*This concept may now be viewed on the official discussion forums.
Introduction
Revelries are group-based non-combat actions executed within specific locations that can generate sustaining enhancements and attributes for fellowships, raids, or chance groups of adventurers. Group-gathering and interaction in non-combat is the basis of the Revelry system; the more a gathering can muster merriment and activity, the more powerful the results can be.
Like Maneuvers, different combinations of Revelry actions will result in different enhancements of varying duration and potency. The combination of these actions, in the form of pairs, flushes, or straits, grants bonuses for using Fellowship Maneuvers when adventuring. In addition to these conjunction buffs, Revelries can produce various secondary effects ranging from long-term resists, attribute enhancements, non-combat heals, morale increases, power increases, or a combination of all nine possible actions.
Revelries can occur at Taverns, Player Houses or Halls, and Campfires. Each of these locations has a Merriment Level. This level is increased as players enter the location and engage in leisure activities with others such as eating, drinking, smoking, dancing, playing music, and others. Minstrels have Skills which can rapidly increase the Level, while Scholars can create items such as books and scrolls of uplifting tales that form the same function.
Minstrel Skills
Merriment Items
- Drinking Items
- Pipeweed Item
- Tale Item
As the Merriment Level peaks, a Revelry commences. When the Revelry is started everyone within the area will see a color wheel appear on their screen asking them to choose one of nine contributing actions.
After a few seconds (whether you choose a color or not), the revelry resolves. Selecting an action will grant that player a small buff on its own. When queued with other actions, this buff can increase substantially, depending on the combinations of them.
Like Maneuvers, once you select your Revelry (color), your action will appear in the next empty slot in the contribution queue for others to see. The final order of the Revelry actions is dependent on the group type. Fellowships receive first consideration in the que, followed by Raid groups, and finally un-grouped bystanders. What this means is that your fellowship can lock in your own complex combo for just your group without outsiders ruining the order. If you are in a Raid group, your contributed action is connected to it. Any actions contributed by bystanders are added to the the queue behind any Fellowship groupings, and are shuffled automatically to form pairs and flushes wherever possible.
The more complex the combination the stronger the effect and higher the level. The more participants engaged in the Revelry, the longer the effects tend to last.
When the Revelry Action wheel appears, players should select one of the nine colored icons, each of which represents a different Social Activity:
Feasting (Green)
Feasting starts off as a simple bonus to all Fellowship Maneuver heals (Eagle’s Cry) and a temporary increase to maximum morale. At the 2nd level of power it adds a temporary increase in Might. At the 3rd tier of power it adds Disease resistance.
Players must use crafted food for this action.
Drinking (Yellow)
Drinking allows a temporary bonus to Guile Maneuver skills (Spider’s Guile). At higher tiers it provides a non-combat morale regeneration as well as increased resistance to Fear.
Players must use crafted drinks for this action.
Music (Blue)
Music provides a noticeable bonus to Fellowship Maneuver power regeneration (Stallion’s Spirit). At higher tiers, Music grants an increase to Fate, as well as resistance to Shadow and Magic damage.
Players must have a musical instrument for this action.
Smoking (Red)
Smoking does not grant much in the way of adventuring buffs, but it does provide a relief from Dread over time in the form of a % resistance of defeat effects. Smoking also grants special smoke effects that enhance the pipeweed attributes. The side-effect to smoking buffs is that it increases your chance for induction interruption of other skills during combat.
Players must use crafted pipeweed for this action.
Dancing (Purple)
Dancing produces a useful Maneuver bonus for all power regeneration (Stallion’s Spirit). At higher tiers it also grants a temporary increase in Vitality as well as stronger resistance to Poison and Wounds.
Players must use crafted Dancing Guides for this action
Greeting (Silver)
Greetings, in the form of emotes and social interactions, grants a bonus to Guile Maneuver skills (Spider’s Guile). At higher levels it provides non-combat power regeneration bonuses.
Players must use crafted Greeting Cards for this action
Tales (Aqua)
Storytelling grants bonuses to all Maneuver morale regeneration (Eagle’s Cry). At continued levels, it provides temporary increases to Will, Light Damage, as well as stronger resistance to Magic attacks.
Players must use crafted story manuscripts for this action.
