Thank you for asking first. It is a valid question and it doesn't look dumb. You're the one who was smart enough to think of this issue, apparently before other players thought of it and before the game masters got around to posting on the subject.
The situation that we are trying to deal with is that we have a highly developed gaming system that has evolved over years of offline gaming, but running it over the internet is new and different and we're experimenting with various ways to do it. Also, some past uses of this system were for play-by-email games with relatively few players. We are already finding that the quantity of emails with just the number of players we already have is getting to be a problem. As the number of players increases, the problem will be greater.
We have some ideas on how to solve this using e-mail, but an even more promising solution seems to be to shift almost all game play to the forums. We'd like to try some hybrid of old fashioned role playing where there is an active game master (in this case there will have to be more than one) and the freestyle role playing that has evolved on the internet in recent years where players interact without a gamemaster. The less need for a game master there is, the more players can play with less game masters.
But I hope you will agree that if game masters can provide a consistent, realistic and interesting universe for the players, then this is a vast improvement over games where there is no referee and "godmodding" and accusations thereof reach epidemic proportions.
As you know, this game is not a finished product. It is a work in progress and the role of playtesters is to help us see what works and what doesn't and what can be improved. We've been trying to do everything by e-mail and it is increasingly problematic. Let's try to move things to the forums.
For one thing, we are going to have issues threads where issues will be posted on forums and players can respond to them there. Advisors will now tend to offer advice on issues only if asked for advice by players. Advisors tend to parrot the recommendations of the faction leaders anyway so it will be easier if players just look in the faction forums for advice on the issues. Some issues may still be emailed out, but these may be those that are specific to one province only. Advisors will still provide more detailed or individualized advice upon request.
Another interesting issue is combat. We have finally had our first battle in Nations and Empires. It was near Arinixervolt, the capital of Kopixer province. Imperial troops battled a force of rebels and mutineers. Watch the news for details at:
nationsandempires3.blogspot.comUnfortunately, we have found that the system that worked so well in offline gaming is badly hampered by the delays of e-mail and the need to keep all players in the same time frame.
We are now going to try to do combat as an RP in forums.
So in general here are some of the main things you can do and should do in forums and things you should not do:
General GuidelinesIt is up to the player to post what he or she says, does or attempts to do. It is up to the game masters to tell the players what non-player characters say or do or what happens in the world.
Players may describe their observations of events the game masters have approved or announced, but other players should consider such posts to be the perceptions of the player posting them. Characters who claim to see things happening that contradict what the game masters say is happening may be considered delusional. They may go on posting their fantasies, but they may also be dismissed from positions of responsibility such as Ulor.
Players may also post reports of what is happening that are deliberately deceptive. For example, if there is a battle, game masters will not object if one commander to publishes reports claiming victory and wildly exaggerating enemy losses. (It may be a lie, but such lies are typical in real wars so it's realistic.) The enemy only actually loses the number of troops the game masters deduct from their database, not what the enemy announces as fact.
Be warned that your own officers will also misreport things for various reasons, especially in the heat of battle. Do not assume a player is dishonest if you realize facts he reports are not true. His non-player character subordinates may be giving him incorrect information, just like real subordinates sometimes do. People are especially reluctant to give their boss bad news. On the other hand, how do you know his facts are incorrect? Are you relying on reports of your subordinates? Are they telling you the truth? You can rely on what game masters tell you your character sees with his own eyes to the same extent that you could rely on what you see with your own eyes, but information reported to you by game masters as having come from some other character can be incorrect for many reasons. If a game master tells you your advisor reports riots in the streets, you can be sure your advisor said that. You cannot be sure it is true.
Don't Invent History via RP
In order for the history of the world to be consistent, we can't have every player making it up as they go along. That's what the game masters are for. We make up the history. If you do important enough things in the game, you'll be in the history for future players to read about. Of course, your character can always lie about their history if you want them to.
Don't change the world on your ownIt is okay to post messages about what you say or mundane actions that are simple and uncontested. Anything difficult or new or anything where someone might try to physically stop your character, you should post what you *attempt* to do and let the game masters post a reply telling you if you succeed or not. If you succeed, you may then post a detailed RP describing your success if you wish. Or you can skip that and attempt the next thing you want to do.
This way, godmodding should no longer be a problem. In combat, you are not at the mercy of the other player to admit how much damage your attacks do. Nor do you need to worry about players making things up retroactively that were never mentioned before. As indicated above, players may still refuse to admit their losses in combat, but the game masters will deduct the losses in the databases that keep track of troops. There is a simulated "reality" that is controlled by the game masters and is separate from what players say.
