TWS2 RPG Discussion Thread

[Zim]

Thanks for the help Nigel.

The only thing I'd wonder about is how to decide if a samurai unit is not owned by anyone. Does than mean noone cliams it? What if someone claims it but seem unlikely? I don't have any problem with people stretching to get ownership of a samurai unit but I wonder what it takes for one to go to Daimyo control.

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.

[Nigel]

Thanks for the help Nigel.

The only thing I'd wonder about is how to decide if a samurai unit is not owned by anyone. Does than mean noone cliams it? What if someone claims it but seem unlikely? I don't have any problem with people stretching to get ownership of a samurai unit but I wonder what it takes for one to go to Daimyo control.

Well, a “natural” cause for samurai units coming under the daimyo’s control would be if the nobleman dies (in battle, by assassination or whatever reason). His samurai would then fall under the daimyo’s command and he could decide if he wants to keep them or use them to reward another deserving clan member.


If we do want to play with ownership of samurai units, I guess we will need a way to keep track of them in public. Perhaps each player could post and maintain a post with his personal game information. Something like this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Player: Nigel
In game character: Sugawara Akitada
Position: Metsuke (overseeing Sanuki)
Influence Points: 3

Samurai Retainers:
1 bow samurai, garrisoned at Tosa
1 katana samurai, serving under general Ishikawa (Phonicsmonkey)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Of course things would be much easier, if we could give units individual names, like we could in NTW. But I dont think this is possible in S2TW anymore.

[deguerra]

Sigh. Them and removing functions previously available...