Drama dice no longer give XP if you still have them at the end of an adventure. When you do something worthy of a Drama Die, you also may automatically mark down +1 XP when you receive the Drama die. (No, you can’t spend it until the end of the story)

When you Spend a Drama Die to influence the story, such as activating a villain’s Flaw or spending a drama die to succeed on a roll with called raises (Trick Shots, Called shots, etc. Not system required raises like Feint or Beat) you gain 1 XP if everyone agrees that "that was really cool" and/or "That really worked for the story". The GM will have a vote for coolness, not for story impact. Because Story Impact may not be visible right away, Coolness awards will be handed out at the time of success, story awards at the end of the session. Coolness awards may also yield another Drama Die (and another XP). Additional XP awards may be suggested and voted on at the end of the session.

I appreciate it when the players provide me with fleshed out backgrounds, and a log of their character’s view of the campaign, whether in the form of Letters or Journals/Diaries/Memoirs. Giving me a background, beyond anything game specific I may have created, will get a bonus of 3xp or 1 HP, depending on when the background is turned in relative to the start of the Campaign. Journal Entries are worth 2xp and 1 Drama Die each, awarded upon receipt with the Drama Die usable in the next session

If you have neither the Skill nor the Knack I call for, you may still roll your Trait, but you do not get to re-roll 10’s. If you have the Skill, but not the knack, you still roll just your Trait, but 10’s may be re-rolled.

Certain Advantages (most notably Languages) may be bought after the start of the game for HPx3 in experience points. Physical Advantages (Left Handed, Keen Senses, Large, Small, Legendary Trait, etc.) may not be bought in this way. Neither may Castillian Education. Exceptions may be made in certain circumstances.

As suggested on the listserver, I am separating the Craftsman knacks from the Merchant Skill. Although both skills will have most of the same Advanced Knacks (the exceptions being Bartending under Merchant and Tinker under Craftsman), the craftsman knacks (Jeweler, Blacksmith, Carpenter, Shipwright, etc.) are being moved to a Craftsman Skill. The "hospitality Knacks" (Inkeeper, Jenny, Bartender etc.) will remain under the Merchant Skill. If you have knacks from both the Craftsman and Merchant skill, you get the Craftsman skill for free. If you have just Craftsman Knacks, your Merchant skill becomes Craftsman.

As the various Secret Society and Nation books come out, I will allow "retrofitting" of characters, as long as the points remain unchanged, or new advantages and backgrounds may be bought for HPx3 in XP. However, you get one opportunity to retrofit your character per applicable sourcebook. From when I offer the loan of the sourcebook, (or you get your own, whichever is first) you have until the next time I run 7^th Sea to make changes (with my ok) to your character. If you do not make any changes before then, the opportunity is lost. If there are multiple people who need to borrow the book, the required time is from when you borrow the book, not when I make it available to loan out. Some advantages may be purchasable later, at my discretion.

At times, I may make available the opportunity to Retrofit to rules options I have found on line or the List Server. The same time limit applies.

Active Defense Interrupts may be made with an Action and a Drama Die, rather than 2 Action dice. Any other interrupt costs two Action dice. You may still spend two action dice for an Active Defense Interrupt, if you wish.

Someone pointed out on the listserver that it is not possible to make a living unless you are either a member of a guild, Salaried, a Noble or have a Patron or the Servant Skill. So, I have modified his suggestions to provide other options.

Each month select one Knack from Criminal or Performer. Roll one die (exploding) and multiply it by the rank of the selected knack. This is the amount of spending money left after paying for food, drink, shelter and the occasional excesses from a particularly profitable evening.

When a Background is resolved, the Hero will receive 3x the value of the background (instead of the usual 2x), which he may then spend normally, or on a new background, if he so desires.

If a Background isn’t working (I can’t come up with anything that works in the context of the campaign), you may change the background, as long as you let me know that you are doing so. I will consider the old background to have faded out (I may bring it back later if a plot presents itself), and try to work with the new background.

