Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 5521386" data-attributes="member: 27160">Only as long as he has the loyalty of his core &quot;society&quot; (the thugs), and only as long as I don't organise with others more numerous than his thugs.&nbsp; Like my own local police force.The NPC has two additional (and, I think, important) advantages: (1) he is more-or-less immune to (low level) thugs, and (2) he can coerce other people of all professions to do his bidding, based on the fact that he can trivially beat them in a fight.&nbsp; Except for other &quot;heroes&quot;, of course.I think he is a lot better off, because of his immunity to any but higher-level threats and his ability to dominate any of lower level to get his bidding done.Leaving aside that this produces a very odd society (&quot;inheritance&quot; is by virtue of levels rather than political selection, birth or other &quot;real world&quot; mechanisms), it also mitigates against the assumptions of many RPG campaigns.&nbsp; It would make huge sense for rulers to 'license' levelled characters, for example.&nbsp; Once you are clearly 'experienced', you either demonstrate loyalty or are &quot;dealt with&quot;.&nbsp; This is absolutely neccessary for any ruler - as a 'levelled' character you are the only real threat to his or her rule.&nbsp; Magic items would have to be handed to the 'government' by all 'loyal' subjects.&nbsp; Selected ones would be returned.&nbsp; No real &quot;government&quot; in the sense we usually think of it would be feasible.&nbsp; Equality of opportunity would not merely be frowned upon by society - it would be utterly impossible to achieve.A world that works on these terms might possibly be constructed - but it would look nothing at all like a pseudo-medieval fantasy world as imagined in most FRP campaigns.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 5521386, member: 27160"] Only as long as he has the loyalty of his core "society" (the thugs), and only as long as I don't organise with others more numerous than his thugs. Like my own local police force. The NPC has two additional (and, I think, important) advantages: (1) he is more-or-less immune to (low level) thugs, and (2) he can coerce other people of all professions to do his bidding, based on the fact that he can trivially beat them in a fight. Except for other "heroes", of course. I think he [I]is[/I] a lot better off, because of his immunity to any but higher-level threats and his ability to dominate any of lower level to get his bidding done. Leaving aside that this produces a very odd society ("inheritance" is by virtue of levels rather than political selection, birth or other "real world" mechanisms), it also mitigates against the assumptions of many RPG campaigns. It would make huge sense for rulers to 'license' levelled characters, for example. Once you are clearly 'experienced', you either demonstrate loyalty or are "dealt with". This is absolutely neccessary for any ruler - as a 'levelled' character you are the [I]only[/I] real threat to his or her rule. Magic items would have to be handed to the 'government' by all 'loyal' subjects. Selected ones would be returned. No real "government" in the sense we usually think of it would be feasible. Equality of opportunity would not merely be frowned upon by society - it would be utterly impossible to achieve. A world that works on these terms might possibly be constructed - but it would look nothing at all like a pseudo-medieval fantasy world as imagined in most FRP campaigns. [/QUOTE]

Verification