The Ninth Dynasty of Josh
February 23 - April 6, 2015
Contents
Ascension Address
In the last few years, our small settlement has had no peace. First come the forces from the north, laying waste to the crops and livestock. Then comes the inevitable counterattack from the south, undoing all that had been rebuilt. Plague and pestilence follow armies in a cloud - as does conscription. Both separate the youth from their parents with an equal lack of humanity or mercy. Our patch of land is a border town, and all we hope for is a quiet year in this long war.
But this year, the astrologer sees a portent in the stars heralding such a peace. Word has come that the forces of the north and the south have fought each other to a standstill. Our scrap of land and its meagre tithe is no longer under contest. No lord stands between our town and the fates that guide us. For a short while, our path is our own.
This time, when the avarice of others turns its eyes on us, perhaps we will be ready.
Players
The following players were active at the end of the Dynasty:
Brendan*, Darknight*, Ely, Josh*, Kevan*, mideg, Stadjer, and Sylphrena
Final Ruleset
Posts of Interest
- Season's Greetings - set up the Seasons cycle and players' Birth Signs.
- The Long Year - Defined the pace of the Dynasty to be slow and cyclical, with periods of gameplay alternating with periods of proposal enactment: players could make five proposals at once, and proposals would only be resolved at weekends (unless they were contingent on no other proposals)
- Unforeseen Circumstances - the Emperor has to leave the game for a while due to a nasty fall.
- Whether there will be Weather - A Weather system is implemented. It will then be patched several times.
- An Everyday Story of Country Folk - With no Emperor around to strongly characterize the theme of the Dynasty, a generic but sound action point allowance system is set up.
- The Big One - Bunched together several proposals that had failed because they depended on a proposal that was self-killed. This created a turn system for the choice of Workplaces, made Seasons sync with the in-game time ("rounds") rather than the real-life time (weeks), and set up a Readings system that would award players Fate points if they fulfilled some requirements. Since those requirements were unpredictable, unequal, and often impossible to fulfill, Fate was not considered a valid candidate for the victory condition.
- Grandstanding - created a new score variable, Standing, which would be awarded to players taking selfless actions or (later) by trading in Fate. Set the victory requirements to 5 Standing.
- I stand defeating - First Declaration of Victory from mideg, failed because they had converted Fate to Standing before the formal change of Season, and thus had done so twice in the same Season.
- Conservation of Standing - proposed a system that let players transfer some Standing to others on death. This was used to secure mideg's lead during the 5 days between the DoVs.
Ascension
With activity running down, mideg established a clear lead in Standing to win the dynasty.
Darknight was actually hours away from taking such a lead, as the only Townsperson who would not immediately starve to death upon the Season changing to Winter. Darknight would have been able to Pray after the season switched and take a lead at 6 Standing, which no other player would have been able to match within 24 hours alone.
mideg, Kevan and Brendan were the last three players remaining who had to pick a Workplace in Autumn. Brendan contacted them both and proposed an alliance, in which they would all become Farmers (still starving, but gaining 1 Standing to offset it) and then using the inheritance mechanism that was about to be enacted to boost mideg's Standing up and over that of Darknight. mideg would then roll DICE3 to decide which of them would be passed the Dynasty. The results were assigned in alphabetical order, the die came up 3, and mideg Ascended.
Miscellaneous
Josh, how did you determine the Seasonal Readings? Ely (talk) 22:16, 7 April 2015 (UTC) I wish I could remember the answer to this. I know that it utilised real-world horoscopes in some way, but the exact details elude me. Josh (talk) 12:22, 4 February 2020 (UTC)
