Conflict of Orders

Its important that you understand your place in the world when designing your character. The Middle Ages are tough. Theres a lot of bad things going on, and society is even more slanted against the average joe than the modern world.

Rules of Thumb and Examples:
Feeble (under 25 points)
Average (25-50 points)
Competent (50-75 points)
Exceptional (75-100 points)
Heroic (100-200 points)
Larger-than-Life (200-300 points)
Legendary (300-500 points)

The vast majority of NPCs will be 25-50 points. Your everyday guards, blacksmiths, merchants. Highly competent but unnamed Knights, soldiers, etc will be 100 points or so. Named heroic characters like Joan of Arc might be 175 points. Once-in-a-Generation characters like Caesar are 350-400 points.

Another example - Average NPCs will be found in every village. Competent and Exceptional characters will be found in most large villages in small quantities. Heroic characters will be around from time to time and may be the commander of the Garrison of a castle, the most prominent Knight who serves the local Nobility, the Sheriff of the area, the richest merchant in the city. Larger-than-life NPCs will be fairly rare and will typically be named historical characters such as the King, the Prince, The Duke, etc.

I do want to make sure its understood that this is a relatively hardcore system. An unarmed and unarmored 200 point character will probably get easily run-through by a 50 point guard who has a sword if it devolves to combat.

Player characters start at a maximum of 125 points, so they are clearly a cut above most NPCs, but have not made a name for yourself, and are not unique in the world. You are expected to progress and gain points throughout your play sessions that can be applied to your character sheet to learn more skills and boost stats. This ruleset would be considered an Average Start-Average Points Earned RP versus Slow Start - Fast Points Earned or Super Start - Slow Points Earned.

I: The Hand of Constantine

The year is 1404, and the once-mighty Ottoman Empire is in disarray. Only a few years prior, Sultan Bayezid I—the Thunderbolt—seemed poised to crush the last remnants of Byzantium and push deeper into Christian lands. But the Battle of Ankara (1402) changed everything. Bayezid was defeated and captured by the fearsome conqueror Tamerlane, and now his empire is fractured in a brutal succession war among his feuding sons.

To the west, Christendom was still fractured by the Western Schism, with rival Popes in Rome and Avignon. There are wide expectations that the newly minted pope will heal the Schism, and so there are whispers of a new Crusade, but no true leader had emerged to rally the faithful. Many believe this is an opportunity—a chance to liberate Greece and re-establish Christian dominion in the East. However, past Crusades have failed miserably, suffering from a lack of unity, manpower, and funding. The memory of Nicopolis (1396) is still fresh, where an army of French, Hungarian, and Burgundian knights were annihilated by the very Ottomans now tearing each other apart.

Europe's kings and princes have little interest in yet another doomed campaign. The Hundred Years’ War still rages in the west, and Italy is caught in its own conflicts. The Venetians and Genoese, despite their Christian faith, are more concerned with preserving trade with the Turks than launching another holy war. And so, the Pope lacks an army.

But perhaps, he does not need one—yet.

The players start themselves in the court of Frederick I, Burgrave of Nuremberg, who has summoned you together to hear his proposal.