The First Dynasty of Vovix
27 November - 20 December 2023
Ascension Address
Rumors and whispers spread through the court. King Vovix is old. King Vovix is ill. Everyone has a time to go, and his time is soon. As the old king lives out his final days, many eyes turn towards the soon to be empty throne. Some wait patiently for the day to come, while others begin to plot to expedite the succession process… Distant relations and junior princes work to strengthen their claims to the throne, as the favorites plan to eliminate any potential rivals. There are many contenders, many paths to the throne, and many merits to consider. But in the end, there is only one King…”
"I have no idea what I’m doing as far as Imperial Styles, but I guess Guide/Protective/Hands-Off/Scam-Neutral/Servile/Instinctual sounds reasonable."
Players
The following players were active when player gamestate was created: Bucky, Clucky, Forest, JonathanDark, Josh, Kevan, lendunistus, SingularByte, Snisbo, Zack
The following players were active at the end of this Dynasty: Clucky, Desertfrog, Forest, JonathanDark, Josh, Kevan, lendunistus, Vovix
Gameplay
Players were competing to obtain Claims to the throne, based on personal criteria such as their Age and Reputation, which were randomly generated upon joining the game - the single Claim with the highest score was the one that would decide the winner when the Old King (whose health was gradually dwindling) finally died. Players who met particular criteria were part of the Tyngwall parliament, able to vote every few days on a number of semi-random alterations to the weights of the Claims. Players could, at a cost, pass their role to a Successor, rerolling some of their stats.
Final Ruleset
Gamestate
Posts of Interest
- Rules of Succession (Vovix) established the concept of Claims to the throne, which had a Strength score. Highest Strength would win the dynasty when the Old King died.
- Primogeniture (Vovix) created the Claim of "Eldest" and gave every player a random Age
- King Alan the First (Kevan) allowed players to adopt character Names
- A Stain Upon Your Honour (SingularByte) created Reputation
- A prince must always seem to be very moral, even if he is not (Josh) created positive Aspects and negative Flaws, and gave everyone a random Aspect
- Common Ground (Clucky) allowed players to create and hold Estates
- Black Rod (Josh) created the Tyngwall, a government of 120 Parliamentarians which included some of the players (those who had an Estate, had certain Features, were aged over 40 and had a female Name); it would be allowed to pass its own proposals, voted on only by those players and the random decisions of its non-player characters
- Thou is Spouseless (Lendunistus) allowed each player to marry, and created Claims that benefitted from doing so
- Stepping Aside (Kevan) allowed players to nominate a Successor; in effect spending some Reputation to slightly reroll some of their player stats
- Influencers (JonathanDark) gave players Resources (Wealth/Alliances/Popularity/Religion/Military) which allowed them to influence others
- Imperial Style (Josh) suggested that players be referred to as "the x y of z" or "y the x, of z", based on their character name, Aspects/Flaws and Estate
- An Introduction (SingularByte) created types of marriage: True Love, Landowner and Politician
- Estate Planning (Clucky) allowed buildings to be constructed within Estates
- Anon and On (Kevan) forced nameless players to choose names before they could take actions, with a small Patriarchy Claim for male names to balance out the all-female Tyngwall
- Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown (JonathanDark) made the Old King's health into a countdown timer, with certain game events causing stress and taking him nearer to death
- Crime and Punishment (DesertFrog) added Assassinations and forced players to choose a stance of Vigilant or Relaxed; Vigilance caused Stress, but protected you from being Assassinated
- Detangling the Tyngwall (Clucky) foreshadowed how the non-player parliamentarians would probably vote on each issue
- Promoting Democracy (DesertFrog) loosened the criteria on Tyngwall membership
- Expanding the Sphere of Influence (JonathanDark) allowed Resources to be used to influence the Tyngwall
- Forgotten Duchies (SingularByte) created a new type of Claim
- Figurehead (Kevan) defaulted the Old King's votes to DEFERENTIAL as they had been too busy to take part in voting
- Still some good ideas here (Clucky) reproposed some Buildings that had been rejected before, including one that could accelerate the King's death
- Trying Again (Clucky) reproposed directly reducing the Old King's Health to speed the game up
Core amendments
- The Act of Enacting (JonathanDark) merged some rules on the issue of enacment
The Ear of the King(Kevan) was a failed proposal to ban cross-dynastic favours; the two players who moved to block the proposal would go on to win the dynasty by cashing in such a favour
Game events
- Tyngwall, December 3
- Tyngwall, December 10
- Tyngwall, December 14
- Tyngwall, December 18
- Tyngwall, December 22
Ascension
With the highest age, JonathanDark had the most valuable Claim in the game. Working with Clucky, the two players conspired to accelerate the death of the King by direct proposal and by building Private Kitchens on their various estates, each of which could be used once to decrease the King's Health by 4.
When this seemed likely to leave the King alive on 12 Health, JonathanDark cashed in a favour owed to him by Josh from a previous dynasty, asking him to build three more Kitchens and to use them to harm the King.
Jonathan agreed to allow Clucky to attempt two Succession actions to possibly generate a higher-aged character than JonathanDark's, and a chance to win, but they did not succeed; JonathanDark was thus free to declare Victory.