Standing increase by Deeds?

[GaladrielsHeels]

I was thinking that a PC's Standing could also be increased by their deeds as well as expending treasure.

Would perhaps be a little tricky to judge what deeds merit increases though.

Seems to me that some cultures (e.g woodmen) would be less impressed by extravagant spending than by helping the community in other more direct ways.

Not all Middle Earth cultures would view materialism in the same way i think.

Has anyone adopted this in their campaigns? Thoughts and comments?

[zedturtle]

I toyed around with it, a long time ago: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1693

[Stormcrow]

The rationalization for the existing rules is that the people of your home don't approve of your adventuring lifestyle. They think you should stay home and do something sensible and useful. Your Valour and Wisdom (which come from your deeds) don't count for anything at home, only your Standing, because people will overlook the eccentricities of someone who is generous with his money.

[doctheweasel]

I have the system that I use (which is to make a new currency that you can use in addition to Treasure).
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2113

EDIT: Here's the pdf for the rules that I use as a reference: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/845 ... ts_v1a.pdf

[Falenthal]

Your Valour and Wisdom (which come from your deeds) don't count for anything at home, only your Standing, because people will overlook the eccentricities of someone who is generous with his money.

That's very important: Deeds are already taken into account in the game, in the form of Valour and Wisdom.
It is something mostly overlooked.

Wether that's a mechanic that works for you or not, that's something else. Personally, I also use a separate Standing rate among each Culture in the adventure region.
Each hero has his own Standing in his culture, but also a Reputation among each of the other cultures: Dwarves of Erebor, Dale, Esgaroth, Elves of Mirkwood, etc.
That Reputation is increased during the adventures if they do something significant that helps that culture, and is added to the Tolerance of the Encounters if needed.
As with Standing, it decreases by one point every year if the hero doesn't spend a Fellowship Phase at some settlement of that culture.

You can find the original house-rules for this in Rich H's resources. He made this rules along with the help of some other user in the forums, but I can't remember his name (sorry!).

[Rich H]

You can find the original house-rules for this in Rich H's resources.

Here's a PDF just for those rules: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/795 ... anding.pdf

[shipwreck]

Is the whole standing thing based on Bilbo being free with his money?

[Summerhawk]

Is the whole standing thing based on Bilbo being free with his money?

This, and the general importance of hospitality and generosity among the Germanic and Nordic cultures on which Tolkien based groups like the Dwarves, Bardings and other Northmen.

Personally I think the use of money to buy standing becomes a little less likely when you get into folk like the Elves or Dunedain, but with a little bit of imagination you can make it work. Treasure becomes relics you bring home for safe-keeping or money you contribute to the efforts of your folk against the darkness.

I do allow folk not to lose standing among their people if they are away from home on an errand for their cultural lord/chieftain. Additionally in my game, great deeds done in sight of and for the benefit of your own culture do often result in standing (a Barding defending the Crossings of Celduin for instance, or a Dwarf rescuing some of Thorin's companions from danger in the Marshes).

[Cawdorthane]

Initially I was very attracted to raising Standing by reference to Deeds but I ultimately erred in sticking to the rules, which I agree do reflect the Germanic/Celtic/Nordic concept of excessive largesse as being central to their heroic pre-medieval cultures. I also like to have a device to extract the Treasure Points from my players, lest they become too Smaug like

One sad example of how doing great deeds does not necessarily confer great standing is the outcome for some of the VC winners at Rorkes Drift in 1879. A number of them died later, destitute after selling their precious medals, relatively ignored and uncared for by Victorian society despite their heroism in the Zulu Wars. Whilst hopefully the free folk of Tolkien's Middle-earth are more caring than those of the late 19th Century, nevertheless this vignette is a stark reminder that heroic deeds can sometimes prove to be a flash in the pan.

For my part I like the idea of companions being awarded a holding for their valorous deeds rather than an arbitrary increase in Standing - that ties them (and their players) further to the culture they have aided and to the lands of Middle-earth.

cheers
Mark

[Rich H]

Just to be clear, the house rules I use all PCs to increase their Renown in other cultures through great deeds. In their own Culture this can also happen to their Standing but that can still be increased through spending Treasure. It basically allows for the two options in the same way that Glory is increased by deeds and/or spending money within the Pendragon game.

The idea of increasing Renown for each culture, other than the one associated to the PC in question, is already present in the TOR rules where a modifier can be applied to the Tolerance of an Encounter. The rules I use just expand this a little more.