The Honor Of The Regiment

[scc]

No, nothing the do with Bolo's (If that was the case I'd just grab GURPS Ogre), rather I wanted a catchy title.

One thing that will come up if you do any reading into the military during the age of steam is the regimental system, for those who have never heard of it, when you joined the army you where assigned to a certain regiment and this assignment could never change. While that might not seem that strange at first glance, you remained a member of a regiment even if you left the service, you would still receive invites to regimental functions, and if you received a pension it may well have been from the regiment and not the government directly. Regiments where also rather regional, in fact theoretically everyone in a regiment was from the same place.

Now how would this be modeled? A Meta-Trait contain Duty and/or Sense of Duty along with Patron and/or Ally Group or something else?

[Daigoro]

Is there any Claim to Hospitality associated too?

[scc]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Is there any Claim to Hospitality associated too?

Quite possibly, but it would be hard to quantify.

I'd imagine that you wouldn't be able to get accommodations for more then a single night unless you'd joined the civil service and where present on government business.

Beyond that it would be hard to say, because in some respects the regiment is more like golf or country club membership.

[Daigoro]

Okay. What about a Code of Honour then?

[Refplace]

Seems pretty much like regular duty as far as advantages go.
Duty, Sense of Duty, Patron, etc.
Rank and Patron costs may be lower since its a smaller group, possibly same with Reputation if you travel and the campaign is not limited to tht area.

[Anaraxes]

It's not a single Advantage, but a collection of (Dis)Advantages -- Code of Honor, Duty, Sense of Duty, and so on. So you could make it a meta-trait to include all the components, or even call it a new Advantage with a unified description to hide the components.

But I'd just make it a template. "This is what a member of the Regiment usually looks like, and here's an easy price for the complete package." The important distinction from a meta-trait is that bits of templates are optional, and so easily severable for specific characters, rather than calling for different laws of the universe to break up a meta-trait. And it's entirely conceivable that one character doesn't exactly fit the mold. Perhaps they're known as goldbrickers, and have a negative Reputation to replace the Code of Honor. Or someone lacks the internal Sense of Duty, even if they dutifully perform that which is expected of them to acceptable levels (Duty, and possibly avoiding that negative Rep). Little tweaks can give flavor to concepts that are particular implementations of regimental members.

That leaves the social connection. That's really no different that any other sort of club or fraternal organization -- it's the details of the other advantages in the template that give it its military character. It's closest to Claim To Hospitality, but the reach of a regimental isn't even the "society of merchants along an important trade route" level, maybe around the 2-point "small family" level. Providing lodging seems to be pushing the boundaries, though certainly not out of the question (especially when the plot calls for that old buddy to show up!), but the "friendly to each other... advice, instructions, and small loans if asked" seems about the right level. So I'd probably just go with CtH, as close enough, with the minor differences just left to text, because there's not enough room at the 2-point level really to quibble about fractions of a point in a minor Claim.

[Michele]

A list of likely Advantages - and Disadvantages, Duty, Code of Honor and Sense of Duty aren't Advantages.
Likely, I say, not mandatory, because while a good officer or a good career OR would have them all, not everyone in the Regiment is a good officer or NCO or private. There is a mandatory Disadvantage and a mandatory Advantage, though.

Disadvantages

Code of Honor (Soldier's) - note that as written it already includes willingness to fight and die for the honor of the unit, not just of the country and service. Note the willingness to fight doesn't imply on the battlefield only. If a soldier from another Regiment, let alone from another arm, or a civilian, grossly insults the Regiment, then a soldier will be ready for a tavern brawl, and an officer for a duel.

Duty - this is the one mandatory Disadvantage, but it should actually be to the service, arm or army, not solely to the Regiment, unless the gameworld is rather different from actual history.

Sense of Duty (to the Regiment), at [-5 points]. Now, this could easily be priced -10 points, because of the size of the group involved. However, while not offering Ally Group as a possibility here (it seems to me that this pushes things too far), it's only fair to assume that the other members of the regiment also feel a Sense of Duty towards you.

Reputation, if the Regiment has a bad name, this will reflect upon members.

Advantages

Claim to Hospitality at [2 points], as others have explained above. As an alternative (or in addition) there is Base. This Perk works for Status 1+, and it represents the fact that NCOs and officers, rather than just crashing on a comrade's couch at his home (Claim to Hospitality), can show up with minimal fuss involved at the Regimental barracks and find a cot or room. Any enemies looking for you might make the connection, of course.

Contact Group. While considering all Regiment members as your Allies would be too much, it's entirely conceivable that they share with you information, advice, and minor help.

Courtesy Rank, for retired officers.

Patron. Again, this is unlikely, especially for ordinary privates. But it might be possible, with a low Frequency of Appearance and Minimal Intervention, and especially for officers. An interesting alternative is Favor: the Regiment will help you when you commit your first mistake - only.

Rank - obviously. It might get tailored for informally more powerful, or less powerful, Regiments. This is the mandatory Advantage.

Reputation, and note that famous Regiments may be known well beyond the region/country, especially within the military.

[Black Leviathan]

I'd say it should be a collection of advantages/disadvantages. Not everyone in a regiment would feel a sense of duty, or uphold a code of honor. When you're in the trenches you have ride-or-die allies, if you loose too many friends in the war you have some contacts at best. Retired Regimental wouldn't have a Duty any longer. If you were unpopular in your regiment you might not have a claim to hospitality when you retire. When you retire your Patron becomes more of an Independent income. There's just too many ways you could be part of a regiment for it to work well as a template.

[jason taylor]

Regiments should be thought of as chapters of a guild, with their own local totems traditions and quirks.


The Patron would be it's ceremonial head (a noble, monarch, or distinguished military figure). He does not necessarily lead it in combat, is not necessarily male despite the generic, and is not necessarily even a soldier. How this is all worked out varies from country to country and era to era. Nobles from warlike regions might simply drum up their followers in a faux-feudal manner. As late as modern times Loreena McKeenit became a nominal colonel of a transport and rescue regiment. Because of values dissonance it may be popular to harp on how the implied privilege picks officers on basis other then military efficiency but patron-colonels could dump largesse on their regiments, and provide a symbol. And their military incompetence did not matter unless they presumed to put themselves at it's head.

One possibility is to make the regiment a corporate NPC. That will allow the GM to write up it's traditions.

[scc]

Thanks for all the input guys, now for a couple of things from me.

First, and most importantly, I've decided that Duty shouldn't be on the offering list, the characters are supposed to be civilian agents of the Crown, not currently serving members for the armed forces.

Secondly templates probably aren't a good idea, I've got no guarantee that people will use them and the goal classic diverse array of eccentrics, so anything like that might limit players creativity.