Brom
2009-07-07, 05:28 AM
Forgive me ahead of time if this isn't the most clear. It's late at night but I wanted to get my thoughts put down.
So, a few years back, I participated in a class about Japan. The teacher decided to teach the feudal Japanese history in the form of a game. In the game, each player assumed control of a feudal household. Each Feudal Household had it's own stats and aspects. The teacher, as the gamemaster, would do things in rounds. During some rounds, the gamemaster would introduce events. He would also take notes on what the players wanted to do. I am loosely stealing this system based on what I remember, and would like feedback.
Premise
The game implies that each player is a member of a society. What the society is gets decided by the players and gamemaster. In the game, every player has relatively equal power to begin with. There are also a handful of various nonplayer character factions which are an ongoing facet in the game setting. The game is ran by a gamemaster.
The game is ran based on a happy medium of having stats and capacities as a framework and clever ideas and plans carried out with collaboration between the GM and the player with aforementioned ideas. The game originated out of a Feudal Japanese setting, for instance. If I ran it, I'd probably put it in early Roman times.
The goal of the game is to be the last faction standing. How you do this is up to you.
How to Play
You, as a player, will create your household, nation, clan, etc. The size and scale of what you control is dependent on the setting. If the game setting is assumed to happen in a time of Hunter-gatherer tribes, no one is controlling a city full of people.
The round goes like this:
GM announces any events happening in the game world.
Players freely exchange ideas, publicly or secretly.
Players pass their actions in notes to the GM.
GM resolves all applicable actions publicly, and the rest secretly.
Each round represents a year. Players act simultaneously.
Upon creation, your household has a total of thirty in each stat, which include the following.
Peasantry: The common people who follow you. A high peasantry causes the people to back your efforts with food, accept higher taxes, toil for great projects at your command. Despite the title, this also includes any middle class skill based laborers that might exist. Low peasantries result in revolts, refusal to pay taxes, harboring of enemies of your state, and your people simply moving away from your lands and domain.
Peasantry can be increased by hosting festivals in the name of the religion, lowering taxes, creating beneficial holidays, and being a benevolant and just ruler. It can be raised by defending your nation from hostile incursion, taking firm government action to care for the sick during time of pestilence, taking appropriate actions to feed your people during a famine, etc.
Peasantry can be decreased by forcing religions on your people, increasing taxes, being a cruel ruler. It can be decreased by marching your peasants off to war, allowing them to die through famine, disaster, and disease. It can be decreased by selling your own people as slaves. Various acts can affect peasantry.
The basic rule of thumb is for the GM to eyeball it. Particularly good acts or bad acts could swing it by as much as ten points. Minor acts result in 1-5 point swings in any given direction. The scale:
Having 0 peasantry means that your common people have deserted you. You HAVE no peasants. Peasantry? What peasantry? The ones that all colonized...any other place but one you can be said to rule? This has negative reprecussions. You are no longer being paid, so your wealth can no longer increase. Your armies can no longer be fed by the populace, and are disbanded unless you have taken an in game action to store food, or are living off of the enemy. Bad things tend to happen, as judged by the GM.
1-10 peasantry. Your peasantry really, really thinks you suck. They resent taxes. Enemies of your state can freely find shelter there. Your peasants don't think you suck for no reason - it's probably because they are taxed, facing enslavement, a puntive government, or some other reason, though, so such conditions are generally painfully prevelant.
11-20 peasantry. Your peasantry doesn't like you, but you own their land and have given them a place to live. Your government supposedly takes care of them. They don't like you or it, but they abide by you. They probably won't do anything really awful to you, but they are close to abandoning ship and acting against you if something lowers your peasantry score.
21-30 peasantry. Starting peasantry is thirty. Not so great. Your peasantry listens to you, because you are the Law. You decide how much they get taxed. You own the armies. You're the head of state. They expect housing and to be taken care of as is necessary in a crises.
31-40 peasantry. Your peasantry generally likes you. You're spoken of fondly. Everyone acts lawfully, and they usually behave in accordance with your reasonable public wishes.
41-50 peasantry. Your peasanty believes that you're there for them. No one scoffs when you create new holidays, publicly promote a different religion, or accept colonists or migrants from a different state. You can increase taxes without becoming hated as long as you do so reasonably and temporarily. You are a subject of idle gossip.
