I can appreciate the difficulties, in regard to the
subject of this mailing, for those who leave the home
nary a wit.
The rest of us will have culture clashes regarding our
nation assignements in Middle Earth PBM. I am myself
currently playing a neutral gone dark, and a neutral
who is undecided.
I would like to ask UK players how they customarily
recruit neutrals? I personally have pretty stong
opinions in this regard, and know which "team" I would
like to join based on my own criteria. None of the
games I have ever been in seem to follow the "common
knowledge" that I have read about on various web sites.
What role do neutrals play in 1650, what with the
predisposition towards "team" play and all...?
Best Regards,
Brad Brunet
(no web site about sadness highlighted...)
···
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RD: Hi Brad.
One increasingly common solution in 1650 is to have pre-aligned neutrals,
usually 3 to DS, 2 to FP.
If the game starts with genuine neutrals, I try to win them over by
convincing them that my team is the one from which they will get the most
communication and co-operation. I send them a report of our team news each
turn to back this up. If two neutrals look like joining the opposition, I
suggest the others join my team to maintain game balance.
There was a school of thought (don't know if there still is) which said,
bribe neutrals with artifacts or even pops. This really depends on which
neutral your talking to. I might be happy to give Duns a backup capital but
I can't see any grounds for giving pops to any of the others - they've
probably got more pops than you already!
As for artifacts, I might chuck a few combat or command ones in as a
makeweight, but all the agent/mage arts are better deployed on aligned
characters. Again, I might make an exception for Duns by giving them an
agent or stealth art - after all they can name agents at 40.
I once had a neutral ask for 10 artifacts! He didn't last very long (I
suspect he was a newbie).
The most important thing is to keep 'em talking, so they know you are
genuinely interested. As long as I'm getting feedback from a neutral, I
know I've got a chance of persuading him (or her!) to join my team. But,
there are always neutrals who talk nicely to you but then stab you in the
back, the swine!
Hope that answers your question. Happy gaming!
Richard.
···
----- Original Message -----
From: <ditletang@canada.com>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 7:44 AM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Culture Clash
I can appreciate the difficulties, in regard to the
subject of this mailing, for those who leave the home
nary a wit.
The rest of us will have culture clashes regarding our
nation assignements in Middle Earth PBM. I am myself
currently playing a neutral gone dark, and a neutral
who is undecided.
I would like to ask UK players how they customarily
recruit neutrals? I personally have pretty stong
opinions in this regard, and know which "team" I would
like to join based on my own criteria. None of the
games I have ever been in seem to follow the "common
knowledge" that I have read about on various web sites.
What role do neutrals play in 1650, what with the
predisposition towards "team" play and all...?
Best Regards,
Brad Brunet
Richard John Devereux wrote:
The most important thing is to keep 'em talking, so they know you are
genuinely interested. As long as I'm getting feedback from a neutral, I
know I've got a chance of persuading him (or her!) to join my team. But,
there are always neutrals who talk nicely to you but then stab you in the
back, the swine!
I wish you'd been in game 22, Richard.
Gavin
Richard John Devereux wrote:
I wish you'd been in game 22, Richard.
Gavin
RD: Why, what happened?
I stayed neutral for a very long time, communicated, waited for one or other
team to make some indication they'd like my help, eventually worked out it
was going nowhere, stayed neutral... and got severely stomped without
warning by the DS "just in case"! They couldn't understand the concept of a
neutral being neutral, you see.
Gavin
Richard John Devereux wrote:
>> I wish you'd been in game 22, Richard.
>>
>> Gavin
>>
>>
> RD: Why, what happened?
I stayed neutral for a very long time, communicated, waited for one or
other
team to make some indication they'd like my help, eventually worked out it
was going nowhere, stayed neutral... and got severely stomped without
warning by the DS "just in case"! They couldn't understand the concept of
a
neutral being neutral, you see.
Gavin
RD: I consider that very poor play by both teams. Hell, you have far more
to gain by getting a neutral on your side than you have by attacking him!
Unfortunately that's not much consolation to you now! Hope you have better
luck in your next game,
Richard.
···
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gavinwj" <gavinwj@compuserve.com>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 12:49 AM
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Culture Clash
> I stayed neutral for a very long time, communicated, waited for one or
other
> team to make some indication they'd like my help, eventually worked out
it
> was going nowhere, stayed neutral... and got severely stomped without
> warning by the DS "just in case"! They couldn't understand the concept
of
a
> neutral being neutral, you see.
>
> Gavin
RD: I consider that very poor play by both teams. Hell, you have far more
to gain by getting a neutral on your side than you have by attacking him!
Hi,
This occured after at least 25 turns. We, the DS, had the game sewn up. We
had nothing to gain by allying with him, whereas we supposed that he was
trying to get the individual victory and had been sitting on the fence up to
this point, waiting to see which team was going to win.
I'm not a roleplayer, but some of the team were, and wanted to attack him
just in case.
They could understand the concept of Evil being evil..
Does anyone think we were out of order in attacking a neutral without
warning?
Sam (player)
Harlequin Games wrote:
This occured after at least 25 turns. We, the DS, had the game sewn up. We
had nothing to gain by allying with him, whereas we supposed that he was
trying to get the individual victory and had been sitting on the fence up to
this point, waiting to see which team was going to win.
Never assume. All you had to do was ask.
For the record; if I ever play a neutral again, both Free and DS can rest
assured that I will remain neutral until given cause to switch. I will never
declare simply to get a personal victory or to prolong the game. You have my
word on that and can quote this mail at me if you wish.
Is that clear enough, guys?
Does anyone think we were out of order in attacking a neutral without
warning?
Me, obviously.
BTW, this was another game in which the fact that a GM was playing was never
announced. Hi Sam.
Gavin
