So my wife's PK, Bran, had a son, but on the Survival roll, we learned the boy was sickly, meaningly he'll grow up with a reduced pool of points when it comes time to hand over the reins. My question: the Book of the Manor indicates that every village has a "wise woman", a folk-healer. My wife has already made ooc comments about tapping that wise woman to help the sick boy. How should I handle this in the game? This is not a short-term healing thing, but a long-term commitment that could conceivably help the boy turn out hale and hardy—at a price of course. Should I put her on the payroll? If so, at what rate? The rate for a physician is £2. Would a folk healer cost less? Then, how do I handle a long-term healing proposition like this? I thought I could have her make a roll every Winter Phase with the goal of so many successes will help the boy "catch up"? I read somewhere that a sickly child will only have 50 ATT pints to spend if he lives to maturity. So I was thinking about having each success, per year, give him back 1 of those points.


T.

So my wife's PK, Bran, had a son, but on the Survival roll, we learned the boy was sickly, meaningly he'll grow up with a reduced pool of points when it comes time to hand over the reins. My question: the Book of the Manor indicates that every village has a "wise woman", a folk-healer. My wife has already made ooc comments about tapping that wise woman to help the sick boy. How should I handle this in the game? This is not a short-term healing thing, but a long-term commitment that could conceivably help the boy turn out hale and hardy—at a price of course. Should I put her on the payroll?

you mean should the player character put her on the payroll?
it's her decision
As GM, I would tell her, "It might or might not work. No one knows. It's a risk, maybe for nothing. To put her on the payroll will short someone else. Who will she replace on staff?


If so, at what rate? The rate for a physician is £2. Would a folk healer cost less?

She is a peasant, probably used to living on 1/2 librum a year. Are you planning to pay her beyond her natural station? Then pay what you want.


Then, how do I handle a long-term healing proposition like this? I thought I could have her make a roll every Winter Phase with the goal of so many successes will help the boy "catch up"? I read somewhere that a sickly child will only have 50 ATT pints to spend if he lives to maturity. So I was thinking about having each success, per year, give him back 1 of those points.

My own inclination is that such a thing will not work
if it did, there would be no sickly children
a sickly heir is a great bit of fun
lieing peasants are natural--what're you going to do if she is fibbing, kill her? take away her privilages? She'll say anything to get on the payroll and have a warm place by the fire and full belly :)
In KAP, life is tough
If you make it easier every time a tough spot comes up, then...

...it's ok, of course.
It is your game.
and your wife. :)
MY wife loves handicapped PCs--man, she once played a clubfooted (DEX 5, I think)
gay knight (no stats for this, she is just a crazy gamer. :D)

Good feedback, Greg, thanks. Yeah, I know it's her decision, I just suspect the question's gonna come up in our session tonight. Wanted to be prepared with some options. You've provided that, and more. Thanks!

T.

I think there's a huge story potential here.
Once word gets out that she is paying someone to tend for her child, you can have different people coming forward with offers of cures. Some clearly nuts, some seemingly plausible but worthless (after spending money to buy the rare herbs/precious metals needed/etc), some seemingly plausible but actually risking further harm or even death to the child (look at *legitimate* mediaeval treatments sometime), some with ideas for quests ("my lord, i have word of a healing stone in my old manor, and if you help me reclaim it from the troll..." etc) - most of which will not pan out, even if the people asking for help are sincere ("I thought it was a healing stone").

After a decade or so of that sort of thing, maybe one of these will actually work.

I agree with Darren (and Greg); no guarantees but huge story potential.

I once ran a storyline where the PKs, after having rolled death for their heirs in the Survival, wanted to find some way to save them (before the children actually died, that is). They had had dealings with the Faerie before in the campaign, but as it was Winter, the Unseelie Court was in power. They decided to deal with Queen Mab anyway. Long story short, they ended up tipping the balance of power between Unseelie and Seelie, with resulting long winters and bad harvests in the mortal world. As well as pledge the next children to Mab (not that they realized that, due to the way the oath was phrased). Alas, the campaign ended before all the downsides had time to crop up.

I think it is a wee bit harsh to 'cripple' the child after one poor roll in the Survival Chart. After all, the chances are, if I recall correctly, about 40% for 15 years, also with 10% chance of death outright. Which means there is practically no chance (0.5 to the power of 15 = 3*10^-5 = 0.003%) for any character's child to reach squirehood without being sick at least once. The sickly child (50 points in stats) is a reference to a child being BORN unhealthy, in Greg's expanded childbirth table, here:
http://www.gspendragon.com/newchildbirthtables.html

But if it is a storyline your wife will enjoy, by all means, let the boy be crippled by the illness, prompting his parents to try and find ways to make him better. But I'd check with the wifey first, that she doesn't feel 'picked on' by that ruling, when the other players wouldn't be encountering the same problem (and money drain) with their children. Alternatively, just make it a one year thing, the boy recovering his robust health after a scare, and leave the real scrambling for the healers when someone rolls that Unhealthy Child result... It is 5% per year, and if you have at least a few players, it is almost certain someone will roll that up within a few game years...

Thanks for the ideas, guys! I was also looking for buried story goodness. As it turns out, the wife rolled "Soothsayer foretells doom for peasants—Hatred goes up 1" during the Winter Phase on one of the expanded charts (Spoonists?). Anyhoo, I tied this prophecy to the PKs (then unborn) first son. I did this all in retrospect, to tie these threads together (that's okay, isn't it? heh). So the PK hears this ridiculous prophecy of doom surrounding a boy that will be born at Midwinter and kicks the charlatan off his grounds only to find, a couple of weeks later, that that handmaiden he had a little tryst with earlier in the year is gonna give birth around Christmas time! So now the peasants are really nervous since the PK decided to do the right thing and own his bastard by marrying the girl. He moved them back to the manor hall and now the peasants are all looking at each other knowingly. The prophecy is coming true!

So, last session, the PK invited the wise woman to live in the manor to help heal the boy. Plot opportunities abound. Will the wise woman try to kill the child (quietly, of course) to avoid the prophecy coming true, or will she become the protector of the child from those who would do him harm? Can she really help the boy, or is she a charlatan as well, looking to spend her last few years in the relative comfort of the manor? Does she know the soothsayer? Are they in cahoots? Will the boy be held responsible for the coming Wasteland misery (don't know too much about this yet, so I dunno). But I'm sure I'll think of other stuff to cause the PK no end of worry about the future of the male heir!


T.