Successor game rules, draft one.

[TinCow]

At any point anyone is free to put up their own rule system or volunteer to take over gm duties. I put my own efforts towards doing so because nooone else seemed willing to at the time and I've found these games to be a big part of the fun I've had since coming to the Org. I'm not a lawyer and I've never written rules for a complex game before. I'm just doing the best I can...

I didn't mean to cause offense, I was just trying to spot potential problems before they occurred. I can tell you for a fact I wouldn't touch the GM spot with a 10 foot pole. I spent a year doing that for LotR, and for this game I just want to be a player. It is definitely a rewarding and fun job, particularly with the event system, but it does cause fatigue and I am currently fatigued.

I queried this earlier and apparently it is intended. I think the VH taxes are partly to slow expansion. I am inferring ownership lies with the conqueror, but because he can't recruit, it's not a very juicy prize. I think the wording was the result of some to and fro, though, so if you want to propose one or more alternatives, that might be helpful.

No, it's fine, I just wanted to make sure the wording was doing what it was intended to do. As it stands, it will certainly slow expansion. Towards the end, LotR instituted a rule system for full-on independence movements that split off sections of the Empire from the rest and gave them an element of autonomy. Part of that included jacking up taxes to VH, and that resulted in serious unrest and rebellions in any province without a major garrison. This will will probably have a greater impact on slowing expansion than anything else proposed, simply because after we've expanded beyond the most immediate territories, the conquering army will have to remain as a garrison until the next Council session due to the unrest level. It will be a very effective method of expansion control.

I wonder if you could redraft that to allow nobles to swear oaths to nobles of higher rank (only)? Also, could you clarify where the King stands in relation to oaths, as I recall - with some pique - Lothar saying he did not recognise the King as his liege; is that the official KotF position on Duke-King relations?

In LotR, no one could swear fealty to the Emperor, because nominally everyone was supposed to be a vassal of the Emperor. I think it would work the same way here. By allowing oaths to the King, you essentially imply that anyone who doesn't swear the oath isn't subordinate to the King, which just isn't true in our game.