Rules Thread - Courts of Candle' Bre (Please Post Comments in the other section)

[Velociryx]

The Courts of Candle'Bre
A Velocigame! (Note: This is the basic system’s Board Game Rules - Understand that greater complexity may be allowed in a possible computer version of the game)

Background: Candle’Bre is a tiny kingdom, surrounded on all sides by vast stretches of mountains. Extremely isolated, and little contact with the outside world.

Recently, the kingdom was ripped asunder....blah blah blah....murder most foul....king is dead....whole FAMILY is dead....blah blah blahbeddy blah.....kingdom on the brink of war!

Game Objectives
Should you choose to take up this quest, you goal is to become the undisputed Master of the Courts of Candle'Bre and claim the Kingdom for yourself and the faction you choose to play. This can be accomplished in one of two ways: Either by force of arms (controlling 2/3rd of the Kingdom under your banner - 40 Provinces) or by accumulating a sufficient amount of Honor during the course of the game (200 points). The road from here to there is long, and fraught with perils and pitfalls. The unwary, and those who have not the stomach for war will fall by the way. Those without guile and cunning will be cast aside in the bid for glory.

OoO

What you’ll need to play the game:

1) A map, containing 60 Provinces, representing the Kingdom of Candle’Bre. The Provinces can be of any size and configuration, so no worries there. When determining the valuation OF those provinces (how much gold they generate each turn), simply count the number of provinces that lie adjacent to the province you are valuing, multiply that number by ten, and there’s your answer! (More detailed method: To add variance, you may want to vary that by 1-3 base points (10-30 gold) and to do this, simply roll a d6 (1 or 2 = subtract 2 from this value (minimum of 1), 3 = subtract 1 from this value (minimum of 1), 4 = add 1 to the base value, 5 = add 2 to the base value, 3 = add 3 to the base value).

2) A deck of playing cards (jokers included) representing the book of fate

3) Dice d6’s (research) and d20’s (combat)

4) Units (beg, borrow and steal from existing games you might have)

5) Money (to represent gold) (Raid the Monopoly set!)

6) Counters for honor and Influence (coins, poker chips…anything will do)

7) A research chart to track your progress up the tech trees (each player will need one of these - copier paper will work)

8) Three Income Tracking Charts (Honor, Influence, Income) and markers on each, for each player (Axis and allies charts and markers would be perfect)

Order of Play:
1) Purchasing Phase (units, buildings)
2) Combat Movement
3) Combat Resolution
4) Non-Combat Movement
5) New Unit Placement
6) Diplomacy - Prisoner Exchange/Ransom
7) Draw from the Book of Fate (if desired)
8) Income Determination/Collection (Gold/Honor/Influence)
9) End Turn


Concepts you need to be familiar with to play:

1) Gold - The primary unit of currency in the game. The most pervasive and all encompassing of the three in-game resources (gold, honor, influence). Gold is, quite simply, the engine that drives your Kingdom. Note that in this game, your supply of gold is divided into two piles, one for military expenditures (including the building of new barracks, and one for "everything else." in a straight 50/50 split (in the case of odd dollar amounts, the larger amount always goes to non-military). Note that money from the "Military Expenditures" budget MAY BE TRANSFERRED to the non-military account, but money from the non-military account MAY NOT BE transferred to the military account!

2) Honor/Infamy - Your standing with the Kingdom of Candle’Bre as a whole. Just as Influence with the Church can prevent military attacks, Honor can be used to prevent Espionage against you from succeeding. Also, accumulating Honor is a viable way to win the game. Get 200 points of accumulated Honor, and you win by default. Having a negative honor value results in Infamy. Infamy, while exciting in it's own right, hurts your efforts at specific segments in the game. Specifically, players with negative honor must pay 10% higher build costs for any Provincial improvements, and pay 10% higher research costs....it's the price of freedom from all constraints!

3) Influence - Your standing with the Church. Influence over the clergy in Candle’Bre is a powerful weapon of defense and peace. With it, you can summon powerful men of the cloth to your side, utterly preventing attacks against you and your allies.

4) Neutral Provinces - At game start, many of Candle'Bre's provinces have not decided who they want to cast their lot with. You may attack these neutrals and bring them into your fold. When you launch such an attack, the defenders are all considered to be infantry for purposes of combat, and they get 1 Infantry per 10g value of the province to defend with. Neutrals cannot take prisoners, so all hits they score on you are regarded as casualties (note that an unkind opponent could play a unit card on behalf of a Neutral territory, and you might suddenly find yourself facing a LOT more than you bargained for!)

Game setup/Start:
Turn 0: Each player selects five contiguous territories to serve as his/her base of operations, and one of the five “Houses” of Candle’Bre to play. Note that each house comes with its own strengths, weaknesses, and styles of play, so select one that suits you best.

Once territories are selected, each player may gets his choice of either placing a Barracks or a Temple free (only one, and in any territory he controls). Each player then gets 100g to spend on designing his initial force (representing his House's "Standing Army" at game start). Any monies not spent on starting forces are simply added to the player's starting treasury to be spent later. Units in the player's initial force may be placed in any territory he controls without regards to provincial production limits and irregardless of the presence of a barracks! (note that "turn 0" is a special case in this regard! This represents the "setup" phase of the game, and has been designed with flexibility and maximum replayability in mind!)

Calculate each player’s Income to see where you stand. In a two player game, the player with the LESSER starting income gets one turn’s worth of his income as a bonus to help balance the start. In a multi-player game (3-5, the two players with the lowest income totals receive this bonus. After this "bonus gold" is issued, each player then collects one turn's worth of normal income and the game begins!

Roll a d6 to determine who goes first, high roll wins.

Units: At game start, the following units are available: (A/D/M) (Attack Value/Movement) (combat is handled with d20 die rolls)
Infantry 7/8/1
Archers 6/x/1(f)
Cavalry 8/6/2 (c)
Mercenaries 5/5/1 *

Notes:

f- Denotes “First Strike” Ability. Archers fire during the first “phase” of a round of combat, and losses suffered from an archer volley are removed before combat continues (such that if your opponent elects to take infantry casualties via your archer volley, the infantry who die do not get an attack roll) - Note that units with “First Strike” ability do not have a defense value. They always attack/defend using their attack values.

c- Denotes “Charge/Flank” Ability. Units executing a Charge/Flank ability may only attack “every other” combat round and have their attack values doubled for the round that they DO attack. Note that the "given up" attack must be paid in advance! Thus, cavalry cannot issue a charge on the first round of a combat! If the charge order is issued on round one, the cavalry do not attack (time spent maneuevering into position), and will be ready to attack on Tier Two (Charge/Flank Phase) of the next combat round.

