Posted January 04, 2021
Yesterday I found in the Steam Forum the question how to communicate the "Appease" option to players. (I have no Steam account so I can't post there but read.)
Why not communicate by events?
Three nightly ideas so far:
First: Early Road
As far as I can see, during the first one to two month, ambushs are rare. So I could imagine to set a time frame (day 12 to 20?) in which a large bandit group ambushes the comtiatus.
Reactions:
(1) Take the arms.
(Reaction) sneering Comments about such a tiny bunch considering fight... Then like 3.
(2) Play for time
(Reaction see 3)
(3) Try to haggle
(Reaction) Explain Appeasement as a cheaper solution then fight or flight, maybe even give hints about how the apeasement price has to be roughly estimated
Event outcome:
Trader with 1 no Moral change, 2 and 3 Moral +1 for avoiding a fruitless risk
Mercenary with 1 Moral +1 (even when no fight had taken place, it was courageous), 3 no Moral change, 2 I'm not sure what fit better in the world of Xeryn
Explorer: I'm not sure again, depends on how they fit into the world, maybe + 1 Moral in all three cases
Second: Rare Town Event
In the morning, two crew members are missing.
(1) Leave without them.
(Reaction) Subtract the two. Communication unfortunately failed...
(2) Ask whether someone knows where they may be.
(Reaction) Other crew members can report that they have been seen with other comitatus' people in some cheap tavern. Offer 1 and 3 again.)
(3) Send someone to search for them.
(Reaction) They come being very hung-over. They tell you that they have met old acquaintances who were miserable. Their vagrus had been ambushed and decided to fight, and they lost one or two of their best friends because the vagrus had been so penny-pinching not to pay for appeasement.
Event outcome: - 1 Movement, + 1 Moral for being lenient (?); or allow to punish (not too harsh) them for delaying the comitatus?
Optional: Allow the gamer to offer the acquaintances a place in the own comitatus with the promise that he as vagrus will try to avoid such fights and spend some coins instead.
Third: Triggered Town Event
I'm not sure whether the third one works because that's bit more demanding from game mechanics: If you can track the gamer's reaction to an ambush when they had been clearly inferior, and
- either the vagrus decided to fight and had severe losses or
- the vagrus decided to flee and had some losses,
and ask for this flag when resting the next time in a town, you could turn around the former event:
Two crew member come and tell that they talked to other comitatus' guys.
Traders version: Now they wish to leave because the others promised them that their vagrus avoids unnecessary losses by forking out some coins.
Mercenaries version: Now two of the others would join the comitatus because their vagrus is a coward, always solving this kind of problems with money instead of bravery.
(The latter will obviously not push the player to use 'Appease' always, but it communicates that the option exists and that it can be beneficial from time to time...)
Explorers version: Still not sure...
Why not communicate by events?
Three nightly ideas so far:
First: Early Road
As far as I can see, during the first one to two month, ambushs are rare. So I could imagine to set a time frame (day 12 to 20?) in which a large bandit group ambushes the comtiatus.
Reactions:
(1) Take the arms.
(Reaction) sneering Comments about such a tiny bunch considering fight... Then like 3.
(2) Play for time
(Reaction see 3)
(3) Try to haggle
(Reaction) Explain Appeasement as a cheaper solution then fight or flight, maybe even give hints about how the apeasement price has to be roughly estimated
Event outcome:
Trader with 1 no Moral change, 2 and 3 Moral +1 for avoiding a fruitless risk
Mercenary with 1 Moral +1 (even when no fight had taken place, it was courageous), 3 no Moral change, 2 I'm not sure what fit better in the world of Xeryn
Explorer: I'm not sure again, depends on how they fit into the world, maybe + 1 Moral in all three cases
Second: Rare Town Event
In the morning, two crew members are missing.
(1) Leave without them.
(Reaction) Subtract the two. Communication unfortunately failed...
(2) Ask whether someone knows where they may be.
(Reaction) Other crew members can report that they have been seen with other comitatus' people in some cheap tavern. Offer 1 and 3 again.)
(3) Send someone to search for them.
(Reaction) They come being very hung-over. They tell you that they have met old acquaintances who were miserable. Their vagrus had been ambushed and decided to fight, and they lost one or two of their best friends because the vagrus had been so penny-pinching not to pay for appeasement.
Event outcome: - 1 Movement, + 1 Moral for being lenient (?); or allow to punish (not too harsh) them for delaying the comitatus?
Optional: Allow the gamer to offer the acquaintances a place in the own comitatus with the promise that he as vagrus will try to avoid such fights and spend some coins instead.
Third: Triggered Town Event
I'm not sure whether the third one works because that's bit more demanding from game mechanics: If you can track the gamer's reaction to an ambush when they had been clearly inferior, and
- either the vagrus decided to fight and had severe losses or
- the vagrus decided to flee and had some losses,
and ask for this flag when resting the next time in a town, you could turn around the former event:
Two crew member come and tell that they talked to other comitatus' guys.
Traders version: Now they wish to leave because the others promised them that their vagrus avoids unnecessary losses by forking out some coins.
Mercenaries version: Now two of the others would join the comitatus because their vagrus is a coward, always solving this kind of problems with money instead of bravery.
(The latter will obviously not push the player to use 'Appease' always, but it communicates that the option exists and that it can be beneficial from time to time...)
Explorers version: Still not sure...