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| Author |
Topic: Walk-Through for New Players |
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Velusion
Adjutant
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 Fri Oct 24, 2003 4:40 pm     |
This article will be updated as the SPQR I game progresses and will hopefully help any new player get a running start when joining a ROR game.
dr = 1d6 roll
DR = 2d6 roll
TDR = 3d6 roll
Setup Strategies:
Do the Following:
1) Assign your Faction Leader. Your Faction Leader does the following for you:
a) Can never be persuaded away.
b) When the Faction Leader dies another family member takes over. The card is wiped clean but is NOT discarded. The two exceptions to this rule are if you just underwent a Major Prosecution because of a failed assassination attempt, or your faction leader was a statesman and you didn’t have the corresponding family card. Otherwise you will always hold that family card.
c) The faction leader gets 3T instead of one 1T.
2) Lay out any Statesmen or Concessions you drew. Keep in mind from this point on the only time you can do this is in the Revolution Phase at the end of the turn. You cannot lay a statesmen card out if someone has already has the corresponding family card in play. You must either persuade them away or trade the card to the player.
3) Arrange Trades. This is important in the Early Republic if you get the statesmen Scipio and someone else already as the family card (#1) in play. This card should be traded immediately to him for at least one other card. Its important that Scipio comes out as fast as possible to combat the deadly Punic Wars. Keep in mind the cards will not change hands until the Revolution Phase!
Generic Opening Strategies:
Picking your Faction Leader is usually no big deal. Some people like to pick their best family card while others like to pick the one with the least loyalty (since they can’t be persuaded away).
The biggest challenge starting the Early Republic is two-fold
A) How will the group combat the Punic Wars that, if not addressed quickly, will certainly destroy Rome? The most commonly accepted theory is to simply spend the entire treasury and throw the best man at it (Scipio if at all possible) right away with as many troops/fleets as possible. The first three turns will determine how the rest of the Early Republic will go. If the 1st Punic War can be defeated within the first two turns chances are that Rome has a good chance of surviving. If not things will get very hard for Rome, very quick.
B) How will the group deal with the rising influence of a popular general? This problem is very much pronounced if Scipio is in play since he has such a huge advantage in the Punic Wars (negates the standoff, disaster numbers). Common theory says that deals should be worked out to insure that though the premier general’s influence will rise it won’t reach dangerous levels. Agreements for him to undergo future prosecutions are common. The ability of the General and the Senate to reach an amicable agreement can have a direct correlation to the survival of Rome.
Mortality Phase:
Deaths:
a) There is appoximately a 1 in 30 chance that any one particular Senators/Statesmen will die in each turn.
b) A Senator with a family card that dies is put back into the “Repopulating Rome” box and everything on the card (money, prior consul markers, offices, etc) are removed and returned to the bank. Concessions are returned to the Forum.
c) A Statesman with no family card is discarded permanently.
d) A Statesman with a family card underneath is discarded along with all markers and the family card is placed back into the Repopulating Rome" box.
Revenue Phase:
Treasuries:
Faction Treasuries are ONLY used for:
a) Defending ANY senator from a persuasion attempt
b) Bank/Insurance (personal treasury can disappear if the Senator dies or is persuaded away). The Faction Treasury is always safe.
c) Paying maintenance for troops if a faction member is a rebel.
Otherwise ALL other actions that require money uses Talents from Personal Treasuries.
Transfer of Talents:
This is the ONLY time money can change factions. Now is also the only time to move money between Senators within the same faction or between Senators and their Faction Treasuries.
Donations:
This is the ONLY time to donate money to the State (see chart for amounts required to raise influence). It’s important to note that no matter how rich the players are if, later in the game, the State Treasury ever drops below zero, the game is over.
Faction Income:
Factions get the following Income:
a) 3T per Faction Leader, 1T per every other Senator
b) Concession Income (cannot be declined)
c) Corrupt Governorship Income (may be declined)
d) 1T per Knight.
State Income:
The state gets income from the following:
a) 100T from taxes (this never changes)
b) Provincial Income (can be negative)
c) Donations (varies)
d) Special Events (varies)
State Deductions:
The state pays out the following:
a) 2T per Fleet/Legion
b) 20T per Active/Unprosecuted War
c) Special Events (varies)
d) Land Bills (varies)
Forum Phase:
Cards/Events:
Each faction will roll DR. On anything but a seven the player will draw a card.
a) If the card is a War or Leader it will be played into the forum.
b) If it is a Family card it will be played into the forum unless a matching Statesmen is already in play. In that case it will go directly to underneath the matching Statesmen.
c) If the card is of any other kind the player will keep it for play later.
