Friday, April 20, 2012

[GMing or World building] When we don't have History, we have Economics.

Reading through the thread Appropriate gear for TL3 soldiers - Steve Jackson Games Forums:

I've come to realize that you don't need to go all that Historical if you can make a Time and Motion for data. Since we cannot find historical references sufficient for a level of detail we need for our game, its better to look at the human element and its limitations for source and inspiration.

When i look at the concern regarding how skilled is a levy, I first begin with how much available hours does the yeomen have for their lords requirements for training. If I consider the amount of variables that go with manor to manor or village to village, I realize that special significant of Individual Circumstance vs the generalization*.

So does the Manor have enough resources to train, does it have the fundamentals: an experienced and effective sergeant or man-at-arms to consistently train the levies. Does the lords and the circumstance give sufficient incentives, are these purely reward based or do the levies OWN their own reasons. Is there enough ownership in the training and ritual that the levies identify it as part of themselves and who they are? 

Harn Manor has been invaluable as a template and an arbitrary launching point for learning more about the time and motion of the manor. I've read up on agriculture regarding the Mediterranean and Asia to notice differences in productivity of stapple foods, length of seasons, other climate and terrain requirements, etc. can change the basic formula of an agricultural asset.   

'via Blog this'

*My wife and I had a discussion about how Economic Generalities like "Soft Landing" may be vastly different Individually. People don't choose when bad things happen to them, some companies may suffer during a good growth period (note that growth, has a lot of human suffering built into the notion). A Soft Landing may be a softlanding enough for some, but there are those who will suffer greatly even in such an "generally good" event.

No comments: