[Discuss] Honor/Prestige

[John P. Murphy]

On Jul 25, 2007, at 2:55 PM, Timothy Collett wrote:

> On Jul 25, 2007, at 2:52 PM, J. Stephens wrote:
>> If everyone's values were "hidden" from others then elections and
>> appointments would be based upon how we felt about the other
>> character and what they've done to deserve such an appointment,  
>> right?
>>
>> Am I way out there on this?  I guess I've never really understood
>> why H and P need to be publicly displayed.  Leave fame there for
>> the "standings" board and on the family page as it's a reflection
>> of how "worldly" the family is but why does H or P really matter
>> for game balance?
>
> You have misunderstood entirely what those statistics *are*.  They
> are an indication of how the world views the character.
>
> By their very *nature* everyone knows them.  To have them be secret
> would be an irreconcilable self-contradiction.

Thinking about this, I'm wondering why we can't attempt to *buy*  
honor or prestige, for those who consider it so valuable.  Obviously,  
it wouldn't be on the "5 gold per honor" system, but more like,  
"There was a huge and glorious battle in a neighboring region.  It's  
a shame you weren't able to make it in time, but your scribe assures  
you that for about 10 gold in beer and forged messages, everyone can  
*think* you were there.  Imagine how prestigious that would be!  (But  
also imagine how dishonorable it would look if you got found out!   
Maybe you'd better spend 20 just to be sure...)"
The base chance of success would depend on how much gold you spend,  
as well as whether you had realm-mates in the battle, number of  
actual participants, how many regions away you were (maybe you were  
in the region but your troops were wounded, or you successfully  
evaded), etc.  Perhaps you could also attempt to plant stories more  
or less believable from "Merely participated" which would net you 1  
or 2 honor, but would be easy to get away with, to "Saved the day"  
which would net you 1 or 2 prestige, but would be damned hard to get  
away with (especially if your side lost...)

It wouldn't just manipulate the H/P system, it would also throw in  
some unpredictability -- if your less loyal TLs are convinced that  
they'll lose a battle, they might be more willing to stay out of it  
and plan to just pretend they fought.

John