Domain Games for ALL

[Kinaed]

So, IP is in! OMG so excited.

So are DOMAINS! Yes, that's right. Your titled nobles have domains to care for! They're not finished, but we're focused on getting them in ASAP - HELP DOMAIN CASTERLAY is an example of what we're working on there, by the way. Where it says (null) is where Amdair's help file will go.

And so, on to the next thing. TI is -not- a game about the nobles, so we've been thinking really hard about all of the things that non-nobles can do in a domain, and we think we have it... let us know what you think?

Each domain will stats, loosely related to what each of the guilds and people do in a place they live:

Happiness - Troubadours
Literacy - Holy Order
Military - Knights Lithmorran
Law and Order - Reeves
Economics - Merchants
Criminal - Thieves
Heresy & Magery - Manus
Bureaucracy - Court
Agriculture - Unaligned

We can change the stats if people have better suggestions - this was kinda the result of my lonely brainstorming before other staff members were online...

As players invest IP into domains, they can utilize their guild to raise or lower stats in the domain. Even nobles can do this, though they may have a bit more trouble shifting a stat up or down in an area outside of their expertise. Obviously, members in a guild will have stronger stance to affect the stat relevant to their guild, but anyone can spend IP to cause things to happen in a domain - either great and sunny things or disasters for both the noble and the rest of the pbase to work their way through.

Each noble will choose to order the importance of these items to their domain. This will create a culture and characteristics for each domain. Domains that increase their primary stats will have income bonuses and other things for their nobles? Any other suggestions?

It's the kernel of something with major goodness going on, but it's not quite there yet... ideas are most welcome! Thanks!

[Bennie]

Perhaps it is but my Churchy brain, but I've noticed sort of 'anti-heresy' seems to be missing.. I would like the Order, for all its good will, would be more invested in religious fervor than in literacy (though likely both!)

However, this all looks great. So excited!!!

[Empheba]

This sounds like a lot of fun!

Looking at this list, it strikes me that many of these stats are natural opposites. So why not have these stats affect a few fewer stats in opposite ways. Say for example there is a stat "Law". This could rise and fall depending on how Reeves and Thieves respectively influence the domain. What the current rating is could be summarized by an adjective, even - from "Police state" down to "Pirate haven".

One could envision interconnectivity between how the influences affect each stat too. Some examples (off the top of my head, some probably iffy):

• Law (Thieves vs Reeves): Police state <--> Pirate heaven
• Religious zeal (Order vs Magery): Dav's paradise <--> Heretical haven (or something)
• Economics (Court + Military vs Agriculture + Merchants). Military/Bureaucracy <--> Farm realm/Trading hub. The idea is that a large military force and a lot of nobles drain economy more than having trade and farming.
• Military Inverse of Economics, maybe? On the other hand, a rich trade realm could create a military by mercenaries, so this one is a bit unclear.
• Happiness (<Law> + <Religious zeal> + Troubadours + Economics?). This is an important stat (in my mind), influenced by the values of the other stats. The parts within <...> means that these should strive to be at some "sweet spot" level which is unique for each domain. Deviating from this ideal in either direction will reduce Happiness. For example, a Police state is not fun for anyone any more than a complete lawlessness ("anyone" meaning the bulk of the population). And an super-oppressive Orderite zeal in every aspect of life is no more ideal than the Magus ruling by fear unopposed. How people "want it" would however vary per domain. So Lithmore's ideal could be Full Religious zeal+Police state, whereas Tubor would probably need more lax regulation in order to optimize their Happiness stat. To continue down the equation, having a good Economics is always good for happiness. And also in the most sad of domains, having Troubadours will also help lift people's spirits (just look at how they did it in Rome).

Just some ideas. I think it's important that realms have some unique properties and starting points than others (like in my suggestion with the "sweet spot" for what the population thinks is a good level of policing, religious zeal etc). This makes some realms more suitable for certain groups, shifting the playing field around. It also means that people shouldn't just chug in as much IP as they can in a stat - this will affect other stats and you can really improve/subvert a realm in more than one way. It also creates some natural (and realistic) conflicts (such as merchants vs knights/nobles) that may not be as obvious as the reeves vs thieves or order vs mages ones. More conflicts are good.
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Empheba

[Kinaed]

I love those ideas, Empheba. :)

We were thinking that the nobles who own the domains might choose a general 'profile of sweet spots' similar to how we choose our character's stats in chargen. Possibly each region or duchy might have heavy standards of 'sweet spots'?

I'm thinking players might have a command like 'event <domain> improve/degrade <stat> <One sentence event desc that will be logged and reported to the domain owner and, possibly, to the rumor mill>.'

