[GP] A Game of Politics (Recruiting 2 more)

[Timothy]

Dean Herzal Brandt entered the office of Sepsar Ulsar, Prime Resident of Farnese, Sepsar was sitting in a chair that was a bit too big for him. Dean Brandt sat down in front of him and waited until Sepsar would start to speak. "Herzal, I've asked you here because I have an idea. I want to form a now committee of promising young men and women to investigate problems and find a suitable solution for them. These young people will need to work together and I hope the differences between the houses will be bridged in that committee. I want you to assemble that committee. Preferably 9 young men, every house will have one representative, if you can find them." The Dean nodded left his chair, in his mind he allready had some fine candidates.

This will be a political game set in the homebrew world of Farnese, you will play one of those promising young people. Your work in the committee will probally involve lots of talking and some adventuring too. The players do not only have to solve problems, but they will have to work te increase their standing within their own houses. They can also help their house accomplish some goals.
The game will therefor play in the forum as well as by mail (or those nifty-spoiler-hiding-thingies) as people have to be able to make plans other players don't know about or are not involved in.

All the characters are personally picked bij Herzal Brandt, Dean of the academy because they were best in their subject. Together you will form the committee of extraordinary affairs. That committee will be given subjects to look into by the council of houses or the ruling council. Whatever the committee decides on a subject will be considered official policy. Nest to this you will all get a special position in your house.

In game terms this means that the players can influence both their houses and the nation.
The players can also add more detail to the world around them. If you want to flesh out a region, for example a major city, or one of the neighbouring nations, you'll be ablo to do that.

Here are the rules for character creation:

System: D&D 3.5
Race: Human (other Core races allowed with suitable background)
Level: 5 (all characters will have to have at least one level of the special aristocrat class)
Point buy: 32 points
Books allowed: 3.5 core books. (with a suitable background I might be tempted to let this one slip, but don't count on it)
Houses: All players will have to choose one of the houses of Farnese. Once a house is taken, it's taken, only one player per house.

Currently there are 6 players with a character

Eimhin Quinn of House Corona Austrina - Ranger Rick
Alessa Siladre of House Serpens - Nephtys
Liem Halor of House Leo - Rino
Seguith Naram of House Monoceros - Ringmereth
Julius Forte of House Taurus - Lord Raven88
Sarrom Wurfter of house Centaurus - Twinswords
Anguis Fevre of house Ara - Rhialto

Two spots left, House Lyra and House Vela.

The links:

IC
Rogues gallery

 

[Timothy]

The first post of this thread has been edited a couple of times, First it asked for some feedback on the homebrew. If you have any feedback, please tell me, I'm still very interested to hear.

 

[Branding Opportunity]

Hi Timothy, just took a quick look at your background which sounds very interesting. One suggestion I would make is that if the game will be a purely (or mostly) political one, I would make the PCs major players. If you start them off as young aristocrats, they would probably have not enough of a stake in things to make them truly exciting to play. They also would not have serious clout. If your character has the ability to influence the life of hundreds if not thousands of people, it hightens the stakes (and the fun) quite a bit.

Years ago I played in a Dune MUSH set in the Imperial seat before the occurences of the first book. Everyone played heads of houses, or major members of the various households, and I thought it was a lot of fun.

Another idea is that you open this up to A LOT of people. Those who want to play a lot get the major "roles" and those who just want to post every once in a while get smaller ones. You could even have multiple threads going at the same time, one for each of the major power groups, and then one thread where everyone plays together for major events or meetings.

I just realized that my suggestions take the game in a somewhat different direction than what you have posted. Just wanted to add my thoughts.

 

[Timothy]

Hi BO

I like your suggestion that the players could have more power. I Agree that this would make the game more interesting politically and that is what I want.

What I'm worries about is the way in which the players will communicate. If they have too much power they could be tempted to follow their own plans, while I'd like them to work as a team. The fact that everybode in the team has his own agenda should make for interesting intrigue.

I really like the idea of getting a lot more players in, but I fear I would get myself in over my head.

How do you (and others) think that the best way of in game communication is reached?

 

[Branding Opportunity]

What I'm worries about is the way in which the players will communicate. If they have too much power they could be tempted to follow their own plans, while I'd like them to work as a team. The fact that everybode in the team has his own agenda should make for interesting intrigue.

Well, you could have everyone be part of the same faction. That way everyone is working for the greater glory of whatever group they belong to, but going about it in different ways. It also leaves the door open for much intra-faction fighting, which occurs in any large organization with a defined hierarchy.

I really like the idea of getting a lot more players in, but I fear I would get myself in over my head.

That's certainly something to fear. Better to keep it small and then build on that. You could help yourself by allowing players to develop sections of the campaign world, not just their characters. That would give them a greater stake in the game, in addition to fleshing things out more.

 

[Nephtys]

Sounds interesting, but it might be difficult for the characters to work together as a team if they all represent different families and interests. Guess it depends on how wide your definition of teamwork is...

 

[Timothy]

The idea of having all people be from one faction would solve teamplay issues, but IMO it will decrease the political aspect of the game.

My idea was that all the players would be in one committee and had to reach the same goal as committee. While getting to that goal, they should try to further themsleves and their houses. I was thinking of placing the committee in the Council of houses. If I opt for the option that players are powerful, they can be representatives of their houses in this council as well.

What house would you like best, Nepthys?

 

[Timothy]

Okay, I decided to open the game up since my schedule in August lit up (Fewer Summer exams)

 

[Nephtys]

What house would you like best, Nepthys?

Serpens seems interesting.

 

[Timothy]

Serpens seems interesting.

Chaos, Trickery and evil.

Nice choice!