Still following Justin's concerns on vassalage...

It seems to me the vassal regent would have his 3 actions per turn, not
only one as a lieutenant (he's definitely not a lieutenant). The regent
rules his realm normally (with fewer RPs and possibly GBs, though), within
the limitations imposed by his king, like "don't destroy the forest", "no
war without my approval" and such.

I realize a player who happen to have vassals under him might be tempted to
run the domain as if it were under his personal control. I'd say this is
not so. The "vassaled" regent must have enough freedom to react to events
in his domain rapidly, without asking for permission every time he has to
run after monsters eating villagers, repair flood damage or hang a criminal.

My point is that the king can impose some restrictions on the regent
(especially in diplomatic and military matters) and demand that certain
objectives be reached ("All of your provinces must be brought to rating 5
by next years").

If the king wants to issue a new set of objectives, I propose he has to
make a diplomacy action. The "vassaled" regent then has an opportunity to
plead, lie, threaten or bribe his way out of new restrictions. After all,
some Middle-Age kings complained of the difficulty of obtaining results
from their various barons. This could make for interesting role-playing and
diplomacy. In our campaing, Avanil has a hell of a time to get a single GB
from his vassal Mieres. He has to send missions once in a while to try and
set things straight. It went to the point where he had anoher regent
invested.

I think this "no direct control" attitude would make playing Birthright in
a restored empire fun; the scheming, alliance-making and back-stabbing
would still be there. And with an added twist: every regent would try to
please the emperor, or at least avoid his (or her) wrath.

Anyone playing in a restored empire? Are you using a different system han
the one I outlined?

Robin


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