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I see. Odin sounds - charming.

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It was suggested that you and she should play a game called Governor.

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He projects the sensation of laughter, again. If I were in charge of a country I don't think I'd do things convoluted enough to warrant my reputation for Governor. All my convoluted behavior is a consequence of not actually being in charge.

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How's it played? Can you actually execute maneuvers like 'kidnap and raise a baby frost giant'?

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...as we played in Valinor, that'd be rather like having one of your maneuvers be "go into a random village and slit everyone's throats", taking an infant from their parents is an unspeakable wrong. People usually tried not to commit any atrocities, unless you were playing as Moringotto. But yes, that's a permissible maneuver.

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It's possible I did not have parents. She might have figured any frost giant baby would do and taken one who didn't belong to anybody; my princess hypothesis is that this would make it less harebrained to imagine she could later enthrone me. But how does the game actually work?

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It's typically played in teams of two, but if everyone's playing in good faith you can play with two. It's turn-based; you play by writing orders to your subordinates. They start out with dubious reliability, one thing you can do with orders is tease out who is loyal and competent.

Say it's Cáno and I against Father and Curufinwë, that's alway fun. I'm the lead on my side, and I write four sets of orders; Father does the same. Then he gives his to Macalaurë, and I give mine to Curufinwë, and they modify them for the reliability of the subordinate in question - so if I gave a task to someone who's incompetent or untrustworthy, he has a lot of latitude to modify it, while if I gave it to someone good at their job he can't do much but pass it on. Then they trade - so now Macalaurë's carrying out the orders I wrote, adjusted for the competence of the people I delegated them to, and Curufinwë's doing the same thing for what Father wrote. Complicated plans take probability penalties. When orders conflict - we're both trying to bribe someone, or I'm arguing for a trade agreement and he's against - it's resolved by how many resources we'd committed to the scheme plus an element of chance.

To be any fun, you want to get convoluted. So usually the premise is something like 'the King's flying city launches in a year and you want to be appointed its governor' which was the original premise under which the game was popularized. 'Convince someone he's working for my enemy, order him to sabotage something, order someone else to catch him doing so, make sure they're too late to prevent the sabotage, collect the contract to fix it and make sure that the ties to your enemies come out at trial' is pretty ordinary as a turn goes, if you're having fun you could do things as complicated as the plan that you seem to have been at the center of.
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That sounds like an amazing game, but I'm not sure I can play it in my head or I'd suggest it for passing the time in flight. How are initial rosters of subordinates assigned?

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You can use illusions to track things but I'm not sure I could play it without writing and I have no similar advantage. Usually you start by listing a bunch of situational advantages and complications - for example 'I'm married to the King's niece', 'the metalworking guild resents me over a trade dispute', 'I'm secretly involved with another man', 'I'm widely respected in my field', 'I'm out of money', '- and a bunch of possible subordinates, and you take turns taking one for yourself and handing one to your opponent, and then that's the roster of subordinates and situational considerations you start the game with.

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This sounds like so much fun. My governance tutor would love it.

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Almost no one was ever willing to play with me.

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How long do these games tend to take?

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You can play it in an evening, you can have sprawling games that go on remotely for months. I once assassinated someone on the first turn.

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Did they demand a rematch?

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It was Tyelcormo and the next day he shot me in real life, walking home from work. Foam arrowhead, obviously. I thought that was fair enough.

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Osanwë giggles. I'd play you. Although we'd have to spread it out if it was a long one.

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Deal. Though if we involve any Dwarves they're going to assume that the Eldar are violent, dishonest, and constantly intriguing against each other, and there are some of us for whom those are entirely untrue.

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Well, you said it can be played by two.

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It can, you just have to keep track of the things you wouldn't know within the game.

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Up to you whether involving Dwarves would be worth it.

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You seem capable of handling it. I can invite Dwarves to play once I've established my upstandingness, trustworthiness, and value as a trading partner. Though no matter what I do they're going to end up with the odd impression that Elves hate eating, hate being surrounded, hate being touched, and hate enclosed spaces and then be very confused when they meet anyone else.

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Do you have the impression that Asgardians love magic, avoid alcohol, find it inconvenient that wars involve death, and love meddling in other cultures?

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I would expect Asgardians to be generally implausible, good in fights, oddly unhorrified by kinslaying, impressed by my father's best achievements but not by our civilization generally, and very confused by our sexual norms.

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Yes, that's about right. ...The tapestry in the guest room they put me in was really amazing, though.

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Which one?

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