51-60 peasantry. You're a home grown hero. People look to you for guidance. They'll tolerate taxes if you can come up with a reason. They'll shelter soldiers and make goods for them. They are unified behind you, and enemies of your nation trying to spread propoganda and dissent will find their rabble rousers being chased out of town. People are willing to give you a second, third, and fourth chance as a ruler as necessary and don't mind you being in power. (As long as your peasantry score stays this high, mind you.)
61-70 peasantry. People feel you're there for them. Criticism of your regime never really arises from the common man. If need be, you can start a draft - it won't be popular, but if you have just reasons, you can get it to happen. You can declare that people need to leave their homes in the face of disasters and expect compliance. You can enforce a new religion.
71-80 peasantry. Your public opinion is held staunchly. Whatever you declare to be the reality of things, people usually will follow at least initially. You can make a public call for just about anything you need to happen and expect people to seriously organize around that outcall from you.
81-90 peasantry. Your peasants treat you like they would a distant family members - blood relative. They are willing to accept crushing taxes in hopes that you'll continue to do well. They are willing to engage in a change of the political and economic system willingly. Major changes can be done from here.
91-100 peasantry. If it was at all possible to do away with administrators and upper class governance, they would do it and have you do all the work. You're beloved. No one's forgetting to mention you in a history book any time soon.
Nobility: Every player is in control in some fashion, so this assumes that they are in some way, shape, or form at the top of the heap. Your nobility is the support of fellow family members and other upper class people with political, economic, and religious power over the masses. A high nobility results in the ability to have your nation ran safely in your absence, the ability to spy easily on other nations, having good ambassadors and diplomats, and being able to have political unity. Low nobility results in attempts on your life, political coups, the selling out of your state secrets, and serious attempts to depose you by the most powerful men and women near your seat of power.
You can increase your nobility by being nepotistic and favoring the upper class. You can increase your nobility by making it clear you'll look the other way when business deals are going on. You can increase your nobility by giving your fellow people in the upper class plenty of chances to be in public spotlight. You can give them favorable trade deals.
You decrease your nobility by somehow making them less powerful or shaming your glorified social circle.
Military: This stat represents how effective your military is. Your military includes your policemen, as well as your soldiers. Your ability to wage asymetric, clandestine, and conventional war well is determined by this stat. A high military means that your troops are led by skilled generals and fight with vigor and skill. They are well trained and obey you. Good military allows you to keep the peace during times of unrest. A high military also allows you to make raids that target other people's stats. A poor military means that you are relatively defenseless and lacking in options.
You can increase your military by building fortresses, creating war collages, promoting training camps, hiring mercenaries, producing weapons, making new weapons, obtaining military assets.
You can decrease your military by allowing fortresses, weapons, and the things necessary to make them to fall into disrepair, disuse, or lessened accessibility.
Luck: Simply put, luck is the liklihood of your GM introducing some fortuitous event the game. A high luck might result in finding bountiful mines, accidentally inventing gunpowder explosives, and occasionally succeeding in battles where odds are you should have failed. A poor luck stat results in being plagued by a famine or finding your trade routes sabotaged by banditry or piracy. GM's can decide if they want this stat around or not.
You can increase your luck by investing points in it. Once you've invested, it's static.
Wealth: It's how rich you are. A high wealth stat implies the ability to buy state secrets, buy mercenaries, buy exclusive rights to trade goods. It implies a source of your wealth - gold mines, valuable pelts, lumber, etc. Being low on wealth implies you can't do this. One of the most dynamic and fluctuating stats in a game.
Wealth can be increased by selling any yearly surplus you have, selling your soldiers as mercenaries to fight in other people's wars, setting up trade alliances with other nations, putting down a taxes, actively seeking out gold mines, milling lumber.
You can decrease your wealth by spending it or losing assets that generate it.
You start with wealth equal to 10x your wealth score. You gain an amount of wealth for your wealth pool equal to your wealth score every round.
Relations: Relations implies your ability to get along well with various NPC neighbor nations and neutral factions that have agenda's distinct from other nations. A high relation means you might be in good standing with merchant princes of other nations, and you can call in favors. A poor relation stat might cause these factions to act actively against you.
You can increase your relations by holding regular ambassadoral meetings, sending painting, art, and other cultural valuables to other places and organizations. You can increase your relations by generally being kind, hospitable, and cooperative.
The inverse is true. Countries that never get anything out of their attempts to have relations with you will ignore you, and your relations score will go down. Same with organizations.
At the beginning of the game, you are given 100 points to spend. You can divide them between each of these three stats as you please. You can only increase a given stat to 60 at the beginning, but a stat can, through in game actions, be increased to as high as 100. You can lose points through various things, usually as judged by the GM.
