Republic of Rome PBEM Rules - Version 4.1 - By Joan C. Artes,
updated from version 4 (by Roberto Ullfig) on 24 Sep 1988. Only the
order in the Revolution phase is modified.
1. The GM handles all die/dice rolls and distributes all cards.
2. All treasuries (Personal and Faction) are open;
only cards in hand are kept secret.
3. Game Phases:
These are the phases of the game in which players are required to send
the GM their orders. Except where noted, all phases are done by all
players simultaneously and secretly. When the GM receives orders from all
players, the phase ends and the next phase begins (after the GM resolves
all game issues in between the phases).
0. Initial Intrigue Phase
1. Play Concessions/Statesman
2. Governor Corruption
3. Governor Assignment & Term
4. Faction Leader
[GM Action: Mortality Draw, Generate Revenue]
I. Revenue Distribution Phase
1. Personal/Faction Treasury Allocation
2. Contributions to State
3. Transfers to Other Players
4. Provincial Forces Builds
II. Forum Phase
For each Initiative:
1. Persuasion Attempt
2. Knights
3. Faction Leader/Games
Plus a special round of bidding before the 6th initiative.
Each player takes his initiative in order as in the original rules.
Orders in advance are highly recommended especially when Persuasion
Attempts are not an issue in order to speed this phase.
[GM Action: Population/Curia Rolls]
III. Senate Phase
For each Proposal:
1. Votes/Bribes/Vetoes
HRAO must specify a voting order with each proposal.
[GM Action: Combat Rolls]
IV. Revolution Phase
1. Play/Trade/Discard Concessions/Statesmen/Cards
2. Revolution Declarations
3. Governor Corruption (including Grain Concessions)
4. Persuasion Attempts
If the player wishes to make a Persuasion Attempt he announces to
everyone (this is important so as to speed up diplomatic communication)
which of his senators is attempting to persuade which other senator
(aligned or unaligned) and how many talents he is initially spending. At
the same time he secretly sends the GM the following information:
1. the maximum talents he is willing to spend
2. the minimum Base number he will spend extra talents for
Every other player secretly sends the GM the following information:
1. the maximum talents he is willing to spend
2. the senator he is supporting (if he is not directly involved)
3. the minimum (or maximum) Base number he will spend extra talents for
This should be enough information for the GM to go on and make a
persuasion roll. If the persuader wishes to use a Blackmail or Seduction
card everything is MUCH simpler and this procedure is not necessary.
EXAMPLE: Player A announces that his Cornelius will attempt to persuade
Player C’s Fabius with an initial bribe of 3 Talents. Cornelius has 3
Oratory/20 Influence/10 Talents and Fabius has 9 Loyalty/1 Talent.
Fabius’ value is 17 (9 Loy + 7 Align + 1T); Cornelius’ value is 26 (20
Inf + 3 Ora + 3T). At this point the base needed to persuade is 9 (the
best he can do). At the same time that Player A announces his persuasion
attempt he sends a private message to the GM stating that he will spend
at most another 6 Talents if he can get the base to at least 8. Player B
privately tells the GM he is not getting invloved. Player C privately
tells the GM that he will be adding at most 5T from his faction treasury
if he can get the base below 7. Player D tells the GM the he will help
Player C and add at most 5T if he can get the base below 6. Player E
tells the GM he will help Player A and add at most 5T if he can get the
base to at least 7. The GM now figures it all out (extreme example):
1. Base starts out at 9
2. player B is not involved
3. player C adds 3T against to make the Base 6
4. player D adds 1T against to make the Base 5
5. player E adds 2T for to make the Base 7
6. player A adds 1T for to make the Base 8
7. player B is not involved
8. player C adds 2T against to make the Base 6
9. player D adds 1T against to make the Base 5
10. player E adds 2T for to make the Base 7
11. player A adds 1T for to make the Base 8
12. player B is not involved
13. player C does not add because he has spent all he was willing to
spend
14. player D adds 3T against to make the Base 5
15. player E does not add because he must spend more than he was willing
to spend to get to his 7
16. player A adds 3T to make the Base 8
17. player B is not involved
18. player C has spent all he was willing to
19. player D has spent all he was willing to
20. player E is happy with the base where it is
21. GM makes a persuasion roll of 9 so Fabius stays with Player C and is
22 talents richer! Player A probably should have stated that he
would add talents to get at least a 9.
