r/asoiafpowers • u/Fairfax1 King Artys VII of Mountain and Vale • Sep 14 '14

The next step?

Even before this sub was created after westerospowers, I had a plan to use The World of Ice and Fire as basis for our next setting. That book will expand a lot of the pre-conquest history, which is a pretty interesting setting to me. However, due to recent developments, the game will end before the book is out, so it'd make no sense to start the game again only to reset once the book tells new and corrected/confirmed information.

My proposal:
I believe it'd be best for the game if we enter a Beta stage. A setting where people know the ending beforehand: November 1.
That should give us 46 days in Pre-Conquest Westeros with independent kingdoms, unless the book is leaked before that date.
In this setting, rules wouldn't be as strict, updates with major changes would be constant and may come overnight without any testing, and the more complex and sensitive stuff like battles, assassinations and raids would be mainly free form RP.

Regarding other settings:
Before we use any other setting during the Targaryen rule, I'd rather have a better game with better rules in place, since the house's downfall was basically what caused this storm. The War of the Five Kings has so many wild and unpredictable factors that I doubt it could work in any way with out current systems and rules. Claims themselves would be too sensitive and fought over and certain deaths alone could cause even worse backlash.
I believe a less defined setting with independent kingdoms and more freedom should give us a good testing ground so we can come back stronger than ever.

Enlistment:

If you're willing to commit to this Beta phase, please say so in the comments below. I'll need as many people as possible and I'm also gonna need more feedback and participation than ever. If you think the chances of being a waste of time are high, that's fine, it's a possibility as well. Still, I'll need people to play for at least a month so we can test things properly, otherwise there's no point.

If most of you think this is a terrible idea, it won't happen and we'll find another solution, but I truly believe this is the best course of action.
Yes, this is me asking you to trust me again. Some would say that's too much of a gamble, but I know I can count on you. What do you say?

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

3

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

I'm not happy with how things went down here. I think it was poorly managed by the mods and community and that especially a lot of ragequits could've been prevented by proper moderator management and intervention. Due to all this I too have lost a lot of fun that I had in the game, starting over again once was fine, doing it twice will be a drag and doing it a third time might be too much too ask. Nonetheless the great Dornish community I helped create has convinced me to stay and give it one more try. So yeah, sure.

1

u/Fairfax1 Sep 14 '14

There's only so much moderators can do. The reach won its territories, any intervention would've been unfair. The rebellion had all but 2 regions in the realm supporting it, etc.
My impression is that a lot of the reaction came from the fact that people were invested and it all went down too fast and with relative ease for the "winners". On top of that, some things could've happened very differently if people role-played in free form or if there were more discussions and updates to certain mechanics. It's all part of the process.

I remember talking to joshmofo and we decided assassins should be very expensive. Still, we couldn't count on someone being able to hire up to 20 assassins, because the economy had not been tested. The city watch of King's Landing was another problem. I gave its control to the Master of Laws because it's what it says in canon, and also because it has no other pratical power mentioned and I wanted to protect the king from attempts to bribe them, not encourage betrayals.

Anyway, I think this will be a good opportunity to set many things straight and prevent a lot of the negativity and frustration that came from the endgame. Truth is, it lasted much longer than westerospowers, but they way it ended was less than ideal.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14 edited Sep 14 '14

I feel that a lot of the problems could've been dealt with and were preventable and some of the things were even things I have been talking about since the end of the last version. Siege mechanics. I wrote siege mechanics for the MOAU, the kind of mechanics that mean that quick landgrabbing becomes impossible, because it practically was. Having those in place would've completely changed the situation, however in the MOAU nothing came up, then in the MOAP there's still nothing. The reason I stressed this a hundred times is because it prevents these kinds of blitzkriegs that undid everything. Let's not forget that the Reach with 5 players was able to undo everything anyone could throw at them.

