tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post5016749553298031169..comments2024-03-28T03:10:23.679-07:00Comments on Polemarch: Reasonable WargamesThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-40900490610078121432017-02-14T05:44:34.964-08:002017-02-14T05:44:34.964-08:00Done and dusted :DDone and dusted :DPrufrockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17659918463589870423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-2775674767346744172017-02-14T04:15:08.759-08:002017-02-14T04:15:08.759-08:00I like this. How about:
15. Revolution in neighbo...I like this. How about:<br /><br />15. Revolution in neighbouring country requires nipping in the bud before it is exported.<br />16. Revolution in this country needs exporting.<br />17. Regime next door but one needs propping up.<br />18. Neighbouring nation is arming / building fortresses.<br />19. If we don't go to war we will look weak.<br />20. What? Do we need an excuse? Really?The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-6997438472557801552017-02-14T01:52:46.233-08:002017-02-14T01:52:46.233-08:00Now that's a useful table. I'm nicking tha...Now that's a useful table. I'm nicking that. Can we add more to it? A couple more suggestions:<br />11. Bad harvest leads to social unrest. Start war to regain popularity.<br />12. Expanding population. Need more land to feed the people.<br />13. King makes inept decision. Population unhappy. Start war to distract them.<br />14. Aging monarch looks like ripe target for plucking.<br /><br />Can we get this to a d20 roll?Ruaridhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003128932063213463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-12642236799309445102017-02-13T23:39:16.499-08:002017-02-13T23:39:16.499-08:00Unreasonableness, bloodthirstiness and irrationali...Unreasonableness, bloodthirstiness and irrationality? This sounds like a job for a d10!<br /><br />1. Border squabble escalates.<br />2. Assassination of noted political figure.<br />3. Disgraceful conduct towards an envoy, herald, diplomat, scion of the royal household, etc.<br />4. Gross insult to the mother of the nation.<br />5. Rival discovered to be in religious error.<br />6. Succession issue.<br />7. Historical land grievances come to a head.<br />8. Increasingly wanton cross-border banditry.<br />9. Rival reneges on a betrothal, treaty, trade agreement, etc.<br />10. Everyone's just itching for a bit of war and plunder.Prufrockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17659918463589870423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-72139564740473648332017-02-13T05:10:03.682-08:002017-02-13T05:10:03.682-08:00Ah, probably. It might be the Douglas Adams parado...Ah, probably. It might be the Douglas Adams paradox: someone capable of making themselves leader should, under no circumstances, be permitted to lead. <br /><br />I think you've a nice, simple mechanism for starting and ending wars. The key is making up a narrative to fit, of course, but we all need stimuli to our imaginations. And, of course, world politics in the last 12 months or so makes almost anything believable...The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-27512773274687449552017-02-13T05:06:49.488-08:002017-02-13T05:06:49.488-08:00I think think that my characters were influenced b...I think think that my characters were influenced by role playing games with their averaging method of characteristics, so the extremes were rather diminished Perhaps that was my mistake. <br /><br />Still, I can still smile about my island, thinking of its citizens in a safe, secure environment.The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-9855988581427849212017-02-13T05:04:02.929-08:002017-02-13T05:04:02.929-08:00Or, if you are Louis XIV, because you think your f...Or, if you are Louis XIV, because you think your frontier should be on the Rhine...<br /><br />But I think that change is usually the trigger. Macmillan was once asked what the biggest problems were of being UK Prime Minister: 'Events, dear boy, events.'The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-44545535014658185062017-02-13T05:01:35.782-08:002017-02-13T05:01:35.782-08:00I suppose it depends on what you want - some peopl...I suppose it depends on what you want - some people like the detail of running imagi-nations and don't get round to the fight.The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-61886438425877379352017-02-11T11:22:54.017-08:002017-02-11T11:22:54.017-08:00I noticed much the same thing. It's just a dif...I noticed much the same thing. It's just a different type of gaming, I think.Ruaridhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003128932063213463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-62453000970047839452017-02-11T11:21:25.831-08:002017-02-11T11:21:25.831-08:00Well, there's