This entire process only requires 1 public message from the persuader and
1 private message from each player (plus any diplomatic discussion before
the private messages are sent).
5. Sixth Initiative Bidding
All bids for the sixth initiative are sent in at the same time by all
players but are still resolved in HRAO order. Players can specify
conditions for their bids using increments and maximum bids based on
players who bid before them. Here is an example:
Player A has a Senator in Rome with 3 talents
Player B has a Senator in Rome with 2 talents
Player C has a Senator in Rome with 0 talents
Player D has a Senator in Rome with 6 talents
Player E has a Senator in Rome with 5 talents
The following "bids" are sent simultaneously and privately
Player A (HRAO) bids 2 talents
Player B states an increment of 1, max 2
Player C must state increment of 0, max 0
Player D states an increment of 2, max 5
Player E states an increment of 1, max 5
Now it's resolved:
Player A bids 2
Player B increments the current highest bid (i.e. 2) by 1 to 3, but 3 is
above his max of 2 so his bid is only 2.
Player C increments the current highest bid (i.e. 2) by 0 to 2, but 2 is
above his max of 0 so his bid is only 0
Player D increments the current highest bid (i.e. 2) by 2 to 4, 4 is not
above his max so his bid is 4
Player E increments the current highest bid (i.e. 4) by 1 to 5, 5 is not
above his max so his bid is 5 (and he wins the 6th initiative).
Basic Strategies:
The last player in the round (i.e. E) should never need to state an
increment more than 1, because no one bids after him.
A player should never need to state a maximum that is greater than the
largest possible bid by all players after him (in fact I will adjust a
player's maximum down if a player should make this mistake). In the example
above D could have set a max of 6 since he has 6 talents to spend but since
E only has 5 talents to spend, D's maximum would be adjusted automatically
down to 5. If D wanted to GUARANTEE winning the 6th initiative then he
should have stated an increment of +5 and a max of 5. It never makes sense
to state an increment greater than a maximum and the HRAO does not specify
increments and maximums, he just bids a number.
Ties are still resolved in HRAO order of course.
6. Voting
Voting is done essentially the same as Persuasion Attempts and 6th
Initiative Bidding. All players send in their orders at the same time and
can specify any conditions they like. The conditions can be based on
actions by players who are listed prior to him in the Voting Order
specified by the HRAO. Obviously, the first player in the Voting Order
cannot specify any conditions. Orders are sent to the GM in private.
7. Senate Phase Guidelines
a. The presiding magistrate sends everyone his proposal along with a
Voting Order. Alternatively, he can send this info to the GM who will
then announce it at the appropriate time. If Voting Order is not
specified in the proposal then player order will be used starting with the
player after the Presiding Magistrate. The initiator of the proposal is
assumed to vote for passage of the proposal unless otherwise specified.
b. All orders are sent in simultaneously and secretly after a proposal is
made. Everyone can make conditional bribes dependent on bribes or votes
made by previous players in the Voting order. Players can either vote
(with possible bribes), abstain, or veto (using a tribune).
c. After all orders are received, they are resolved in Voting Order so if
two players order a veto, the second player's is not resolved (he gets to
keep his tribune). Same principle is applied to bribed votes.
d. A player can cancel an order or submit new orders at anytime before
all players have sent in their orders.
e. All senators are assumed to vote (or abstain) the same way, unless
otherwise specified. All senators are assumed to not bribe for votes,
unless otherwise specified.
f. Abstaining senator's votes are not counted when determining a majority.
(i.e. if 5 factions each have 10 votes and one faction abstains, then
the number of votes required for passage is 21 instead of 26).
g. Assassination and Tribune Proposal Timing will be determined on a case
by case basis with an attempt to keep to the original rules as close as
possible.
8. Default Orders
At times players will forget to specify things that they think are
obvious so these are some defaults that the GM will apply at the
appropriate time:
a. no contributions to state
b. no transfers to other players
c. provincial forces built evenly
d. no money spent to attract a knight
e. no new faction leader or games
f. no bribed votes or conditional votes
g. all senators vote the same way
h. the initiator of a proposal votes for passage of the proposal
i. voting order is HRAO order starting with player after HRAO
It is always best to specify as much info as needed for each phase.