NOTE: I'll write more later. It's late. I look forward to seeing the feedback I get.
So, a few years back, I participated in a class about Japan. The teacher decided to teach the feudal Japanese history in the form of a game. In the game, each player assumed control of a feudal household. Each Feudal Household had it's own stats and aspects. The teacher, as the gamemaster, would do things in rounds. During some rounds, the gamemaster would introduce events. He would also take notes on what the players wanted to do. I am loosely stealing this system based on what I remember, and would like feedback.
Premise
The game implies that each player is a member of a society. What the society is gets decided by the players and gamemaster. In the game, every player has relatively equal power to begin with. There are also a handful of various nonplayer character factions which are an ongoing facet in the game setting. The game is ran by a gamemaster.
The game is ran based on a happy medium of having stats and capacities as a framework and clever ideas and plans carried out with collaboration between the GM and the player with aforementioned ideas. The game originated out of a Feudal Japanese setting, for instance. If I ran it, I'd probably put it in early Roman times.
The goal of the game is to be the last faction standing. How you do this is up to you.
How to Play
You, as a player, will create your household, nation, clan, etc. The size and scale of what you control is dependent on the setting. If the game setting is assumed to happen in a time of Hunter-gatherer tribes, no one is controlling a city full of people.
The round goes like this:
GM announces any events happening in the game world.
Players freely exchange ideas, publicly or secretly.
Players pass their actions in notes to the GM.
GM resolves all applicable actions publicly, and the rest secretly.
Each round represents a year. Players act simultaneously.
Upon creation, your household has a total of thirty in each stat, which include the following.
Peasantry: The common people who follow you. A high peasantry causes the people to back your efforts with food, accept higher taxes, toil for great projects at your command. Despite the title, this also includes any middle class skill based laborers that might exist. Low peasantries result in revolts, refusal to pay taxes, harboring of enemies of your state, and your people simply moving away from your lands and domain.
Peasantry can be increased by hosting festivals in the name of the religion, lowering taxes, creating beneficial holidays, and being a benevolant and just ruler. It can be raised by defending your nation from hostile incursion, taking firm government action to care for the sick during time of pestilence, taking appropriate actions to feed your people during a famine, etc.
Peasantry can be decreased by forcing religions on your people, increasing taxes, being a cruel ruler. It can be decreased by marching your peasants off to war, allowing them to die through famine, disaster, and disease. It can be decreased by selling your own people as slaves. Various acts can affect peasantry.
The basic rule of thumb is for the GM to eyeball it. Particularly good acts or bad acts could swing it by as much as ten points. Minor acts result in 1-5 point swings in any given direction. The scale:
Having 0 peasantry means that your common people have deserted you. You HAVE no peasants. Peasantry? What peasantry? The ones that all colonized...any other place but one you can be said to rule? This has negative reprecussions. You are no longer being paid, so your wealth can no longer increase. Your armies can no longer be fed by the populace, and are disbanded unless you have taken an in game action to store food, or are living off of the enemy. Bad things tend to happen, as judged by the GM.
1-10 peasantry. Your peasantry really, really thinks you suck. They resent taxes. Enemies of your state can freely find shelter there. Your peasants don't think you suck for no reason - it's probably because they are taxed, facing enslavement, a puntive government, or some other reason, though, so such conditions are generally painfully prevelant.
11-20 peasantry. Your peasantry doesn't like you, but you own their land and have given them a place to live. Your government supposedly takes care of them. They don't like you or it, but they abide by you. They probably won't do anything really awful to you, but they are close to abandoning ship and acting against you if something lowers your peasantry score.
21-30 peasantry. Starting peasantry is thirty. Not so great. Your peasantry listens to you, because you are the Law. You decide how much they get taxed. You own the armies. You're the head of state. They expect housing and to be taken care of as is necessary in a crises.
31-40 peasantry. Your peasantry generally likes you. You're spoken of fondly. Everyone acts lawfully, and they usually behave in accordance with your reasonable public wishes.
41-50 peasantry. Your peasanty believes that you're there for them. No one scoffs when you create new holidays, publicly promote a different religion, or accept colonists or migrants from a different state. You can increase taxes without becoming hated as long as you do so reasonably and temporarily. You are a subject of idle gossip.
51-60 peasantry. You're a home grown hero. People look to you for guidance. They'll tolerate taxes if you can come up with a reason. They'll shelter soldiers and make goods for them. They are unified behind you, and enemies of your nation trying to spread propoganda and dissent will find their rabble rousers being chased out of town. People are willing to give you a second, third, and fourth chance as a ruler as necessary and don't mind you being in power. (As long as your peasantry score stays this high, mind you.)
