Category: Sagas of the Icelanders: The Icelandic Commonwealth

(Going to try to repost this, it seemed to get lost in G+s feature set…)

+Vinicius Lessa had some questions in the comments on my rewrite of The Man, and given G+’s, um, “feature set” I thought it would be easier to reply in a new post 🙂

I found the comments to be insightful, and what follows isn’t a defense so much as an explanation of my thinking in the hope that smarter people than me will make this thing more awesome!

“1) There seems to be options in the different sections that are linked. Ie: If you pick the “you owe someone else for you homestead” at first page, does that mean you must also choose “paying debts” in the second page ? Is this intended ?”

Not necessarily, although of course it’s an option. NOT choosing to make it an Obligation means that, for example, “you owe someone for your homestead” will need to be worked out in the fiction, using the other moves, and will tend to foreground it, since there’s no simple mechanical way to handle it.

“2) some options don’t see to mesh well with the others within some sections. Ie: a thermal spring sounds more like a natural feature than an “improvement”, no ?; the “your homestead is unfinished or needs repairs” doesn’t seem to follow the logic of the other options in the section on 1st page (“your land it hard to protect”, “a neighbor covets your lands”, etc). I would move the thermal spring to a natural feature, and cut off the “homestead repairs” for something new.”

Here’s what I was thinking of with “thermal spring”: http://www.west.is/en/west/place/gudrunarlaug

That is, something that has consciously been improved, which is why I put it on that list. However, you also make a good case…

I’m pretty sure the “homestead is unfinished or needs repairs” was a way to incorporate true homesteading and/or interesting backstory (I was probably thinking of Hjardarholt from Laxdaelasaga as an example of “needs repairs”.)

“3) having a homestead improvement for free at start sounds too easy. There are already a handful obligations that give bits and handfuls of silver for the Man to acquire. The way it is, It doesn’t sound that hard to get the necessary silver to survive winter. Perhaps moving the improvements list below the “improve your homestead” obligation and forcing the player to pick it (and the potential catastrophe that comes for trying to build it ) would be better.”

I was probably following the original playbook with the free improvement, as well as giving some color and identity to the farm. You make good points; maybe the “improve your homestead” stuff needs to be made a bit more rigorous.

“4) The feast-giver move sounds weak. Perhaps getting bonds to be used in the feast, instead of questions, would be better, as bonds can have more uses.”

Well, the thing here is that you don’t need ANY bonds with the person you’re asking, which is kind of powerful given the greater difficulty men generally have in acquiring Bonds. You’re probably right that bonds would be a better reward, although this requires some caution–allowing the Man to essentially turn silver into Bonds is pretty powerful.

“5) your Reputation condition says “every time you meet an important person”, when the correct should be “when yo meet an important person FOR THE FIRST TIME”, right ?”

Yeah. Obviously that’s straight out of Apocalypse world so I might have mangled the wording on cutting and pasting.

“6) you Raid obligation feels too rewarding (even if the catastrophe is equally bad). It seems like it could obfuscate the Huscarl Viking move (which rewards just a few bits, or a handful, of silver).”

Definitely possible! Of course, the Huscarl comes away only with the share due to a crew (even a crew leader) while the Raider obligation presupposes that it’s a significant fronting of capital with a parallel ROI. Perhaps that should be made part of this: front an amount of silver and on success you get back the next category up (bits->handful->etc) but you can’t work this obligation until at least a session has passed? Dunno. I wanted to add the dimension that the raiding parties were really essentially investments by rich Norse nobles rather than adhoc wildcat prospecting, but maybe I haven’t quite caught it…

“7) perhaps allowing the Man to resolve and swap obligations at will in the start of every session is better than conditioning it to a 10+ roll. Otherwise I fear certain obligations may not always make sense in the current fictional situation.”

Yeah, according to my own playtest notes I suggested the same thing, although it means the Hard Work move will need to get re-written.