To fake an accent requires Acting at 2 or better, and an extra point be spent on the language that the accent is from. This permits the character to sound like a native of the region where the accent is from, affecting that accent to his/her speech in any language. The extra point must be spent per accent. To fake any Avalon Accent costs 3 points (pending an official dialect chart), Montaigne 6, Eisen, Vodacce and Castille 5, and Wakenlyan 7, with information on Usurra (March), Vendel (June), Crescent and Cathay pending, these accents cost 1 point each for the "common" accent. If a region is not specified the "base" dialect (the one who’s costs match those in the Player’s Guide) is assumed. Accents may be bought for a character’s native language as well.

Any Hero who has attended a Swordsman School may purchase any of the Swordsman Knacks, including those outside his School. However, those outside his School cost Next level x3 rather than Next level x2 to purchase or increase. Only those Swordsman Knacks from the Swordsman’s School are counted towards his Mastery of the School.

I have revised Exploit Weakness. It now goes against a martial skill, (Fencing, Knife, etc) rather than a given combat school. Although only those people who have attended an appropriate combat school may pick up the Exploit Weakness knack for a given school (determined by the primary martial skill of the combat school), it can be used against anyone who is attacking with the specified martial skill. If you already have Exploit weakness in multiple schools with the same primary skill, convert the highest one to Exploit Weakness (Skill) and increase it by one. You may re-spend any experience left over from the conversion.

For Heroes who do not have a swordsman School, the following chart is the costs for picking up a swordsman School. Obviously the Hero must find someone to teach him, of at least Journeyman Rank, and spend an appropriate amount of Game Time and Down Time learning the Swordsman School. This time cannot be less than 1 week per experience point that needs to be spent.

Apprentices may teach the basic curriculum and the Swordsman Knacks of the School, but not the School Techniques or Exploit Weakness, and neither may such a student learn the Swordsman Knacks outside of their School until they have learned their School’s Techniques from a Journeyman or Master.

When picking up a Second Swordsman School, the story requirements are the same, the costs are reduced as follows:

So a School that was virtually the same as your current school would cost 25 XP, while one that was completely different would cost 65 XP.

You may purchase the Basic Curriculum skills on their own before paying the remainder for the school’s Techniques. The new school’s advanced knacks count towards the Hero’s level of mastery in the new school, just as his old ones counted towards his first school. Those Swordsman Knacks now cost next level x2, rather than the higher cost of Next level x3 for knacks outside your school, but any points spent before learning the new school are still spent.

Pay attention to the word in parenthesis after the knack under the school’s description. If you want to learn a second school, and the knack is the same, but the word after it is not, it counts as a new swordsman knack. So Bind (Fencing) and Bind (Buckler) are two different knacks.

These schools are to be bought using the same rules as non-swordsmen picking up a Swordsman School, regardless of whether or not the character currently has a swordsman school. In place of Swordsman’s Guild membership, these schools grant 1 level in any one of the school’s "swordsman" knacks, and do not get the lower cost if the Hero is already a member of the guild.

To make the distribution between Apprentice to Journeyman and Journeyman to Master a bit closer, I have changed the Journeyman requirements slightly. Rather than having all four Swordsman Knacks at level 4, you only need to have two at level 4 and two at level 3. All four at level 5 is still required for Master, however.

You may only purchase Sorcery after character creation through retrofitting your character. However, I will allow that you may "Pre Spend" the xp (120 for full blood, 60 for half blood, or 30-60 for minor blood/shamanism—something coming in the Nation Books). At least one half of your xp must go towards paying off this debt each session.

You may not retrofit to Twice-Blooded, even if both of the new Sorceries are new. (unlikely)

While I may disagree with their choices of terminology, here is the effective difference between Shamanisim and Sorcery. Sorcery is Hereditary, and it’s power comes from a source outside humanity. Shamanisim is taught, and the power comes from an understanding of humanity’s own inner strengths and weaknesses.

