I had a couple of players roll up some backup characters since they aren't married yet, and therefore no heir to speak off.

Looking at their family tree and number of young family knights, (which I ruled were cousins in order to make the first PK the heir),it came to pass that everyone rolled on the manor table again.

Now, I was not ready for this, but wasn't sure if this was normal. I mean, do you allow your players to have landed knights as backup's , or should I have made them household knights.

I am worried that they find a way to 'will' their manor to the backup or vice versa and then end up with two.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

Damon

The family knights have no defined standing but it is assumed that they are of lesser status than the hero of the clan, ie the PK.

To roll backup characters are wise and to have them in the PK families makes a lot of sense. That way if you find one PK in a bind somewhere (like inprisoned/etc) they can play their backup which has the same family to care for.

If you are worried about them trying to get multiple manors you should just make a ruling by GM fiat or by their lord that they are not to do that. If you are reluctant to do that then make the family trees such that while they are within the same 'clan' their fiefs are not inheritable through the same line.
Or simply make the spares always have married at 18 and got a son at 19.

Remember you are the GM and they are the players. As lons as everyone has fun your word is the law.

Yeah, if you're designing knights of the same family, they probably shouldn't have manors. Only the first born would have the family manor. A rich lord might grant his second son some land, but starting pc families aren't that rich, usually.

What I usually do with backup characters, is design characters of completely unrelated families. In the long run, 2 and 3 generations down the road, players then may have two or more thriving dynasties each.

If their main character dies, with an heir, then the family falls into the background until the heir comes of age. If there is no heir, and the player likes the family, I'll suggest rolling up a younger brother or cousin of the dead knight to come in and take over the land. Otherwise, that family tree dies, and the player starts over.

On second thought, if you want the backups to have manors but not for the PK to be able to get them by inheritance then have them as "gifts" and not "grants". That is, they revert back to the lord when they die.
So they are more caretakers of the manor than owners.

Thanks for the input. My PK's rolled for the manors and we checked them out in the map.

The gift solution could be the way to go.

Cheers

Next time I do this, I'll make sure they are household or part of the clan.

I just noticed the thread title says cousins. If the knights had different fathers, it's a separate branch of the family, and I don't see a problem with them starting with manors - so long as someone else has a stronger claim to the manor of the dead knight.

Next time I do this, I'll make sure they are household or part of the clan.

If the manors are gifts then they might well be household knights temporarily elevated to stewarding a manor for their lord.

That's actually a good way to tie them to the original characters.

Ignore the manors they rolled, and make them stewards of the dead knights manors.