swashbuckler

Richard just announced Swashbuckler.

A stripped down version of The Glory of Kings where you play a single character, but set in the game world.

Apparently cheaper than The Glory, and probably a lot less headache for Richard since there's no real economy, or any of that national overhead to track.

I hope it will encourage some fence sitters to try the game, or some of our cash strapped fans to step back into the game in a more limited role.

The blurb from my email was:

AGEMA’s just launched a new game set within The Glory of Kings which is fast to play and cheaper too – Swashbuckler!

This is the link (we literally released it yesterday!): http://agema.org.uk/page56.html

The Glory of Kings is very involved and can be an expensive game in which to participate, both in terms of time and money. For God, King & Country was introduced many years ago as a roleplaying variant to allow players to take part as a single character rather than trying to run an entire nation or pirate brotherhood. It ran for a few years reasonably successfully but was then brought to an end. This brand new game, Swashbuckler, has the same basic premise. What then is that premise, I hear you cry?

It's this: Swashbuckler runs within the game world of The Glory of Kings. That means the nations and larger organisations are run by the players of The Glory of Kings, while Swashbuckler players take part as a single character or person, someone further down the social scale with less power but still with a desire to make their mark in the world. The result is that Swashbuckler players can take part but their turns are cheaper, and also faster for them to deal with. So, Swashbuckler is designed to be quick to play and cheaper on your wallet – if you want more, then that’s what The Glory of Kings is for!

This gives the games a unique layer. For example, if you want a commission as an officer in a royal regiment, you will have to write a letter to the king to stand a chance of getting such a lofty appointment. And the king will be another player with different objectives since he is playing in The Glory of Kings in the same world!

Also you'll get caught up in the actions of The Glory of Kings players. For example, if one is committing piracy a ship you are sailing on may be captured, or what if you are staying in a town that comes under siege? The great thing is lots of different people in real life are impacting what happens to your character, the situations he or she finds himself in; it isn't all just down to the whim of the referee!

So, swashbuckling here we go - please join us!

It does sound a very interesting idea.

But have I got the premise right? You play 'swashbuckler' within a Glory game? So it's a 'game within a game' rather than a separate game?

Yes, instead of playing a state, you play one person. But you're in the same game as the people playing the states.

So you could conceivably get a player who wanted to be your field marshall, or a ship captain, or a cardinal, or whatever. they'd have to convince you to hire them, but otherwise, it could be a great way to add depth to the game while allowing people to play without committing to running a state.

Thanks Deacon

Was sure that was the case but just wanted to be sure I wasn't misunderstanding

I must admit my insanity almost demands a state position but I love this idea as it certainly adds more depth and intrigue for the game and rulers in particular....

could allow for a previous discussion to become a reality - an American Native Indian leading a small band of raiders against the colonial settlers.

A roving Casinova seeing how much of his own bloodline he can bring into the Royal Houses of Europe causing embarrassment and scandal wherever he goes.

If you have a problem, if no-one else can help, then maybe you need the A-team ! A mysterious "fix-it" man available to the highest bidder.

I would love to see some possible "secret societies" brought into the game to try and exert influence.....A high ranking Cardinal in Rome protecting a Christian Secret (Christ bloodline !), the Templar Knights still alive and kicking, possibly very rich but literally just a handful of Knights.

I think there are some great imaginations on this board and we could have some wonderful back stories emerge in the game.

I assume a player is not allowed to have Glory of Kings position and a Swashbuckler in the same game. That could get a bit messy. The swashbuckler may not have much power but they could possibly get their hands on secret information.

I would imagine probably not, though possibly you could play a european swashbuckler and a chinese state or something. Something where the two positions never cross.

Otherwise, it would end up in power escalation and affect game balance.

My thought anyway.

Now we all have Swashbuckler to enjoy. I wonder if people in Game would consider the idea of having the game split into differant playing/Price bands.

At the top there could be the Major positions like France, England, Austria, Russia etc. At the lowest level The independant Swashbuckler Characters. In between may be it is possiable to fit in some of the smaller Nation State positions Like Bavaria, Genoa, etc.

At the moment as far as I know a pirate position with a couple of Frigates pays the same as a player with an Empire that wraps around the world. Maybe having cheaper smaller positions would help encourage new players into the system, plus enabling experienced players more flexability in the number of Games they play.

I would be interested to hear others views on this.

Thankyou.

count-de-monet wrote:A roving Casinova seeing how much of his own bloodline he can bring into the Royal Houses of Europe causing embarrassment and scandal wherever he goes.

If you have a problem, if no-one else can help, then maybe you need the A-team ! A mysterious "fix-it" man available to the highest bidder.

From what I remember of the A-Team, Face could do both

Well, in theory I have nothign against the idea and would see nothing wrong if there was a price banding in the game though I am someone who actually enjoys the small positions more than playing a major power (yes I know I am currently France and a large Chinese province but...)

I guess though it comes to how much difference there is in work for Richard in processing the turn for, say, Scotland and France. There is a sort of price banding in operation already with the optional additional orders rule, I have found that when playing a small nation I use this a lot less frequently than when playing someone like France or Russia.

J Flower wrote:Now we all have Swashbuckler to enjoy. I wonder if people in Game would consider the idea of having the game split into differant playing/Price bands.

At the top there could be the Major positions like France, England, Austria, Russia etc. At the lowest level The independant Swashbuckler Characters. In between may be it is possiable to fit in some of the smaller Nation State positions Like Bavaria, Genoa, etc.

At the moment as far as I know a pirate position with a couple of Frigates pays the same as a player with an Empire that wraps around the world. Maybe having cheaper smaller positions would help encourage new players into the system, plus enabling experienced players more flexability in the number of Games they play.

I would be interested to hear others views on this.

Thankyou.

From a marketing point of view, if you know from the start that you are going to have to pay less then it may encourage more players to come in out of the cold. I could also revitalise some of the older games where a number of the smaller positions are a long time deactivated, which would increase game enjoyment for us all.

Like you have said the new games are fuller initially then enthusiasum wanes, maybe this could be away to improve player retention/recruitment.

When it was active it was nice to see your characters name in the paper. I hope the system is a bit better, but on the whole I enjoyed my character who I believe is still in Game 2 under Prussia as Von Richthofen....

I think a Prussian Brigadier called Von Richthofen got mentioned in the major Prussian Disaster at Strassburg a while back.

Not sure if the paper reported him wounded or made POW but I think he was really upset with his commander and is probably not over joyed with the Baden Rebels or the French who basically surrouded the Prussian Siege Lines (when Prussians had really high SL due to months in open trenches) and blasted Von Richthofen Brigade and the rest of the Prussian army to bits with 50 Batteries of Cannon before attacking with cold steel.

French trying semi Napoleonic tactics 50 years early ???????

So if you ask Richard for your character back he may:

A) Be a French POW
B) Have a few holes in him
C) Be expecting a daul after calling a fellow officer a gutless coward.......really wish I could remenber which Prussian General messed up and which one cut his way out.

Basically your ex character has just had a really, really bad day at the office. The good news is that the French may be about to give you a rematch.

ohh nice....

if any one has an electronic version of the paper would not mind a copy