Available InformationDo not pass on information of any kind about in-game events to other players UNLESS your character can and does pass on that information to their character. If another character is locked in a dungeon behind enemy lines and there is no way your character can communicate with him, don't send him an email telling him your secret plan. He has no way to know about it until you can contact him. Likewise, don't request information your character could not have. For example, if you are in the middle of a debate in Zekran, the capital city, about whether the Zekresh Empire is the most advanced civilization on the planet, don't send an instant message to your friend whose character died while exploring distant lands asking him what he found there. Ask the people you can contact what they know. If any reports made it back, that's the information you should have. If no reports made it back because the whole party of explorers was lost, then the distant lands should remain mysterious until someone else goes there and lives to tell the tale.
If you do obtain information you character would not have, RP as if you character does not know it. This is much easier if you don't have the information yourself. Some information is available to us in the modern world that people in the lower tech Zekresh Empire do not have. For example, you can look up how to make gunpowder, but you will not be allowed to have your character mysteriously know this information and use it to make weapons. Technological advancements can be obtained in-game, but they must be done in a way that is consistent with the game. Just because players understand a certain technology does not mean the characters do.
Also, in order to simulate the characters' lack of knowledge about basic science you should be aware that the Zekresh Empire is not only not on Earth, it may not be in the same universe and may not have the same laws of physics. You will have to research these things, not rely on advanced knowledge from the real world. This way, if you hear legends or rumors of magic and monsters, it would not be wise to dismiss them out of hand with the certainty of a modern scientist and call them mere fable and superstition. For all you know, there might really be magic and monsters. There might be purple unicorns and fairies dancing in the moonlight in this game. The gods might be real. The stars in the sky might be holes in a big black dome instead of distant suns. The world might actually be flat! (Makes it easier to produce game maps with no distortion
)Or maybe the laws of physics are all exactly the same as Earth and the legends of monsters are all rubbish. You'll have to explore and research to find out. By creating this uncertainty, we give you a mysterious world. This is fitting for a civilization with such a low technology level that has not explored the whole planet or even half of it.
DecreesPost provincial decrees that you issue. The best place for these is probably in the regional forums. Perhaps there should be a separate thread for each province or maybe it would be better to have one region-wide thread for all decrees. They can't be scattered all over the place, but we're not sure what's the best way. Let's try it out and see what works.
There are no game-imposed limits on what can be in your decrees except that they must be appropriate for the game. You should not make reference to things your character has never heard of (like TV shows, for example). Of course, Imperial officials or other characters may object if you issues decrees that exceed the legal authority of Ulor or which they dislike. But that's something they'll have to deal with in the game. The game does not prevent you from usurping authority or breaking Imperial law.
Orders to subordinates
You may give orders to subordinates by posting them on a forum. We need to figure out what would be an efficient way to do this so that game masters will see such orders in a timely fashion and players will know when their orders have been received. Perhaps game masters can post brief replies acknowledging receipt of orders by non-player characters.
Interaction with other players and non-player characters on forumsSo long as you stay in character, you are generally free to do this. One critical point should be observed, however. You should not RP a conversation where you are meeting another character in person unless your character and the other character are in the same location in the game. If you are in your provincial capital and another player is in his provincial capital, you can't just sit down and have tea together. One or both of you have to get on a horse or a boat or something and travel so that you can meet. And if you are in another province visiting another player, you can't then ask for advice from your advisor unless he came with you. Nor can you summon your guards unless you brought them with you. If you do not specify that anyone is coming with you, it will be assumed that they did not. You can't retroactively invite them along.
The hardest thing is that at this low technology level, it takes considerable amounts of time even for messages to reach other provinces. The Zekresh Empire is enormous. There are many parts of the Empire where messages sent to the capital take two months to arrive and then a reply takes another two months to arrive, assuming a miracle happens and an Imperial official actually answers promptly instead of letting it sit on his desk for a while.
We're going to need to post some more detailed info on distances and the time it takes for travel and to transport messages.
If your character is not physically meeting with another character, you can communicate with them by sending a written message. However, such messages should be written as if they were letters, not conversation and the recipient should not respond until enough game time has passed to allow the message to have arrived. When a message is posted on a forum, that is when it is assumed to have been sent. The easiest way to see what the current date is, is to check the news site. Every story has the current date at the top.
