Kingdoms: Chronicle of a System Foretold

Postby jorb » Mon Nov 09, 2015 10:13 pm
We've been arguing this back and forth a couple of times now, and have a tentative set of ideas that might accomplish something positive if we were to implement them. We'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

    Players can found Kingdoms, by constructing a central object similar to a village idol, projecting a Royal claim.
    Kingdoms can vassalize other players with or against their will (via their claim poles, for example).
    Vassalized players are taxed some amount of their XP, which is drained to the Kingdom as some form of royal authority for the Kingdom. Vassalized players count as subjects of the Kingdom.
    All vassalized claims display the flag of their Kingdom.
    As with any claim, Royal claims are only active while they can drain the Kingdom of authority.
    Only subjects of a Kingdom can commit crimes under their kingdom's Royal claims. That is, criminal actions can by non-subjects, quite simply, not be committed at all, while subjects can commit them, leaving scents as usual.
    If a Subject of a Kingdom is on a claim, he can, by Sheriffs of said Kingdom, be summoned by (on, nearby, next to) the claim which he is on, using scents he has left.
    Kingdoms can declare war against each other.
    Wars do not become active until 48 hours after declared. During the 48 hours members of both Kingdoms can take actions to delay or advance the war by some amount (4hrs, maybe) back or forth.
    Being at war is costly, draining authority continuously.
    During war Kingdoms can, somehow, steal eachother's vassals.
    During war, members of Kingdoms can commit crimes against the opponents' Royal claims.
    Kingdoms can build at least one scary siege machine.
    Scary siege machines drain authority continuously when not under a royal claim.
    Scary siege machines move fairly slowly.
    Kingdoms at war receive notice whenever a scary siege machine of the enemy's moves.
    Scary siege machines can attack and destroy anything without advance notice or need for specific drying times, or the like.

That is at least the gist of it.

Central points of thought here are

    PvP should primarily happen between oppositions on the same order of magnitude. Kingdom vs Kingdom, Hermit vs Hermit, Village vs Village.
    Single player nubs should be economic resources that can be arranged into a political order against their will, to avoid the tragedy of the commons that is the present open-season raiding on them. Hopefully kingdoms will for economic and psychological reasons want to protect their assets.
    Pissing turf over a nub is a viable alternative for raid-minded gentlemen to destroying said nubs.
    Nubs who have been ordered into a political regime need not concern themselves overly with affairs of state, war, peace, &c, but can rather live peacefully under the protective hand of a dominant hegemon.
    Public cities become possible when crime is possible only by subjects of the kingdom who can, should they try to hide, be punished by summoning at any transgression.

We hope the perfection of our thought should be readily apparent to everyone, and that the complete and utter lack of unforeseen consequences is reassuring. Let us hear your joyous praise.