>GM who has no idea about how politics or nations work
>tries to run political intrigue
Is there any way this can be anything other than a failure?
>>46971633
How would you run a game of political intrigue, anon?
>>46971633
>All nobles are corrupt
>All nobles hate peasants
>Sieges always turn into assaults
>>46971692
>sieges always turn into assaults
what do you mean by this?
>>46971633 Strap him down, clockwork orange style, and force him to watch some like west wing or game of thrones or something
>>46971713
Sieges are won by starving out the defenders not by throwing men at the walls. If you gotta assault a castle or fort, something has gone wrong for the attackers
>>46971736
But that's not even real politics. Make him watch C-Span.
>>46971785
Oh, yeah.
Frankly, a storm is more fun to roleplay than a siege, tbqh, imho, senpai
>>46971633
>own many classic political texts or various cultures and time periods
>love medieval warfare
>people world build with modern political expectations
>political intrigue is comical
>military actions do not show any strategy
>mfw
>>46971785
Guess that's why siege engines were invented, right?
To help with the starvation part.
Lolno. Lrn2history.
>>46971815
This is true and is why you see it all the time in movies and tv. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a show or movie where people were starved into surrendering a siege.
>>46971661
Establish some factions, each with varying levels of money, influence, and military power.
Toss in a distruptive force. The players, for example, and have each faction try to recruit, eliminate, or manipulate the party to attack, embaras, or rob the other factions. Any time you feel the players aren't being pushed or are being too successful, toss an assassination in or have some noble publicly insult the party.
>>46971815
I think a campaign where the players are part of an army besieging a city for the long haul would be fun, myself.
>>46971786
That's a crime against humanity in some places, anon.
That being said, GoT is a dead ringer for the Wars of the Roses so as far as MEDIEVAL politics goes, it's not too far off.
>>46971903
>okay lads, sit on your rumps and make sure everything's clean
>okay lads, there's a few peasants who we've seen trying to get food into the city, go and pummel them
>okay lads, let's do some marching practice and drill
>okay lads, let's enjoy some drama
Until eventually
>okay lads, we actually have a campaign to win here, it's finally time to storm the city
Or even
>okay lads, it seems there's a relief army on its way to take us out, I suppose sitting on our arses all that time didn't really matter
>>46971924
Well, except for when someone births the smoke monster from lost and dragons start eating peasants.
But I don't know much about the War of the Roses, so maybe I'm wrong.
>>46971941
Anything else is unrealistic so I don't see what's your fucking problem with this.
>>46971866
well, you don't always have time for starvation to kick in or maybe the place you're trying to take over is coastal and you cannot cut off the supplies its getting by sea.
Its never pretty storming a castle though. Even with siege towers and battering rams, you're gonna lose a ton of your army. And lol, good luck trying to literally knock down stone walls with catapults or trebuchets, those were designed to take out people in the city or on the walls, not make a nice new hole to penetrate.
>>46971633
Go find a fucking politician, historian or professor of whatever the fuck is relevant then.
Do you really think Putin will play d&d with you?
>>46971633
Politicians bullshit most of the stuff they say and do.
Your Gm can do the same,
The game could work perfectly fine.
>>46971941
>Not coming up with ways to speed the deterioration of life within the city's walls
>Not negotiating with people on the inside to turncoat and burn supplies in exchange for payment when the city is taken without actually planning to reward them for it
>Not coming up with new ways to keep the men in the siege camp motivated and morale high so no one deserts
>Not exploiting the immediate area of its local communities for supplies when times get tough
>Not having the relief army be the final boss of the siege to ensure the siege isn't broken and the city falls
It's like you don't even want to throw your literal shit over the wall until they can't take it anymore.
>>46971881
because thats boring to watch and people want action
read a book
>>46972036
I wouldn't play D&D with him anyway. Even if I could get away from it without being poisoned by a radioactive heavy metal, he'd probably be That Guy to a large degree.
>>46972067
It is a bit of a shame that almost every medieval fort or castle is just brimming with horrifying tricks and traps and I doubt any of them actually saw any use.
