Sunday, July 8, 2007

The Walls Have Ears, part 3

Well, I not only sent in a list of spies . . . I mean "inquisitive individuals", I also included six items of information that a good inquisitive individual might discover.

Why six? So that if a spy was successful, all Jonathan will have to do is to roll 1d6 to get an item to pass on. I suggest that all of us (whether we choose to have spies or not) should consider sending in such a list of "information bits" (or rumors).

I sent in a list of such items for both Saxe-Bearstein and Stagonia . . . even though only one of my countries send in any spies. (I'll leave you to guess which vile country sent the spies).

So, number your information items from 1 to 6 and send them to the address listed in "The Walls Have Ears, part 2".

And, of course, your spies (er, "inquisitive individuals") . . . if you have that sort of nation.


-- Jeff

3 comments:

Fitz-Badger said...

I started typing up some stuff, but ran into some questions.
The spies are supposed to be rated 1-6, but is 1 good or is 6 good?
What kinds of secrets would be appropriate?
Should they be true (and the system would determine whether the spy's report should be accurate or not)? For example, a secret might be that an army under command of a certain general is maneuvering in a certain place. An accurate report would report the secret as written. An inaccurate report might change the location, the general, or maybe the army composition if mentioned. A very inaccurate report might put the army on the other side of the country and therefore no threat to neighbor.
Secrets might be useful info or just for flavor or combo? May be vague or specific?
What could happen in the Presipality of Monte Cristo? Maybe spies could learn secrets of any nation with an agent there?
Could you have spies and counter-spies for the same country in the same place (probably most useful in a place like Monte Cristo)?

Just some thoughts. Maybe I'm overcomplicating it. It should be fun and not too much work for the organizer.

Bluebear Jeff said...

Well, for some of your questions, Jonathan will have to be the one to answer . . . after all, he has the program (I don't).

I just made up a list of six agents (one each with a 1 to 6 rating for Stago . . . uh, one of my countries). I suppose that I'll figure out whether a 1 or 6 is better once feedback starts happening.

As for information, almost all of what I listed was true . . . but not all was of tremendous detail. Some of it is, I hope, rather fun. Some indicate alliances or plots. Some are just facts to be interpreted as the receiver sees fit.

So I'd not get overly detailed, but to point at a recent "current event", the death of Zichenau's Prince Ruprecht could easily spawn a number of "rumors" (See Stollen).

I don't know if this helps you . . . and Jonathan may well have more to say (and may contradict me). But perhaps it will give you some ideas.


-- Jeff

Snickering Corpses said...

A few answers :>

6 is good, 1 is poor, for the ratings.

You can indeed have both spies and counter-spies in the same location, whether your own or another country. It is advisable to have weaker counter-spies in another country, however, as operating as a counter-spy on foreign soil can be extra difficult.

I'm also pondering actually putting together a little web-based system with a few extra features I've already seen as useful.