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BattleMaster => BM General Discussion => Topic started by: Silverfire on April 13, 2011, 08:37:46 AM
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So, I recently found myself in a very odd situation with my characters on Atamara. My main and most recently most engaged character is the Duke of the capitol of Coria and has been such for a while now since stepping down as Ruler of Coria. Recently, the Duke of Coria's second city was killed and a referendum began to elect his replacement. It then became a situation where my second character in Coria had a very strong RP claim and IC reason to run for Duke of Coria's second city and thus he did so. With my other characters support and very unaligned voting for the 4 or 5 other candidates, my 2nd character is now Duke of the 2nd city of Coria.
So I'm in the situation where I now have 2 characters in a realm, and 2 Dukes of the 2 cities of Coria.
I am wondering what y'all think of this situation and if you would have done anything differently. I am open to criticism, but I am struggling with having been placed in a situation where to properly RP my characters, and play them with their current IC goals I have been given nearly complete control of a single realm all in the form of a single player. Now, my two characters don't usually work together much, but one is more manipulative of the other when it can be, so it is a very interesting situation indeed.
Anyway, let the forum take it away...
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Hard choice, and probably why I try to avoid having two characters in one realm, or if I do I ensure one has a goal and RP that will in no way lead to positions of power. From a RP perspective you probably did the right thing. From the perspective of a player trying to ensure everyone has fun, controlling two Duchies in the one realm isn't helpful.
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Indeed, I would have never played two characters in one realm to begin with. Just a personal preference, for me it allows me to experience more of the BattleMaster world/variety and also always ensures my characters are separate people with separate goals and personalities, and none never plays second fiddle to the other. However, it seems you have managed to maintain clear RP with each, so to each his own.
Now, more than anything else the position you're in probably just reflects poorly on you as a player, whether people should look at it that way or not, most are going to merely see the situation and assume/think bad things, I would think. But, if you are honestly RPing both characters separately, then I suppose you're alright. Thought, trumping your RP to spread some of the fun around is never a bad thing to do.
On a side note, that's a pretty impressive feat! lol
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Secede against yourself. Do it!
;)
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I think we've all drooled over wielding such power at some point, but it's rare you actually get it. You're living the dream! Still, I'm sure that if folk in Coria ever begin to find the situation unbearable, you'll find out about it in no uncertain terms.
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I can see how it makes sense for your characters IC, and that's all to the good...and as your realm seems to be one that has no problem with one family holding multiple positions (or individuals holding them) then I guess it's cool.
Personally, I don't really dig realms like that. While it can be a fun to play nobles who want to hoard all the power, if you're not one of the people who have it, things can be pretty dull. While it might be more artificial to limit the number of positions one noble or noble family can have, it seems more in keeping with the idea of sitting around playing games at a friend's house.
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I dont see problem it at all... except it might be a bit against "game rules spirit". Which i disagree :)
I had to refuse Judges position on another realm cause i had ruler on another realm. It sucked as RP wise.
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I would find the situation incredibly boring. I had two characters in the same realm for a few months when I first started playing. After a while I realized that both characters were essentially experiencing the same game, and that there was much more to the game than just that one realm. Ever since then I have never even had two characters on the same island.
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Same realm can even sometimes offer different experiences. Same continent, and it's an entirely new ball game. Working two different characters towards two different goals using extremely different methods on BT in the 4th Inv was one of the most exciting things I've experienced in my 3.75 years of playing. Aside from that, we are what we make of our stories. Some things are governed by the rest of the realm or continent, while a lot also has to do with our own authorship. But everyone's different, so while some players might enjoy playing two radically dissimilar characters that might even fight each other, some other players might enjoy playing two close family members who mutually support each other through all difficulties. The list is almost endless of different styles.
As far as having both characters on a single continent, and even a single realm become the dukes of its only two cities, if the realm actually does that, then so be it. There's nothing saying that one can't have two characters in a single realm both as dukes. If the realm has some fairness policy, that's Coria's decision. But as far as I know, doubling up as duke is not against any spirit of the game.
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I've enjoyed doubling up a few times, though mostly with highly different characters. Damian and Darkwind saw highly different sides of Abington, for instance, and it was fun having Arlian in Arcaea where he didn't have to do anything other than his particular thing and RP.
