TWS2 RPG Discussion Thread

[Arjos]

Well each general should have his own troops, and maybe supply some to the Daimyo during invasions or threats, but they wouldn't want to merge troops with other families, could operate side by side if ordered so though: can simply have the 2 armies near eachother's AoEs...
They'd be fighting to gain more status and priviliges from the Daimyo...

[TheLastDays]

Well I was talking about players that would not have a general to represent them in the game (yet) to have armies/units too. That'd would give their opinions/votes weight because the Daimyo would want their troops to join the campaing of course. On the other hand, directly refusing to fight would reduce influence or even get you decclared a rebel...

[Arjos]

Ah about the lesser figures, we could simply have the army under the ingame captain, and the agent could be overseeing it, unless he's busy with agent tasks...
About tracking which units everyone has, we could keep a post for that updated with each army composition, so if orded the agents could merge to support generals, as they aren't part of the war council...
This is just an idea to give agent players more to do, they could still fight battles, but with smaller armies and without a battle character development...

To summarize something like this:

Daimyo, has last word and decides the clan's conduct, can recruit any troop, can order vassals to supply troops.
Heir, can recruit any troop, oversees any operation.
CoW, can recruit only samurai and ashigaru units, oversees military operations.
CoS, can recruit only samurai and ashigaru units, oversees recruitment.
CoF, can recruit only samurai and ashigaru units, oversees taxation.
CoD, can recruit only samurai and ashigaru units, oversees constructions.
Admiral, can recruit only ships, oversees naval operations.
Head Metsuke, can recruit only ashigaru (maybe 1 samurai unit), oversees specific province/s given by the Daimyo, orders the other 4 metsuke.
Head Ninja, can recruit only ashigaru and kisho units, oversees the development of criminal buildings, orders the other 4 shinobi.
Head Monk, can recruit only ashigaru and monk units, oversees temples, orders the other 4 priests.

[Arjos]

Checked the starting families for each clan:

Chosokabe, 1 son and 1 general.
Shimazu, 3 sons and 1 general.
Date, 1 son and 2 brothers.
Hojo, 3 sons and 1 general.
Mori, 3 sons.
Oda, 2 sons and 1 general.
Takeda, 1 son and 2 brothers.
Tokugawa 1 son and 1 general.
Uesugi 1 brother.

Unless Zim has different plans, Hojo, Mori and Shimazu seem the best choices...
Also we'll need to determine who will control the diplomacy, splitting tasks, for example CoF for trade etc? Commissioner of Foreign Affairs?

[phonicsmonkey]

Unless Zim has different plans, Hojo, Mori and Shimazu seem the best choices...

I think Hojo or Mori, just because I have played Shimazu in SP and am bored with them

There are some great ideas here and it's fantastic to see so many people interested. Looks like it's going to be a great game.

One thing I'm noticing here is a trend towards more complexity, which is great in some ways but also a problem. Our recent experiences in the V&V RPG and to a lesser extent in KotN is that over-ambitious rules sets lead to GM fatigue and slow pace of turns while everything gets worked out and checked.

So I'd lean away from implementing too much in terms of 'personal property' or 'personal armies' because it can be quite difficult to administer.

We want this thing to run lean so it keeps a good pace and keeps everyone involved and immersed for as long as possible...

I know Zim has been working on some rules so I think he'll post here soon with those for everyone's comment.

[Zim]

Welcome to all new posters.

It's been very encouraging to see how much interest this has generated, and all the different ideas being suggested. Things are a little hectic for the next day and a half (I work long shifts, thankfully followed by long weekends), especially while trying to get a draft ruleset together but I am reading every post.

A couple brief points:
-Phonics' note about complexity is well stated. Too much will bog things down and make it hard on the GM or players (depending which is given the responsibility for keeping track of a feature). On the other hand, we want to make things as fun as we can for the all of the players. It's a tough balance and one things start we may pause briefly from time to time to take a look at any things that end up obviously not working well.
-Hojo and Mori both sound great to me, although I have been secretly hoping for Oda just so I could name the RPG after my favorite old game, Nobunaga's Ambition . Mori is a little bit safer being on an end of the main island rather than the center, and the naval and trade situation is more interesting on that side of the island. On the other hand, Hojo is right in the center of the action and a very tough and enjoyable game.
-I was thinking around H/H or VH/VH difficulty, but it will depend on what people are comfortable with. Maybe we could do a poll as we get closer to start time.

For the little I know about Sengoku Jidai Japan, the Daimyo held war councils where every general could and had to make known his view regarding strategy, but the final say was the Daimyo's...
So orders where issued according to his plan, influenced or not by his generals, and he could take control or choose a "delegate"...
Same with agents, with the head/s of each commission be given free hand or directives...
Influence points is a very good idea, could determine if one gets pardoned, trusted or forced to commit seppuku :D

If we are making the meetings each ten turns be more of an advising council than a legislative body this could be an interesting way to keep influence. Maybe players get a base number of points per turn, modified by titles or being a high rank in game (so a rank 10 Head Ninja who serves as a Commissioner would be pretty well set, for example). These could then be spent on things like censures or bumping yourself in the recruitment queue (if we're letting all characters control troops). Maybe it's just a crazy idea...

[TheLastDays]

Well my idea wasn't really going for personal armies. What I meant was, that each player, representing a familiy, would control an amount of Samurai warriors. They would only go to fight if their family head would send them, so, based in influence, every person in the council would have control over a part of the warrior supply of the clan. That gives their opinions real weight in the council, for the Daimyo could choose to ignore the advice of a powerful character but would risk not having this family's men at his disposal in the upcoming battles. This would also effectively limit the overall amount of Samurai our clan can field.

That brings me to another point: There could be a mechanic to force the Daimyo to commit Seppuku if he isn't succesful or in other ways dishonors himself. I never tried to disband the Daimyo, is it possible?

I'm for VH/H difficulties and either the Hojo or Oda.

[Kogitsune]

count me in!