Faith is under Sorcery because it is a form of Shamanisim, except that it usually isn’t taught, although it’s power stems from the same source as Shamanisim. While I’m not going to tell you what Faith does, in the spirit of the advantage’s write up, I will warn that I’m a stickler for the behavior of the Faithful. I don’t require that your character be an Inquisitor or Saint, but demonstrating an understanding of the words of the Prophets, and living by the examples they set, especially the First Prophet, are certainly a major part.

At Adept Level, A Sorte Strega may roll Wits + Arcana against a TN determined by the GM (usually based on resolve) to cancel a Villain’s Wile or a Hero’s Hubris in lieu of spending a Drama die. The GM must spend 1 drama die for every raise (5) beyond the target number the Strega succeeded with the roll to enforce the Hubris. The strega is also subject to Fate Lashes when using this ability.

At Master Level, The Strega may roll as above to activate a Villain’s Flaw or a Hero’s Virtue.

Obviously, for Villainous Strega NPC’s, they may roll as adepts to Activate the Wile or Hero’s Hubris. Villainous Strega do not get the Master level ability.

A Master Sorte Strega can roll, at +20 the normal Difficulty, to tug on a black strand. She suffers an additional wound if she suffers a Backlash. She cannot create (or sever) a Black Strand directly.

The Apprentice ability of the Jack knack is not limited to the list presented, but may be used to copy the physical appearance of any reasonably small object. The maximum size is about 144 cubic inches. Any mundane abilities can be copied, but no mystical ones. Syrneth artifact abilities count as Mystical.

Under most circumstances, the rule stands as written in the Avalon book. Sidhe heroes cannot have the skills listed or any of the knacks within those skills. However, I may be willing to make exceptions. First and foremost, Sidhe Heroes can have the Footwork knack, despite that knack coming under Pugilism as well as Athletics. Other exceptions ask me about.

I will also allow the Sidhe to know the Goodfellow School of Archery, if appropriate (Children of the Sea shouldn’t have archery, for example.) Most other combat schools are forbidden, but here again I may make exceptions if it truly suits the character. (Read: good background story)

It is not required to take the Large or Small advantage when making a Sidhe character. Also, any blessings and curses that are not automatic from Sidhe Blood may be taken, if desired.

Sidhe may take Languages, but not Linguist. Advantages such as Memberships, Commission, and Connections may not be bought at character creation, but may be earned through game play. A Sidhe may not be a member of the Knights of the Rose and Cross, or Die Kruitzer. Trust me, there is a reason for this other than game balance. He may be a Rose and Cross patron, however.

All Sidhe have Glamour and access to Glamour Knacks. They progress in these knacks the same as if they were Glamour sorcerers. Also Sidhe are not limited to one Glamour Knack per trait. Instead they may have a number of glamour knacks in a given trait equal to ½ their rank in that trait (round down). For example, a Sidhe Hero with a 4 Resolve may have 2 Resolve based knacks.

This is not in reference to the bargain made between the senators and their otherworldly allies, but rather a bargain that I, the Game Master, will strike with you, the players.

The more your Heroes are Bold and Stupid Men™, the more I will present Villains that have the fallacies of an Evil Overlord™. You want the villain’s beautiful daughter to fall in love with your hero and tell you how to defeat him? Give the Villain’s henchman back his sword after you disarm him. You want the Syrenth Artifact to have a self destruct button? Volunteer to help the professor’s daughter for free before you discover that the professor is in the hands of the Caligari family.

However, you play smart, not quite as Heroic characters, and I won’t be so nice. Do the practical thing and Kill the henchman? No exposition speech, just a straight "Kill them." depriving the characters of information about the villain’s plans that will hurt someone near and dear to them, even if he dies in this combat. Asking for payment (of any kind) before helping the Beautiful Daughter? Whoops, Daddy’s already dead, and the artifact is on it’s way back to Caligari’s island before you even leave to try to discover where daddy’s gone.

The game can be as Heroic as you are, its that simple.