Knacks

One of the most exiting aspects of the MMORPG Character Development features being added to BruneGame.com is the addition of player 'Knacks', which allow the customization of a Character from the very beginning of their journey through the Mythic Renaissance.

Normal Characters may have 6 Knacks at L1000, 'Hardcore' characters (See Next Post) will be allowed to choose an additional Knack at Level 1. Some of the Knacks are only available to Lord characters while other knacks are only available to Heroes. Many of the Knacks can be advanced through several Ranks, gaining potency with each successive purchase. 

 The Knacks Themselves   

Discreet

Your character is unusually adept at hiding illicit Romantic activity in a world full of gossiping tongues. You're less likely to be discovered and shamed by society when using your wiles to gain advantage. 

Attractive

Even traditionally minded and generally moral individuals will have a hard time resisting your Seduction attempts with this Knack, each progressive level making your Character more irresistible to their targets. 

Innovative

You're exceptionally good at chopping people up, and have developed clever ways to hide your Necromantic activities. By cleverly deviating from what others regard as immoral, you're able to practice the Dark Arts with greater chance of success! 

Unobtrusive

There's something about you that just doesn't stand out. You fit in well at funerals, even the ones that you have no legitimate connection to! Something about you simply doesn't stick in the memory, making it much easier to practice the Necromantic Arts without discovery. 

Stealthy

Traditional stealth is your bailiwick, you feel at ease in the shadows and slide from the perceptions of others as easily as an alley cat. You're much less likely to be caught while doing illegal things, like robbing the peasantry or other acts of pilfering, sabotage, and Crime. 

Need not Eat

Due to an odd combination of spiritual forces, possibly supernatural ancestry, your character is not subject to the normal requirement of 1 food unit per Regeneration cycle. You can still gain Bonuses from Eating, but will not starve or die without edibles. 

Perceptive

You have an eye for danger and a nose for trouble, as well as other variously perceptive organs which can help you identify and exploit weaknesses in Settlement Security. You are able to succeed more easily at Criminal actions. 

Holy

The Lord of Hosts guides your hand, and you've been granted visions of Piety not offered to everyone. Your connection to the God of Israel is very powerful, and you are able to accomplish His ancient rituals with greater success. 

Anointed

The God of Abraham and Isaac has marked you with signs of protection, and the followers of many Churches will find themselves turned away from harming you. What might be regarded as Blasphemies by most are forgiven when you conduct them, and you are less likely to be punished by Clerical authority for studying the hidden arts of Kabbalah.  

Gifted

You have an unusual acuity with Magic that allows you to use spells of a half-grade greater power than would be possible according to your class. This can potentially give access to a much greater variety of Blessing, Ranged, and

Trained

Your dedication to training with weapons is rewarded by an increase in the Arms Grade of the equipment you can use, equal to half a grade. This can allow even the Caster classes to wield heavy weapons and armor.  

Durable

For whatever reason, your character is just harder to kill by conventional means than a normal character of the same class and level. You'll take a few extra hits in combat before faltering, and may be able to survive what lesser constitutions cannot. 

Eldritch

Due to a magical infusion of energy, your character is able to cast more spells, of higher level, than they would otherwise be able. This excess of magical energy can also be used to power Actions and Scenarios. 

Quick

This knack causes a Character to become more inherently fleet of foot and quick of mind than the average. They'll gain a permanent upgrade in the form of Action Points, which can be used for any number of purposes. 

Crafty

Your character is better than most at the maintenance and repair of their Gear, leading to an overall reduction in the Upkeep cost of that equipment that they choose to wear. 

Stingy

You've mastered the art of bilking your retainers, cheating your champions, and generally screwing the soldiery out of their hard-earned pay. Your Unit upkeep is notably less than that of more generous characters. 

Honest

By nature, nurture, or possibly influence of religion, you've developed a more honorable nature regarding civic finances than most administrators. By ruthlessly sticking to the actual costs of things, rather than allowing the constant padding of estimates, you've managed to eke out a reduction to all Civil upkeep in your settlement. 

