Ark wrote:
I hate the military and investment system so much because of how tacked on they feel and every interaction with them is forced, it boils down to being an after event number crunching mini game that while only effecting a small amount of people uses up a lot of GM downtime that could be better spent making the live action events better. it also ruins the setting of the game, setting out we were all struggling to survive after a great cataclysm had occurred, scraping by with what food we could, every event was literally a fight for individual character survival and upkeep. . .but pay no attention to the hundreds of well armed and well equipped soldiers over there, whose numbers actually outweigh the numbers of all the local villages combined. . .really?!
Erm.. I will admit that I'm only starting to learn/take interest/ask questions about how the military system works.
I think you have the wrong picture of "military." You could collect a group of 20 refugee farmers who are displaced and no longer have fields/whatnot to work. You approach them and tell them you'll pay them to go on missions and fight for you. They agree. This is now your military. It's a pretty cruddy one, but it's a military. By no means is this a large, well armed, well trained, well armored military. However, now you can train them, get them better geared and recruit more members.
character backstory fits into this as well. you can get away with an epic amount of cheese these days by having a great backstory, being royalty, or rich, or what have you. some of this is nothing but words, but a surprising amount of this makes it into game and has a real mechanical effect within the world and its story. I miss the old carps rules.
-you are not a king
-you do not know a king
-you did not kill a king
-you are not a dragon
-you did not know a dragon
-you did not kill a dragon
-etc. rich
-etc. royalty
-etc.
Ehh.. most of the above doesn't really matter in a backstory. We've had people play princes and kings coming into the game and it hasn't hurt anything. I could make a character who is the princess of muffin land (ok, it's breakfast time and I'm hungry). Who'd care? People can come in and claim to be whoever they want. Most PC characters honestly don't care one way or the other, it's role playing. The only issue I see arise is if this this PC is expecting the GMs to give them whatever they want because they're royalty - or super powers because they're a dragon. Just because someone brings their character in saying they they're royalty doesn't mean the GMs automatically give them an army, territories (trade routes) and piles of gold, nor will you receive NPCs to use as guards protecting you during the game. These PCs need to earn things in game or buy them with character points just like everyone else. If you have friends that want to come in with you and protect you, be your servants, etc, great! It adds to the belief and immersion of your story, just don't expect the established characters of town to follow suit - a good deal of them won't follow their own leaders/dukes/kings/queens they have put in charge themselves.
With how screwed up Phantara is after a few cataclysms, there's bound to be some displaced royalty of this and that pop up. Not only that, but you have portals to different realms and people who have seen an opportunity in the chaos to declare themselves a lord, king, captain, etc. It works quite well with this setting actually. Oh! And elves.. don't most high elves consider themselves one form of nobility or another?
are we kings and queens with militaries and soldiers whos scope has grown to that of alliances and nations?
I think there are a couple...
the actual events are making less and less sense with this in mind and is a huge disconnect and feels more and more like the boards and the lore provided in the news and world is the actual game more so then what happens at events. my character literally has a navy, others do to, we have players that have become actual kings and queens, actual heads of state, royal bodyguards and alliance ambassadors.
not really sure what you're asking here, but Kooky is right. Haven is prospering. Silvan'Dar has suffered recently (pre 5 year jump), but I believe they are on the mend and are growing - I think the relationship between them and Haven is also on the mend. I know there are a few other large well known NPC kingdoms out there and I assume it's the same as far as growth and relations with Haven. I will admit, I'm not currently in the middle of the diplomatic scene, so I'm not 100% sure.
Yes, we have made people leader of town and named them such things as King/queen/duke/counsel member/lord/knight. These are just titles we, as players, have given other players to let the rest of the players and NPCs know we have given them specific jobs to do in game. If you're not on that bandwagon, that's fine too! If at some time "the people" no longer wish for that person to be doing that job.. well, I'm sure that'd be messy and end in bloodshed - but it can be done.. and I'm pretty sure it has been done.
As for the news, much of this has to do with updates on how Haven is doing, maybe some clues as to what we should look into during the upcoming event, and maybe some PC announcements (and some fun jokes and riddles!!!).
WHY are we in a small village in the Wildlands?
I will tell you why, because that's where the live event is taking place
, we are railroaded into it. I have no doubt the story is interesting but one thing I have heard from MANY players is there character would not be there, we just simply are because we have to be, I NEVER had a good reason for Ark to be at an event, but hes my FH character and its a FH event so here we are.
Oh! Oh! I know this one! We are in the wildlands now because after doing a CRAP TON of work, Haven is finally a nice, safe, kingdom.. mostly. It's a great place because we made it that way - Something about the GMs wanted to show how our efforts are not in vain and through hard work, and many battles/struggles, we were finally successful.
But why the wildlands? It's a why not Haven anymore first. Well, out of game, the GMs think that Haven would be too boring of a place to have an event. There wouldn't be much fighting and struggle with how nice and safe it is now days. There would be a lot with diplomacy and power struggles and things you might see in a TV drama that take place in kingdoms/royal courts. No random monster encounters.
Again, why the wildlands? .. well, for the opposite stated above. In game, we are uhh.. colonizing the frontier! The GMs think that this "wild land" is the type of setting the PCs want and it's worked so far.
I agree that we were railroaded into it. I'd love to be back at Haven (but I'm usually the minority in my opinions). I have a character that thought being at Haven was "slumming it" so it's a VERY fat chance she'll show up in the wildlands. Which is kinda sad as I have been itching to play her. There is little reason for her to be in Haven let alone the wildlands - but I've found that if you're struggling for a reason for your character to be in the event setting, talk to a GM and they can help figure it out.
TL:DR:
-the military system is a shady waste of resources that only a handful of people like (and most of them are on staff
)
-the ecopoliticalinvestment system was required when we had upkeep, we don't anymore, the resource and money income is imply not required and only gets dumped back in to itself or into the (SUPRISE) military system
-The lore, scope, background, and story of this game and its characters IS NOT matching up with what we are playing at live events.
To some degree I can see the first 2 points, but defiantly not the 3rd. Is it possible that mostly staff are the ones that like the military system because through their role as staff have had to know the ins and outs of the system, and because they've actually taken the time to learn it, they like it. Yes, as an outsider, the military system or "ecopoliticalinvestment system" can be very intimidating. There are lot of questions that aren't answered in the book (yet), and I'm sure that's being worked on as time permits which does suck. As a WH NPC one of the most common questions I hear is, "how much do I need to pay for a regional adviser?"
There have been people who made their characters around being good at the ecopolictialinvestment system (yea, it's a word now), and that's almost all their character is good for. They get their enjoyment from this section of the game and it shouldn't be dismissed because others don't like it. - just as there are some people who enjoy combat and build their character completely around that, because that's where they get their enjoyment and that's the character they want to play. Whether you're fully into the ecopoliticalinvestment system or combat, it's completely possible to play the game while, for the most part, ignoring the other. I think most characters sit somewhere in between.
And trust me, there are LOADS of things you can easily toss all your hard earned coin towards that have nothing to do with the ecopoliticalinvestment system.