>>46971785
Well...yes and no.
Starving the enemy out is time consuming and expensive and if you don't have good supply lines you'll be in as much trouble as the defenders. If reinforcements show up you're basically screwed. If the enemy has ways to resupply the city you're screwed. If you're supply lines aren't secure you're screwed.
Assaults, while costly, are faster and if you're making a rapid strategic advance then you've got no choice but to assault the walls.
>>46972067
There was that Clone Wars (2D) segment where Obi Wan is just bored and pissed off because a siege is taking fucking forever. The Anakin shows up and tells him about finding a secret tunnel into the Separatist command center.
If you're going to have a siege, either skip ahead to moments where things might be happening or plug in the character action right where things get interesting.
>>46971966
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjO55pKuBo4
>>46971924
I just watched the latest episode, in which a powerful prince was assassinated by a conspiracy of
>random courtesan
>strong bastard daughters who don't need no man
in his own garden, with the consent of his personal guards, and apparently the entire country.
Why was he so unpopular? Because he didn't immediately embroil the country in a war it couldn't possibly win in revenge for the lawful death of his brother. Apparently the ruling house is so beloved, that for the crime of failing to uphold its own honour there was a popular revolution that slaughtered every last legitimate member of the family.
Yes. This is how mediaeval politics works. Sure.
>>46971831
Oh and:
>land enclosure has happened
>economies resemble modernity
>even the idea of industry does not exist
>>46971633
>Medieval warfare
>Major naval battles
>>46972221
The books much more closely resemble medieval politics (notably, all this bullshit plays out completely differently there). The show did too until like season 3 or 4 when they rapidly started running out of book material.
>>46971633
It could still end up a fun game, it just isn't going to involve much actual political intrigue.
>>46972007
Realism is a poor excuse for bad game design, and a game where everyone but you gets bored because nothing happens is designed badly. If your group feels like it, go ahead.
>>46971941
Turn it into a setting mystery/horror game.
Some gribbly thing is stalk the camps, carrying men off into the night. For some reason none of the officers want to address it, in fact they pretend nothing is going on at all. Some larger conspiracy is afoot and it might just threaten the lives and souls of both your army and the city!
It's up to the party to find out what's going on. They'll have to navigate the chain of command and the social circles of the soldiers. Deal with turncoats and commoners. Make dirty trades, learn even dirtier secrets, finally venturing into the city and the dark heart of it all.A NEW POINT AND CLICK ADVENTURE GAME BY THAT PSYCHONAUGHTS GUY COMMIG+N TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU!?
>>46971633
1. Maybe you could point the DM in the way of some easy to get into literature on medieval politics
2. If you think he is the kind of person who would accept some help (and you feel you wouldn't step all over his toes,) then why not offer him some assistance?
3. Play a few sessions and see if his efforts are really all bad, or if there's no fun there at all. If so, you can bring it up with him, but if the rest of the party don't care/mind as much as you do, that won't work out so smoothly
>>46972015
>trying to literally knock down stone walls with catapults or trebuchets
>pleb-tier tactics
>not catapulting over diseased animals and feces
>tfw run political intrigue
>tfw players don't know how politics or nations work
>tfw they have been outmaneuvered by an old baron three times already, the one they were supposed to defeat and move past to bigger and better things
The old man has indirectly sent the party on a fool's errand in order to get their influence out of the city so he could send his own representative in to influence the young mayor. He funded the party's enemies to cause strife in the country side so as to sow a sense incompetence with those observing the party among other nobility. Finally he married one of his wards in order to ensure he could keep a military presence in an important city.
>political intriuge campaign
>uses D&D
>>46971924
The first seasons and the initial project of Martin (which was about to last 3 only 3 books and include a love triangle between Jon, Arya and Tyrion) were based on the War of Roses. Now we're heading to the 6th book and just started the 6th season, there's no war of the roses anymore, just dragons and ice zombies.