Attribute Bonus

You are exceptional in one of the 18 Attributes available to characters in Brunelleschi, gaining a bonus to that score and all the related bonuses that come from that enhanced capacity. 

Impressive

Even for a Lord, your character is a testament to the power of personal magnetism. Powerful people just like being around you, and people tend to regard working in your service as a privilege rather than an imposition.  

District Profile: Mines

Without the Mines there can be no metal. No weapons, no currency, no jewelry! Unthinkable! Building a Mines district is the only way to harvest metals naturally in your Settlement and is the most efficient way to harvest the various types of stone and their products.

District Action - Work in Mines

Break, dig, and sift through the rocks and earth for a little metal wealth of your own. While the Mines may have been built for the Settlement's benefit, are you not a citizen? Benefit directly and personally from this great investment by working in the mines.

Main Building - Sorting Station

The Sorting Station provides a number of very valuable services. The greatest of which is processing Marble into Slabs. Until you're trying to build a prestigious and appealing city, you never realize just how many marble slabs are required. The Sorting Station also  increases both Quarry and Mineral Mine production output by 1% per upgraded level. Each upgrade also increases the Mines Prosperity by 10 but decreases Health by 1 for the entire Settlement.

Exclusive Building - Mineral Mine

The mineral mine is absolutely vital to many of the production chains in Brunelleschi. It harvests Copper Ore, Gold Ore, Nickel Ore, Pig Iron and Silver Ore. Not only does it provide valuable resources, but each level of each Mineral Mine increases building storage capacity by 1% for the entire Settlement. Each also increases Prosperity by two and decreases Health by 1 within the Mines District.

Linked Building - Quarry

The Quarry both harvests many of the game's resources and can be built in every District. It is not uncommon to see a Quarry or two in the Forest or Fishing districts of a very young Settlement. These buildings harvest Marble, Sand, Sandstone, Raw Gems and potentially magical Lodestone.

Ministry - Geology Board

The Geology Board is the Rank 2 addition to the Education Department. That's right, education. Humans have a lot to learn from what comes up out of the earth. From where the seams of Gold Ore are to what makes the grass grow up yellow in some places and green in others.

Minister - Chief Geologist

The Chief Geologist is at the head of the scientific and labor pursuits occurring within the Mines District. A great deal of raw material wealth will move their their personal inventory so a choosy Sovereign may want to consider a trustworthy Minister to fill this post.

Downsides - Black Lung

The one major downside to hauling wealth up out of the ground hand over fist is what gets into the air. Both the Main and Exclusive buildings of the Mines district lower health and for obvious reasons. Miners throughout history have suffered shorter lives rife with illness and accidents. Even opening the mines puts the entire Settlement at a slight health disadvantage. You could either build Health bolstering buildings and districts or side with most of History. After all, what's a few short lived coughing peasants when there's marble and gold right there in the ground for the taking?

If any of this is of interest to you, please check out our work at http://BruneGame.com , or on IndieDB . We also have a Youtube Channel which is continually updated. Thank you very much for reading!

District Profile: Main Gate

The Main Gate is a Rank 2 Defense District that hooks together with the Palisade/Inner Wall/ Outer Wall structure. After all, what's the point of having a wall if you can't decide who can move in and out? On the other hand, even without walls it is the head of the internal Watch.

District Action - Guard Duty

Every district could be at risk, but some more than others. Every time you perform Guard Duty in a district, you raise that district's Defense Rating by 20 until maximum is reached. That is, every time you perform a Guard Duty, you add 20 to how hard it is for another Settlement to attack your district.

