Re: How do we do this now?

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2002 10:30:29 -0800

> He said to me that one of the most natural things
> that he's like to do as a Heortling Orlanthi player-character
> would be to fight against the Lunars as much as possible,
> but he claimed that the "official word" of the Hero Wars
> books prevented him from doing that realistically. He said,
> verbatim, "I'd like to fight Lunars, but if I do anything *major*
> against the Lunar military or something, the Lunars will
> come and burn down my stead and kill my family.
> So, how do I do this in the time of the oppression?
> The other alternative is becoming an outlaw right away,
> but I feel that my character is screwed if he spends the
> entire game as an outlaw. No friends, no community ..."

Play a Robin Hood campaign. Robin was an outlaw, yes, but he had the support of the peasants, and loyal followers (and a lot of luck...). Just because a hero was "declared an outlaw", it doesn't mean that he won't get support from anybody. There are Bread rebels and Claw rebels supporting the Sword rebels (See BA 38). If the outlawery is a political move (Tribal King, as opposed to Clan Chief), and the hero is popular with the surrounding population, then he won't have Heortlings tracking him. The Lunars will try to rack up punishment to make people stop supporting the rebels, which could easily swell the number of rebel troops (as families leave their steads and head to the hills with their bows and swords) and make even more support for the hero. Of course, if the hero alienates the populace, he's screwed. He needs not only to be a good fighter and guerilla, but he needs to keep the "hearts and minds" of the populace (he probably starts with support, the question is "does he lose it"). Have a follower who is a good bard, who can write heroic ballads about the hero, and satires about the Lunars.

The Lunar ocupation can be played many ways: from the Gestapo kicking in doors in the middle of the night to take away people; to only a twice-yearly visit from the tax collector. The official line is somewhere in the middle - the Lunars pretty much leave you alone, unless your clan is seen as trouble-makers and then harrasment is the more usual penalty. The narrator should jack up the level of harrassment in sequence with the level of rebellioni seen in the area.

And of course, you can always go to your enemy's lands and play rebel there, then *they* will get the late-night visits from the boys in red...

RR