So here’s another fiction-conditional possible rule, this one for a chancellor/vizier/scheming-advisor type:
* If the king is distracted when you present a matter in which he has no direct interest, he will do whatever you suggest.
Keep in mind that both the vizier, invoking this rule, and the king, being affected by it, are player characters. (I think this is a GM-less game. Did I mention that? As a frequent GM, I like GM-less games.)
So in order to apply this rule, we have to answer the question “is the king distracted?” and also “is this a matter in which the king has no direct interest?”. I want to focus on the first of these questions for now, because it’s a little clearer as an example.
How do we decide that the king is distracted? We read the fiction. What was narrated about the king recently? Has his courtesan just arrived and is she dancing provocatively? Is he in a furious rage about some other matter? Was itching powder poured down his shirt earlier?
It is my great hope that questions like this can usually be answered without controversy. But I think it is inevitable that conflicts of interest, especially in a game with competitive elements, will arise. The king’s player will be all “nuh-uh, I am TOTALLY NOT DISTRACTED”. So, does my game need a mechanism to make the decision about the fiction when there’s controversy?
Vincent Baker, over at his blog, has referred to this decision as “a moment of judgement”. He also describes “the problem of biased judgement” I’m concerned about her, and describes two solutions. One involves creating tokens and systems – something I don’t wish to do. The second involves farming out the decision to a (hopefully disinterested, but invested in keeping the fiction believable) third party. But if this game is GM-less, do I have such a third party?
Maaaybe I can just hope that everyone rubs along.
September 9, 2009 at 8:43 pm |
A competitive game will encourage the GM to do that. F’rex, in Diplomacy, one of your source materials, you can’t count on “distracting” a nation. They’ll notice your armies moving in.
Maybe, you actually have to distract the King’s player? If the Vizier makes a suggestion to the King, and the King does not immediately respond, which is measurable, he has to follow the suggestion. Or maybe Distracted is a game-state-effect, like Dazed and Stunned in D&D, that has clear conditions.
September 9, 2009 at 8:54 pm |
The “distract the player” suggestion is interesting, but not, I think, for this game.
I’m keen to avoid doing D&D style spelled out conditions, because that short circuits the fiction. Is the king distracted? Check his character sheet. One of my key creative aims here is to stress the fiction.
I’m aware that talking about a competitive, strategic, cleanly mechanical game like Diplomacy and saying I want a game highly focused on the fiction seems like contradiction. I like it that way! I’m hoping something interesting can be birthed from that tension.
(Ultimately I suspect that the competitive aspect will end up as more of a spice than a main constituent – again, a bit like how the competitive aspects of the Shab al-Hiri Roach work)