A Kingdom Divided
Once again, your humble messenger has arrived, bearing a letter from afar. You open it up and unfurl a vellum scroll, as long as your arm, emblazoned with the immortal refrain:
Last time, we spoke about how our game is predicated on democracy - the Monarch makes some decisions, but most things are decided by the votes of the Nobles (a.k.a the other players).
This time, we’re going to discuss an added wrinkle - the Nobles themselves are divided into three “regions” of the Kingdom, which have competing ambitions and motivations.
Why did we decide this is necessary? The answer lies in skub.
Skub vs. Anti-Skub
One thing we were really interested in exploring was the power dynamics between the Monarch and the Nobles. But it quickly became apparent that, with our voting mechanic, playing them against each other was always going to end in the Monarch getting outnumbered.
In order to solve this issue, and to introduce a much-needed element of strategy/social deduction, we needed the Monarch to be able to play the Nobles off against each other.
So we decided that each game would split the Kingdom into 3 regions, each of which has its own agenda (as well as its own culture, appearance, and unique stories). This was also important because it allowed for a much richer variety of interesting dilemmas that the Monarch could face, where different regions are competing for their favour.
But how could we be sure that the regions would want to work against each other? We encouraged role-playing by giving each region flavourful characteristics. For example, the Grandees are fiery zealots who obsess over their honour; the Counts are gloomy goths who may or may not be vampires. These characteristics were carefully designed to clash with each other.
After that, we just had to trust in the power of tribalism. After telling people that they’re part of Region X, and giving them a little room to role-play the part, it didn’t take much to get them to turn against Regions Y and Z.
Internally, we started calling this “Pro-Skub vs. Anti-Skub,” in reference to the timeless Perry Bible Fellowship comic.
The lesson? People will fight over the smallest differences. And in our game, that means the Monarch has a fighting chance… Provided, of course, they can keep every region’s Defiance low.
Keeping Track of Defiance
Each region has a Defiance stat, which we use to track the Monarch’s relationship with their Nobles. If the Monarch favours one region over another, Defiance will rise accordingly.
Of course, a region’s Defiance will also rise when the Monarch calls a vote and it doesn’t go their way. Nobody ever said the Nobles are rational.
If Defiance rises high enough, the Monarch risks facing an all-out rebellion. But more on that in a later devlog…