>>46972667
>players don't know how politics or nations work
> they have been outmaneuvered by an old baron three times already, the one they were supposed to defeat and move past to bigger and better things
Why don't they just level up a bit and kill that fucker?
>>46972694
To be fair with a lot of these types of games using D&D means rolling up a character and then never actually using it because it's all free form.
>>46971633
There are so many every day threads about political intrigue, and in only two variations:
>players want political intrigue
>players complain
and of course this one,
>DM run political intrigue
>DM is bad
Is it really that fun? It seems like <1% of campaigns actually successfully run political intrigue, and even then I'm sure you shitpost about it on /tg/ when you don't get enouh (you).
>>46971785
Anon, do you think mount and butter would just lie like that?
>>46972743
For one we're not playing D&D so it's not as nearly easy as it would be in that system. Also the Baron known he is in relative danger and as such knows to have defenders around him.
>>46972694
>trying to starve put a city
>clerics prancing around curing diseases and magicing up feasts>attacking force sacrifices hundreds of virgins to some deity to put an AMF over the whole city
>>46971633
You could cut him some slack and play a long, maybe help him out or something or suggest what faction A might do if the party helps out faction B. Really anything is probably less spergy than complaining about it on /tg/
>>46971785
You still want to take the castle or fort as quickly as possible. There might be enemy reinforcements coming, or the reason you're taking that fort is so you can push into another area. Besides, if you don't attack, the enemy's morale will stay higher than if you continually assault them and keep them worried and tired.
>>46972667
Honestly a lot of player groups just aren't good enough for advanced campaigns like political intrigue or grand strategy.
When the average group of players SAY they want political intrigue, what they REALLY want is murderhobo in the noble quarter:
>a few diplomacy/intimidate/bluff rolls
>a few fights with assassins or retainers in bedchambers and alleyways
>an antagonist who never does anything smarter than the players and passively waits around for his simple plans to be exposed and foiled
>a predictable backstab from a shifty ally so they can say we totally called it from the beginning, we're so smart
>railroading with invisible rails
>>46971633
Allow him to run things exactly how he think they work. Embrace the strange politics of his bizarro-world. Have a good time with the strangeness this is bound to produce.
>>46972947
>When the average group of players SAY they want political intrigue, what they REALLY want is murderhobo in the noble quarter
No, they want to be the only Littlefinger in a world on nincompoops.
>>46973015
Good luck running a campaign without any major fighting. The average group gets itchy feet after a single non-combat session. It's sad but the most popualr ttrpgs today are skirmish wargames lite with a handful of social rules bolted on.
>>46973057
Nah, It's cause you write absolute shit npcs.
>>46973015
Yeah all I have done is proven to myself that my players only thing half a step ahead. I am barely thinking two and they just flounder. Also that the average charisma modifier on my players is negative and they can't deal with a charismatic NPC who is working against them and they can't just stab or roll dice at.
>>46973057
>I can't entertain my players
>My players are to blame
Like a true hack
>>46972148
To be honest, the video proves that the writer just picked up some random events and characters he liked to put them in his novel. Which is perfectly ok, but doesn't mean that the main skeleton of the plot is gonna work.
I enjoy GoT, but I think that the events of the real war of the roses are way more interesting and complex.
>>46973057
It was bound to happen as systems were steered further and further away from you, your NPC best friend, your retinue of 60 - >100 soldiers, support staff, and your IRL pals with their NPC best friends, soldiers, and support staff and towards you, your IRL pals, and MAYBE a wagon to haul your loot around in.
>>46972947
>They think they want it, but they don't.
More seriously, the problem is that there's a difference of perspective - players look at it from what they could do or take part in, while a GM looks at it more in an overarching sense and figuring out how all the little plots hook together.
A problem I've had in the past is that players just can't solve a riddle I think is simple. The same problem applies to intrigue - you think it's obvious, but that's because you planned it all out and planted the clues.
>>46973186
The problem is I have found people are just dumb. Whenever I play with my current GMs I am have to discern character back stories and motivation with relative little information and discern riddles.
How? Because I have consumed enough media that I normally have something to draw upon that's similar. Stories repeat.
>>46973102
No, I write great NPCs. My players are dumb. My players are the kind who'll try to strongarm a local ruler in the first encounter and be legit surprised that it doesn't work and they're now in a stand-off with the entire Royal Guard.
>>46973136
Oh I can entertain them. They enjoy simple murderhobo campaigns. Try a bit harder, kid.
>>46972320
>What is Lepanto
>>46972666
>Not catapulting your own soldiers directly over the walls.
It's always easier to make a hard riddle than to solve it. And the disparity in difficulty grows even wider if you make the riddle almost impossible to solve.
What you think you're making obvious is not obvious. This is your fault as the DM, because you have a poor sense of being able to see things as a player.
When it comes to riddles, political intrigue, or anything of that sort, the DM must take a step back and see things from a player perspective. Making riddles or intellect challenges that are solvable and challenging are much, much more difficult than the amount of effort that most of you will ever bother with. Calling your players stupid is a cop-out, and worse, it's your inability to accept your own poor judgement of what is challenging and what is near-impossible.
Can someone explain to me how the hell news spreads quickly without long distance communication? If I siege a town and manage to keep everyone inside, how does news break out?
>>46972015
>those were designed to take out people in the city or on the walls, not make a nice new hole to penetrate.
Uh, no. They were quite literally designed to knock out sections of the walls, or usually towers in the case of trebuchets. Trying to whittle down the defenders a few at a time by hoping you hit them with rocks firing blindly is idiotic.
>>46974763
People, traders, and merchants traveling by and seeing it?
>>46973886
It's even harder when you as a player have an eye for political intrigue and the GM doesn't. It's unbelievably difficult at times when you make convoluted plans within plans and the GM ends up accidentally breaking them because his NPCs are all straightforward and their actions the equivalent of sledgehammers.
Now, the GM did tell us at the start of the game that he was bad at political situations and all, so it wasn't a surprise. We knew what we were getting into. We just have to take things in stride.
>>46971903
The only way it would work is if you played it like Fantasy MASH
I find political intrigue about as difficult to write as any complex plot. While I won't say that I'm good at it, I think the best method is writing backwards. Everyone has a goal, and you just have to fill in what each person has to do or is willing to do in order to achieve it. Stories are all about adversity, so the real difficulty is in writing the obstacles that keep characters from achieving goals. It's a difficult balance to strike between making it seem too easy and too difficult.
Just my stance on the matter as a mediocre amateur author.
>>46971903
I'd rather play as the city under siege desu
>>46972884
>City gets Located, ending the game.
>>46974763
Messenger birds? Signal fires?
>>46974763
It doesn't spread quickly, it spreads inevitably. You don't move an army anywhere without the countryside at large being aware of it, so the people who need to know probably realised you were marching for X and laying siege before you got there. And while you're camped outside a city for months you need a regular stream of supplies and you probably need to keep in touch with your forces elsewhere. The enemy doesn't need very efficient spies to keep abreast of your movements.
>>46971886
>>Illusion of choice
>>46975684
It's illusion of choice in vidya because it's literally impossible for game devs to make realistic consequences for every single decision you could ever make. You don't need the whole campaign published before the first session in PnP games, so unless your GM is shit, you have actual choice.
>>46971633
>Am a political scientist
>My players never look into my settings medieval political structure enough to suit me
>>46971881
>movie where people were starved into surrendering a siege
chinese movie called warlords did this
attackers and defenders both starving and thought they other side had food
some nice political betrayals in there too
>>46972221
>>46972366
I'm convinced that the writers are just part of the subset of fans who didn't enjoy Dorne in the books and decided to write it the way they wanted it to happen, i.e. more action and less political intrigue.
>>46972085
Nay, I think he would try to powergame.
>>46976133
I think it has less to do with "Fuck Dorne, I didn't like those bits at all." and a lot more to do with seriously slimming the cast so Joe Average doesn't have to remember so many characters.
>>46975776
This still sounds like no matter what they do they'll get into predetermined trouble.
>>46971886
>Any time the players are being too successful, toss an assassination in or have some noble publicly insult the party.
You thought you were clever? Wrong!
>>46972050
Literally /thread
GM is all, GM can do it all.
>>46972947
Railroading with invisible rails indeed! I think the worst though is when the players actually think they can just bullshit and occasionally RP as talking to their political rivals or whatever but mostly they're just waiting to make their next diplomacy check or whatever little challeng the dm throws them and nobody has a better system so it's just a few skill checks or whatever so obvious and or repetetive that the players can guess what they need to do to keep the railroad going
>>46971633
>tfw want to run em but know I have no idea how they work
>>46971633
At least he is trying.
>>46971633
None of you have anyfuck clue how any of that shit works so you'll never know if he does stupid nonsensical bullshit anyway.
Itll probably work fine, trpgs are mostly not intended to actually be realistic.
>>46971786
Pifft. Make him read histories, they're still biased, but at least hindsight helpsm
>>46977443
You don't need to be an expert, just do what you'd normally do over the course of your average CK2/EU4 game. Lie, marry, and steal your way to the top, smash in the head of anyone who might be climbing faster than you are.
>>46975776
That's what players always want, video-game-like pre-made results they can achieve by powering through and forcing they way, showing their "skill" and feeding their fragile egos. Few want o actually roleplay.
>>46971633
I honestly don't know any politics outside of the most basic shit. Where would I learn to into how a king would rule, and handle his food supplies, and command his armies, and the like?
I mostly just handle things like most mainstream fantasy does- politics just kinda 'happen', with a backstabbing or such here and there.
>>46977552
Find better players.
>>46977633
But it's mostly shit and the few good ones are as far as possible or downright retired, Celine-sama.
>>46972221
D&D are hacks hacking what it already was a magical realm fanfiction version of the war of the roses.
>>46973768
Not medieval that is for sure.
>>46977474
>so you'll never know if he does stupid nonsensical bullshit anyway
And if the shit he does is stupid and nonsensical, it's how shit is going down. You might think it's unrealistic for an event to unfold in a particular way, but if the DM says that's how it is, then that's how it is.
There's a special place in gaming hell for chucklefuck players who complain about something they think is inconsistent in terms of how they think the plot it supposed to play out. Yeah, you know, if you catch the noble doing something that is incredibly out of character compared to the character the DM has been presenting to you, or a political alliance breaks down out seemingly of nowhere, maybe it's fucking because there's more going on in the game than you realise. Heaven fucking forbid that you trust the unfortunate cunt trapped into running a game for you ungrateful little shits.
Has political intrigue ever actually worked?
>>46972696
Well, to be fair, the title has both 'ice' and 'fire' in it, and doesn't really mention flowers.
>>46972085
>Russian characters deserve so much better in D&D. I myself put down this concept for the future russian national character....
>>46971633
It would be at least as good as Game of Thrones.
>>46973768
You could at least mention the first and second Mongol invasion.
>>46972015
>And lol, good luck trying to literally knock down stone walls with catapults or trebuchets, those were designed to take out people in the city or on the walls, not make a nice new hole to penetrate.
Trebuchets could do it my man, they are described frequently as capable of knocking down conventional stone walls, though a more effective use was knocking out towers. Using a trebuchet to pick defenders off the top of a wall, which is a MUCH harder target then the wall itself is an amusing image. Traction trebuchets were for firing at defenders on walls or over the walls because they launched a shitload of smaller rocks.
Run a game that does 99% of the political intrigue work for you.
That A Song of Ice and Fire RPG has a workable, though not amazing system for this shit.
That said ASoIF isn't exactly 10/10 when it comes to depicting political intrigue, only political drama sometimes involving intrigue and almost always involving asspulls.
>>46977534
Well the thing is that I don't play those.
>>46978721
They're pretty fun and you can steal all the the DLCs from your "friends" on /vg/. Go have at it.
