Boons

Boons and You!

Boons are how Acknowledged Camarilla vampires track favors, and are the our currency in Kindred society. When a vampire renders a favor for another, she is loaned some Credit Rating until the favor is repaid.

City of Hope has a coded +boon system to help keep track of them, and you can view your overall Credit rating, and that of others on +rosters. As important as these are to Kindred, the following is to help make the system easier to understand and less daunting to use, to encourage the actual use. (+help boons)

• Credit Rating can go negative, but cannot outweigh Status Rating.
• Credit Rating does not directly affect Status Rating, but indicates how the use of Status Rating may be affected in practice (if someone feels strongly enough about an issue to call in boons over it).
• An acknowledged vampire can check their current boons and offers with +boons.
• Any boon offers can be withdrawn with +boon/cancel.
• Any boons a kindred has been offered can be rejected with +boon/reject.
• To accept a boon and temporarily gain/lose some of your Credit Rating, use +boon/accept.
• To forgive a boon you're owed (usually repaid) and return the Credit Rating that was borrowed, use +boon/forgive.
• To transfer a boon you're owed to someone else, use +boon/transfer.

Offering Boons

• +boon/offercredit <player>=<credit>/<terms>

• <credit> is an amount of Credit Rating from 1 to 5 (+help +boon scale) that YOU ARE WILLING TO LOSE.
• <terms> should describe a favor that they'll do for you in return. You're offering them some of your Credit Rating in return for this favor.
• <terms> may also describe a favor that you'll do for them later to get your Credit Rating back, or you can leave it open to be negotiated later.
• Note: Offers created using /offercredit are listed with a negative amount. This is intentional. ("<your name> is asking <their name> for <negative amount> Credit Rating, repaid when <terms>")
• If accepted, it will switch to a positive amount. ("<their name> has <positive amount> of your Credit Rating until <terms>")

• +boon/offerfavor <player>=<credit>/<terms>

• <credit> is an amount of Credit Rating that YOU WANT TO GAIN.
• <terms> should describe a favor that you'll do for them in return. You're offering them this favor in return for some of their Credit Rating.
• <terms> may also describe a favor that they'll do for you later to get their Credit Rating back.

• +boon/demandcredit <player>=<credit>/<terms>

• <credit> is an amount of Credit Rating that YOU WANT TO GAIN.
• <terms> should describe a favor that you've already done for them (like clean up a Masquerade breach). You're demanding some of their Credit Rating in return for this favor.
• <terms> may also describe a favor that they'll do for you later to get their Credit Rating back.

Only you, the PC Harpies, and staff can see your +boons information directly. Typically ICly harpies keep careful track of boons, which being the main means of oversight typically in everyone's best interests and it's rare that boons are not registered with the harpies. Effectively that is what +boon is doing. If one wishes to handle their debts entirely privately, and assuming the attendant risks, you will wish to avoid +boon.

Because +boon is a behind-the-scenes record-keeping tool is that its use is the end result of IC efforts. So one would negotiate terms with the other party and then register the result with +boon.

If you have issues with how one's creditor or debtor is handling their part of the deal then +harpyreq is strongly recommended as the best tool. This is a close approximation of how harpies oversee boons, and improper behavior regarding those should definitely affect Status.

Boon Levels

1. Trivial - A one-time favor, relatively simple and straight-forward. It may mean conflict with others, including one's Clan or Prince, but not betray them or breach other oaths of loyalty. Loaning some thing or cash for a short time, an action of Influence, supporting a political maneuver one night, use of a Discipline, a night's protection.
2. Minor - A favor that causes inconvenience, or takes some effort. Revealing secrets of one's Clan or Domain, securing passage into a hostile city, providing protection for an extended period, major efforts of Influence, investing significant resources into a business or other project, fighting another's enemies.
3. Major - A great debt, possibly compromising many things you believe in. Teaching Disciplines (this one may only apply to particularly secret disciplines on City of Hope, or reducing the xp for them to normal), aiding in a political goal even if it's openly opposing your Clan or Prince, providing significant property you own or you first have to take from another.
4. Blood - Owing a great many things, perhaps more than you can ever repay, your current existence is largely dependent on your creditor. Placing oneself in great danger, outright betraying one's Clan or Prince.
5. Life - You owe your life to your debtor. They can command you in all things, even if it means your death, because you only exist because of them. Saving your creditor's life is possibly the only way to repay such a debt.

Please see this Chart for more ideas on worth: Prestation

Examples:

(Names have been inserted to implicate the innocent-of-this.)

1. Lillian really wants to get involved with a crime family operating in the Brujah territory. So she goes to Sharpe, Vegard's ghoul, to arrange an introduction to a "family" member, using his Underworld influence, offering a boon for that one-time favor for which Vegard would like a particular vote on an agenda item on the next primogen council meeting. The purchase of more Underworld Influence and setting the details is handled through a +request, to which staff gets added to take care of his Influence action. Then Lillian would +boon/offer Vegard=1/For having introduced me to mob figure x I will vote y way on z agenda item. Next month after the primogen meeting Vegard would then +boon/forgive <#> after Lillian voted the requested.
2. A local news station gets hold of video of some vampy activities at a nightclub and teases it on air for tomorrow night's show. Agate immediately starts looking into it like a good Masquerade-protecting Sheriff and soon decides the best thing to do is ask Madeline to apply her Media Influence to kill the story. Madeline isn't keen on a Masq breach so generously agrees to do so for a trivial boon. After the actions have been taken care of Madeline then does +boon/offer agate=1/I killed the news story about vampires on film in exchange for a favor to be named later. And then it remains an outstanding debt until Madeline has something to ask Agate for.