Survey: Starlife's Next NES

[Lord_Iggy]

I'm familiar with the Book of the New Sun (Urth) but I prefer options II, III and V, in no particular order.

[SouthernKing]

Any are fine, but I'd be especially interested in I, IV, and V, in no particular order.

[Starlife]

Thanks for the comments!

Based on feedback here and in #NES, here is my next proposal (please feel free to discuss!):

-

-> Each player is a noble family within a larger empire, which has reached its zenith. This empire is ruled, obviously, by an emperor/autarch -- but the nobles have a considerable degree of regional power, and in many ways, this emperor is purely symbolic.

-> There is also a Warlord, who presides over the empire's armies. Currently, the land is in immersed in what is called the "Era of the Emperor", but that is slowly transitioning to the "Era of the Warlord", for reasons I will describe below.

-> The great "horde" of the north/east/west/whatever is resting at the empire's borders.

-> This horde has effectively blocked off access to one of the empire's distant holy sites, a place once used for pilgrimages. So now, the empire and its religious institutions have offered charters for warrior-families to enter into the netherlands and destroy the empire's enemies, and conquer new lands and subjugate new peoples -- in a place that was hitherto left unconquered because of its sacred nature (probably separated from the empire by a narrow isthmus or something).

-> Players would thus have a lot of intrigue in the empire itself, vying for more power and favor with not only the emperor, but also the warlord, and a group of eunuchs (some obviously corrupt).

-> Players would also have the goal of conquering new lands, a land rather foreign to the empire, one not only hosting the enemies of the empire, but also teeming with fantastic beasts.

-----

I was thinking that this empire could resemble Tang Dynasty China, in that it is not completely backwater dark ages, but rather there are important scientific discoveries being made, and a sort of regional renaissance in progress. There would be a variety of ethnic groups, united under this empire. I am open to suggestions, though -- if the overwhelming majority would prefer a Persian-esque setting, or European middle ages, that is fine, too. But remember: I'm not saying this is Chinese, but rather it can resemble Tang Dynasty China. Many ethnic groups would be within this structure, and so noble families will come from a variety of ethnic groups (though of course, there will perhaps be a single dominant one).

Then, the "horde" or whatever could essentially be notMongols, but fanatic religious zealots, as well. Don't want to make things too black-and-white "This is notChina, and this is notMongols." No. I would create descriptions for everything -- it'd be unique.

The empire will have stretched far and wide already, and players would also control governorships or provincial lands or something (estates). Perhaps the empire has been at the cusp of invading the "foreign land" for some time, but was prohibited due to some geographic barrier? Or fear? Or they revered the foreign land as too sacred to conquer (birthplace of humanity / their religion)?

Discuss.

[Brougal]

3 4 5, for what it's worth from a newbie who'd wish to try a NES

[thomas.berubeg]

Starlife, This reminds me of Immacunes IIB so much. And that's a VERY good thing.

[Terrance888]

Nothing.

[Luckymoose]

Let whoever wants to be emperor be him. The real fun comes from murdering that player and being the new emperor.

[Dreadnought]

V. is always intriguing, but in my experience those type of games tend to not last long/develop meaningful plots.

If you can pull it off, it'd be amazing.

[Gem Hound]

Originally Posted by Luckymoose

Let whoever wants to be emperor be him. The real fun comes from murdering that player and being the new emperor.

^^This^^

That is of course you go with choice 5.

[Northen Wolf]

In following order:

IV. Fictional Colonization (historical fiction / fantasy)
III. The Underdark / fantasy
V. Lords and other thingies

[Optical]

III is by far my favourite, but I also like the ideas of I and V.

[Eltain]

V and III.

[Starlife]

Thanks for the interest in III, everyone. Perhaps another day? And thanks for the feedback in general.

I've decided to, for the most part, do Option V.

[erez87]

V should have a large empire, that is ruled by a king with a lot of official power, but who actually rules through dukes. Many dukes, some who rule lands, some who are just generals, and some who are just whispers in his ears, gaining money and power by talking smooth...

That king should not be easy to topple, for toppling him by any one duke, would get the others angry "Hey I want to be King!".

There should be a major outside threat at start, but one should come after a turn or two to get the king actively looking who is good and who is naughty, to gather an army and fight the threat (whatever that may be).

[Starlife]

Apart from helping me choose the option, this NES will not be a democracy.

Much like the "empire" in question.

[erez87]

Originally Posted by Starlife

Apart from helping me choose the option, this NES will not be a democracy.

Much like the "empire" in question.

lol just giving feedback.

[Starlife]

Though, I would like feedback on the map I posted in the map thread. I was thinking that very well could be the map of the kingdom (it does not show the nearby, larger continent).

[Luckymoose]

So long as it is sufficiently juicy enough that it isn't some silly war game all the time. Families should be actively working against one another, making alliances to strengthen their own areas of the empire and if the needs arises rebelling to lower crown authority. Limiting the number of dukes/lords to under ten would make the NES much better, even if other players have to take lesser positions.

[bombshoo]

Originally Posted by Luckymoose

Limiting the number of dukes/lords to under ten would make the NES much better, even if other players have to take lesser positions.

Agree with this entirely. Limiting players to certain positions is the way to go. It prevents bloating and the standard way many of these games go:

Cool new NES opens->It becomes the hot new game and everybody joins, taking a really cool and important character/position/state/thing->as the NES lags a little bit, players drop off or don't send orders->Mod gets lost on how to do an update when half of the most important players didn't send orders+it seems like everyone lost interest anyways->NES dies.

Also, just because something is a lesser position doesn't mean it's less fun.

[Luckymoose]

Emperor's captain of the guard...