>>46971866
>>46972120
>>46972919
ITT: People who have never read a history book in their life.
I bet you faggots think pitched battles were commonplace too.
>>46978829
You know why Du Guesclin was a big deal as a commander for the Valois? Because he actually didn't starve out castles and just took them.
At some point it just reaches a point of saturation when you need to reduce every single fucking castle.
>>46978854
>du Gueslin
>employed fabian doctrine
>literally attrition and siege focused military tactics
>>46978829
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Rome_(537%E2%80%9338)#First_great_assault
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Amorium#Siege_and_fall_of_Amorium
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Xiangyang#New_weapon_of_the_Yuan_forces
Good thing we have all this evidence that nobody ever assaulted fortified positions, especially not with siege weapons.
>inb4 taking the bait
>>46978924
#arguingagainstextremepointswhendiscussinganonextremenotion
>>46978967
>not using CamelCase
Naw, fuck you.
>>46978924
Sieges were by far the most commonplace battle you fucking retarded, hence 'commonplace'. Sorties and 'assault' were always intensely costly and never the goal of any proper commander, especially when the majority of the army is peasant levy.
Assaults and pitched battles are the exception, not the rule when it comes to battles. There is no point to fight over a grass field in the same way there is no reason to waste thousands of men to take a single castle.
>b-but r-reinforcements
>b-but my cherry picked examples
>b-but t-this is just b-bait
>>46979019
>arguing about pitched battles even though I never mentioned them
Obviously you're going to sit on your ass and wait for the other guy to die if you're not feeling pressured, but saying it's the only thing that ever happened is asinine.
>>46972884
If 10% of the population is an expy of Jesus, you're not looking to commit siege, you're looking to commit mass deicide.
>>46979050
Commonplace =/= Absolute
>>46973160
I 100% GUARANTEE you that anything remotely modern D&D has more diplomacy with the enemy than OD&D did, in which monsters (human types included) virtually always attack unless greatly outnumbered.
>>46977474
>let me tell you about how your NPCs act
>>46978720
Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary, and not even always helpful, to use a system where you roll to see if you make the noble suck your dick and if so how hard.
>>46979050
I'd analyse this trolling more deeply but I'm in class.
Just know everyone: It's very well done
>>46974822
>>46973886
Its extremely difficult for the player to interpret the perspective of the DM.
Its also extremely difficult for the DM to interpret the perspective of the player.
I always ALWAYS tell DMs who are going to put in Godforsaken puzzles that they need to make it as pleb and obvious as possible to decipher, period.
Yada yada real roleplayers, yada yada deep immersive roleplay, yada yada no. Combat is popular in RPGs quite independently from any possible love of violence or dislike of roleplay because:
1. It has a fairly obvious beginning (an attack is attempted to be launched)
2. The actions both the DM and players expect are obvious (stop the other side, or escape)
2. It has a fairly obvious end point (all enemies dead, defeated, or out of line of sight)
Out of character encounters tend to involve either "roll to see if you hurt his feelings and if so how hard" super abstraction rules, or often leave the players totally disoriented. Or even leave the DM totally disoriented as to what the player's angle is.
>>46979084
>monsters (human types included) virtually always attack unless greatly outnumbered
I'll need a citation on that one, friendo. If you and your 300 pals roll up on them and their 300 pals you'll probably have a pretty neat battle, but there's really nothing here about their modus operandi one way or the other.
>>46979219
The OD&D reaction encounter table.
Yes, it can be interpreted that monsters in dungeons are 5000x as aggressive as wilderness dungeons.
>>46976415
>If I face any adversity or unforeseen problems while carrying out my exquisite plans, the GM is a railroading shitlord
>>46979242
>bell curves
Are you sure you know what you're talking about?
>>46979019
>especially when the majority of the army is peasant levy.
Anon why? You were doing so well.
>>46979336
Hm, I don't have the books on hand, I'd have to go to the OSR thread and ask them where it mention that monsters always attack.
>>46971633
To be fair, NATIONS hvae no idea how politics and nations work either.