If a player has only one possible order for a phase (example: has no
money in his faction treasury during someone else's persuasion attempt)
the GM will consider his order automatically sent in.
9. Trading Guidelines
I. Private (Secret) Deals:
a. Trading Cards
Two or more players (three way trades are possible for example) can
exchange Red Cards they hold at any time during the turn. Such trades are
executed SIMULTANEOUSLY so there is no possibilty of deceit. To complete a
trade each player involved sends mail to the GM stating which cards he is
giving to which factions and which cards he expects in return from each
faction. If the GM determines that the trade requests do not match, the
trade is not completed and he notifies the factions involved. If the trade
requests do match then he notifies the factions involved that the trade
was successful and notifies all other players of the trade, though he does
not tell the others what specific cards were traded. Traded cards cannot
be played prior to the next Revolution Phase (this includes cards like
Tribunes which could not be played until the next turn). Cards traded
during the Revolution Phase can be played during that phase. Cards that
have been traded can be traded again in the same turn. [Nothing really new
here; except for maybe three-way trades I believe this works just like it
is intended to in the original game.
b. Deals/Trades Involving Things Other Than Cards
ANYTHING else in a secret deal is "unenforcable", meaning that if you make
a deal to give another player 5 talents for a card (even if you get the
card during the Revenue phase) you are not REQUIRED to give the other
player the money after you have received the card. This means that all
private deals (except for exchange of red cards) occur SEQUENTIALLY. It is
up to the players involved to determine the order (unless they just want
to trust the other player) of exchange if necessary. If you wanted to give
a player a red card in order to make him nominate one of your senators,
you can either give it to him before the nomination (in which case he can
just keep the card and NOT make the nomination) or afterwards (in which
case you can keep the card and forget the deal). Same goes for transfering
money in exchange for favors and everything else (other than red card
trading).
c. Any exchange or gift of red cards or treasury must go through the GM
first.
II. Open Deals
An Open Deal works like a Secret Deal except that all players are told of
the specifics of the deal and the deal is totally enforceable within the
rules of the game.
10. Combat
The Random Loss Chart will not be used in Combat. Each unit will be
assigned a number and email dice will be rolled to see which units are
lost.
The HRAO determines the order that battles will be fought except that
lower-numbered matching wars of a series are always fought first.
Provinces attack wars in random order resolving all of a province's wars
before proceeding with the next province. Matching wars in a series are
still attacked in order of their number.
Example: There are four active wars: Syrian, 2nd & 3rd Macedonian, and
1st Gallic. Illyricum is allied with the 2nd Macedonian War so the first
three wars are attacking Greece while the Gallic war is attacking Gaul.
Randomly determine order of province attacks. Gaul rolls a 7, Greece
rolls a 6; the Gallic War is resolved first. Rolls for Syrian and
Macedonian wars are 6 and 11 respectively, so Greece must attack the wars
in this order: 1. 2nd Macedonian; 2. 3rd Macedonian; 3. Syrian. The
example assumes that none of these wars were stalemated of standoffed by
a Roman force during the current combat phase.
--- Official Notes (gathered from past e-mail messages)
I really think we should play with the Provincial Forces Rule (14.0). I
have written up extensive errata for this and there are one or two
changes in there as well.
We need to decide if we wish to play with the other 2 advanced rules:
Pontifex Maximus and Legion Disbandment.
I have made a few changes to the province attack orders listed on the
war cards. These are mainly historical or pseudo-historical in nature.
The changes are listed on my web page (as well as everything else).
We've also been playing that provinces aren't attacked by wars on the
turn they are created. So, if the Gallic War is defeated, thereby
creating Cisalpine Gaul, the 2nd Punic War (if active) won't attack the
province until the following turn.
Also, unlike my other two games. In this game, players not involved in a
persuasion attempt can only bribe to counter the attempt; they cannot
bribe to aid the persuader. The first way slows down things too much
because of the added scheming and diplomacy.
We have not been playing with time limits or default orders (I dislike
default orders entirely) but if I don't hear from a player who I'm
waiting on, for over a week I'll usually start looking for a
replacement. There have been exceptions of course. The whole point
being, if you're not going to be around (vacation, etc...), tell me.
