I posted this on the Blooded thread on RPG.net but thought some folks might appreciate asking questions hereabouts rather than thereabouts.
So, there are sub-systems in the game, all rooted to the same root mechanics.
Basic 7 Virtues Stuff:
The main mechanics are rooted to the 7 virtues the ven hold most dear and instead of skills, you figure out how the player is solving a problem and base it in a virtue. They can roll just to see how much they succeed or fail or they can roll vs. another creature or another ven’s opposing virtue.
Dueling:
When two ven get together and decide to try to harm one another, usually with pieces of sharp metal in their hands like civilized people.
Mass Murder:
When more than one on one combat occurs. This is a brutal, brutal system that can deal with 3 vs. 3 street fights or epic battles with banners fluttering in the wind.
Either way, mofo’s are going to get hurt.
Romance:
Loooove, exciting and new. Yes, there is a sub-system for romance and its nifty with the romancers going back and forth and the romance inevitably ending. Love helps those in it, their passions making them achieve more than they thought possible.
Insults:
Duels with words. The loser takes an insult as an aspect that can be tagged by others. Two players get into it last night and one of the players got tagged with flacid dagger or something, a rumor that he can’t get it up. It lasts for 3 seasons. The player was relieved the insult will be gone in time for his wedding.
That’d be embarassing.
We haven’t been touching on that one so much and I really dig it. It will now see serious use.
Season Actions:
From spying on your neighbors to creating art to taking another’s lands, its in season actions with little tweaks to the already existing rules.
The players in our game have been creating art to give as gifts and it has an in-game value too, which is neat. Creating opera is supposed to be really neat. One of our players is writing an opera about the death of another PC that occurred earlier in the game.
Githyanki Diaspora 
Ooh … this looks so nice! Thanks for posting. Between this and Storn’s “doodles,” HotB will likely be my next big RPG purchase.
Insults:
The tag is worth a number of dice equal to the wagers made on the Insult: 5 wagers, 5 dice. Each season the tag loses a die: 5 wagers, 5 dice, 5 seasons (each season getting easier).
I tagged him with Flaccid Sword and played up the sibilants/”sss” sounds.
Virtues:
Strength, Courage, Cunning, Wisdom, Beauty, Prowess… 6?
Experiencing an opera when it is revealed can give an aspect based on the opera archtypes (there are these stock characters in ven opera). The dice this aspect give are the opera’s potential. A potential 3 opera, a 3 dice aspect. A potential 8 opera, taking two years to complete, 16 resources and 8 season actions, gives an 8 dice aspect (which is, by the way, OMFG huge). The person who puts on the opera gets style equal to the potential. They can also store style in the revealing (at the opera house, I suppose) which can really really add up after a few operas.
The potential is increased by the rank of the party where the revealing happened. A rank 1 party adds 1. A rank 5 party adds 5, making that mediocre 3 into an 8, or that 8 into a 13.
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