Re: Olympia

Dave806459 (dave806459@aol.com)
15 Jul 1995 22:47:48 -0400

There is something to the argument that geometric faction expansion is
possible because people can run through faerie & then ferret out all the
lairs with prisoners, which allow them to get to more lairs, which gives
them more nobles, etc. etc.

I recall a suggestion made long ago that as a faction grows nobles become
more expensive. I'd like to revive this proposition: it makes the
practice of terrorize 99 much less useful & it makes death in big factions
a little more severe (which would balance it seems to me). It seems to
make sense from a character point of view: a faction is small in Olympia
because the members know & trust each other: as a faction grows too big
anonymity sets in: different nobles may never meet each other, & lack a
basis for trust. The result: corruption sets in, distrust & lies spread:
the dark times (this taken from the first few pages of the novel from the
screenplay for Star Wars).

Put simply: some people seem to have too many nobles. I wouldn't be
surprised if there was a faction with 40 nobles in it.

I'd also like to throw my support to Oleg's suggestion that we make faerie
bigger, although I admit that to do this at this stage of the game will
ruffle many feathers (those poor dudes who already mapped out
faerie--well......).

These two proposals address directly the problem of a too big too powerful
faction which, it seems to me, could conceivably take over Olympia & make
this open-ended game look rather closed.

-Dave