Relations Hooks:
*Beholden
*Centre of Excellence
*Ceremonies
*Hedge Tradition
*Hermetic Services
*Mundane Politics
*Rival
*Tribunal Border
:The covenant lies outside of any Tribunal, or in the disputed borderland between two Tribunals
:This would require either the creation of a new tribunal, moving the game to the border area in the north of England, or a truly unique and bizarre legal precedent, such as exists in the case of Berrick-upon-Tweed (Berwick's status was such that even the Crimean War had to be declared in the name of Great Britain, Ireland and Berwick Upon Tweed).
*War Zone
:The covenant lies between two powerful noble holdings that are at war. Each side requires the magi to join it./i>
:Pro: Look into my eyes - you do not see 30,000 soldiers in yonder castle.
:Pro: Lots of military action occurred in the area historicaly over the years that the campaign is set --OldNick 03:32, 15 February 2006 (PST)
Minor External Relations Boons:
*Benefice
:Covenant owns the land on which the local church and priest's cottage stand. 
:Implications - covenant can refuse an individual acccess, but bishop appoints priest.
*Felicitous Tribunal
*Informants
:The covenant has a small network of helpful people who provide the covenant with useful information about its rivals.
*Local Ally
*Prestige
*Promised Favours
*Ungoverned	
Minor External Relations Hooks:
*Ancestral Error
:A founder of the covenant did something really bad.
*Centralized Kingdom
:"In some parts of Europe, England for example, it is perfectly clear who owns every bit of land. A newly founded covenant in such an area will need to explain its presents to, and come to terms with, its putative noble lord"
:Pro: Suggested as recognising the real-world situation in the area --OldNick 03:32, 15 February 2006 (PST)
:Con: Do we want stories based on this? --Samuel 05:44, 15 February 2006 (PST)
*Church Territories
:"Large parts of Europe accept a representative of the church as their mundane noble." 
:Hook rather than Free Choice as Church inflexible in some ways.
*Favours
*Hangout
*Hermetic Politics
*House Covenant
*Infamous
*Itinerants
*Missing Founder
*Public Vis Source
*Rival
*Slavery
*Undemocratic Tribunal
*Unsafe
*Unsubtle Predecessor
=== Surroundings ===
Major Surroundings Boons:
*Defensive Environment
*Tithing Miracles
:Regular too-good crops cancelling out cost of tithes makes people pious and the church locally powerful
*Mystical Allies	
Major Surroundings Hooks:
*City
*Demonic Interest
*Enclosed
*Faerie Landlord
*Meddlesome Saint
*Monster
*Pagans
*Pilgrimage Site
:Pious people travel to close to the covenant to visit a shrine. Church active, but more money about.
*Ruined Covenant
*Seat of Power
Minor Surroundings Boons:
*Chase, 
:An area of royal or noble hunting forest granted to the covenant. Limitations and responsibilities on use"
*Hidden Ways,
*Minority	
Minor Surroundings Hooks: :
*Death Prophecies
*Deathbed Visitor
*Faerie Court
Faerie court nearby. Good source of stories. Sometimes faeries travel from it.
*Fated Feat
*Fallen Temple
*Festival
Local festivals are a nuisance - affect magi
*Ford
*Guardians
*Heretics
*Hermit
*Legendary Site
*Massacre Site
*Missing Expedition
*Monastery
:Nearby monastery uses local land to support monks. As it grows it may want land, even now it may need support.
*Monster
*Protector
Pro: How ever we got the ground to build on whoever granted it to us had a problem with "Wierd stuff" in the area that we should protect the surounding willages from.
*Roman Ruins
:Nearby Roman ruins, may be haunted; a good source of dressed stone.
*Sanctuary
*Site of Weakness
*Ungarrisoned Castle