61-70 peasantry. People feel you're there for them. Criticism of your regime never really arises from the common man. If need be, you can start a draft - it won't be popular, but if you have just reasons, you can get it to happen. You can declare that people need to leave their homes in the face of disasters and expect compliance. You can enforce a new religion.
71-80 peasantry. Your public opinion is held staunchly. Whatever you declare to be the reality of things, people usually will follow at least initially. You can make a public call for just about anything you need to happen and expect people to seriously organize around that outcall from you.
81-90 peasantry. Your peasants treat you like they would a distant family members - blood relative. They are willing to accept crushing taxes in hopes that you'll continue to do well. They are willing to engage in a change of the political and economic system willingly. Major changes can be done from here.
91-100 peasantry. If it was at all possible to do away with administrators and upper class governance, they would do it and have you do all the work. You're beloved. No one's forgetting to mention you in a history book any time soon.
Nobility: Every player is in control in some fashion, so this assumes that they are in some way, shape, or form at the top of the heap. Your nobility is the support of fellow family members and other upper class people with political, economic, and religious power over the masses. A high nobility results in the ability to have your nation ran safely in your absence, the ability to spy easily on other nations, having good ambassadors and diplomats, and being able to have political unity. Low nobility results in attempts on your life, political coups, the selling out of your state secrets, and serious attempts to depose you by the most powerful men and women near your seat of power.
You can increase your nobility by being nepotistic and favoring the upper class. You can increase your nobility by making it clear you'll look the other way when business deals are going on. You can increase your nobility by giving your fellow people in the upper class plenty of chances to be in public spotlight. You can give them favorable trade deals.
You decrease your nobility by somehow making them less powerful or shaming your glorified social circle.
Military: This stat represents how effective your military is. Your military includes your policemen, as well as your soldiers. Your ability to wage asymetric, clandestine, and conventional war well is determined by this stat. A high military means that your troops are led by skilled generals and fight with vigor and skill. They are well trained and obey you. Good military allows you to keep the peace during times of unrest. A high military also allows you to make raids that target other people's stats. A poor military means that you are relatively defenseless and lacking in options.
You can increase your military by building fortresses, creating war collages, promoting training camps, hiring mercenaries, producing weapons, making new weapons, obtaining military assets.
You can decrease your military by allowing fortresses, weapons, and the things necessary to make them to fall into disrepair, disuse, or lessened accessibility.
Luck: Simply put, luck is the liklihood of your GM introducing some fortuitous event the game. A high luck might result in finding bountiful mines, accidentally inventing gunpowder explosives, and occasionally succeeding in battles where odds are you should have failed. A poor luck stat results in being plagued by a famine or finding your trade routes sabotaged by banditry or piracy. GM's can decide if they want this stat around or not.
You can increase your luck by investing points in it. Once you've invested, it's static.
Wealth: It's how rich you are. A high wealth stat implies the ability to buy state secrets, buy mercenaries, buy exclusive rights to trade goods. It implies a source of your wealth - gold mines, valuable pelts, lumber, etc. Being low on wealth implies you can't do this. One of the most dynamic and fluctuating stats in a game.
Wealth can be increased by selling any yearly surplus you have, selling your soldiers as mercenaries to fight in other people's wars, setting up trade alliances with other nations, putting down a taxes, actively seeking out gold mines, milling lumber.
You can decrease your wealth by spending it or losing assets that generate it.
You start with wealth equal to 10x your wealth score. You gain an amount of wealth for your wealth pool equal to your wealth score every round.
Relations: Relations implies your ability to get along well with various NPC neighbor nations and neutral factions that have agenda's distinct from other nations. A high relation means you might be in good standing with merchant princes of other nations, and you can call in favors. A poor relation stat might cause these factions to act actively against you.
You can increase your relations by holding regular ambassadoral meetings, sending painting, art, and other cultural valuables to other places and organizations. You can increase your relations by generally being kind, hospitable, and cooperative.
The inverse is true. Countries that never get anything out of their attempts to have relations with you will ignore you, and your relations score will go down. Same with organizations.
At the beginning of the game, you are given 100 points to spend. You can divide them between each of these three stats as you please. You can only increase a given stat to 60 at the beginning, but a stat can, through in game actions, be increased to as high as 100. You can lose points through various things, usually as judged by the GM.
NOTE: I'll write more later. It's late. I look forward to seeing the feedback I get.