your problem 'nice, reasonab...Well, there's your problem 'nice, reasonable people' in charge of your countries. Now, you may call me cynical if you wish, but the sort of people that run countries are neither nice nor reasonable. Thus, wars happen. Perhaps a simple die roll to start the war instead? In my own Talomir Tales campaign, each nation has a national morale, and a leader with a war rating. The higher the combined score, the more hawkish the nation. Add the two together and roll less than the combined total for a war to start. Then decide on your enemy. It's a simple system but it guarantees wars and thus battles. After each battle you modify the total for winning/losing and roll again. If one of the nations rolls higher than its combined score, it sues for peace. Campaign over. Generally, I roll the dice and provide the narrative based on the die rolls. It's a simple system but it works rather well for generating games.<br /><br />I also have in mind a star-spanning science fiction campaign that I have been planning for years. I sometimes think that I enjoy planning the campaign more than getting round to playing it. I doubt it will ever see the light of day, because it is vast, sprawling and utterly unwieldy, but you never know.Ruaridhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003128932063213463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-74393572448694996312017-02-11T06:34:22.220-08:002017-02-11T06:34:22.220-08:00A few years back when the imaginations blog craze ...A few years back when the imaginations blog craze seemed at its peak, I always felt like many of the participants got bogged down by their creations at the expense of actually playing the occasional game of toy soldiers. . . ostensibly the whole reason or the blogging in the first place.<br /><br />Best Regards,<br /><br />StokesWSTKS-FM Worldwidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14173042438761572040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-70607421715468710652017-02-11T04:23:10.433-08:002017-02-11T04:23:10.433-08:00The Romans did have a habit of changing the rules,...The Romans did have a habit of changing the rules, multiple battle campaigns, days of skirmishing and stand offs before the actual battle, sieges, etc. I suppose standing armies make a difference. I'm not really up on Egyptian, Assyrian or Chinese warfare..<br /><br />As for wars, it is fairly unusual for them to start without a reason especially if countries are balanced in power. Now if there is a change, sudden discovery of new sources of wealth, new rligious fervour madness, or a chance of political advantage in one country if one leader can arrange provocation then win the following war, economic disaster in one country: bad harvest, floods etc requiring them to move, somewhere...<br /><br />Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04053555991679802013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-27338691900452985882017-02-11T03:06:04.251-08:002017-02-11T03:06:04.251-08:00Having over the years worked at populating the bar...Having over the years worked at populating the bare bones of the old GDW Soldier King board game, with a view to using it as a basis for a sprawling Imagi-Nation campaign, I took some decisions early on.<br />Economics would be abstracted; there to provide a limit on military recruitment. I had no desire to explore the wool industry of Hrvatska.<br />If something didn't fit, it was ditched. This was MY campaign so I'll fudge it if necessary. I like fudge...<br />Characters. I found this to be one of the things I most liked about Tony Bath's Hyboria reports. So using the mechanisms in "Setting up a war games campaign" as a start, I have drawn up family trees with notable members being given characteristics. I tweaked TB's ideas to account for C18th mores. Unlike your reasonable persons with no reason to go to war, I seem to have ended up with a most venal, honour obsessed set of drunks, martinets and otherwise flawed individuals!<br />I also knocked up a matrix of current relationships between states, ranging from allied, through friendly to neutral, then hostile to enmity.<br />Combining this with characters and marriage relationships, has produced enough flesh to enable the bones to be credible, rather than starting from the other way round.<br />I can see there are likely to be at least two succession crisises from what has been generated.<br />I suspect the key here is to focus on what the campaign is for, that is to produce battles for contextually satisfying war games.Neil Pattersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13565511145163341782noreply@blogger.com