Main Building - Barbican

The Barbican is the large gate and wall structure that forms a complex and dangerous set of defenses. All that boiling oil through slits and dropping portcullises on hapless attackers can happen here as they try to penetrate your Main Gate. On top of all that violent potential in its great walls, the Barbican is a Rank 2 Defensive and Attribute Effect building. It decraeses attacking Infantry Units' Might by 2% per building level, and decrease attacking Cavalry Units' Celerity by 0.1%. Each upgrade also provides 2 more Security for the entire Settlement. However, because gates do slow down free trade, each upgrade also decreases Prosperity by 1 throughout the Settlement.

Exclusive Building - Guardpost

Tired feet and a soppy rain cap are not all that being a part of the Watch is about. You also get to sit behind little desks in tiny open shacks waiting for citizens to ask you for help or for travelers to inspect. The Guardpost is not a fancy building, bit it is an important one. This exclusive building, as it is mostly open ground, can be used to train Infantry troops like the footpads that guard the streets. Its mere presence as a welcoming place for the Watch to gather and watch increases Settlement Security by 1. Though each Guardpost tends to intimidate healthy trade, the 2 Prosperity penalty per building level only effects the Main Gate district.

Linked Building - Weaponsmith

How can you guard anything without the capability to hurt someone worse than they can hurt you? Not many jewel thieves, pockets overflowing with gems and pearls, will stop for a middle aged guard shouting "Stop!". "Stop or I'll SCut You Down!" on the other hand, accompanied with a very sharp sword, can be quite disincentivizing. The Weaponsmith is where that power balance shifts. This Rank 2 Crafting building produces all Melee Weapons and sells them to the general populace.This unfortunately means that the criminals may also have very sharp swords, lowering district Security by 2, but that's the price we pay for freedom.

Ministry - Gendarmerie

The Gendarmerie, also known as the Guard, are in charge of keeping an eye on the city. The Bailiff Oversees the Main Gate, and protects the Settlement from unwanted intruders.

Minister - Bailiff

Downsides - Specialized

The building spaces in the 'Main Gate' district are mostly intended to be Defensive. The District offers little incentive towards building other types of infrastructure, and ultimately the Main Gate can be an expensive and rarely-useful addition for mostly peaceful Settlements.

District Profile: Stockyards

Don't underestimate the power of the Stockyards because they are noisy and unclean. Any meat eating, leather wearing society relies on local stockyards and clean processing buildings. Without this Rank 2 Commerce District, citizens are reduced to eating what game they can hunt for themselves or what livestock they can keep on their own land. A Sovereign with prosperity and happy residents in mind will remember this source of clean delicious red meat.

District Action - Work in Abattoir

It's not pretty, it's very sticky, and you definitely want to bathe afterward. On the other hand, you are constantly surrounded by that which others consider great wealth: tons of red meat. It only takes a Stockyards district and a few action points and your boss is always cool enough to let you take home a measure of the meaty bounty calculated through your Acumen and Fervor.

Main Building - Auction House

The Auction house is not just where Livestock goes in and good trained Pack Animals come out. It is a Rank 2 Productivity and Harvesting building. Processing for the Pack Animal production and Harvesting for the 0.1% harvesting bonus per level to all Pastures within the Stockyards. It also produces 1 Silver Drachma for every 10 Yeomen housed in the Stockyards district. With meat comes a wealth and with wealth comes crime so the Auction House provides 10 Prosperity and costs 3 Security per Upgrade level within the Stockyards district.

Exclusive Building - Abattoir

For any society that lives with, eats, and wears the skins of livestock, the Abattoir is an essential building. It processes Livestock into Leather and  gives a 0.15% bonus per level to all in-Stockyards Butcher Shops and Fisheries. Leather is a fine substance relied on by many professions as both a main material and accessory. The Abattoir increases district Prosperity by 3 per level but decreases district Health by 1 per Upgrade level.

Linked Building - Butcher Shop

The Butcher Shop does exactly what you would expect it to do. It processes Game and Livestock into delicious slabs of Meat. You can build one anywhere but they get bonuses inside the Stockyards district, both from the Linked bonus and from any Abattoirs built. Their happiness effects raise Prosperity by 2 and lower Health by 1 within the district they are built in.