The news is at:
nationsandempires3.blogspot.comFor more information on time and distance, see here:
nationsandempires1.blogspot.com/2006/11/time-and-distance.htmlAs of this writing, that link does not include info on how fast Imperial couriers travel, but we'll try to add it soon. That brings up another point. There is a system of Imperial couriers that go by the fastest ships and horses available to the Empire. This includes places where couriers can hand off messages in a relay so that the messages move through the night. When a horse and rider get tired, they sleep, but the message goes forward at a gallop. Not all messages go by Imperial courier, but Ulors and other high Imperial officials have the right to send official correspondence by that system. The Empire does not offer any postal service to the general public. Most of the people are illiterate anyway. There are private couriers for those who can afford them and know how to write.
Wanderjar asked:
> Are we allowed, if we want, fight wars against rebels which we
> may RP, or even each other if we declare independence? (Though
> I personally do not intend to do that any time soon..)
>
You can fight wars. We were going to do this by e-mail, but now we want to try it in forums. However, the procedure is different than many online RPs. We have game masters and custom software to simulate combat. So let's use that. Don't just invent rebels in your province. If you do, your character is just imagining them. They are only real if they exist in the world as simulated by the game masters.
So don't invent rebels, look for them. Hire spies, perhaps. If you don't find any, that could mean there aren't any. Or it could mean they are hiding. Be glad if there aren't any rebels in your province. This is not the usual RP where you can fight rebels for entertainment and then go back to running your nation state as if nothing happened. If there are rebels, they are there for a reason and they are out to overthrow you whether you want them to or not. If you don't stop them, they will overthrow you. They might even kill your character.
How to Wage WarIf you do have rebels or some other enemy you want to fight, the way to do it is this:
Send orders to your troops. This can be done in a post on the forum. It can also be done via e-mail to the game masters (especially if you want to try to keep your troop movements secret.) You can post a bunch of announcements, call the enemy names, claim they started the war, etc. but that's optional. Once you send orders to the troops, the game masters will tell you what happens. You may then post a description of the troops marching or fighting after the game masters have confirmed that they did, indeed, march or fight instead of deserting or lounging around drinking beer.
The game masters will provide some or all other players with information about what your troops are doing depending on what information they would receive if this were real. The information that other players get about your troop movements and battles may be incomplete or incorrect. The same is true of information you get. Things your character witnesses are more likely to be correct assessments of what is going on (though not necessarily complete, there may be other things happening out of sight). Reports from distant battlefields are notoriously inaccurate in real life and will tend to be inaccurate in the game as well.
You can of course order your troops to attack the armies of another player or any non-player character. This is true whether you are independent or not. Whether your troops obey the order is a matter for the game masters. If you order Imperial troops (that you may or may not have legal authority to command) to attack the Emperor, don't be surprised if they refuse.
It is important to understand that one of the advantages of this game is that there is a simulated reality. Interaction between nations is not solely at the discretion of the players. There are plenty of games where there are no game masters and you can only have a war with another nation if they agree. Those games are fun, play them if you wish. But Nations and Empires is not like that. In Nations and Empires, there is a simulated reality run by game masters that is not dependent on the consent of any player. You can invade someone whether they want to fight or not. Likewise, you can be attacked whether or not you want a war or are ready for one. If you lose the war, you must face the consequences or quit the game. There is no way to "reset" the game to the way it was before.
> May we start other threads pertaining to policy within our Province?
I'm not sure what you mean. You can start threads about all sorts of policies. You can issue decrees and make policy. Whether your orders are carried out and your laws are obeyed by the people is something for the game masters to decide. Whether any non-player characters even report accurately to you on the effects of your policies is for the game masters to decide. Keep in mind that nobody likes to give bad news to the boss. As an Ulor, you are the boss. One advantage to having your friends join the game and help you run your province is that you can assign them important jobs in the provincial government and not have to rely upon non-player characters as much. Some non-player characters are competent, honest and will tell you the bitter truth even if you don't want to hear it. But most of the characters like that don't work in the Zekresh bureaucracy which is notoriously incompetent and corrupt.
Don't worry too much about making mistakes with any of this at first. This is playtesting. We're still trying to figure out how to make this game work. Go ahead and start something. The game masters will tell you if you are making a mistake.
We're not here to penalize you or kick you out of the game. We very much appreciate all you guys playtesting the game and putting up with delays, problems and rough edges.
)Or maybe the laws of physics are all exactly the same as Earth and the legends of monsters are all rubbish. You'll have to explore and research to find out. By creating this uncertainty, we give you a mysterious world. This is fitting for a civilization with such a low technology level that has not explored the whole planet or even half of it.
