Clarification and Transparency on what we are discussing
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So, remember when I first brought this up and said there would be hiccups along the way to this whole chancellor thing? Welcome to the first speedbump! Right now we are discussing on the team how the dynamic between the pds, the militia, and the chancellor will be We expect to have it all sorted and everyone set firmly in place with all the bells and whistles by the weekend, so I thank you all for your patience. If I were smart I would have had a "chancellor elect" period after the election for us to get this stuff sorted, but I am obviously not smart.
But wait a second CF, you said the Chancellor would have absolute power. Doesn't that mean they control the pds and the militia?
The chancellor is going to have a ton of power, but I never intended for them to have control over the kings army. As for the militia, I had forgotten a tiny piece of cannon that pol had referenced when he brought them back a few years ago. The militia is a separate entity that exists thanks to a charter from the king. Some of you may remember this, but I am not surprised if you don't because it was npc on npc crime and therefore not as relevant to you guys, but the militia openly opposed Lhal for a while when she was warden of the North. And that is an actual arm of the king. So giving absolute power over it to the chancellor would actually make no sense, since the Warden is still a much more powerful position. The chancellor still has the powers to write laws, and the militia would be expected to enforce them because that's what they do, but political tension not only makes IC sense it actually makes for a better IG situation if you think about it.
But, wait, I am in the militia and my character has serious issues with olouth's character. Doesn't this screw me over? I voted for Elodie to avoid this!
For starters, 3 pcs do not make up the entirety of the miltia. That's not to say that we don't want PCs to be the major representation of the militia, and had I known all the details we would have worked this out before the major announcement. But the reality is that before these pcs (and the election for that matter) Thundersword enjoyed a strong relationship with the militia, to the point that there was discussion about making her warden of the militia just on dm earned merit alone. The reality is that me coming in with this crazy experiment sort of screwed over her time and effort, which is why I jumped the gun on a solution that corrected that.
As for the pcs that dislike olouth's character that are still in the militia, I see several options for you to take. I don't want to get into all of them because the game is all about pcs making their own decisions, but finding jobs that are actually more prestigious in elodies government or opposing the boss you hate both come to mind.
This kind of seems like you are altering the position of Chancellor after the fact, CF. WTF yo?
I get that it seems like that, but the reality is that the only check we had on a chancellor stepping over certain lines was hawklin marching north to kick some ass. And that leaves it up to the dms discretion, which I personally think is a bad place to be. A triangle between the chancellor, the militia, and the PDs allows us to allow you guys a chance through your pcs to sort through this stuff on your own before we pull the lever. The chancellor's seat is still the most powerful out of all three, but this gives room for game play and political maneuvering as opposed to absolute power.
So, from now on second and third place in elections will get powerful positions? And you seem to be implying that PDs are going to take part of this, what does that mean?
Well, I can't say for certain on either of them yet, as they still need to be discussed more with the team and I don't want to get yelled at again. But if I were to guess, the chancellor will still be elected and the other positions will be earned the old school way going forward. We will still reward players that put serious effort into an election but end up on the short end, but it probably won't be quite like this again.
Anyways, to wrap up, I just want to reiterate that we are still discussing a lot of things and things can change rather drastically based on what happens with that. And things that we try can end up not working like we hoped, which will lead to further changes.
But now that that is out of the way, I feel like this is an exciting time to be on CoA. Between more player agency/control in the city, and a completely player run village forming up in Tilverton, you guys have more control over what goes on then players ever had for as long as I can remember. It kinda makes me want to roll up a pc and remind you guys why I am so damn Fantastic :)
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This has cleared up the roles a bit, so thanks, CF.
Does this mean that the Warden, Oversword and Chancellor have no authority over the other? I can't order the Warden to shine my new Chancellor boots? -
The garrison has always answered to the ruler of Arabel, I think. Like, Hardcastle could order the army around in The King's name.
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@people said in Clarification and Transparency on what we are discussing:
The garrison has always answered to the ruler of Arabel, I think. Like, Hardcastle could order the army around in The King's name.
Yes and no. Bear in mind I speak of the environment in 2016:
He could order Purple Dragons around, but didn't know their day-to-day operations, and they still actively worked against him. He had no say over War Wizards, granted it was very tense if a WW wasn't being 100% honest with him (I know this first hand).
Now speaking from the v3 information, they didn't really answer to the ruler of Arabel. In v3 that was Lhal and she was well-liked by most, so it wasn't in anybody's best interests to upset her. Didn't stop the Militia and PDs from having conflict, though. Militia Warden had authority over Militia almost entirely, Lord Marliir oversaw the PDs and Karin Gallin oversaw War Wizards.
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@fearmoho12 said in Clarification and Transparency on what we are discussing:
This has cleared up the roles a bit, so thanks, CF.
Does this mean that the Warden, Oversword and Chancellor have no authority over the other? I can't order the Warden to shine my new Chancellor boots?FOIG!
But seriously, consider it IC: a young untried king has decided to give a traditionally rebellious city more autonomy and the ability to pick its own leader while he's called back a very successful nobleman to help him wage a deadly war on his borders. This means, some of these answers won't be clear, some of them are buried in history, texts, the minds of legal experts in the nation -- but can be plotted out in game and discovered. It also means, its about politics and intrigue now to gain an edge all while knowing NPCs are watching and will react to what is done if its reckless or ham-fisted.
I mean, you can certainly order the Warden to shine your boots, are you prepared to have the militia arrest you though? Will they if they Warden orders it? Will the citizens riot? Will the nobility demand your arrest? FOIG!
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I feel I should also make this point again:
NPCS are watching, they WILL respond to things. Don't presume based on two PCs you know what is really going on, or the fact that 45 adventurers all agree--as with anything, you may be surprised if you act without knowing the potential consequences!
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You can ask whatever you want. I can't guarantee their reaction though!
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@captainfantastic said in Clarification and Transparency on what we are discussing:
But, wait, I am in the militia and my character has serious issues with olouth's character. Doesn't this screw me over? I voted for Elodie to avoid this!
For starters, 3 pcs do not make up the entirety of the miltia. That's not to say that we don't want PCs to be the major representation of the militia, and had I known all the details we would have worked this out before the major announcement. But the reality is that before these pcs (and the election for that matter) Thundersword enjoyed a strong relationship with the militia, to the point that there was discussion about making her warden of the militia just on dm earned merit alone. The reality is that me coming in with this crazy experiment sort of screwed over her time and effort, which is why I jumped the gun on a solution that corrected that.
As for the pcs that dislike olouth's character that are still in the militia, I see several options for you to take. I don't want to get into all of them because the game is all about pcs making their own decisions, but finding jobs that are actually more prestigious in elodies government or opposing the boss you hate both come to mind.
Why is this being posted as any of the militia PCs have issues OOC-ly with this? You even approached me to ask and i said i had no OOC issues with this decision. TBH stuff like this is what starts big misunderstandings and bad blood and i want to clear up that not one of the PCs in the militia have made any sort of objections to the decision ooc-ly, despite what this post suggests.
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Sorry, it was not meant to cause issues, only preemptively respond to them.
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@citizenbane said in Clarification and Transparency on what we are discussing:
@captainfantastic said in Clarification and Transparency on what we are discussing:
But, wait, I am in the militia and my character has serious issues with olouth's character. Doesn't this screw me over? I voted for Elodie to avoid this!
For starters, 3 pcs do not make up the entirety of the miltia. That's not to say that we don't want PCs to be the major representation of the militia, and had I known all the details we would have worked this out before the major announcement. But the reality is that before these pcs (and the election for that matter) Thundersword enjoyed a strong relationship with the militia, to the point that there was discussion about making her warden of the militia just on dm earned merit alone. The reality is that me coming in with this crazy experiment sort of screwed over her time and effort, which is why I jumped the gun on a solution that corrected that.
As for the pcs that dislike olouth's character that are still in the militia, I see several options for you to take. I don't want to get into all of them because the game is all about pcs making their own decisions, but finding jobs that are actually more prestigious in elodies government or opposing the boss you hate both come to mind.
Why is this being posted as any of the militia PCs have issues OOC-ly with this? You even approached me to ask and i said i had no OOC issues with this decision. TBH stuff like this is what starts big misunderstandings and bad blood and i want to clear up that not one of the PCs in the militia have made any sort of objections to the decision ooc-ly, despite what this post suggests.
I was a bit worried about this post as well. I dunno where you got the idea that we had some kind of issue with o'louths character outside of ic stuff. They've been fairly friendly in the interactions I've had so far.
The only discussions I've had ooc about this matter is figuring out how the npcs view the situation (since it was a bit of a sudden twist) and stating that I find it to be an interesting turn of events. I've been thoroughly entertained by what has come of it so far from an ooc perspective. Despite it being an unexpected and sudden twist.
Being singled out as one of the "3 pc's" in your initial post is a bit disconcerting though I'll admit. I'd much rather have handled all of this stuff the fun in character way than consider it from an ooc perspective. Regardless of whether it is the result of an error in communication from a dm or not.