Bonus "Linked" Building

The Pasture, while it doesn't actually gain the Stockyards' Linked Building bonus, gains a bonus from the Main Building. That means every Pasture built within the Stockyards will harvest Animals, Fledglings or Livestock (based on individual Pasture settings) better than in any other district but the Park District that it is truly Linked to.

Ministry - Health Board

The Health Board is naturally quite concerned with containing all the innards they deal with on a daily basis from contaminating the rest of the Settlement. In the case of Settlement wide sickness and disease, the Settlement will look to the Health Board and the Health Board would be advised to be able to prove it wasn't their shoddy standards that caused the illness.

Minister - Health Inspector

The Health Inspector is not only responsible for all the Health decreasing buildings in their district but also for all it's product. Unless buildings are sold and management delegated, every animal, swatch of leather and slab of meat that passes through the Stockyards will be at least briefly owned by the Health Inspector.

Downsides - Health Risks

Meat is delicious and Leather is amazingly useful. However, a Sovereign or Health Inspector can get over excited and build too many butcher shops with not nearly enough Aqueducts will quickly find the health of their citizens failing and the market for all that meat dropping rapidly.


If any of this is of interest to you, please check out our work at http://BruneGame.com , or on IndieDB . We also have a Youtube Channel which is continually updated. Thank you very much for reading!

District Profile: High Street

The High Street with it's paved roads and fancy buildings is a Rank 2 Commerce District and the first commercial district a Sovereign gains access to. One might think it less focused in purpose than perhaps the Residential or Mines until you consider the purpose of providing citizens with the pursuit of happiness in the form of purchasing things

District Action - Work in Shop

All it takes is a few Action points and a solid work ethic to stand behind a counter and make correct change. Okay, so maybe it also takes a pair of legs and some arithmetic ability as well. Either way, with a High Street there are shops to work at and jobs for those who would like to do so. While some may do it just for the fun, most will do it for the salary. Working in the Shop provides players with a somewhat random equipment reward and some Silver Drachmas.

Main Building - General Store

The General Store is a Rank 2 Crafting building as well as the Main building of the High Street. Like most centers of commerce, this building raises Prosperity (+1/lvl Settlement wide) and lowers Security (-2/lvl within the High Street). The General Stores crafts Accessories and assembles crews for new Carts. As it's final beneficial effect, it reduces all Groceries costs in the Settlement by % per level.

Exclusive Building - Pub

Officially the Pub is a Rank 2 Income building, providing 10 Bronze Litra per Peasant living inside the High Street. However, it's apparently secondary use should not be overlooked. The Pub provides 2 additional Player Hero Residential spaces per Pub per level. Understandably, each Pub also provides 5 Prosperity and detracts 1 Security per level in the High Street.

Linked Building - Grocer

The Grocer is a Rank 2 Processing building that can be built in every District but gain bonuses from being built in the High Street. Every Grocer increases Health by 6 and decreases Security by 1 per Grocer per Level for the District built within. Primarily the Grocers process Produce into Groceries.

Ministry - Chamber of Commerce

As the first representative of the Department of Commerce, the High Street ministry gets the exalted title of Chamber of Commerce. They manage all Goods, Resources, Currency and Equipment that runs through the High Street and are responsible for building ownership within the district.

Minister - Burgomeister

The Burgomeister leads the Chamber of Commerce and manages all therein. They decide which buildings get to be sold and who gets to buy them.  They are second only to the Sovereign in allocation of all the products of the High Street buildings.

Downsides - Unsafe!

When one imagines a bustling shopping district, safety is not the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, most canny shoppers already hide their currency somewhere that is neither obvious nor easy to get to. The more foot traffic, the more chance at petty crime. While murder is unlikely in a healthy High Street, crime becomes a serious possibility if not curtailed by a canny Minister and careful Guardhouse placement.