Double Blind (political campaign setting idea) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Double Blind (political campaign setting idea) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Celcion
06-01-07, 04:07 PM Guild Play Double Blind

First off I would like to start by saying that none of this is final. Secondly hold all criticism until you have read everything. Also please refrain from negative comments unless you have already formulated an alternative.
The entire purpose of this idea is to create a truly fair double blind diplomatic role-playing system. It revolves around the idea of 6+ players with 2 DMs. During the discussion of such possible game people expressed the desire to command anything from a solo character, to a small disruptive or peacekeeping force, all of the way up to a full on province. The following rules will be aimed to help facilitate all of the above equally and even explain the trade-offs.
First thing to explain is the proposed point buy.

Every player will have 50,000 CID POINTS.
With these points the players can only buy two things….. experience and population.
The costs are as follows.
Exp.- 1point = 1CIDpoint
Pop.- 1citizen = 5CIDpoints

Land is determined by population.-
Once you’ve determined your population you will use that number in a similar way as your CID points to determine your landmass.
50 pop. = 1 sq. mile temperate terrain (or other normal desired terrain)
100 pop. = 1 sq. mile of coast or mountain
250 pop. = 1 sq. mile of island

In addition to this there are side notes to follow. (in no particular order)
¸ Say a character wants to play his/her nation as a different race of beings. The player will take the 5CIDpoints per citizen and multiply that by the level adjustment for the race. (example: Hank wants all drow citizens. Drow level adjustment is +2 so he pays 10CIDpoints per citizen)
¸ If the level adjustment is +1 you multiply point cost by 1.5
¸ 5% of population is combatant
¸ must be of same race as majority population or of a higher CR race. (example: hank could not be a 1st level human in command of a 100 population minotaur stronghold, but he could be a minotaur tyrant demanding loyalty from a human civilization)
¸ for an all combatant population you must pay double (10CID points per citizen) factored in after any level adjustment (example: a drow combatant would cost 20CIDpoints) also the all combatant portion of your population would not produce any land when using your population number to buy land(**keep in mind any problems encountered by having an entire combatant population are up to the DM)
¸ races with level adjustment are restricted to monster manual society and organization restrictions(a solitary or pair creature could not be used to for an entire province)
Once all of the players have decided how to use all of their points a bit of randomness will be thrown into the mix. The total number of players will be halved (rounded up) and that number of NPCs will be added to the land. The NPC lands will be created by the DM’s on the same point buy system. 40% of the NPCs will have 50k buy in, 40% will have a 100k buy in and 20% will have a 200k buy in. After those lands are created all players will hand their creations into the DM. I will work with the DM’s on map creation using a lottery system I created that keeps me unaware of which player controls what landmass.

A couple more notes...
Player wealth is determined two ways. First you are allowed you appropriate wealth for your level. Also you are entitled to 4% of total population wealth annually (*DM’s I will show you where I found this online)

Every character with a population of at least 500 will make a 5 NPC wish list (your high level assistants or what have you) the DM will use two of your ideas to HELP him make two of them although the total number and level of extremely loyal NPC’s is up to the Dms’s’s’s (for purposes of balance)

THE BIG CATCH The big catch is the attempt to make this a true blind. Given a week to decided how to spend your points everyone will then return their results in closed folder. Only that player and the DM are entitled to the contents. During play if you are the charge of a larger civilization you will have to choice but to let yourself be known. On the other hand if you are the lone tenth level character you only show yourself when you wish or must. Sometimes you won’t know whether it’s an NPC or PC knocking at your door in the middle of the night. Also sometimes you might not know if it’s an NPC taking your land or a PC.

LASTLY remember this system didn’t cover everything. Should a dire question arise the DM’s will get all over that sh###t. Should a player decide to do something entirely ridiculous and cheesy (in the point buy or game play) the DM should get all over that stuff too. I hope……
Araes
06-01-07, 04:52 PM An interesting idea that seems like it could have some potential.

Some questions I had when reading through were:

Is the land determination a purchasing mechanic? It read like it was, but was slightly unclear. IE: If I had a population of 500, I could purchase 10 sq. miles of normal terrain, 5 miles of coastal terrain, or 2 miles of island terrain? Also, is there a procedure for roundoff error, or is that pretty much DM perogative?
On the level adjustment, the pattern that you seem to be showing is that the multiplier is actually ( Mult = 1 + 0.5 * LA ). Is this the intended pattern, or is the +1 LA case just an exception.
Shifting from 5% combatant to 100% combatant with only a doubling of the cost for the race seems a bit extreme from a balance perspective. Perhaps doubling the percentage of combatants with each doubling of cost would be more appropriate? IE, 5%, 10%, 20%, ect...
In the case of smaller games, is there a general plan for how the NPC nations would be arrayed, since the percentages wouldn't break down as nicely? Would there be a preference for at least one strong NPC?
It will be interesting to see how the interactions would work if one person chose level 1, but with 10,000 followers, and someone else chose 50,000 EXP. The physical mechanics of RP in that scenario could be...complex.

Assuming my assumptions are right, it looks like the extremes you can possibly do would be:

10th level, halfway to 11th, but with no followers or land
1st level, 10,000 followers, 200 sq. miles of controlled land.

