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TP.net => The Great Beyond (OOC) => : X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander) March 28, 2009, 05:01:36 AM
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I am sort of looking into running my own Birthright PbEM. I say sort of because I have no idea of when this would be. Right now I am mostly in the brainstorming and planning phase.
The idea would be to start out with a core of 10 players... no more no less. I figure that is enough to have a good base - stuff happens - without too much of a workload.
I would steal Bjørns ruleset, assuming he doesn't mind, with a few alterations of my own. Some things I would be doing different, some things I would do the same. More on that later.
The area of play would be the Southern Coast. Again, I am stealing a lot from Bjørn, but the area just looks perfect to me... Lots of realms that interact, fairly equal playing field, and so on.
This thread is for brainstorming ideas. Anyone is welcome to join in with ideas and/or criticism. A lot of you people have more experience with this than me, so I'd appreciate it.
Players would be recruited first from the personal friends of mine that play in RoE (Niels, Linde, Kasper) and then from RoE... hopefully that should fill the 10 players requirement. Not recruiting friends so I can treat them better, but it's fun to play with people I see occasionally outside the game.
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The Southern Coast
As mentioned above, the playing area would be the Southern Coast. It would be the Southern Coast as described in the Ruins of Empire book. A few reasons why:
1. Level playing-field - The realms are fairly equal in strength and assets.
2. Proximity - The realms are close together and close to some of the big realms - Avanil, The City of Anuire, and Ghoere mostly. Will be used to create conflict.
3. The Spiderfell - A monster is always fun.
The following domains would be open for players:
Realms:
Medoere & Rournil’s Celestial Spell (also temple)
Ilien (also mage)
Diemed
Endier & Heartland Outfitters (also guild)
Roesone
Aerenwe
Temples:
Impregnable Heart of Haelyn
Eastern Temple of Neserie
Guilds:
Port of Call Exchange
Mages:
Caine of Endier
The realms above are supposed to be fairly equal in strength and influence... most importantly there is something to do for all those domains right from the start.
Major NPCs:
Realms:
City of Anuire
Avanil
Ghoere
The Spiderfell
Mieres & Straits of Aerele Shipping (also Guild)
Temples:
Orthodox Imperial Temple of Haelyn
Celestial Jewel of Sarimie
Mages:
Mhistecai
High Mage Aelis
Made NPCs either because they are very static (mage domains), very powerful (Ghoere, Avanil) or too far from the action (Mieres). They'll be used to add conflicts and tension to the game (Avanil might go to war with Boeruine - placing demands on his vassals) or as antagonists (Ghoere might threaten Roesone, the Spider might go raiding).
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Rules:
I would be looking to make a few changes and additions to the ruleset RoE uses. Mostly they are a matter of taste.
1. Class and Level would be more significant on the Realm level. Currently level only matters for the Mages and Priests... except regarding adventures. Possible changes could be:
- Class and Level affects regency collection. Each class would have a favoured holding type, regency collected from that holding type - up to one's level - would not count against one's bloodline strength. So a level 5 Fighter can collect 5 RP from Law holdings without it affecting his maximum regency collection (bloodline strength).
- Bonus to Actions based on Level. A Rogue would receive a bonus to Espionage, a Cleric a bonus to Agitate, A Fighter a bonus to contest, etc. This would require some tinkering - bonuses to actions that can be realm actions are very powerful.
2. New battle system. This is very much a work in progress, but I have some ideas. The focus is to build a system specifically for PbEMs - not for a battle board. A complex issue, but kinda fun to play around with. Stealing a lot from Empires in Arms on this one.
3. Adventures - a somewhat more transparant adventure system. I like transparancy because it makes my life as a gm easier - helps shift some of the workload from gm to player.
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It sounds like a fun concept. I think the regents character level and class could have more impact than they have in this game.
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The following domains would be open for players:
Realms:
Medoere & Rournil’s Celestial Spell (also temple)
Ilien (also mage)
Diemed
Endier & Heartland Outfitters (also guild)
Roesone
Aerenwe
Temples:
Impregnable Heart of Haelyn
Eastern Temple of Neserie
Guilds:
Port of Call Exchange
Mages:
Caine of Endier
The realms above are supposed to be fairly equal in strength and influence... most importantly there is something to do for all those domains right from the start.
Maybe it would be good to restrict players to landed and temples only. If there is only 1 PC guild and only 1 PC mage, they would have no other players to compete with them in their main area of interest.