I hope you all have www access, if not tell me and I can make some
arrangements. All the rules, errata, manifests are on my web page. Note,
that my PBEM rules are fairly different than AH's PBEM rules (and truer
to the original game). Ideally, an uneventful turn could take as little
as 2 weeks to play. Since the extended game _can_ go to 25 turns, that's
at least 1 year of playing at the best speed possible, unless of course
there is an earlier decision (more likely I would think). Game 2 ended
in less than 2 weeks before the senate ever met! HRAO popularity is very
important, especially in the late republic.
I'm ready to start when you are. The game is pretty much "rolled up" on
my end. I used the email dice roller to generate most of the numbers
needed. I shuffled the decks on my PC at home with a program I wrote
(also on my page). Province income also gets generated on my PC with
another program.
I'm sure there are some things I forgot to mention. So, first we need to
decide on the rules, and also choose the faction names. Good luck!
Here is the initial status (your red cards going out shortly). The
"status" is a complete snapshot of the game at the present time. It
holds no info regarding past events. The "history" is a log of all
events. Each turn has its own history file. The "deck status" shows
what's currently in the deck and what has been discarded. All three of
these are on my www page (anyone have any problems accessing it?). [ I
wanted to use <> but html don't like that. ] Don't know how I'm
going to show battle votes yet. There's a section called "report
symbols" that lists all the symbols and the order they should appear in.
We are in:
Initial Intrigue Phase
1. Play Concessions/Statesman
2. Governor Corruption
3. Governor Assignment & Term
4. Faction Leader
2 and 3 don't apply of course. All orders for this phase are sent in
simultaneously. After I receive orders from all I'll reveal the
mortality chit, generate revenue (nothing much this turn) and then we'll
move to the next phase which is revenue distribution. Card exchanges or
gifts are done in "real time" and they should go through me (I think I
wrote a section in the rules on this) since I am the only official
source for everyone's cards. Note that you can't make a statesman a
faction leader at the start unless you also have the family card for
that statesman. Oh, my page is best viewed with a fixed-width font so
that the status report lines up all nice and neat and easy to read. Good
luck!
Something that should be in the PBEM rules...
The Presiding Magistrate can send me a list of proposals to make to the
senate. _As soon as_ one proposal is over, the next one in queue is
made, so if another player wishes to play a tribune to initiate his own
proposal he must tell me during the current vote or else he may lose his
chance. You can always give me any conditions for any orders. For
example, "I will play this tribune to reserve the floor if the current
proposal passes". Just a warning in how the game is paced.
Assassinations are in real time. I know this may be a disadvantage for
players on the other side of the world but I don't think there's a good
way to structure it otherwise without removing some of the flavor of the
game.
Remember, I must have a voting order for each proposal or I will use the
default which is clockwise order (from top to bottom) starting with the
player _after_ the presiding magistrate. Votes should be sent to me in
secret (though they can be broadcast to all if you like, though such a
public vote is _not_ binding). I will assume your public vote is your
actual vote unless I hear otherwise from you. Voting order is used to
determine things like whose tribune veto gets played first and
conditional votes like "I will bribe 6t if the player before me votes
against". As with all other orders you can specify any conditions for
your votes you like, but you can't specify conditions based on what
players who vote after you (by the voting order) do. Basically, it works
just like the FTF game.
It's best to make your proposals in public (including your voting order)
to speed the vote, but if you want to send me a list of proposals you
probably just want to send me the list in private and make the first
proposal in public. Other default orders for proposals in case you are
not specific enough in what you tell me:
f. no bribed votes or conditional votes
g. all senators vote the same way
h. the initiator of a proposal votes for passage of the proposal
i. voting order is clockwise order starting with player after
presiding magistrate (a little different from what my rules say).
So, all votes/vetoes are sent to me at the same time by all players in
secret but they are resolved in voting order.
clarification: a Pontifex Maximus may not assign himself a priest but a
senator who already has a priest may be elected as Pontifex Maximus (and
he gets to keep his priest). He can veto any proposal the rules normally
allows him to.
Just to clarify,
Unofficial Errata on my page just refers to the fact that these weren't
written up by Avalon Hill, but we are still playing with these
"unofficial" errata.
We are playing with these errata/rules found on my web page:
PBEM Rules
Official Errata
Unofficial Errata
Governor Revolt Errata
The Senate Phase
Revised Province Attack Orders