For NPCs, they could get as high as:

20th level, 2,000 followers, 40 sq. miles of land
1st level, 40,000 followers, 800 sq. miles of land
Celcion
06-01-07, 11:17 PM you are absolutely correct. and you draw the map according to everyones final decisions with a hat draw to see who is positioned to who

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Celcion 06-01-07, 04:07 PM	Guild Play Double Blind First off I would like to start by saying that none of this is final. Secondly hold all criticism until you have read everything. Also please refrain from negative comments unless you have already formulated an alternative. The entire purpose of this idea is to create a truly fair double blind diplomatic role-playing system. It revolves around the idea of 6+ players with 2 DMs. During the discussion of such possible game people expressed the desire to command anything from a solo character, to a small disruptive or peacekeeping force, all of the way up to a full on province. The following rules will be aimed to help facilitate all of the above equally and even explain the trade-offs. First thing to explain is the proposed point buy. Every player will have 50,000 CID POINTS. With these points the players can only buy two things….. experience and population. The costs are as follows. Exp.- 1point = 1CIDpoint Pop.- 1citizen = 5CIDpoints Land is determined by population.- Once you’ve determined your population you will use that number in a similar way as your CID points to determine your landmass. 50 pop. = 1 sq. mile temperate terrain (or other normal desired terrain) 100 pop. = 1 sq. mile of coast or mountain 250 pop. = 1 sq. mile of island In addition to this there are side notes to follow. (in no particular order) ¸ Say a character wants to play his/her nation as a different race of beings. The player will take the 5CIDpoints per citizen and multiply that by the level adjustment for the race. (example: Hank wants all drow citizens. Drow level adjustment is +2 so he pays 10CIDpoints per citizen) ¸ If the level adjustment is +1 you multiply point cost by 1.5 ¸ 5% of population is combatant ¸ must be of same race as majority population or of a higher CR race. (example: hank could not be a 1st level human in command of a 100 population minotaur stronghold, but he could be a minotaur tyrant demanding loyalty from a human civilization) ¸ for an all combatant population you must pay double (10CID points per citizen) factored in after any level adjustment (example: a drow combatant would cost 20CIDpoints) also the all combatant portion of your population would not produce any land when using your population number to buy land(*keep in mind any problems encountered by having an entire combatant population are up to the DM) ¸ races with level adjustment are restricted to monster manual society and organization restrictions(a solitary or pair creature could not be used to for an entire province) Once all of the players have decided how to use all of their points a bit of randomness will be thrown into the mix. The total number of players will be halved (rounded up) and that number of NPCs will be added to the land. The NPC lands will be created by the DM’s on the same point buy system. 40% of the NPCs will have 50k buy in, 40% will have a 100k buy in and 20% will have a 200k buy in. After those lands are created all players will hand their creations into the DM. I will work with the DM’s on map creation using a lottery system I created that keeps me unaware of which player controls what landmass. A couple more notes... Player wealth is determined two ways. First you are allowed you appropriate wealth for your level. Also you are entitled to 4% of total population wealth annually (DM’s I will show you where I found this online) Every character with a population of at least 500 will make a 5 NPC wish list (your high level assistants or what have you) the DM will use two of your ideas to HELP him make two of them although the total number and level of extremely loyal NPC’s is up to the Dms’s’s’s (for purposes of balance) THE BIG CATCH The big catch is the attempt to make this a true blind. Given a week to decided how to spend your points everyone will then return their results in closed folder. Only that player and the DM are entitled to the contents. During play if you are the charge of a larger civilization you will have to choice but to let yourself be known. On the other hand if you are the lone tenth level character you only show yourself when you wish or must. Sometimes you won’t know whether it’s an NPC or PC knocking at your door in the middle of the night. Also sometimes you might not know if it’s an NPC taking your land or a PC. LASTLY remember this system didn’t cover everything. Should a dire question arise the DM’s will get all over that sh###t. Should a player decide to do something entirely ridiculous and cheesy (in the point buy or game play) the DM should get all over that stuff too. I hope……
Araes 06-01-07, 04:52 PM	An interesting idea that seems like it could have some potential. Some questions I had when reading through were: Is the land determination a purchasing mechanic? It read like it was, but was slightly unclear. IE: If I had a population of 500, I could purchase 10 sq. miles of normal terrain, 5 miles of coastal terrain, or 2 miles of island terrain? Also, is there a procedure for roundoff error, or is that pretty much DM perogative? On the level adjustment, the pattern that you seem to be showing is that the multiplier is actually ( Mult = 1 + 0.5 * LA ). Is this the intended pattern, or is the +1 LA case just an exception. Shifting from 5% combatant to 100% combatant with only a doubling of the cost for the race seems a bit extreme from a balance perspective. Perhaps doubling the percentage of combatants with each doubling of cost would be more appropriate? IE, 5%, 10%, 20%, ect... In the case of smaller games, is there a general plan for how the NPC nations would be arrayed, since the percentages wouldn't break down as nicely? Would there be a preference for at least one strong NPC? It will be interesting to see how the interactions would work if one person chose level 1, but with 10,000 followers, and someone else chose 50,000 EXP. The physical mechanics of RP in that scenario could be...complex. Assuming my assumptions are right, it looks like the extremes you can possibly do would be: 10th level, halfway to 11th, but with no followers or land 1st level, 10,000 followers, 200 sq. miles of controlled land. For NPCs, they could get as high as: 20th level, 2,000 followers, 40 sq. miles of land 1st level, 40,000 followers, 800 sq. miles of land
Celcion 06-01-07, 11:17 PM	you are absolutely correct. and you draw the map according to everyones final decisions with a hat draw to see who is positioned to who