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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6364595" data-attributes="member: 177">Correct.&nbsp; That's what we were talking about.&nbsp; Mind you, the Qin Dynasty didn't put up their paperwork for security.&nbsp; It wasn't, &quot;There are dangrous peope about, and you need to prove you aren't them.&quot;&nbsp; It was, as noted above, about taxation and economic control.&nbsp; The Qin Emperor had gotten rid of the middle-men feudal lords, and was trying to manage a large empire without them.&nbsp; The paperwork was about keeping people put doing the jobs that needed doing, and making sure the Imperial Throne got a cut of everything.&nbsp; It wasn't so much about giving positive identification as it was about providing receipt of purchase.Yes.&nbsp; But now heaven help your game if the PCs don't really want to work for the government.&nbsp; As soon as you institute paperwork ID, the first thing in the player's mind will be &quot;How do I get fakes?&quot;&nbsp; See previous notes about bribery and forgery.&nbsp; And outright theft of documents, too.Basically, as soon as you say, &quot;people must present ID&quot;, the issue of false ID will come up, in a big way.&nbsp; Is that something you want to bother with in your game?&nbsp; Is that *fun*?&nbsp; If yes, good.&nbsp; If not, then I question its inclusion, however &quot;realistic&quot; it may be.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 6364595, member: 177"] Correct. That's what we were talking about. Mind you, the Qin Dynasty didn't put up their paperwork for security. It wasn't, "There are dangrous peope about, and you need to prove you aren't them." It was, as noted above, about taxation and economic control. The Qin Emperor had gotten rid of the middle-men feudal lords, and was trying to manage a large empire without them. The paperwork was about keeping people put doing the jobs that needed doing, and making sure the Imperial Throne got a cut of everything. It wasn't so much about giving positive identification as it was about providing receipt of purchase. Yes. But now heaven help your game if the PCs don't really want to work for the government. As soon as you institute paperwork ID, the first thing in the player's mind will be "How do I get fakes?" See previous notes about bribery and forgery. And outright theft of documents, too. Basically, as soon as you say, "people must present ID", the issue of false ID will come up, in a big way. Is that something you want to bother with in your game? Is that *fun*? If yes, good. If not, then I question its inclusion, however "realistic" it may be. [/QUOTE]

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