Thanks so much for the comments! And glad you enjoyed the playbook!

http://www.west.is/en/west/place/gudrunarlaug

+Vinicius Lessa had some questions in the comments on my rewrite of The Man, and given G+’s, um, “feature set” I thought it would be easier to reply in a new post 🙂

I found the comments to be insightful, and what follows isn’t a defense so much as an explanation of my thinking in the hope that smarter people than me will make this thing more awesome!

“1) There seems to be options in the different sections that are linked. Ie: If you pick the “you owe someone else for you homestead” at first page, does that mean you must also choose “paying debts” in the second page ? Is this intended ?”

Not necessarily, although of course it’s an option. NOT choosing to make it an Obligation means that, for example, “you owe someone for your homestead” will need to be worked out in the fiction, using the other moves, and will tend to foreground it, since there’s no simple mechanical way to handle it.

“2) some options don’t see to mesh well with the others within some sections. Ie: a thermal spring sounds more like a natural feature than an “improvement”, no ?; the “your homestead is unfinished or needs repairs” doesn’t seem to follow the logic of the other options in the section on 1st page (“your land it hard to protect”, “a neighbor covets your lands”, etc). I would move the thermal spring to a natural feature, and cut off the “homestead repairs” for something new.”

Here’s what I was thinking of with “thermal spring”: http://www.west.is/en/west/place/gudrunarlaug

That is, something that has consciously been improved, which is why I put it on that list. However, you also make a good case…

I’m pretty sure the “homestead is unfinished or needs repairs” was a way to incorporate true homesteading and/or interesting backstory (I was probably thinking of Hjardarholt from Laxdaelasaga as an example of “needs repairs”.)

“3) having a homestead improvement for free at start sounds too easy. There are already a handful obligations that give bits and handfuls of silver for the Man to acquire. The way it is, It doesn’t sound that hard to get the necessary silver to survive winter. Perhaps moving the improvements list below the “improve your homestead” obligation and forcing the player to pick it (and the potential catastrophe that comes for trying to build it ) would be better.”

I was probably following the original playbook with the free improvement, as well as giving some color and identity to the farm. You make good points; maybe the “improve your homestead” stuff needs to be made a bit more rigorous.

“4) The feast-giver move sounds weak. Perhaps getting bonds to be used in the feast, instead of questions, would be better, as bonds can have more uses.”

Well, the thing here is that you don’t need ANY bonds with the person you’re asking, which is kind of powerful given the greater difficulty men generally have in acquiring Bonds. You’re probably right that bonds would be a better reward, although this requires some caution-allowing the Man to essentially turn silver into Bonds is pretty powerful.

“5) your Reputation condition says “every time you meet an important person”, when the correct should be “when yo meet an important person FOR THE FIRST TIME”, right ?”

Yeah. Obviously that’s straight out of Apocalypse world so I might have mangled the wording on cutting and pasting.

“6) you Raid obligation feels too rewarding (even if the catastrophe is equally bad). It seems like it could obfuscate the Huscarl Viking move (which rewards just a few bits, or a handful, of silver).”

Definitely possible! Of course, the Huscarl comes away only with the share due to a crew (even a crew leader) while the Raider obligation presupposes that it’s a significant fronting of capital with a parallel ROI. Perhaps that should be made part of this: front an amount of silver and on success you get back the next category up (bits>handful->etc) but you can’t work this obligation until at least a session has passed? Dunno. I wanted to add the dimension that the raiding parties were really essentially investments by rich Norse nobles rather than adhoc wildcat prospecting, but maybe I haven’t quite caught it…

“7) perhaps allowing the Man to resolve and swap obligations at will in the start of every session is better than conditioning it to a 10+ roll. Otherwise I fear certain obligations may not always make sense in the current fictional situation.”

Yeah, according to my own playtest notes I suggested the same thing, although it means the Hard Work move will need to get re-written.

Thanks so much for the comments! And glad you enjoyed the playbook!

http://www.west.is/en/west/place/gudrunarlaug