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Rules:
I would be looking to make a few changes and additions to the ruleset RoE uses. Mostly they are a matter of taste.
1. Class and Level would be more significant on the Realm level. Currently level only matters for the Mages and Priests... except regarding adventures. Possible changes could be:
- Class and Level affects regency collection. Each class would have a favoured holding type, regency collected from that holding type - up to one's level - would not count against one's bloodline strength. So a level 5 Fighter can collect 5 RP from Law holdings without it affecting his maximum regency collection (bloodline strength).
- Bonus to Actions based on Level. A Rogue would receive a bonus to Espionage, a Cleric a bonus to Agitate, A Fighter a bonus to contest, etc. This would require some tinkering - bonuses to actions that can be realm actions are very powerful.
2. New battle system. This is very much a work in progress, but I have some ideas. The focus is to build a system specifically for PbEMs - not for a battle board. A complex issue, but kinda fun to play around with. Stealing a lot from Empires in Arms on this one.
3. Adventures - a somewhat more transparant adventure system. I like transparancy because it makes my life as a gm easier - helps shift some of the workload from gm to player.
It sounds like you've got the right idea for doing this, to me, but I'd just like to say anyways: Class and Level sound like good things to base this one. Skills, feats, etc. probably would not be. Once you get into people doing a full writeup on their characters, it'll get too complicated.
The other thing I would say is "expand slowly." Once you decide to add players, do so slowly and see how much the workload expands. Much as you might like to give more people the chance to play, it does no good if you then burn yourself out or can't keep up with it in a reasonable timeframe. Keep that golden goose alive!
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Oh yeah, Bjørn has the right idea there. The game would focus on the domain level... with adventures being more freeform. Class and level are what counts, not feats, skills or spells.
I intend to expand slowly, if at all. First plan is to get 10 players and have a turn every 3 weeks. If that's too much, I make the turns slower. If I'm ok with it ot if it's easy, expand to more players or a faster turn ratio.
The point about guilders and mages needing competition is a good one. Keep in mind that Ilien is a mage domain, as well as Endier is a guild domain. So... actually there are 2 guilds, 2 mages and 3 temples. My hope is that it's enough to give competetion. The guild and mage that are there are partly because they are forced to interact with a ruler. Caine is the court mage of Endier, PCE the guild of Ilien and has heavy Khinasi connections. They should have something to do, other than compete for resources.
I was actually considering to give each of the temples, guilds and mages at least one province each, so no one stands without land. Having a piece of land makes the game more fun, for me anyway.
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Be very sure to create mag/guild domains that HAVE to interact with other domains. Otherwise not fun. And guilders, above all, should have province(s). IMO they are interesting even without, but experience has shown that they do not seem very attractive to the average player.
And definitely do NOT include Mieres...
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Thanks for the advice and yes, my hope was that all domains would be made to interact with someone from the start.
Now, above I have established where and when the action is going to take place. 15 years in the past compared to RoE II, on the Southern Coast. Now I need something for the game to be about.
RoE II has the murder of the pontiff, the boeruine-avanil war, and the undead Raenech. They set the scene and created some action right from the start - something to react to and to create conflict. I need something similar for this game, something that disturbs the status quo and sets the scene.
Some ideas:
War from the Spiderfell - The Spider has struck succesfully into Ghoere and everyone is waiting to see whom the next target will be.
The Seadrake starts to seriously cut into naval trade and ravage along the southern coast... moving further east than it usually does. The pirates from Mieres are still untouched and grow bolder. Is something pushing the Seadrake east or has the pirates made a deal with it?
War: Alamie invades Tuornen. A conflict of arms right next to the Southern Coast and something that might trigger the cataclysmic Boeruine-Avanil war that everyone knows is coming... someday.
Mieres sends word that it is under heavy assault from organized armies of humanoids welling up from the south. Once they overcome Mieres they will be free to raid into Anuire, but Avanil seems reluctant to send the necessary aid to his vassal.
Etc...
I like the Seadrake and will hold onto that one - it can certainly push Ilien, Diemed and Aerenwe into action. Alamie-Tuornen is nice too, the other two are kinda meh and suspeciously remniscent of events in RoE. Ideas?
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Hmm, in RW one big problem that the DM had was the Gorgon - he made some rumblings early on to spook up some adventures, and us players all freaked - meaning that a lot of the inter-group backstabbing went out of the window - we figured we had to work together or get crushed...
But the Spider is a goblin, and goblins breed - so maybe at present people think that its some warped child of the spider striking out to win their own realm - and as a result they don't go to defcon 5 just yet.
Another spider idea revolved around the habit of Azrai's curse to mutate those it touched, and spider poison, what if people were being kidnapped, and transformed somehow? You get botched jobs at the start, escapees that are no longer entirely human, and if nothing is done a new race could be born.
Another funny with the spider is that he's invulnerable. Invulnerability can be read as the slayer of the awnie metamorphosing into it - similar to the way that the vampire did with the sinister, that works particularly well if something eats him which is the traditional way of dealing with regenerating foes. So you can have the Spider have a quiet phase and then come out quite different - mostly sane for example.
I toyed with the idea of awnmebhaighl to try and get wizards involved. Bascially weak spots in the veil allowed a shadow world spellcaster to start reaching over the veil - at first magical events, if those weren't dispelled / otherwise dealt with they started to escalate towards an el-Sirad situation, eventually the spellcaster would create a gate between the worlds and start moving in big time. They idea was that every landed ruler would want a friendly mage, as the mage should be best at dealing with the incursions. I didn't come up with anything concrete on that one though.
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A further thought: Sword and Crown. This one was damn fun and it's a good way to get a lot of diplomacy and backstabbing going. The start date in the Ruins of Empire book is spring 1524 HC. The next S&C is in summer 1525. That might be too far into the future... 5 turns is a long time - starting in winter 1524 or spring 1525 might be more fun.
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The Gorgon is kinda... used. No doubt, if the game runs for enough turns his next crusade will become a problem... He does go on a rampage at least once pr generation.
I like the idea with the Shadow world. Actually, I love the concept of the Shadow world - the shaping, the Cold Rider, etc. Some kind of magical event weakening the veil could be cool - something has to be done about it. And something in the Southern Coast must be causing this.
I'm getting images of drider-like creatures. Only with goblins and unfortunate souls caught in the mix.
An interesting event could also be something forcing the Spider out of the fell. Say a big, blooded dragon lands in the fell, defeats the Spider and forces it to run, then starts taking over the fell. Lots of strained diplomacy with a new, strange neighbour and the Spider on a rampage.
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Arent dragons a bit like Elves, in that they are part of Mebhaigl, so always considered "blooded" without being it?
Hm, unless perhaps its a bloodthefting dragon... Using a version of Detect Blood, it is rampaging around, sniffing out blood and gobbling it down.
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For the purpose of True Magic, certainly. It does take Divine Blood to rule a domain though.
And in my book, eating someone in one piece is an effective way of bloodtheft as stabbing them through the heart :D
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My favorite concept in this game is the Agendas. A better way to turn the players from cooperative bunny-lovers into vicious, cold-hearted politcal bastards, I have never seen. They also do a lot to set up the concept of each regent. Spend some real time working out each regent's agendas, and you'll see a real reward from it later on.
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I have to agree, the Agendas are one of the best innovations in this game. They allow for other rewards than "just" becoming bigger and stronger and they give you things to work for right of the bat.
So yeah, I'll spend some time on them :) Possibly work with the players I get to make sure they want to pursue theirs.
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My favorite concept in this game is the Agendas. A better way to turn the players from cooperative bunny-lovers into vicious, cold-hearted politcal bastards, I have never seen. They also do a lot to set up the concept of each regent. Spend some real time working out each regent's agendas, and you'll see a real reward from it later on.
Cooperative bunny-lovers in Birthright? Where did you see such a creature? :)
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I have to agree, the Agendas are one of the best innovations in this game. They allow for other rewards than "just" becoming bigger and stronger and they give you things to work for right of the bat.
So yeah, I'll spend some time on them :) Possibly work with the players I get to make sure they want to pursue theirs.
If not Agendas you really need something to give direction to players IF the games is to be anything other than a conquer-them-all slugfest.
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Pondering agendas a bit:
1) Agenda's should give a player something to do right from the start. It's a big game and there are many areas to expand into - this is especially important for players who do not know the rules or the setting intimately. It gives them something to focus on.
2) There should be a reward for accomplishing agendas. The Victory Point award honestly doesn't work for me. It's a recognition of the fact that any BR game is part strategy game, so I'm going to keep it... I think. I want there to be something more concrete and immediate to gain in the game - the current "carrot"* is the possibility of Stability increase. That definitely works, I might add in something like an automatic positive event and an increased chance for positive event afterwards... Or something like that. Need to think on this one - perhaps define a different reward for each agenda.
3) Agenda's should help characterize the Regent, Realm or Domain. A Regent with agendas that are all conquest-themed will seem expansionistic and perhaps even megalomanic. A Regent with purely altruistic Agendas will come across as a saint. No one should be in either extreme, but they help players get a grasp of their regents.
4) I'm thinking there should be a possible effect from pursuing your agendas, not "just" accomplishing them. There already is for the major agendas, but I'm thinking something similar might be appropriate for minor agendas as well.
5) Agenda's help me, as a DM, give the game direction. If I want there to lots of backstabbing, I should put in a few agendas that require players to betray their allies. If I want the players to be heroic, there should be heroic agendas. What the game ends up actually being about is going to be a mix of the players' interests and tastes, the agendas, the events I throw at them, how the NPCs are portrayed and so on. Agendas are a factor that can be used to shape the game, working purely through a carrot approach. No need for a stick.*
*Ok, I'm overusing this metaphor. In case someone doesn't know, I'm referring to the "Carrot and Stick". How do you make a donkey move? You hang a carrot in front of it and hit it with a stick.
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1. Major Agenda = Long term, diffiuclt. Minor agenda = short temr, easier. That's the idea anyway.
2. In RoE II there ARE awards. RP/GB/stability/prosperity/AAs/items/BS points etc. I just don't state what the reward is. Will be revealed in due time.
3. Yes, Agendas help define a domain.
4. Stick; because NOT prusuing them might well leadin to ufortunate things.
5. Indeed, but don't underestimate player ability to come up with lots of entertaining (if sometime goofy) stuff all by themselves.
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Adventures
Adventures have turned out to be a bit of a can of worms for me. I'll try to put a few of my thoughts for this game down.
THere are two kinds of adventures - Those that support domain actions and those that accomplish an independent goal. Using an adventure action to support diplomacy is the first kind - automatic success or a simple level vs. DDC check. Easy.
The second kind are the ones we are running in the forum, which are awesome. From my point of view, I want Regents to go on adventures - it's a game about Hero-Kings, not purely diplomacy.
So we have two basic levels of play - the Domain and diplomacy level (dispatches, diplomacy, your DO, etc) and the adventure level. Both are important. Adventures are for the stuff that cannot or should not be resolved on the domain level, though the levels of play often interact.
An adventure can be required to resolve a domain level event, domain actions can be necessary to attempt an adventure (before you can slay the lich, you must defeat his army in the field). This is good, I want the two levels to interact - It's in the conflict between these two levels of play that the theme of Birthright comes to the fore.
As other's might have noticed, I have a thing for transparant simple rules - as a gm they make my life easier and they ease communication. So I need a ruleset for adventures that satisfies the following:
1) Adventures should be dangerous enough that you don't want to go on them all the time or at least without good preperations, but at the same time players should be confident enough in the Regents to send them on the occasional adventure. I'm thinking that players participating in adventures 1-2 a year is the sweet spot.
2) There should be consequences to adventures, both good and bad. There is always a goal for an adventure - the success or failure in achieving that goal is the primary consequence. However, the other consequences are damn important as well. It's good drama when a regent is injured, looses a friend or dies while achieving something heroic. It sucks when a regent dies accidently while hunting a random goblin. It's cool when Bilbo picks up the one ring on the way to kill Smaug, it sucks when adventures are done solely to acquire treasure or magic stuff. (for the purpose of these rules anyway, I enjoy dungeon crawls as much as the next guy :))
3) Adventures accomplish goals that either cannot be achieved on the domain level or are very preferably to do on the adventure level.
4) Rules should be fast and simple.
5) Rules should allow an adventure both to be run without player input (as just an action in your DO or for when you are too busy IRL to do a full mail or forum adventure), but should focus on creating a cool frame for forum and mail adventures.
6) Optimally, the rules should allow an individual to shine as well as allow the group as a whole to overcome the adventure.
7) Adventures are for Lieutenants and Regents, with Henchmen playing a minor role. Everyone else are pretty much just background fluff or part of the consequences... Except for NPCs - getting a major NPC to go on an adventure with you should be a worthwhile goal.
Whew. With that in mind I think I have an initial outline for the rules, I'll just need to clean them up a little and find somewhere to host them.
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1. Major Agenda = Long term, diffiuclt. Minor agenda = short temr, easier. That's the idea anyway.
Heh at least one of my Minor Agendas for IHH is rather longterm; 5+ years and expenses in the area of 110+ GB plus I dont know how many orders :o
I think focus on my Major agenda instead and not complete the "Minor" one ;)
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Major Agendas usually seem to require a degree of sacrifice and often involve pissing another player off. Minor Agendas seem to be move focused on building things up, focusing your attention, or fighting an NPC. But those are generalizations.
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My tuppence on adventures:
We tried instant messenger and an online tabletop for adventures in RW - it worked surprisingly well, although the online tabletop map slowed things down in the end as it kept refreshing - the online dice rolling was fun though - the cheers when one PC rolled that desperately needed critical hit - on their backstab (under 2e rules), the agonised moans when someone rolled a fumble...
Another idea is to write a solo 'story' and see how well it goes to plan - quick, easy, hopefully fun for the DM to read, but resolved by fiat / single roll.
Email chains - fine for solo's, but the damn things split and tangle with multiple posters leading to continuity errors.
Multiplayer forum - fun for all, but some people are away, or can only post briefly, others 'hang' waiting for the results of a roll/fight, etc.
And what do adventures do from a game viewpoint? Well, I consider going on an adventure as a player for the following reasons (in addition to fun of course):
1. Small realm 'filler' actions - maybe gain some gold/gb/agitate bonus - a scion does not tend tables or shoe a horse to make ends meet!
2. Looey trainers - aim is to train up an aide, the equivalent of boot camp for those who need to go from follower to hero.
3. Action boosts - aim is to boost the odds of an action succeeding, or do something that an action couldn't ordinarily do. Anything from learning a key secret to be exploited, to a simple bump to the dice.
4. Status declarations - aide another regent to win friendship, provide 'soft aid in lieu of troops/money. Making friends on the cheap is a good way for a small or weak domain to punch well above its weight at domain level.
5. Random event cleansers - wipe out that rampaging owlbear without risking troops, capture that griffin's eggs, convince those ogres that salaried employ pays better than raids and is safer to boot, etc. The people love a hero, and make hero's of those who defend them.
6. Romp & Stomps - nail a nemesis, make some other major shift to the domain that simply needs something done that makes everyone else say 'Haelyn's mercy' - high risk brings high reward, and fortune favours the bold.
I'd use a mix of these, depending on your time constraints. I'd come up with a simple list of 'rewards' and 'penalties', say:
Reward:
GB / RP (heavy on the second, particularly for capped games)
Contact / favour
Good hireling
Troop upgrade
Key concession
Reputation / position / rank
Penalty (negative of above, or:)
Lost action
Minor / Major / terrible injury (lasts 1 season, 1 year, game unless cured)
Awakened evil
Diplomatic fan-strike
Downers: Adventures probably take up more DM time than any other action, players can feel extremely railroaded if the adventure is a lead into a campaign arc - even more so than in standard DnD games as NPcs have such a heavy influence, also don't forget that the loss of a regent is crippling - not too mention far to easy when adventuring in other realms run by wargamers who see PCs as bloodline fodder and wonder about setting up scion farms to optimise income...
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Agenda's.
1. Provide a short term internal 'easy win'
2. Provide some short term external wins - that clash more or less with friends and foes
3. Provide some long term 'this is what the domain is about' sort of roles
4. Provide some 'not a prayer' aims for the fanatics to rant about the regent ignoring (restore the imperial line, destroy the elf, etc)
Basically they should encourage the play you want - co-operative and combative both. I'd have independence as a common theme - huge alliances become a pain far too easily.
Rewards:
1. Stability / morale - the obvious one
2. Extra success - you wanted '12 non mercenary units' - when you make it, one gets bumped a notch somehow.
3. RP or even bloodline - particularly if you knock them down for failures
4. Diplomatic bonuses from npc's - marriage/fostering offers, alliances, sundering of hostile alliances, etc.
5. Gain a special looey / bump a looey.
6. Gain an artifact (likely a mcguffin of course).
7. Get to make a major internal change without complaint due to 'clear success and wisdom'.
8. Win over some independents due to strength / wisdom / success / etc - possibly very surprising ones that might be more trouble than they are worth.
I'd also add 'domain red lines'. These are negatives that must be avoided rather than positive goals to achieve - so no vassalage, or always have 'x' units, or always hold sacred artifact 'y', ancestral holding 'z', never occupy own provinces, etc. These are easier to tailor to avoid scenario's you don't want.
Failure:
Great captain - possibly a former looey
Domain fragmentation - can the regent turn things around and win them back - double or nothing is always fun...
PR disaster - blood in the water, everyone loves kicking a loser and picking up some 'freebies'
Lose key alliance, looey, artifact, etc
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The way I see it, Agendas define the things you get extra rewards for accomplishing and you realm's agenda defines the things that you realm punishes you for - If you get revealed as being behind an assassination attempt and you run a LG realm, you're going to take some kind of hit... likely on the prosperity/stability area, possibly also on you regency.
However, the idea that the realm/regent holds certain things important and you get some do's and dont's from that... that's a sound idea. Those implied by your realm's alignment are there already, though I might want to clear that up a little.
On adventures:
I agree with 1-6 as purposes for adventures. However - 2,5, and 6 are what I'm wanting a ruleset for. 3 is handled by a single die roll. 4 is often an indirect effect from going on adventures with others - part of my motivation for sending the SM on adventures with IHH and co. is to prove her value as the "evil vs. the evil" and gain allies that way. No mechanics needed for that - the npcs (the dm) and players decide how much or how little they're impressed.
I like the forum adventures. I'm not planning to make time for IM/chat adventure - logistics are hell on those. As a dm I am not into huge overarching plot lines where the players get little choice on whether to participate or not... No doubt the npcs and villains are going to have evil plans and schemes that will do harm if they are left alone, but I plan for the game be driven by player-player interests with the occasional wrench or plot thrown in.
Any set of rules, or just any way to to run adventures for a PbEM should be flexible. Sometimes RL constraints will mean that you can't run an adventure over the forum or sometimes you just need the turn to end. We should allow for both - sometimes an adventure will just be an action in your DO with a short (or longer) or description, sometimes there'll be a story to tell and choices to make. For the rewards/penalties the biggest reward should be whatever you set out to do - incidential gains or rewards should never overshadow that.
In addition, risk should always be comparable to reward - the idea that any adventure can lead to your death because even the lowliest kobold can get lucky and stick a spear in you throat works good in theory, but in practice that sort of thing is almost never fun and has no value dramatically or story-wise. I'm not going to bother with it - every adventure should have the risk of losses or penalties, but only when the stakes are high should death be on the board.
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One of the key differences in BR is time - the 'wear them down' approach to adventuring works very well when what is 1 action to the domain is 20-30 raids on a single enemy stronghold. Attack, weaken, withdraw when you run low on hp/ammo, heal up - and call in a hundred xbowmen if faced with hordes - BR adventures should be short and sweet, with diplomacy, intrigue, etc actions by the court to 'cut to the chase' and leave the adventure to just the stuff that the sheriffs can't handle.
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Oh yeah, the actual adventure action is often the culmination to a bunch of other actions - espionage, research or advisor actions to get the information for the adventure, war actions to clear the way, etc.
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Adventure System
Here the system is. I'm pretty happy with the final result, I think it's going to work well for the type of adventures that are run in BR and I've also kept the form of forum or email adventures firmly in mind.
On the math:
If a level 5 party goes on a 5th level adventure and they have done everything they can do achieve success
- advisor, diplomacy, espionage, and research actions to make sure they have the right classes and adventures to win
- everyone consistently contributes to the descriptions and roles play
- they choose reasonable and good tactics for every challenge
then they should achieve a Triumph. The get their goal and some minor benifit besides, they take no losses.
A Horrific Defeat is only possiple when the party is attempting an adventure 9 levels above theirs. That is when one or more party members die in the attempt. Otherwise the losses will be less severe.
What might be slightly counterintuitive is that the more challenges an adventure has, the easier it is to succeed. Look at it this way: The more challenges, the more distributed the enemy's forces are. If you can kill the minions one manageble chunk at a time, then the final battle will be easier. Adding or removing a challenge makes the adventure a lot easier or harder. If you want the party to have a chance to actually do well in an adventure 3-5 levels higher than their own, you add a challenge. If you want to make an adventure that's easy (3 levels or more below the party level), then you remove a challenge.
Behind Losses and Gains
Losses should always be in proportion to the adventure goal and adventure level. Gains must never be greater than the goal.
Even a Great Loss should not mean regent loss or lieutenant deaths unless the level and goal are big enough. On the other hand, even a Great Gain does not mean bloodline increase unless you are on a dangerous enough adventure.
The Important Choice
The biggest and most important choice a party has after the adventure has begun is during resolution. The opportunity to shift will usually take the form of a choice the part has to make - you have driven the villain to defeat, do you pursue and perhaps kill him or do you satisfy yourself with driving him away? That could be the difference between a Partial Success and a Success.
You can turn a Partial Success into a Success by taking Major instead of Minor losses - do you let him run or take a risk and pursue?
You can turn a Failure into a Victory by taking Great losses instead of Minor Losses - you are loosing, someone will have to sacrifice him- or herself for victory... whom will step forth?
... and so on.
Playtesting
This is the second to last step and something I need before I'll start using it. I'll be looking for two groups (4-5 players) to run an adventure each over mail or possibly another forum. Starting to recruit soon.
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Going to let the adventure rules simmer for a few days. Anyone feel like checking them out, they're attatched to the post above. Will return to them to make them more readable and... neat.
Anyway, Domain Alignment
I've been thinking a bit about alignment and what purpose it serves in the game.
Personal alignment has a roleplaying and a personal purpose (for the player - a loose guideline to play the character). I like when people go against their alignment, as long as they show that they're doing it. Good people forced to do evil things (or vice versa) is great stuff, for stories and for play. Having the alignment also keeps this from turning into a complete strategy game. However, I don't think it should have any mechanical effect - it might affect how some roleplay-awards are handed out, but that's it. Domain Alignment, however, has a different purpose.
Domain alignment adds consequences to your actions. It's how the different elements of your domain reacts to your actions. It also has a mystical element - since your regency power is created by your subjects and the land itself. How you domain feels about your actions is important.
Violating your domain's alignment can lead to regency loss.
Violating your domain's alignment and getting caught can lead to regency and stability loss.
Each alignment has a bunch of don'ts - rated from trivial (no regency loss, unless you do it a lot) to great (large regency loss).
Chaotic
Don't make other's decisions for them (trivial)
Don't let others tell you what to do in your domain (minor)
Don't let others decide the laws of your domain (major)
Don't become a vassel to lawful lieges (great)
Lawful
Don't break minor laws for you own benifit (trivial)
Don't ignore the letter of the law (minor)
Don't ignore the spirit of the law (major)
Don't break your word (great)
Good
Don't be selfish (trivial)
Don't ignore the plight of others (minor)
Don't commit murder (major)
Don't ignore the plight of your people (great)
Evil
Don't help others and get nothing in return (trivial)
Don't show weakness (minor)
Don't lack ambition (major)
Don't miss an opportunity to grap great power (great)
A trivial don't has no effect. Several trivial don'ts can lead to 10% regency loss and -0.1 stability.
A minor don't can lead to 10% regency loss and -0.1 stability.
A major don't can lead to 25% regency loss and -0.5 stability.
A great don't can lead to 50% regency loss and -1.0 stability.
Regency loss means loosing a percentage one's domain power in regency points. This is by no means a finalized list, there's going to be added more Don'ts to serve as examples. Stability loss only applies if the misstep is made public - eg. if the regent of a good domain is caught commissioning an assassination.
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Ok, that bad thing about brainstorming is that you occasionally get some... mediocre stuff out there. Been rethinking the alignment bit and the utter futility of making a do's and dont's list for every alignment. Not going to do that, it would also turn the whole thing far too board-gamey. This is supposed to be a rpg, not only a strategy game.
Anyway, the core remains:
Character alignment is a roleplaying tool and only has an effect on the area of play. Good roleplay often means occasionally going against your alignment and having to fight to stay within the bounds of it. I don't want negative consequences for either direction you take it in.
Domain alignment has an effect on the domain level. Breaking your domain's alignment can lead to regency loss, as the mystical connection between you domain and you weakens. Breaking your domain alignment publicly can lead to stability loss in addition to regency loss.
The do's and dont's... I'll keep them off the table. Most of us know the alignments and what they mean anyway. Evil is about being selfish and powerful, good is about being egletarian and just. Lawful is about sticking to a code and playing within the rules of society, chaotic is about personal freedom. Pure neutral is about preserving the status quo and not bothering others, nor let them bother you.
That being said, I think I'll be warning players when they are about to break their domains alignment. Sometimes the players and I can have different ideas about what an alignment means - it's best to tell people when they're stretching the bounds, so they don't feel blind-sided when they suddenly take stability or regency loss. (Like Bjørn has been warning a few of us by now).