I tend to think it's good for the game to have realms where power is more centralized. If nothing else, people not in power there decide that it's better to help another realm instead, either by joining (yay, more estates!) or passing information (that's pretty much the origin of all of Jenred's somewhat infamous knowledge of events in other realms, by the way, though later there were other reasons).
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Hey, as long as the people playing in Coria voted you into that position, you aren't doing anything wrong. If you had appointed yourself that position, that would be an entirely different story.
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Hey, as long as the people playing in Coria voted you into that position, you aren't doing anything wrong. If you had appointed yourself that position, that would be an entirely different story.
Good point.
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If you had appointed yourself that position, that would be an entirely different story.
It actually is not possible to appoint any of your own characters to a position.
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You can give your own family lordship positions, but not council positions. It is recorded in family history as "Appointed as Duke of City by a family member." See Adaria's appointment as Duchess of Idpur in this family: http://battlemaster.org/UserDetails.php?ID=13066&HistoryLevel=3
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You can appoint yourself to any positions too, depending on the government style! Like, at one point I had the opportunity to become three out of four council positions, along with duke/lord of a region. It was limited to 3 council positions because it appears that is the limit for theocracies.
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You can give your own family lordship positions, but not council positions. It is recorded in family history as "Appointed as Duke of City by a family member." See Adaria's appointment as Duchess of Idpur in this family: http://battlemaster.org/UserDetails.php?ID=13066&HistoryLevel=3
You sure about that? You can have two characters as Council members if they're in the same realm.
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It depends on the government system, this was stated already. Theocracies and Tyrannies allow more flexibility than the 3 other systems.
And if you get elected for it, then you earned it.
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If your realm votes you in, it's hard for them to complain I suppose. Still, I hardly think it's good for Coria... That both cities are controlled by one family definitely sends a message to new or ambitious (and therefore active) nobles that opportunities may be limited to established families, with minimal room for them to advance. In some older realms it can be nearly impossible to advance because all the power is held and shared among a small number of families. A realm like this (as it came off to me at the time) nearly turned me off of the game entirely when I was first getting started with BM.
In short, while I don't believe that you've in any way done anything wrong, I do believe that by limiting the opportunities of other players you may be doing your realm some harm over the long term.
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If your realm votes you in, it's hard for them to complain I suppose. Still, I hardly think it's good for Coria... That both cities are controlled by one family definitely sends a message to new or ambitious (and therefore active) nobles that opportunities may be limited to established families, with minimal room for them to advance. In some older realms it can be nearly impossible to advance because all the power is held and shared among a small number of families. A realm like this (as it came off to me at the time) nearly turned me off of the game entirely when I was first getting started with BM.
In short, while I don't believe that you've in any way done anything wrong, I do believe that by limiting the opportunities of other players you may be doing your realm some harm over the long term.
It's easier to dislodge a single family than a clique of many. Since dukeships are more often freed for OOC reasons, now all you need if for that 1 player to go on a vacation for 2 weeks somewhere and you can have 2 cities up for grabs! Or that he leaves the game, or gets hospitalized. It may sound a bit cynical, but almost all of the city losses I've seen were due to one of these 3 reasons. Every now and then cities get conquered, though, but outside of BT, where noble count is so low it doesn't matter anyways, I don't see this much.
I've always petitioned for a way more advanced realm selection tool for newbies. Some people seemed overeager to state that since indicators don't mean facts in 100% of the cases, it wasn't a perfect system and (therefore?) not worth the time.
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Honestly, I know exactly how you feel... Having power IC because you followed the RP actions your character would make. The largest bottleneck of politics in the Colonies was caused by this sort of situation...Likewise made a powerful Guild (now destroyed) in the FEI that gave a character of mine a very powerful role in the southern politics.
I have a couple tid bits of advice:
1. Get true with your self. Make sure you are honest about the RP your characters are doing so that you know there is not a regrettable moment for you OOC
2. Do not let it bother you when people start to call you names. Oh I have been attacked many times by many people over the years... It always hurt my feelings because I knew I was doing really well at following what my characters would independently do. Do not bite the hook and argue back. It is not worth the trouble.
3. Enjoy your down fall :) It will come, and it will be exciting (if done right)