TWS2 RPG Discussion Thread

[Nigel]

This is taking shape nicely.

I just want to let you guys know that I will be away for a 2 week vacation now.
Just in case you are progressing so far, that you want to start before I return, that would be fine by me. You can assign me my role and the gamemaster can make my first move. Then again, this may take some more time before it starts. But I just dont want my vacation to be the hold up for everyone.

[TheLastDays]

How are we going to distribute roles? First come first serve? Or should we do a random role between all players and the first can pick first and so on?

[Zim]

It's been done differently from game to game. In the past sometimes the main starting roles were given to players who were experienced and known to be active in prior games. I've not noticed this to make much difference in how the game plays out. We've had very experienced members have to drop out and completely new players become among the most active for the whole game.

After the rules are hashed out I plan on opening a signup thread where people can post that they still intend to play (and of course I'll add anyone to the list like Nigel who have stated they're in but that they'll be gone for a while). From there I'll find a way to randomly assign a player order and that will be the order they get to choose.

The last few days have been a blur of overtime and being sick but I have a little bit of time off (about a day and a half followed by a day of work and another half day off....yeah, my schedule is complicated right now) so I'm going to incorporate the suggested rules changes during that time. I think at that point we'll be pretty well set and just need to give the rules a look and some minor changes before getting the signup.

[Cecil XIX]

Can't wait!

[Kogitsune]

what he said

[Nigel]

Hi guys,

just to let you know that I am back and ready to take part or help where help is needed with this.

[Nigel]

Hello guys,

I have been in touch with Zim and he has been busy with doing overtime at work lately. He is still at it writing the rules and I promised him to help by drafting something about the civil war rules and thinking about how the ownership of samurai units could be made to work.

So here is my go at Samurai Unit Rules:

Ownership of samurai units by players is a neat idea and would give more importance to the “minor” characters, like Metsuke, Ninja, etc. However, there are two main hurdles/risks which we have to avoid.

1. Keeping track of unit ownership could be so time consuming that it becomes a real burden on the game master (i.e. Zim) and slows the game down.
2. We could loose track and end up arguing about who owns which unit.

The following rules are intended to avoid these risks.

Each player acts as a member of a noble family and is entitled to raise as many samurai units as he has influence points.

If the daimyo and his commissioners decide that they need another samurai unit, the daimyo chooses one nobleman and honours him by letting him raise that unit. The money comes out of the clan treasury (so we don’t need individual funds for each player). The nobleman is then expected to send his unit to serve under the command of whomever the war council has decided.

Each player is responsible to keep track of his own samurai units.

If we loose track and end up with some samurai owned by no one – or two noblemen claiming ownership of the same unit of samurai- this unit goes under the direct control of the daimyo.

If a nobleman looses influence points for whatever reason, he can keep all his samurai units, but cannot raise more until he has again more influence points than units.

After a battle, a general can request permission from a nobleman to merge his depleted samurai unit with a larger unit. The nobleman is expected to grant this permission unless he has a good reason not to. A good daimyo will consider to compensate the nobleman for the loss of his unit (e.g. by giving him permission to raise a new one at the next opportunity).

I hope these rules will enable us to play with ownership of samurai units. Especially, Zim, let me know if you think that letting players keep track of their own units themselves will work and you are happy to allow that. I guess it means that we are all willing to play along in good faith, but I am sure but I am sure the players here are prepared to do that.