* - All “normal” military units require the presence of a barracks to build troops. Not so with Mercenaries. While not quite as good as Infantry, they have the advantage of being able to be “purchased” and assigned in any Province. Note too, that Mercenaries do not gain the advantages of your investments in research. They DO, however, come with one special ability that is totally unique to them. At the beginning of any given combat round (before ANY dice are rolled), the player controlling the Mercenaries may pay a “combat bounty” (consult the table below). This combat bounty improve the fighting spirit of the Mercenary companies in your employ.

1 gold per Mercenary Company = All Mercs. Of the controlling player Get +1 on their Attack/Defense rolls this round

2 gold per Mercenary Company = All Mercs. Of the controlling player get +2 on their Attack/Defense rolls this round

Note that no more than 2g/Merc can be paid (the bonus does not extend beyond +2), and that it’s an all or nothing proposition (you either pay for all your Mercs, or none of them get the bonus). The Bounty can be re-issued each combat round.

Important Note about Mercenary Units
Because Mercenary Companies are not particularly noted for their loyalty, you may never have more mercenary units in one of your territories than you do "regular" units. If such a case should ever arise (event, assassination, or whathaveyou) then your regular forces are booted out of the province in question (sent to the nearest friendly province), and the mercenaries claim the province in question (it reverts to neutrality). Provincial builds are not harmed, but if you want the province back, you must defeat the mercenaries guarding it AND the territory's default defenders.

Others become available via research.

Combat System:
Combat occurs in rounds, and in the following order:
1) Ranged units fire (attacker/defender) (Tier One)
2) Losses are taken
3) Cavalry Flanking maneuvers/charges are performed (Tier Two)
4) Losses are taken
5) Ground troops attack (Tier Three)
6) Losses are taken
7) Option to withdraw?
8) Repeat

Note that a charging/flanking cavalry unit may only attack “every other round.” (spending the off rounds re-grouping and gaining position).

Note too that if losses are inflicted from a "higher tier" onto a lower tier ( ie - Archers inflicting losses on Infantry), then the infantry so killed DO NOT get an opportunity to return fire!

Battle continues until one side is eliminated or withdraws.

Effect of Leaders on Combat:
The Presence of a "Great Leader" on combat may vary from leader to leader (specifically in the case of leaders gained via the Book of Fate), but at a minimum, all leaders will have the following battlefield effects in common:

+1 to all attack/defense Die-rolls

Each leader may "direct the battle" to an extent. Thus, for each leader present AT a given battle, the controlling player gets 3 "counters." These counters may be "cashed in" to re-roll one die. Note that you may not cash in a counter to force an opponent to re-roll....only your own die rolling is affected.

Note too that multiple leaders on your side of the battlefield are NOT cumulative where the +1 attack/defense is concerned!

Combat:
Important Note: Regardless of any modifiers, a roll of 1 hits, and a roll of 20 always misses!

Before the dice start flying, you must specifiy HOW your forces are going to attack, and you have two choices. You may either issue a "standard attack" or a "precision strike."

In a standard attack, the dice rolling is carried out normally, per the numbers associated with each unit type. The attacker goes first, makes his rolls, and the defender chooses which units to lose as casualties (per axis and allies). Also note that if one of your attacking units rolls *eactly* the number required for a hit, the enemy unit is considered captured, not killed (which can lead to prisoner exchanges and ransoms). This applies to all unit types (for simplicity's sake!).

In a precision strike, you roll the dice normally, but half the resulting number of hits (rounding down in the case of an odd number of hits!). There are no captures in a precision strike and the rolling player may specifiy which "segment" the losses taken must come from. (IE - "My fifteen Archers are executing a Precision Strike against your cavalry massing for a charge" Dice are rolled, losses are calculated, and cav is removed). The determination may be made independently for each segment of the army (Archers, Infantry, Cav) but must be made before any dice are rolled.

Remember the following about casualties in a given round of combat:

1) Combat in this game is "multi-tiered." That is to say, First Strikers attack and resolve their damage before anybody else can act. Thus, if an archer kills an Infantry (who attacks on the third tier), then the infantry dies without ever getting to roll any dice whatsoever!

2) Cavalry CANNOT issue a charge on the first round of combat!

3) In a Standard attack, the person who loses the troops gets to decide how to divide up the losses.

4) In a Precision attack, the person doing the killing gets to decide how to divide up the losses.

Leader Captures: Because leaders are not represented by a unit on the map per se, they may not be targeted by precision strikes, nor may they be killed in rolled combat, however: if a unit containing a leader is completely destroyed or captured, the leader is considered captured by the victorious player and may be killed or held hostage, or held and killed later!

Effects of Killing a Captured Leader: First and most obvious....the leader is removed from any future consideration in the game! Second, you take a hit to your honor (-20). Third, until the end of your next turn, all your attack/defense dice are at +1 (your troops are rallied by the site of the fallen leader's blood on your sword).

Effects of Killing a Captured Unit: Yep...you guessed it. First, you take a hit to honor (-2), BUT, you also get a bounty in gold equal to half that troop's cost (dropping all fractions) as you "recycle" their arms and equipment.

Withdrawing from combat:
There is a penalty for withdrawing from combat! For every unit that withdraws, roll one die (d20). On a roll of 1-3, the unit is captured. Units not captured may withdraw normally to any adjacent friendly territory. Withdrawing from combat also carries with it a -2 Honor penalty (cowardly retreat).

A note about troop placement:
Any newly created troops MUST BE PLACED in provinces containing barracks! Note, however, that the maximum number of troops placed in a given territory on any given turn may not exceed the province value/10 (ie - a province valued at 40g per turn--base value--may field no more than 4 units on any given turn! Mercenaries are the exception to this rule. They may be hired in any province, and you may double the usual "per turn" limits (ie - in the above example, you could build four units of cav, place them in the 40g territory containing a barracks, and also hire 8 mercenaries, and place them there), so long as you end up with more regular troops than mercenaries when you are finished! (In the above example, we must assume that there are already at least five other "regular" troops present....otherwise the territory would revert to neutrality!)


Movement Rules
1) Moving into a neutral territory results in combat! Take the Province value, divide by ten, and that's how many Infantry are place on the map to defend the territory from your incursion!

2) Any time you move into a territory you do not control it is considered a combat move! Note that this specifically means you cannot move through the territory of an ally without breaking the alliance!

3) Fast units are useful in two specific ways: a) They can serve as a mobile defense platform inside your borders, moving rapidly from one theater of operation to another, and b) they can move in to attack an adjacent territory and "pull back out" during non combat movement to avoid a possible counter-attack. Note, however, that fast units may NOT "blitz" through provinces you do not control! If you enter a rival's territory, it is considered a combat move (even if there are no rival troops present!)

Research:
Over the course of the game, you may opt to spend gold researching new technologies. These advances fall into three broad categories (Military, Infrastructure, and Espionage), and it’s up to you if/when to spend money on either. Not that on the turn you GET a new advance that allows a new unit or capability, you may not begin using/building those new units until the start of your NEXT turn.

There are two ways to handle research in the game. One is to simply assign a baseline value to each research advance. If you opt for that route, then use the following costs:

Tech Level Cost
1 80
2 160
3 260
4 410
5 610
6 860
7 1200
8 1700
9 2300
10 3000

If you want a bit more of a random element in your game, use the following variant system: Each turn you may opt for one or more “rolls” toward developing a new advance. “Rolls” must be paid for in gold, and the number must be announced before they are paid for. Each roll costs you 3 gold, and gives you a d6 die-roll toward “accumulated research” Keep a running total, and when you have enough accumulated research for the advance in question, it’s yours!

These tech costs are constants for all three areas of research.

Each research area contains ten “levels” of research. Once you reach level ten in a given category, allocating money to further research in that category will yield you no additional benefit (ie - don’t do it!)

The Tech Advances: We’ll use shorthand to refer to the techs (M1, M2, M3, I1, I2, I3, E1, E2, E3), with details about what each tech advance brings with it spelled out to the side.

Military Techs:
M1 - Light Infantry become available

M2 - All Infantry-Classed Troops Gain +1 to their Attack/Defense values

M3 - Pikemen become available

M4 - Archers gain +1 on their Attack Values

M5 - Siege Engines become available

M6 - Cavalry gain + 1 on their Attack/Defense Values

M7 - Light Infantry gain the ability to issue Charge/Flank orders (they begin the game with the "Initiative" ability)

M8 - Archers gain + 1 on their Attack Values

M9 - Infantry gain +1 on their Attack/Defense Values

M10 - Infantry gain the “Initiative” special

· The “Initiative” special ability is a limited-form version of the Archer’s “First Strike” ability. During the opening round of the combat, units with “Initiative” execute their attacks during the Archer’s fire phase of the combat round. If there are units with “Initiative” on the defender’s side, they defend with their more favorable combat value (attack/defense) during the first round of combat only.

Unit-Types (all Inclusive)
Infantry 7/8/1 (15 gold)
Archers 6/x/1 (f) (20 gold)
Cavalry 8/6/2(c) (25 gold)
Light Infantry 5/4/2 (18 gold) (counts as an infantry unit for purposes of tech advances) (starts with the Initiative Special!)
Pikemen 5/10/1 (sw) (15 gold) (counts as an infantry unit for purposes of tech advances)
Siege Engines 0/0/1(neg) (20 gold)
Mercenaries 5/5/1* (10 gold) (does NOT gain the benefits of bonuses to A/D values due to tech advances)

Sw - Shield-Wall ability: Cavalry charges MAY NOT be executed against a force that contains any Pikemen, however, all losses suffered from “First Strike” units must come from the ranks of Pikemen first.

(to be continued!)

[Velociryx]

Neg - Negation Ability: For every Siege Engine the attacker brings into the battle, one "level" of protection (defensive bonus) of enemy fortifications is negated (1 siege engine would negate the defensive bonus of a watch tower, 2 would negate the defensive bonus of a Fortress, etc) - Strategy Note: For purposes of setting up "Precision Strikes," Siege Engines are counted as a separate "class" of troops! Thus, you most always NEED to bring in more siege engines into the battle than the minimum required to negate defensive bonuses!

Infrastructure Techs: (Note that at game start, all players begin with the ability to build Temples, and Barracks) (houses/hotels from Monopoly, with nail-polished roofs in varying colors make excellent buildings to represent all this stuff, with pennies or other markers placed beneath them to represent upgrades).

I1 - Thieves’ Guild May be built/ Scribe’s Tower may be built

I2 - Watch Towers and Markets may be built

I3 - Library upgrade for Scribe’s Towers

I4 - Fortress upgrade for Watch Towers

I5 - Cathedral Upgrade for Temples

I6 - Keep Upgrade for Fortresses

I7 -Bank/ Castle Upgrade for Keeps

I8 - Academy Upgrade for Libraries

I9 - Trading Company Upgrade for Markets

I10 - University Upgrade for Academy

Buildings List and their effects:

Temple: (cost 110g) Generates 1 Influence Per Turn

Barracks: (cost 70g) Troop training center. Note that the maximum number of troops each barracks can produce per turn is 1/10 the value of the province (ie - a province that generates 30g per turn can produce 3 units per turn from Barracks)

Thieves’ Guild: (80g) Spies/Assassins Den - Espionage conducted from here!

Scribe’s Tower: (140g) Produces 3 points of research each turn, in every category

Watch Tower: (50g) Increases the defense value of every unit present by +1

Market: (100g) Increases your per turn income by 2

Library: (upgrade cost = 70g) Increases your research in all categories by +2 per turn (so, a total of 5/turn, post upgrade)

Fortress: (upgrade cost = 50g) Increases the defense value of every unit present by +2

Cathedral: (upgrade cost = 80g) Increases per turn influence by +1 (a total of 2/turn post upgrade)

Keep: (upgrade cost = 80g) Increases defense value of all units in the province by +3 and provides all Infantry Based units with one round of the “Initiative” ability.

Bank: (Cost 120g) Increases per turn income by 5 (banks are required in provinces where
Markets are to be upgraded to Trading Companies)

Castle: (upgrade cost = 100g), per Keep, but the Initiative applies to ALL units and lasts two combat rounds

Academy: (upgrade cost = 70g) +5 research, all categories (a total of +10 research to all categories per turn, post upgrade)

Trading Company: (upgrade cost = 100g) Increases your per turn income to +3 (cumulative with Market) +5 total (post upgrade)

University: (upgrade cost = 50g) +5 research (a total of +15 research per category, post upgrade)

(Note that without play-testing-haven’t done that yet-the costs may not be perfectly balanced)

Note too, the following restrictions on building improvements in provinces:

1) Each province may have no more than three (3) improvements built in it, and that Fortifications count as an improvement.

2) Thieves' Guilds and Scribe's Towers (or any of their upgrades) MAY NOT be built in a province with a Temple/Cathedral

3) The presence of a Bank is required in the province where you wish to upgrade a Market to a Trading Company

Additonal Rules Concerning Provincial Improvements

You can deconstruct provincial builds, but it takes time, and when you deconstruct, you get one fourth (drop all fractions) of your money back. If you deconstruct an improved building, it reverts back to its previous (non-upgraded) status and you get one quarter of the money back that you spent on the upgrade (ie- if you choose to deconstruct a University, it becomes an Academy, and you get 25% of the money back that you put into the upgrade). Each "deconstruction" takes a full game turn, and must be announced at the start of your turn. Thus, it IS possible to make mid-game adjustments to your building and improvement array, but if you try to undo heavily upgraded provinces, it'll take some time to pull off.

You may only build provincial improvements in territories that began your turn under your control! (ie- you cannot conquer a province and immediately drop a barracks there).

Espionage Techs: (you may begin researching these techniques without having the ability to build Thieves’ Guilds, though you will be able to do nothing with them until you build at least one TG)

E1 - Steal Gold (SG) Ability Gained! (base chance = 60%)//Intelligence Ability Gained (Int)

E2 - SG = 70% base

E3 - Steal Research/Corrupt Research (SR) Ability Gained (base chance = 50%)

E4 - SG=75% base, SR=60% base

E5 - Bribe Ability Gained! (BR) (base chance = 50%)

E6 - SG=80% base, SR=65% base, BR=60% base

E7 - Assassinate (A) Ability gained! (base chance = 40%)

E8 - SG = 85% base, SR 75% base, BR = 70% base, A=50% base

E9 - SG=90% base, SR 80% base, BR 75% base, A=55% base

E10 - SG 95% base, SR 85% base, BR 80% base, A=60% base

(to be continued!)

Espionage Abilities Explained:
All espionage abilities, except where noted below, are FREE. They cost you nothing, save for the expense of research to get them, and the construction of Thieves’ Guilds. If you are caught, there also may be a “cost” of Honor.

To determine how many “Espionage Operations” you can perform during the course of a turn, simply count up the number of Guilds you have, and divide by two. There’s your answer!

Intelligence: This is among the most basic of the Espionage options, and is something of a special case. Unlike the other Espionage options, you have a flat 50% chance of succeeding, and there is no defense against such snooping. Success means you may take a peek at any one card from the "Book of Fate" your opponent is currently holding. Also note that you get two "Intelligence" peeks for the price of one action (so that, for the price of one of your "espionage slots" on a given turn, you have two opportunities to do a bit of snooping). If successful, your opponent may shuffle/mix his fate cards face down, and then you select one and flip it over to examine.

Steal Gold: If successful, you gain a portion of your rival’s treasury. For every level of espionage tech you have researched, you may roll d6. For every Guild you have in operation, add +1 to the end result. Enjoy! (Steal Gold’s chances of success are modified by -5% for each Guild your rival has in his territory). Failure results in the loss of 5 honor.

Steal/Corrupt Research: Two options here. The first removes research points from your rival’s pool and places them in your own. The second (easier to pull off +15% to base chance of success) simply mucks up your rival’s research efforts. Amount of damage done to research is d6 per Guild you have in your territory, modified by -1 to the total per Guild your opponent has (though your chances are unaffected by your rival’s guilds). Failure in your attempt results in the loss of 10 points of accumulated honor.

Bribe: Battle Ability. Before the start of any combat round, you may attempt to Bribe military units. Successful bribing means the enemy units move to your side. For all purposes, they are now your units. Unsuccessful bribe attempts still have an impact though, in that unsuccessfully bribed units may not participate in the combat in question (for either side!). If the result of the battle is such that the unit unsuccessfully bribed ends his turn in enemy controlled territory, move the unit to the nearest friendly territory. Unsuccessfully bribed units can be brought back into the combat by paying 2 Honor per affected units. Successfully Bribed units may be purchased back by the original owner (countering the bribe) by paying 4 Honor per unit bribed.

Assassinate: Can be used on Leaders or individual units. A successful % role results in the outright death and immediate removal from the game board of that unit. Failure results in a loss of 15 Honor.

Sow Seeds of Rebellion: You'll note that this particular espionage ability does not appear on the tech chart. That is because it is available to anyone who can build Thieves' Guilds. Like the other Espionage options however, using this one DOES take up one of your "per turn" slots. Unlike the other options, this one costs gold.

To determine your chances of success at sowing the seeds of rebellion in an enemy controlled province, use the following formula: ((Espionage Tech Level * 10) + (Number of your Thieves' Guilds * 5)) - ((Target Opponents' Espionage Tech Level * 5) + (Number of Opponent's Thieves' Guilds ))( + 10 if the Province is adjacent to your territory, -5 if it is not.)(-10 for every unit the province contains)(-5 for each level of fortification the unit contains) The resulting number is the base percent chance of success. You may increase this chance by 10% per Xgold, where X is the value of the Province you're targeting. Your opponent may lower the chance by 10% by paying X, where X is half the value of the baseline value of the territory in question. In this case, the "defender" may pay in any combination of gold, influence, or honor, in order to preserve the province. This "bidding war" takes place and comes to its conclusion before any dice are rolled.

Effects of successful rebellion:
The Province immediately becomes the property of the "attacking" player. Any troops in the province are moved to the nearest friendly province. All provincial improvements are preserved, and their control passes to the new owner. Finally, any time such unrest occurs in the Kingdom, the Church always takes a more active hand in the region, and so a ban on any and all troop movement through the target territory is in place for three turns, starting with the turn that the rebellion succeeds in. Fostering rebellions then, can be a ruinously expensive enterprise, but when timed correctly, it can create a strategic block that may mean the difference between victory and defeat.


The Factions:
There are five Royal Houses of Candle’Bre, each having different traits and abilities that affect game play. Specific notes on them are as follows:

The Furies (default human player) - Led by Lord Michael Fury, this family has a long, proud history of serving as the King’s right hand. The Furies are good, noble folk, and boast the finest, best Cavalry in the realm (cavalry attacks at +2 and defends at +1) (Two special Leaders: Sir Kenna Fury - Cav. Commander, and Lord Stephen Fury - The Grand Marshal of the King’s Guard)

The Mourngrym Family - Led by Lord Flavin Mourngrym, this family is far and away the wealthiest in the Kingdom (perhaps even wealthier than the King himself, tho this has never been proved). It is whispered in dark corners that Mourngrym sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his fabulous wealth. Whispered, because people who speak too loudly of such things often vanish without a trace. (special powers - Mercenaries can be hired at the cost of 8 gold each, all other troop types are 2g less for the faction, espionage activities are 20% more likely to succeed (all base chances increased by 20%) - money to grease the wheels), and Mourngrym can convert both Honor and Influence to gold at a 1:1 ratio.

The Castillar Family - Led by Lady Ahnwick Castillar, this family’s power base is centered around religion. For sixteen generations, the men and women of the family have found their calling in the service of the Church, and as such, they hold tremendous sway over the commoners of the realm. (special powers - This family generate influence according to how many provinces they control 1 Influence per turn, per 3 Provinces controlled, +2 Influence per turn for as long as the Lady Ahnwick lives. Also, Castillar provinces are less likely (10%) to revolt than other provinces, and the Province that the Lady Ahnwick is in CANNOT be made to revolt. Special Leader: Lady Ahnwick Castillar (General/Clergywoman).

The Council of Seven: The Kingdom’s “Lower House” was long ago given stewardship over a large tract of Candle’ Bre to serve as the basis of their power. Special Power = The wise men of the council are well respected by all in the Kingdom, and attempts to make war on them would generally be frowned upon by all - warring on the Council of Seven results in a per turn loss of honor (1 point of honor lost per 100 men (1 unit) used to attack them, calculated EVERY TURN such attacks continue), and a 15% chance (check EACH province of the attacker, each turn - note that Provinces containing at least three friendly troop units will not rebel and need not be checked) of open rebellion in the attackers’ territories for the duration of the war. (note that rebellion is qualitatively different from sowing the seeds of rebellion, the Espionage ability....in this case, the province casts off the rule of the owning player and all improvements IN that province are destroyed). Perhaps most potent of the abilities of "The Seven" is their ability to sway the hearts and minds of captured troops. Any troops captured may be pressed into the service of the Seven during the unit placement phase of their turn and used normally on the following turn. Units placed thusly need not be placed in territories containing barracks, but they still must abide by the "per turn production limits" of provinces. Additionally, the Councilmen have a special unit: Praetorians (Elite, bada$$ defensive unit - Cost 10, 2/14/1

The Council of Five: The Kingdom’s governing “Upper House” is made up of five mysterious, reclusive wizards, who were also given stewardship over a large tract of land during the King’s reign. Little is known of their powers, but they are greatly feared nonetheless

Special power: Choose one at game start: Pestilence, Probability, or Divination) The Council of Five gain Mana for their spells at the rate of 1 point per province controlled, per turn. Because of their constant dabbling in the Dark Arts, however, "The Five" get a penalty of -2 Influence per turn. This same dabbling in the Dark Arts opens their minds to new ideas, however, and as such, costs for researching new technologies are reduced by 10% (strategy note: This enables "The Five" to run with negative Honor and still maintain "normal" research rates!

Pestilence: Requires 20 spell points to cast, 4 per turn to maintain. Any military units moving through the target province must roll a survival check (d20, a roll of 1-5 means the unit simply dies where he stands. Chances for a leader death are 1-2 on a d20. Every turn the pestilence remains, the territory has a 1% (cumulative) chance of rebelling against its controller and reverting to neutrality (all improvements considered lost) (note that the rebellion roll can be negated by keeping a standing force of at least three (3) units in the province, but this could get QUITE expensive, over time.

Probability: Requires 5 spell points to cast. The wizards may use their magic to impact one die roll in any battle of his choosing (either make the opponent re-roll, or re-roll one of his own dice). No roll may be re-done more than twice, and the casting cost is paid for each re-roll the player desires.

Divination: Requires 10 spell points to cast. The wizards may “spy on” any other house, and gain perfect information on their enemies. (treasury count, total stored honor or influence, cards currently held, etc). Note that the casting cost is paid for each item the player wishes to see (treasury = 1 item, stored honor = 1 item, 1 fate card = 1 item, etc). Perhaps the most powerful Divination ability though, is the ability to "see what the fates have in store" by paying a flat rate of 15 spell points and then looking at the top card in the book of fate without drawing. If the card is NOT taken, the Divining player suffers a loss of 10 Influence (The Church frowning on the use of the Dark Arts to peer into the future) and 5 Honor (Dodging what the fates have in store). Note too, that Divination, when cast in conjunction with any Espionage ability increases base chance of success by 10%!


Honor is gained by:
1) Combat - Successly defending your holdings against all comers gives you honor (1 pt. per battle). Attacking does NOT give you honor (since controlling 40 Provinces is, in and of itself, a means to victory!)

2) Mercy (captured leaders are ransomed, not killed) (5 points for leaders spared)

3) Captured troops are released, not slaughtered (1 point per unit returned to its owner)

4) Allies are aided with gifts of money/Units (1 point per 50 gold value in units, money, or any combination thereof)

Honor is lost by:
1) Getting caught using Espionage techniques (penalty depends on the severity)

2) Slaughtering captured troops/leaders (-20 per leader killed, -2 per troop killed - Note that when you kill a captured enemy troop, you get a bounty in gold equal to half that troop's cost (dropping all fractions) as you "recycle" their arms and equipment)

3) Attacking the Council of Seven (see council of seven for rules regarding that)

4) "Spending" Honor to defend yourself from various actions taken by enemies

Thus, it should be theoretically possible to ally yourself with the Council of Seven (or anyone, really) and win by gifting them units and cash (the family that can hire cheap mercs could hire an army and gift it to their allies, for example, letting the allies do the heavy lifting, while they accumulate honor by being good and worthy allies).

(once more, to be continued!)

[Velociryx]

Diplomatic Model
During the diplomatic phase of the game, there essentially two things you can do:
1) Propose/Break an alliance
2) Offer an exchange/ransom of prisoners with a rival

There is no declaration of war in this game, and it is assumed that unless your neighbor is an ally, he may attack you at any moment and without the slightest bit of warning.

In the section regarding troop movement, you learned that you may not move your troops through the lands of an ally (they're just not that trusting), but there ARE a few things you CAN do to help your allies, and these options are listed below (computer version: pulldown menu with available diplomatic options)

1) Gift units. When you gift an ally one or more units, you must select one (or more) of your units that did not move at all during your turn. When gifted, the unit immediately disappears from your territory, and will be available for placement in any territory that the player receiving the unit desires (note that in this case, the territory need not have a barracks in it...the troop was trained by you and is simply switching uniforms at your request). There is no limit to the number of units that can be gifted during the course of a single turn. So long as you have them to spare, and they did not move, you can send them. (note: The gifted units are placed during the "new unit placement" phase of the receiving player's turn!) Gifting units to an ally counts toward honor (50g worth of units = 1 Honor--drop all fractions)

2) Gift money. Just what it says. You can give as much or as little as you like, and such gifts can also generate Honor (50g = 1 Honor, drop all fractions).

3) Gifting Fate Cards: Some Fate Cards can be passed to other players. If so, they generally have some boon to Honor associated with them. Follow the instructions on the card where that is concerned (note! If a card does not say anything about Honor, but DOES say you can gift it, you can, you just don't get anything for it!)

Other Diplomatic Stuff:
Prisoner Exchanges/Ransoms:
This is entirely up to the players involved. Each player can set whatever demands he likes for the return of captured leaders/troops. "Whatever the market will bear...."

Economic Model:

Gold is the driving force behind the economy. From your supply of gold, do all other things spring. Your per turn Income is used for a variety of things:

1) Paying upkeep costs of your standing forces (for simplicity, upkeep is ignored for purposes of the boardgame, and is 2g per troop company in the potential computer version)

2) Building Improvements in your Provinces

3) Hiring Mercenaries

4) Training New Troops

5) Research

Each of these will be covered in turn.

1) Paying Upkeep for your standing forces: Each company of soldiers in your service requires 1g in upkeep each turn. If this fee is not paid, the unit is not lost, but simply deactivated. It may not move. It will not initiate an attack, but it WILL defend (half strength). (The board game version HAS no troop upkeep...this is simply for the computer version)

2) Improvements: A Province may contain no more than three (3) improvements, forcing the player to make strategic choices about what to build where. Building Barracks near the front line of a looming battle will have the effect of allowing you to churn out troops close to the action, but you run the risk of losing the territory AND your ability to defend those behind it. Available builds depend on your level of research.

3) Hiring Mercenaries. Normal combat units (ones you train yourself) have static combat values, mercenaries do not. Their combat values are floating, depending on the level of salary you provide them (the higher you set your per turn upkeep, the better they fight). Note though, that even the best paid mercenary force is no match for a "high tech" standing fighting force. 1:1, the Mercenaries will lose every time. Their main strengths are a) They do not require a Barracks to train, and b) They can be hired en mass to achieve a specific objective (adjusting their salaries to whatever level of effectiveness is required).

4) Training New Troops - This is, when the dust settles, a war game, so training troops is of pivotal importance to the goal of claiming the Kingdom of Candle’ Bre as your own.

5) Research - Is broken into three categories: Military Research, Infrastructural Research, & Espionage Research. Military Research gives you better weapons (expressed as attack bonuses, and sometimes new combat abilities…also the occasional new unit). Infrastructural Research gives you additional buildings for provincial improvement. Espionage Research opens up more “sneaky stuff” to do to your opponents.

Influence:
The primary use of your Influence with the Church is defensive in its nature. Simply put, your pull with the local clergy enables you to stop a battle in its tracks. To do so, you simply spend influence from your pool of it. 20 points keeps a target battle from happening entirely (you must declare your intent to do this before any dice are rolled!). Influence used to stop a battle from happening vs. your own troops is considered cowardice (hiding behind the coattails of the Church), and so results in a loss of -2 Honor. Using it for the benefit of one of your allies, however, is an Honorable act, and will net you +5 Honor. Bear in mind, however, that influence builds up quite slowly, and must be carefully husbanded, and used only in the most dire of emergencies.

***End of Core Rules***
-=Vel=-

[Libertarian]

Vel:

Could you detail the object(s) of the game and any victory condition(s) aside from the accumulation of 200 honor points.

[Velociryx]

***Original Post deleted to make room for the Book of Fate, in light of the Expanding Rules!***


And finally....

The Book of Fate:
This mighty tome represents a certain "random element" in the game. A mysterious spirit who casts fortune and misfortune upon those who dare to make use of it.....it can instantly turn a brightly burning victory into a dashing, humiliating defeat, and it can turn certain death into a new lease on life.

Every turn, each player may opt to pay 30x (in any combination of Gold, Influence, or Honor) to draw one (and only one!) card from the Book of Fate. The draw is not required, and may not even be desired.

Some of the cards drawn have an immediate impact, while others may be held onto indefinitely (face down on the table before you). Note that no player my EVER have more than seven (7) Fate Cards face down before him at any time. If you already have seven, you may not draw any additional cards until you make use of at least one of the cards you have!

Some cards may only be played once per game, and are kept separate from the discard pile until the current game ends. Other cards may be recycled when you go through the deck completely, and may come up again.

And finally, some cards may directly violate the game rules listed here! If so, the card in question assumes "local superiority" and the ruling on the card applies for the effect described on the card.

If using playing cards, you'll note that only one suit (spades) is bad, meaning that each time you draw, you've got a 25% chance of having paid for something bad to happen to you....that's the risk of using the deck, and why it is entirely optional!

* Final note! If you play any card on behalf of a neutral province, you gain no honor....as it is, you're probably wrecking havoc with your opponent's plan, and that should be reward enough!

And now, the cards themselves:

Hearts:
2- Respect of your Peers! You gain 10 Honor (must be played immediately)

3- Adoration of your Peers! You gain 20 Honor! (must be played immediately)

4- Respect of the Clergy You gain 10 Influence! (may be played immediately or kept - Player's discretion)

5- Favorite of the Clergy! You gain 20 Influence! (may be played immediately or kept - Player's discretion)

6- Grasp of the Inquisitor: roll d6. The result is the number of enemy Theives' Guilds you destroy. If the enemy does not have that many Guilds, then you may begin destroying Scribe's Towers, Libraries, Academies, and Universities (in that order). Your opponent may prevent this by paying the full cost of the improvement about to be distroyed in any combination of influence, honor, or gold. If he cannot, there is no preventing the destruction. This card may be held until needed.

7- Miraculous Escape! This card may be "cashed in" for five counters. Counters may be used to nullify the death or capture of any units. Counters need not all be used in one battle, and leftover counters may be held onto to prevent other deaths as the owning player sees fit (using a counter to benefit an ally = +1 honor per counter, +2 if used to help an ally's leader). Card may be held until needed.

8- Religious Festival! No attacks may be made AT ALL until the start of your next turn. Card must be played at the start of your turn, and may be held until needed.

9- Nothing but love for ya! No attacks may be made AT ALL until the start of your next turn. Card may be played at any point during your turn, and may be held until needed.

10- Adoration of the Peasantry! Roll d6 and have target opponent choose that number of territories you control. Double income values for those provinces this turn. (must be played before income calculation and collection of the receiving player's turn, may be held until needed) - if used for an ally, you gain one honor per 10 gold that player recieves (dropping all fractions).

Knave- Leader! Lord Charles Vega. Brings with him 5 units of Light Infantry. Any Light infantry units in the province with Lord Vega gain first strike ability (attack on the same tier with Archers). This card is "burned" when played (not returned to the discard pile for reshuffling). May be held until needed, units may be placed in any territory without regard to territory production limits, and may be played at any point in the turn, including combat, prior to dice being rolled!) - if this card is gifted to an ally, you gain 10 honor

Queen- Partisan support! Chose target battle in a territory of your enemy. Roll d6+2. That number of Infantry spring up in the province to do battle with/help do battle with enemy forces there. No damage to improvements is done, but if the province is lost and no other player troops are present, then the province reverts to neutrality, and the surviving infantry remain until dealt with. If played on behalf of an ally, gain +3 honor.

King- Papal Decree! Choose target opponent and roll d6. For that number of turns, the target player may not make use of any espionage functions. This card may be held until needed.

Ace-Unnatural disaster! Choose target enemy territory. That territory is the subject of an "unnatural disaster" and any improvements it contains must roll a survival check (d20, 1-8, improvement distroyed, 9-20 improvement remains). All units in the province must also roll a survival check (d6, 1-2 unit dies, 3-6 unit survives) - Leaders are exempt. This card may be held until needed, and units/improvements so distroyed may be spared if the owning player pays 20 per building and 4 per unit. Cost may be paid in any combination of Honor, Influence, or Gold.

Diamonds:
2- Hidden Treasure! This card may be played immediately, or kept until the start of any of your turns. May be cashed in for 50g

3- Excellent harvest! This card may be played immediately, or kept until the start of any of your turns. May be cashed in for 50g

4- Innovative Peasants! Choose target territory and build any one (1) improvement or upgrade there instantly. Note that you need not have the requisite tech for the improvement, but it may not violate the "3-per rule", nor the church rules.

5- Squatters' Rights! Target neutral territory comes into your fold peacefully. This card may be held until needed. If played to the advantage of an ally, you gain honor equal to 1/10th the value of the province your ally gains (40g province = 4 honor). May be played at any time before the target player's income calculation phase.

6- Brilliant Research! 20 points of research added to each of the three tech-pools! This card must be played immediately and is removed from the game (not reshuffled later)

7- A wandering Sage friendly to your cause give you a research boost! (50 points added to the research category of your choosing!) This card must be played immediately, and is removed from the game (not reshuffled later)

8- Call to Arms! This card may be held until needed. Must be played at the start of your turn. Units cost 2gold less than normal this turn. If gifted to an ally or used for an ally's benefit, you gain +5 Honor.

9- Deflation! All Provincial Improvements are 20% cheaper this turn. Card may be held until needed, and the effect lasts until the end of your turn. If gifted to an ally, or used for an ally's benefit, you gain +7 honor.

10- Interest in the Military! Provinces with barracks are subject to no limitations with regard to the number of units they may train this turn. Card effect lasts until the end of your turn and may be kept until needed. Must be played at the start of your turn.

Knave- Leader! Lord Steinwick, the Bold! This leader brings no troops with him, but all friendly infantry in the same Province with Lord Steinwick gain the ability to execute flanking/charge maneuvers! (this card must be played immediately, and is removed from the game--not reshuffled later--when played). Card must be played immediately, and cannot be gifted to another player.

Queen- Leader! Lady Rhiannon of Shaladare joins your cause! Though she brings no troops with her, she is a masterful tactician! Where most leaders may "influence" a given battle only three times, she exerts twice the influence, and may do so up to six times during the course of any battle she participates in. This card must be played immediately, cannot be gifted to any other player, and is NOT reshuffled when played.

King- Leader! Lord Rand and his Grey Cloaks join your cause! (5 units of Pikemen). All of your Infantry and Pikemen units in the same province with Lord Rand gain +1 movement for as long as he lives. This card must be played immediately, cannot be gifted to any other player, and is not reshuffled when played. Lord Rand and his minions may be placed in any territory, without regards to normal limits. (note that these units do NOT gain the Charge/Flank ability!)

Ace- Show me the money! All players must pay you a tribute of 50 Gold immediately following income collection of their next turn. If you opt not to collect from any given player, you gain 5 Honor per player you don't collect from.

Clubs:
2- Staunch Defenders! Choose target battle. The defending side IN that province gain an additional +1 bonus to all rolls! Card may be held until needed. If gifted to an ally or played to the benefit of an ally, gain 5 honor.

3- Forced March! All Infantry units you control gain +1 Movement until the end of your current turn. This card may be held until needed, and may not be gifted to an ally.

4- Doubletime! All Archer units you control gain +1 Movement until the end of your current turn. This card may be held until needed, and may not be gifted to an ally.

5- Mercenary Band! "Marsten's Raiders" joins your cause! You gain 5 Mercenaries free. Forces must be placed together (all in the same province). Card may be held until needed, and may be played at any point in your turn (if played during combat, the card MUST be played before the first round of combat, and before any dice are rolled!). If gifted to an ally, or played to the benefit of an ally, gain +5 Honor - This card is burned when played (not reshuffled)

6- Highwaymen! You immediately gain 4 units of Cavalry, and may place them in any one territory you control, regardless of provincial production limits OR the presence of a Barracks. If gifted to an ally, you gain +7 Honor. You may hold this card until needed, and may play it at any point in your turn. (if played during combat, the card MUST be played before the first round of combat, and before any dice are rolled!).

7- Mercenary Band! "Freeling's Brigade" You immediately gain 6 Archers, and may place them in any one territory you control, regardless of provincial production limits OR the presence of a Barracks. If gifted to an ally, you gain +7 honor. You may hold this card until needed, and may play it at any point in your turn. (if played during combat, the card MUST be played before the first round of combat, and before any dice are rolled!). Card is burned when played (not reshuffled).

8- Gettin' Sneaky! You may cash this card in for eight (8) counters. Each counter acts as an Espionage Ability, above and beyond the number you are normally allowed to play. For each Espionage abilty you use, remove one counter. Counters are only used after you conduct your natural "maximum" number of Espionage abilities on a given turn, and may be hoarded for later turns. This card must be played immediately, and may not be gifted to any other player.

9- Research Breakthrough! You gain 1 Free Tech Advance in the category of your choosing. This card may be held until needed and may not be gifted to any other player. Must be played at the start of your turn.

10- Strongarm Tactics! roll d6. For that number of turns, your per turn influence is doubled! This card must be played immediately, and may not be gifted to any other player. When card is played, you lose 10 honor.

Knave- Mercy of the Seven: This card may be held until needed. If you are not the Council of Seven player and you play this card for yourself, you immediately gain 30 honor and the great respect of all in the kingdom for escorting one of the councilmen safely thru enemy territory. If you gift the card to the "seven" player, or play it on his behalf, then any combats the "seven" player participates in this turn result in no enemy deaths....all captures.

Queen- Season of the Witch: This card may be held until needed. Choose target player. You may destroy units of that player by paying 3 Honor or 3 Influence per. The player so assaulted may spare the units by paying 5, in any combination of Honor, Influence, or Gold. Card lasts for one turn only and then burns out and is added to the discard pile. Leaders may not be destroyed in this manner. If this card is played by the Castillar family, and if Lady Ahnwick still lives, then the Castillar players costs are reduced to 1 per, instead of three.

King- Vengeance of the King. This card may be held until needed. When played, it summons 8 units of cavalry into existance, in any province you name, under the control of any player you name. If the card is used and units gifted to an ally, you gain 20 honor. If used by, or gifted to the Fury player, all of his attacking cavalry may make charge attacks every combat round this turn.

Ace- This card must be played immediately or gifted to the Council of Five player. If you play the card and are NOT the council of Five player, you gain 30 honor for destroying a mysterious heretical tome. If you gift the card to the Council of Five player, or play it on his behalf, the Council player gains 50 spell points immediately.

Spades: (all spades must be played immediately and none can be "gifted" to another player. Furthermore, all spades must be immediately revealed to all players--so they can kick you when you're down!)

2- Minor Owie! For dabbling with the forces of Fate, you lose 10 Influence with the Church!

3- Major Owie! Roll d6. For that number of turns, you collect NO influence with the church, nor can you accumulate any additional honor during that period, regardless of your actions. Lose 10 Honor immediately.

4- Wretched Harvest! Your Income next turn is halved.

5- Fighting in the streets! Every province you control that has no troops in it must roll a stability check (d20). 1-4, the province rebels and reverts to neutraility. You must recapture it if you want it back (standard neutral province rules apply). No damage is done to any Provincial Improvements you may have built there. Lose 5 Honor for each territory lost in this manner.

6- Economic Paralysis! You gain no income for the next two turns. And smile! You just lost 10 Honor, too!

7- A pox upon you! Any battles you participate in until the end of your next turn are done at -1 on all your dice rolls. Further, you may gain no honor until the end of your next turn. Lose five Honor immediately.

8- Extreme Lethargy! Your fast troops (light infantry and cav) have their movement rates cut in half this turn and the next! Lose 5 Honor immediately!

9- Manpower shortage! You may not hire any new troops, nor recruit mercenaries next turn.

10- Freak storm/Impassable Roads! None of your infantry-based troops may move next turn. All your fast troops are reduced to 1 move!

Knave- Mourngrym's gambit - If you are not the Mourngrym player, this card does nothing. You may, however, hold onto it indefinitely and keep it as a ruse (or keep it out of Mourngrym's hands!). If you gift the card to Mourngrym, or play it on his behalf, the following will result: ANY mercenary forces used to attack the Mourngrym player this turn will turn against the controlling player and defect to Mourngrym's side. All mercenaries in combat with Mourngrym this turn will gain an additional +1 attack/defense over and above other bonuses.

Queen- Disease! Target opponent selects a territory. All units IN that territory must roll a survival check immediately! (d20) 1-5, the unit dies. Leaders ARE affected by this card! (computer version, the territory is chosen randomly from all your territories that contain troops)

King- Plague and Pestilence! Target territory that an opponent selects becomes infested with the plague! All units in the territory must roll a survival check (d20), 1-6 the unit dies! All troops in any adjacent territory must also roll a survival check (1-4 the unit dies! Note that Leaders ARE affected by this card!). (computer version - the territory is chosen randomly from the list of territories you control with troops in it).

Ace- Soloman's Dilemma: Play Immediately! Reveal this card to target opponent. Opponent rolls 2d6, and sums the result. You select that number of units and divide them into two piles. Your opponent selects one of the piles and gains control of them. You keep the remainder and may redistribute in your holdings how you wish.

Jokers - "Right back atcha!" This card may be held until needed. If ANY player attempts to use a card against you, you may interrupt that action and take control of the card in question! (what you do with it at that point is entirely up to you!) Note that Jokers do not, and cannot effect spades drawn from the Deck of Fate (because no particular "player" is using the cards against you....you paid for the draw of your own free will!)

(as always, thoughts and comments welcomed!)
-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Notes re: Converting the Book of Fate to the game's Event Engine for the computer version:

The Book of Fate was designed for the boardgame only. The costs associated with drawing cards was meant, at least to a degree, to offset the lack of troop support costs IN the board game version and make the two (boardgame/computer game) somewhat comparable where overall expenditures are concerned.

In the computer version, I see it behaving thusly:

There is no "draw phase" in the turn order. Rather, at the start of each player's turn, the computer assess a 2% chance per turn that an event (selected randomly) will occur. WHEN events occur, all players receive a popup describing the nature of the event, and what territory/territories the event impacts. The question in my mind is: How easy would it be for us to make events "holdable"? That is to say....you get a "partisan support" event (infantry pops up in some rival's territory), but you don't wanna use it right then....can we fairly easily work in an option to "hold it for later" or would it be much simpler to simply say that all events are resolved immediately?

Resolving them immediately may mean another slight tweak in the 5's "Divination" ability, but that's easy. What I am a little concerned with in the case of instant resolution is that a) some of the cards currently in the engine won't work too well (also easily fixed, I've no shortage of ideas), and b) it removes a lot of ways a player can gain honor (by holding onto cards and playing them to the benefit of an ally, or by gifting them TO allies).

One possible workaround/the event engine in action:

Lib, Chowlett, and I are playing a MP game, and I get an event popup for Partisan support. I get a popup box listing the event and with the option to either accept it or pass (and I can select a player to pass it to....in this case, let's say I give it to Lib).

IF I pass, I get Honor for giving it away.

Let's say the next player is Lib. He gets a popup box informing him that he's been the subject of an event (there IS no 2% check to see if an event happens for Lib, cos he got mine....there is currently an event "in play."). He too, can either accept it or pass. If he accepts it, then Chowlett gets a popup box informing him that Lib has partisan support (my name is not associated with the event at all, in either Lib's or Chowlett's popup....in fact, the only way Lib would KNOW that he got the event from me would be if I informed him via MP-chat or something. For all intents and purposes, it'd appear to Lib that he just got lucky.

Question:
Is that workable, and easier to code than the whole Book of Fate concept?

-=Vel=-

[Libertarian]

That (or some similar holding solution) shouldn't be a problem, Vel. It's a bit late for me to spec it out thoroughly, but now that most things are in place, I'll get a fresh start about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.

[Velociryx]

Three or four in the morning, eh? We must be related! Night owls! WhoooHoooo! LOL....yep....if not for the meds finally knocking me on my butt around one, I'd have still been up!

-=Vel=-

[Libertarian]

Actually, that's when I get up. It's the early morning time I told you about, the time when I'm most productive. I'm not a night owl; I'm a VERY early bird. When someone asks, "Did you see SNL last night?" I respond, "No, I don't get up that early."

[xRamsesx]

"Did you see SNL last night?" I respond, "No, I don't get up that early."

Cracked me up on that one!!!

[Chowlett]

Vel - sorry if it's too much hassle, but do you think you could either highlight (bold) the cahnges in the rules, or make a detailed revision history, or make a revision history that points to the appropriate section? I don't really feel like trawling through all the stuff to find the appropriate paragraph, nor like printing all 14 pages again.

[Velociryx]

Hey bud! Good thinking! What I'll do is some copy/paste magic and compile a list of changes in the comment thread. You'll find the exact wording used in official rules in my "change control" post! (which will be coming soon!)

-=Vel=-

[Velociryx]

Moving Day! Yep...we're officially moving the Candle'Bre stuff to my site, so as not to muck up the 'poly forums with all the threads we'll be needing, so! If you're curious to watch as things continue to develop, join us there!

The Renaissance Portal

(just click on the discussion forums link, and look for Candle'Bre!

-=Vel=-
(Note: This thread will remain in its "as is" state for Lib to use in scoping out the project. It will not be updated further. Find the most up to date rules changes at my site!)