[Discuss] duchy system rework ?

[Stijn Van Hove]

On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 1:43 PM, Tom Vogt <tom at lemuria.org> wrote:

> Lately, a lot of us here, me including, have had the feeling that
> something is wrong with the game.
>
> I think one part of it is that with the whole multiple layers and
> hierarchy things, it's become too political and too complicated,
> especially for the casual players.
>
> I've been thinking a few hard design thoughts, on how to simplify things
> again without giving up the core of the gameplay. Here's what I think is
> a good solution:
>
> We strip out the duchy level and the hierarchy.
>
> Many small realms only have one duchy anyways, and it adds a lot of
> complexity without really adding much to the game. There's no reason we
> can't roleplay duchies, or other groupings of regions, but right now the
> game mechanics add very little to the game experience.
>
> How about we have the gameplay on two levels instead: Regional and
> realm. There is a good, visible distinction between them, which helps
> clearing up all the confusion.
>
> Region lords are appointed by the ruler, knights are sworn to regions.
> ALWAYS. It can be a 0% oath, but if we have absolutely everyone assigned
> to a region, then everyone knows where he or she belongs as well.
> Strengthening regional allegiance is much easier than strengthening
> allegiance to an abstract construct like a duchy. We can do it simply by
> making estates more important.
>
> It would remove a whole lot of code complexity as well.
>
>
>
> Comments?


I don't know. Personally I would much rather see duchies more involved, and
realms being stripped of most of their power. The history of my fatherland
has been one that is was never a "realm" until the 19th century, and before
that always was a duchy. Our entire history is made up of fighting against
realms who believed they could own the duchy and run it from some far away
centralised capitals. And even now I still feel more nationalistic feelings
to the parts of this country that were part of the original Duchy of
Flanders, than to the general country Belgium in itself.

More ways for a duchy to go against the realm would I think be more
interesting. Yes, it adds more political stuff to the game, but only for
those who actually want to be a part of that. No casual player is forced to
become a duke and bother with the political play involved in that.

If you're that much of a casual player: follow the orders of your liege and
your marshall and you're set. Nothing complicated about that.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://news.battlemaster.org/pipermail/discuss-moderated/attachments/20080323/31e669fa/attachment.htm 
-------------- next part --------------


-- 
Unsubscribing and other list options:
http://news.battlemaster.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss