Re: How easy would it be to create a king of sun country game?

From: Keith Nellist <Labrygon_at_...>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 05:53:06 -0000

I asked myself a similar question after enjoying KoDP and thought that the only way to make it happen for myself would be a kind of DIY version, recruiting human players instead of scripted stories.

This was the original idea behind the Citadel Kings of Balazar PBEM game that I ran. Admittedly it devolved into a more or less standard (ish) RPG game but I think the idea could work in a purer form.

If you were thinking of a Sun County game (Count of Sun County?)you would need to write some stories, get some artwork, look at how decisions get made (and who the talking heads might be). I had fun doing some of this in Balazar. With hindsight I could have done Balazar better (i.e. more like KoDP) but I think fun was had in any case.

I think the format works as a PBEM (the seasons, the turn structure, resources) one just needs some players to come up with stories, and a simple (ish) model of how resources work.

For Sun County I would (like KoDP) set the whole thing in historic Glorantha, choosing a period where the County is isolated to some extent and needs to do stuff different to survive. (Perhaps 1330 when the opening of Dragon Pass makes life less intolerable - but maybe at the start of the Solitude of Testing where the counts are forced to deal with unpleasant neighbours that they could ignore or intimidate before(best warriors eaten by Dragons, Praxians in a similar state - an arms race to see who gets secure before the other smashes them, trolls in the City, etc.)

I think there are plenty of ideas in the Count List to give a flavour of some events.

Keith