I have questions!
Just as I hoped
Is this in addition to the existing influence actions/system? (except of course the parts of which it would replace)
or does it replace it completely
Well. I tried not to override anything we had outright. Basically this proposal suggests a system to easily manage what we had and stimulate us to have more of it. Most of the ideas we had we can easily reproduce within this system. So I would say it is neither an addition nor replacement, but an attempt to enhance and bring order to what we had through the use of simple basic rules:
My proposal:
Backstory(basic idea of who we are and why are we here) -> basic rules (previous post) -> code of laws (created by governmental bodies) -> code of laws (created by groups) -> all kinds of sneaky legalese gameplay.
Previous game:
Backstory -> code of laws (created by governmental bodies) -> code of laws (created by groups) -> all kinds of sneaky legalese gameplay.
So I proposed first two parts (to replace first and introduce second). It indeed messes a bit with what we had, but I believe in a good way (replacing parts that were not very suitable for laws to begin with).
so only the one central government can make laws? (that affect everyone, of course guilds can make internal laws)
Yes, because you need to have at least 2/3 ot total bound influence to dictate others your will. There can however be crisis situation when there will be no group that has a necessary mandate to take control over the situation(each having less then 2/3 of the influence). No laws can be issued in this situation until a legitimate government is created. Civil strife imminent
can anyone start a tradition at any time? is there any cost? (of course it won't do anything if a lot of people don't support it)
Also do NPCs vote on traditions? If so what do you have to do to make them vote how you want
traditions(well, ideas of what is good) can be started at any time at no cost. You basically go around and tell everyone how you like cats and how noble it is to have a cat. NPC do not vote for traditions directly. However if we will have a tradition that says that having serfs is good - your hired NPCs will cause you to gain more influence and thus your ideas to weigh more.
It works like this: If you are talking about a new idea - you create a page at the wiki about it and link your character page at the bottom and link the idea page from your character (idea has you as supporter; you support the idea).
Once every agreed upon term (I think overseer term is good enough) the ideas pages are inspected and influence behind each one is calculated. According to this ideas got promoted or demoted. So whenever you change your mind is not important, but every time influence is calculated - wiki should adequately represent your views.
As you can see it is hard to both promote and demote an idea. that is to pevent ideas from flipping and to show that old ideas can still have a powerful sway over the minds even long after being dominant in society.
is there any limit or restriction on what position you can usurp? I think you should be restricted to one major position (like guild leader, militia commander etc) so you can't use influence gained from usurping one position to usurp another and so on until you control everything
Well. There are a couple considerations about that.
First of all you pay for the usurpation with your personal influence, so you cannot pay for it with bound influence from your other positions. Overall you are losing influence while usurping (27->24 in the example). So you will be quite unlikely to usurp an awful lot of power.
And Second: do you remember the guy named Gaius Julius Caesar? He had a lot of influence, a lot of titles, but very few friends. I suspect that if you usurp a lot - you are likely to give it all back soon, together with your life
That would be good time to test our arena idea
So I am not sure we should forbid this type of gameplay. Of course final decision is for the gathering of tribe
when creating a (non government) position does the influence put into it directly equal the influence it is worth? How is the influence of government positions determined
Yes. you basically tie part of your current
The idea is to force people to use their best judgement every time. Several things must be weighted when you are creating a title:
is it likely to be usurped(make it a small one)? are you going to give it to someone; what for(more on this later)? will your heir inherit it after your demise(make it a big one)?
Now to the creation of titles for someone else: Imagine that you want someone to raise a squad for you.
You can give him a title of military tribune (little influence), but he might not be able to conscript much, since he had an abysmall influence to begin with, so everyone is too influential for your tribune to conscript.
Or you can name him a legate(moderate influence), and he will easily overcome most of the veteran serfs.
Or you can make him Dux(large influence), and he will be able to pick from the best warriors our fortress has to offer.
Also some actions may be discounted or even available only to Dux. Like investing legates or enlisting whole squads into your army.
Ofcourse that leaves a question of what is considered "Military Tribune", "Legate" and "Dux". Especially since the actual titles will be "Neblime's Bodyguard Chief(15 influence)" or "Kerod's Swornswords Leader(25 influence)". And that is basically up to government body to decide. One of the possible ways to handle that would be laws such as:
"A "Military Tribune" is a title of no less then 10 influence, which requires it's holder to train at least 2 seasons per year and have an adequate "fighter" skill. Any Military Tribune is entitled to sleep in communal barracks and to train in the yard we justy built. (will build)."
"A "Legate" is a title of no less then 20 influence, which requires holder to have at least competent weapon and teacher skill, own the said weapon and teach at least three recruits for at least 3 seasons per year. All Legates are to be supplied by steel armor free of charge and are free from taxation on any loot they acquire in spring."
That kind of stuff. So government set the rules, while private individuals look how can they profit within those rules. So as you can see Neblime's Bodyguard Chief can be considered Military Tribune, but will not be considered Legate. But that does not mean that he will not do a grat job guarding Neblime and his kin from any incursions. Kerod's Swornswords Leader can become Legate IF he will satisfy all the other requirements (train people, have skills, own weapon...).
Traditions is a really cool idea 
i think it can help a lot with the RP actually,
for example we can have a negative tradition for living underground, and if everyone is in agreement that it's bad it won't happen much, but opinions might change (or be forcibly changed by players!) same applies for trap use
Not sure what you mean by "forcibly", but yes, traditions give a lot of flexibility and stiffness at the same time
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Topic: Dwarven Metropolitan Area. A DF-assisted forum RPG. (Read 85354 times)