So, we’ve received a few messages and emails on this topic, and they tend to look like this: “I dressed in the fashion for the season, but I didn’t get my point of PI. What gives?”
We totally understand: it sucks to do the thing you’re supposed to do for a reward and not get the reward. So we’ve been handing out PI to the people who have reported it. If you dressed fashionably in Winter but do not think you received PI, please let us know!
For the future, though, I want to make clear how this system works.
Since the point of being fashionable isn’t so much that the clothing itself gives you a feeling of confidence or political dash (otherwise, you could dress fashionable in your rooms and never leave home), you need to be seen being fashionable to get those points of PI. You need what I call “the arbiters of fashion” to notice you.
What does that mean? Well, in game terms, it means there’s a (hidden) Socialite skill called Fashionista. People with that skill may submit, without limit, a list to staff of everyone at game who was dressed fashionable. People who are reported get a free point of PI for being fashionable people.
Clarity has traditionally been the character submitting these names, but - as PCs have started to learn the skill and as Clarity’s responsibilities as governor have been increasing - we’ve been trying to signal her distraction from the fashion world by phasing out her reporting and relying more and more on PCs. This is also a natural way for us to mechanically put the running of the game world more on PCs in general - you’ll find this happening in many, many systems as your characters grow and develop. We don’t need the NPC training wheels as much.
There are PCs with this skill! If you want to benefit from fashion, it will definitely benefit you to find them out and make sure they know you were fashionable! It costs them nothing to report your name, so seek them out and make sure you’ve been seen. That, after all, is the point of being highly fashionable. The people who matter need to know.
Hopefully, this will help give some guidance on this system. If you are interested in a deeper understanding of PI, we highly recommend asking Socialite PCs who may know or asking Socialite NPCs directly - just as understanding header specializations may help you to understand the mechanics underlying all levels of that specialization, understanding the skills available to Socialites may help you to understand how PI is gained and lost in play.
Thanks for listening, and thanks for being fashionable,
Brian Misamore
Game Director, Port Katherine