The events players cause with their IP would be saved in a 'history file' that will allow players with suitable lore skills to see the history of a domain when they type 'HELP DOMAIN CASTERLAY' (for example). So, players could increase the law side by having troops march in, or decrease it by having bandit raids happen. In my eye, the niceness of this is bringing the world to life around us all - what's happening far away?

Also, I like all the stat profiles cumulating in the happiness stat - the reason being is that we're using population to provide nobles more income. So, if they work getting their population up, then for every few hundred people their domain attracts, they get some more silver per week. Happiness is an ideal stat to mark population off. I also love how the other stats, in high and low adjectives, actually give a -feel- for the domain. Thanks for the idea!

[Geras]

How does changing a stat of the domain affect the people spending the IP? Or am I missing something?

[Kinaed]

I'd reflect their ability to influence the world around them?

Are you looking for something more concrete?

[Geras]

No I was just confused. I assume having stuff generated from those stats have broader effects is something more down the road, yes?

And is it still planned for Joe Schmoes to eventually be able to buy domains?

[Kinaed]

I didn't plan for Joe Schmoes to be able to "buy" domains in the sense of being able to become a titled noble through silver outlay (though when we're advanced enough codewise with regards to regulation of these things, I'd like to think that could ICly become possible). Rather, I was thinking that Joe Schmoe could spend influence points in a domain to cause events to happen there, benefit or hinder a noble, etc - but I recognize the point that there's not really a lot in it that makes sense for an individual person to spend their time and energy influencing these things... and we'd need ways for it ICly to make sense.

So, I'm thinking about what those things could look like. Why would Joe Schmoe want influence in Casterlay? What would he get out of affecting it other than maybe helping his liege lord or 'sticking it to' him?

[Bennie]

I really like Emphema's ideas myself.

Of all the things coming in with influence, this is the coolest in my opinion.

[Empheba]

Glad my ideas were appreciated!

So, I'm thinking about what those things could look like. Why would Joe Schmoe want influence in Casterlay? What would he get out of affecting it other than maybe helping his liege lord or 'sticking it to' him?

Well, let's assume a system like the one suggested - where realm stats influence each other. Now make it hard for people to add influence "outside their field". It could be impossible for a noble to put influence in anything but Court/Noble stat, or at least much more costly. Some stats, such as Thievery should be impossible for the noble to affect at all.

Then, even if only the noble stands to codedly gain from the "Happiness" of the realm, it drives the noble to bargain with the other interest groups to optimize their realm - they have to, since it's the only way to change things. This will no doubt lead to IC rewards down the chain too, as the noble IC buys/convinces people to do their bidding.

This way, I would think each individual doesn't need to really gain from IP in code (this should come IC).

A more advanced system adds realm-incentive on a guild-level. This gives every guild -reason- to partake in the political game, not only as a service to a noble's whim.

• Nobles gain by high Happiness. Gains wealth. I also think there should be a status involved here, directly influencing how they should expect to be treated by other nobles. A same-rank noble with a well-kept domain should expect respect from one with a poor and struggling domain. Maybe there should even be a command for this, to easily compare your current status compared with the one you meet?
• Merchant guild likes good Economics/Merchant presence in a realm. Affects their coffers.
• Knights want as high Military as possible (regardless of Economics or Happiness). This might maybe help raise their IC status somehow but no doubt it increases the guild's coffers.
• Reeves want as high Law as possible (regardless of what this does for the realm's "sweet spot" Law). I guess this should affect their money too, but it would be interesting to see some more IC tangibles. Maybe the total number of high-law realms affects how easy it is to IC quell crime, I don't know.
• Thieves want as low Law as possible, obviously. Apart from keeping the money flowing, maybe the total number of Low-Law realms affects their ability to stay safe IC somehow?
• Order wants high religious zeal, regardless of any other stats. A high number of high-zeal realms cull the Magus' abilities somehow.
• Mages wants low religious zeal, regardless of any other stats. Maybe Low religious zeal in many realms opens up some ancient source of power for the Magus? This would also incur a clear motivation for the Order to fight back (and be on the defensive for once).
• Troubadours don't gain from anything in particular - their rewards are just whatever they IC negotiate for. In this, one could revive the old notion of Troubs often being spies on the side, meaning they might add influence to "boost" any other stat (by good intel). This would make Troubs interesting for more than the nobles to get help from, befitting their rogue-like reputation.

With each guild having a goal of their own, and these goals mostly clashing, I think there would be plenty of opportunity for conflict and politics, also without any other individual-level gain. A simple personal coded gain would otherwise to be a QP for every X IP spent or some such.

For politics to truly come alive though I think more people need to be involved - not only people with support on their own, but everyone (at least everyone in a guild) should have at least a minimum level of IP to spend, making them interesting targets for people to try to influence for their goals. The PCs are after all not quite the rank and file and should be given all opportunities for fun RP I think.
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Empheba