Gifts (Brown)
Gift-giving grants a Maneuver bonus to power regeneration skills (Stallion’s Spirit), as well as increasing resistance to Fear. At higher levels, upon successful Revelries involving Gifts, the Tavern Keeper will present all participants with a small gift in the form of collectables, wearables, Dale toys, or other small items that are bound upon acquire. Some of these are temporary and break or fail after use.
Players must use crafted dolls, trinkets, and baubles for this action.
Tussle (Gray)
Tussles or brawling can break out in any tavern when drinking is heavy. And yet, some encounters are more sportsman-like. Tussles can provide bonuses to Maneuver damage skills (Ent’s Strength). At higher levels, it also grants temporary increases in Agility. Should a Tussle break out the bounders will round up the offenders and kick them out of the Tavern and told to sober up. Players will then receive their bonus. Players kicked out for brawling will be unable to buy heavy drinks from vendors for 15min.
Players must use crafted drinks for this action.
Tavern Revelry Opportunities
At least two players are required to initiate a Revelry. Players must target another player when performing actions to increase Merriment and when participating in the Revelry. Small groupings such as these will yield modest results, so the more members of a fellowship, raid, or bystanders at a location, the more powerful the successful Revelry will be.
Taverns are not the only locations where Revelries may occur. (See Taverns and Lodgings Location Map) Players may also throw gatherings at houses and kinship halls to increase their buffs in anticipation of adventuring or just for fun. The Gifts and Tussle actions are not available at these locations, however.
Sometimes hearth and home are just too distant. But weary travelers can take heart in the wilderness when gathering round a strong fire to share meals and tales of great deeds. Players need only gather round a placed campfire and increase the Merriment Level around it, triggering a Revelry. As with Housing, the Gifts and Tussle actions are unavailable, as well as the Dancing action.
Example Revelries
The numbers below are merely for example and do not fully represent a final suggestion.
Tavern Revelries can be fun because even if you are in a Fellowship and planning out combinations, you do not always know who else is going to be present and what actions they are going to contribute as bystanders or as a participating fellowship.
Revelries can also unlock unique Traits and Skills. For example, the more times a successful Dancing-centric Revelry occurs, a new dance is temporarily learned by the participants. Like accumulating a Deed, the more this Revelry dance is unlocked the more that Deed is progressed until it becomes a permanent skill to the player.
Description of Gift-Giving Revelry
The Gift Revelry involves a type of consumable.
A player crafts gift boxes and hands them to another player at a Tavern or wherever to generate Merriment. The gift box itself is consumed on use, so the receiving player doesn't really get anything, except an animation of him or her ravenously opening the box, holding up the item, thanking the giver, and then returning to a neutral state. It is done this way to maintain parity with the other activities such as eating and drinking.
The gifts themselves are farily simple, patterned after the gifts that Bilbo left for Frodo to hand out after his birthday.
For example: A set of wooden spoons or silver spoons, an umbrella, a fancy quill, a blank journal, a few handkerchiefs, a mirror, a picture frame, all created by the various professions who work with those materials to craft them. The more expensive the tier or gift, the bigger the Merriment build.
(disclaimer: the numbers below are arbitrary that I just threw in for show)
Now normally gift giving revelries generate small bonuses and such, but with certain combinations, the Tavernkeep will reward the revelers with small presents. Most of these will be fragile or limited and only function for a small time or break after so many uses and cannot be repaired. One such item that may or may not be durable could be a Cuckoo clock from Dale, which I figure they might be able to craft considering their toy market is so marvelous.
Gathering Item Components for Tales and Dance Revelries
The Drinking, Feasting, Smoking, already have gathering and crafting paths as part of the current professions. News, Tales, Music, and Dance needed something different.
Naturally I turned to the NPCs of Middle Earth, as they would be the logical place get local news and gossip. I avoided using the Scholar profession as they are more about the study and gathering of things to learn, especially of what is written. I wanted a skill that focused on gathering what was spoken.
So first we add Scribing to the Hobbies list, which gives you two icons.
1) Track Locals
2) Scribe
The first icon, when activated from a quickslot, shows local NPCs who are willing to speak and share with you.
NPCs usually already have names and titles, such as Townsperson or our friend Second-Watcher Heathshaw in the image below. Sometimes these characters will have the usual quests, other times they share a quick clip of dialogue. But for this concept, we will also turn him into a Node. In this case, he is a Tier 1 Scribe Node, called a Friendly Person (as opposed to a Shattered Pitcher or Copper Deposit).
Image showing Node tracker, possible items, and harvesting tool
So you've tracked him on your map and run up to him. You would select him and then click your Scribe icon. If you have your Scribing supplies equipped Heathshaw begins a talking animation and you start to record his news, stories, favorite dance steps, whatever he's willing to share. These recorded notes can then be used to craft Revelry items.
If you are lucky, you may come across a rich node, which will have the name Captivating <node name> (as in that character holds you enthralled with even more juicy news or tales, granting you some special items for critical success in crafting).
As you record his words and gather information, your level in the Scribe Hobby bar will go up. Like Fishing, this can only go up so much every day. This is in contrast to other professions that allow you to level up by crafting gobs of items you will never use. Considering this hobby can be used by anyone, and there is little risk to harvesting the items, it seemed prudent to keep surplus items to a minimum, encouraging you to craft only what you need or want to sell.
Image of a list of Tier Nodes and what they produce
Crafting Gathered Components
Crafting Revelry items would be similar to other professions, such as Scholar, using the same levels of proficiency
In the case of Revelries, from a Tier 1 "Friendly Person" an Apprentice Scribe or higher may receive any combination of:
Local Events
Local Gossip
Local Joke
Local Advice
Local Story
Local Legend
Local Mystery
Basic Folk Tunes
Basic Dance Steps
Using these items, a Scribe can create:
Talk Items:
[Local News]
Description: Revelry item used to generate merriment and activate the News Revelry action. Resulting animation: Emoting
*[2 Local Events]
*[1 Local Gossip]
*Mastery Item for Critical Success: [1 Local Mystery] = 3 items
[Local Greeting]
Description: Revelry item used to generate a small amount of merriment and activate the News Revelry action. Resulting animation: Emoting
*[2 Local Jokes]
*[1 Local Advice]
*Mastery Item for Critical Success: [1 Local Mystery] = 3 items
Tales Items:
[Local Tales]
Description: Revelry item used to generate a small amount of merriment and activate the Tales Revelry action. Resulting animation: Emoting
*[2 Local Stories]
*[1 Local Legend]
*Mastery Item for Critical Success: [1 Local Mystery] = 3 items
(When Merriment peaks and you complete a Tales Action for the Revelry, a short story scene will play before your eyes, featuring somewhat translucent figures reenacting some special event in Middle Earth history, such as The Fall of Elendil or Bilbo's birthday speech. Only the one who activated the tale, and those grouped with him, will be able to see the dialog. For lower levels the Tale will be random. At higher levels, there will be mastery items you can apply that will create a Tale for a specific event that you can use when the Revelry Wheel appears. Some of these mastery items will be from Nodes, others from Quests, and still others from Reputation Vendors. Per Gumawerian's suggestion, if possible, players could be able to chain different marked Tales together to complete a scene.).
Dance Items:
[Beginner Dancing Lesson]
Description: Revelry item used to generate a small amount of merriment and activate the Dance Revelry action. Resulting animation: Dancing.
*[1 Basic Dance Steps]
*[1 Dance Step Sheet]
Music Items:
[Beginner Music Lesson]
Description: Revelry item used to generate a small amount of merriment and activate the Music Revelry action. Resulting animation: Miming a musical tune.
*[1 Basic Folk Tune]
*[1 Music Sheet]
*Mastery Item for Critical Success = Musical Tune (e.g. Hobbit_Tune_4)
Node Locations
The general location of Scribe Nodes is illustrated in the map below. Most nodes will spawn within NPCs at settlements, typically with vendors, busy townspersons, and the like. Just look for the Tier name that pops above their head, select them, and then fish for information. Once used, a node will pop up under another name after so many minutes, depending on the density of NPCs in the area.
Map of Scribe Node Locations
The higher the Tier, the higher level components are gathered to make more potent Revelry items, which can be used to speed up the merriment, or generate unique Revelry animations upon completion of an Action.
Incidentally, this gathering method could also service the Tussle Reverly by having you visit guards and trainers around the map to record their brawling tips, but I haven't quite decided yet.
Example Revelry Screenshots