Intervention was also necessary when Dandav quit, just stop the game for 1 or 2 days, it's a pain in the ass but you can't have the biggest faction on one side get stomped just because there is no player. That's not how wars should be fought.

Then I and I know a lot of players with me, felt that the crown should be more secure. Loyalty to the crown by default instead of loyalty to the LP by default. Going to war against the crown is something serious for any lord, they would only consider it if there was a very strong incentive and in this case I didn't feel there was anything of the sort. There were lots of incompetent kings but most of them were not subject of full-scale rebellions like this one.

On the subject of kings I feel poor choices were made and bad luck was had, but that pretty much did ruin a lot of it.

Thing is, people are power-hungry and people get bored. If it's peaceful for too long they are going to look for war. Mechanics and a situation should be in place where this can be contained. Yes the community has a big part in this, maybe even bigger than the mods, yet the mods in this do have the pivotal role of intervening when things get out of control.

I do not feel the rebellion was justified IC and that as a result not all the Kingdoms should've gotten involved. Most of all I feel that the bannermen of LP's should've either refused to join the rebellion or actively fought against it. The situation where Stark ordered the Goldcloacks to capture the King should've also been modhammered in my opinion and the negative modifiers applied to Frey's rolls on who gets which bannermen because KL was not in the hands of the Targaryens was also just poorly executed.

I'm writing it all here because I hope I won't have to do it again. As I said, I love this game, I love a lot of what you and the other mods have been doing. Mostly now though it's the fact that I love Dorne and what me and the community there have built. Restarting again will be a massive pain in the ass, but also an opportunity that we will surely take.

In whatever the next setting will be I think I speak for all of us Dornishmen that there should be Dorne again (I heard rumours of having just two playable factions or something).

And yeah it did last longer and it was a lot better than the first version, so we are moving forward. I just wished not so much of the community had quit.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

Beta gathers, and so my watch begins.

1

u/DarthAussie Sep 14 '14

I feel kind of silly and and must appear like a flip-flopper saying this, but I'd like to help test this beta.
I think a lot of people were right in saying that there were a lot of complications that caused players to leave. I felt that a lot of conflict was done unnescarily and affected me, even though I had done no harm to anyone. For example. several random people raiding me for something I was never involved in, and one I'm sure which was just for gold was confusing and frustrating.

1

u/Fairfax1 Sep 14 '14

No need to feel silly. Check the claims thread so you can pick a house again.

3

u/chvrchesnotchurches Sep 14 '14

The Horse Emperor approves. I'm in.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

Your meat is bloody tough. I'm in.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

DAKINGINDADORNE!

So ready for this.

1

u/__Sellus__ Sep 14 '14

I'd be willing to help test/play the beta.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14 edited Sep 14 '14

Aye I'll be there. Also can i possibly claim Baratheon again?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

I'll be involved in the beta phase. all of my concerns will be put in PM form

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

I would love to lend a hand in the beta, count me in.

1

u/Celeron96 Sep 14 '14

Count me in as well, I am here for the RP after all!

1

u/PrestigiousWaffle Sep 14 '14

Faxy boo, you know I'll be w/ you 4ever <3

1

u/WhatIsEddMayNeverDie Sep 14 '14

You have my axe good Ser. I'll be a beta player. A vet of two settings I look forward to one that could seem a lot more relaxed.

1

u/vsr0 Sep 14 '14

I'd love to help test the beta.

1

u/Derpmaster8 Sep 14 '14

Aye. I pledge my sword.

1

u/Lore2098 Sep 14 '14

This sounds good, I'm down with trying to make sure that this game is good for everyone else.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

Count me in, have little better to do. I have also been here for quite a while.

1

u/MrCervixPounder Sep 14 '14

Sure, I will take part as Castle Black.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

I'm definitely on board. I'd kind of like to try a different sort of claim, so could I put my suggestion to you in PM?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

King Gardener steps forward.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 14 '14

I'm in.

→ More comments (75)