>>46976415
Keep two things in mind.
First, nothing you throw at the players should be beyond their ability to handle. Assassin? Pah, you're party is practically hand picked elite wetwork team by now. A noble challenging you politically? Time to teach them a lesson in etiquette. The hard way.
The second thing you should keep in mind is that players want a challenge. Seriously, if everything is going their way it's going to be a boring story. No, players play because they want to tackle impossible odds and make hard choices. Otherwise they'd read a book.
>>46980450
>players want a challenge
Ehhh, with regards to combat etc. sure. With regards to political situations? Remember that you are making a puzzle WHERE YOU KNOW THE ANSWER, and thus it will always seem elementary to you. DMs just plain don't have self awareness in this respect. So you should focus on making anything remotely like a puzzle as easy as humanly possible.
If you set forth to "challenge" your PCs in a puzzle situation, what will happen is that you will become filled with contempt for them, you will rage, you will call them idiots and incompetents on /tg/, and your campaign will basically never get anywhere.
>>46979019
>especially when the majority of the army is peasant levy.
Oh boy here we go.
>>46979447
He's talking about the American Revolution, I'd assume.
>>46980616
Should you really make a puzzle and not just run events like they are until players figure it out?
I always hated puzzles with solution, ever since I saw my stepmother playing The Longest Journey I knew my purpose of life is to destroy games like this, and if the game is run by a human and not soulless computer, there's no excuse.
>just run it as though all the national leaders were high school girls who can kill people and get away with it and have armies at their command.
maximum realism.
>>46981254
>American Revolution
>America
>peasant
Nope that's still fucking stupid, arguably more so.
>>46981290
I've played this VN before.
Loli Hitler was a qt.
>>46971633
Gotta learn somehow.
>>46971736
>>46971786
Yes, Minister offers the best insight into politics
>>46971692
>>Sieges always turn into assaults
Because sieges are fucking boring.
>>46971815
There will always be things to do, recon, spec ops.
>>46980616
When doing intrigue, you gotta do like Rockstar did for LA Noire with their "real actors' actual facial expressions on the people you talk with" thing, namely that they had to make the actors overact to a hilarious degree so the average player would notice when they were lying. You gotta drop thick and heavy hints when the players are being fucked with, because anything less will only leave a lingering suspicion that they'll fail to act upon.
>>46979019
An actual location is always the goal - you aren't going to fight the pitched battle for the sake of it, but to try and prevent an enemy from besieging a castle or something.
But in a siege, a commander is almost never going to be able to guarantee they have the enemy completely surrounded and completely cut off. And even then, the cost in lives or manpower might be worth the chance of a quick victory or a loss in enemy morale that might induce early surrender. War is always on a timetable.
>>46973247
Maybe they'd enjoy it more if you awarded XP for completing quests, as opposed to awarding XP for triggering the most pointless combat scenarios and easily avoidable traps.
Murderhobos only exist because D&D 3.PF encouraged wanton destruction over tactics and roleplay and GMs couldn't be arsed to make something that wasn't MMO tier garbage where every obstacle needed a sharp stick and an open neck wound to overcome.
>>46986096
You can't blame 3.PF for everything, murderhobo is as old as D&D.
And desu it worked a lot better when you got xp for killing AND looting.
>>46986748
I can blame 3.PF for everything because that's when D&D became pure cancer.
1e and 2e was flawed but at least it didn't put all of its emphasis on pure numbers and rules and sidelined most of the playable classes while making casters fucking physical gods of destruction past level 10.
Also, XP for killing only encourages murderhobos to go out of their way to murder fuck everything and anything they could find just to gain a little more XP before moving on with the mission objective, which gets old when you have people combing every inch of a dungeon just to find the last skeleton or rat that they didn't kill or setting off every trap from a marginally safe distance since you get XP for that too.
At least with XP for completing questlines, the party is more focused on getting through the dungeon quickly and efficiently (like, y'know, actual fucking sane people) rather than looking for random bullshit to get XP from.