On a seven the GM will roll on the Random Events table and apply the effects. The player does not get to draw a card.
Persuasion Attempts:
Each player may allow one of their Senators to persuade another Senator to their faction.
a) Senators that are successfully persuaded come entirely over to the persuading faction along with all offices, money and titles.
b) Only Senators (not Factions) make persuasion attempts. All money spent during this attempt must come from that Senator’s personal treasury.
c) Target or “defending” Senators may spend Talents to modify the Persuasion attempt from their Faction Treasuries and the defender’s personal treasury. Unalighned Senators (those that don't belong to any faction) are resolved immeadiatly with no one able to "defend them". Thus turn order is important when trying to persuade an available Senator.
d) Other factions can also apply money to help “defend” a Senator from a Persuasion Attempt from their Faction treasuries, but they may not aid the Attempt.
e) After the Persuasion Attempt all money spend defending or attacking STAYS on that senator no matter the result or who spent it.
The attacker rolls a DR and attempts to hit or roll equal to or below a Base Number. A natural roll of 10, 11, or 12 is considered an automatic defeat. The base number is determined as follows:
(Attacker’s Influence + Oratory + Talents spent) - (Defender’s Loyalty + 7 if Senator is aligned (belongs) to another faction + Personal Treasury + Talents spent from any Faction Treasury)
Initially the attacker will simply send out feelers to determine if the attempt is even remotely possible. During the Persuasion Resolution Phase Persuasion Attempts that are deemed not frivolous (they have a remote change of succeeding) will be announced. Attackers and Defendes may specifiy how much they are willing to drop the "to hit base number" and the GM will add and subtract money until it happens. All interested parties may then contribute money and the Results will be announced during the Population Phase.
Knights:
A Senator can attract a knight (a wealthy patrician) on a dr of 6 or more. Add one to the dr for each Talent spent. Only one Senator may attract a knight per turn. Knights do the following for that specific Senator:
a) Increases his voting ability by one.
b) Increases the amount of money collected in the revenue phase by one.
Pressuring Knights:
A player may, instead of having one of his senators attempt to attract a knight, pressure as many knights as he wishes within his faction. For each knight pressured the knight is removed and the specific senator collects a dr of Talents.
Destroy Concessions:
Wars/Events that force a roll for the destruction of concessions are rolled now.
Recover of Statesmen/Concessions
All discarded Statesmen and Concessions will return to the forum on a dr of 5 or 6 (including cards that were discared this phase).
Ageing Roll for Enemy Leaders
Enemy Leaders without a matching war are permanently discarded on a dr of 5 or 6.
Persuasion Results Phase
The phase can be skipped if there are no viable persuasion attempts to resolve.
Otherwise any interested party need to specify how many Talents they wish to contribute to Attempt. Note that all Talents are placed directly on the target senator and are kept there regardless of the attempt outcome. All the counter-bribes will also be placed on the Senator. The actual amount of money transfered is not public. See the Forum phase above for more details.
Population Phase
All unprosecuted wars immediately add +1 to the Unrest Table
All Drought effects immediately add +1 to the Unrest Table
All Pirate effects immediately add +1 to the Unreast Table
State of the Republic
The HRAO will perform a TDR and add his current popularity and subtract the unrest level. He will then consult the population phase table and adjust the population marker. If he ever receives a “People Revolt” result the game ends and all the players loose. This means it can be important to have a Senator with a high popularity as the HRAO.
Consular Election Phase
The current HRAO nominates two Consuls. This announcement is the opening of the Senate. Consuls cannot repeat. Consuls get 5 influence and a prior consul marker (required to be considered for Censor).
Determining Offices:
There is a Rome and a Field Consul. To determine who takes what office:
a) The two can come to an agreement on who will take what office
or
b) A dr will be made to randomly determine who will have which office.
Public agreements cannot be made to determine who will take which office.
Rome Consul:
Unless a Dictator is present the Rome Consul is the HRAO and runs the Senate. He makes all the proposals (unless a Tribune is used) and selects the order of voting and all the nominations. He can only be sent off to fight a war if the current Field Consul is already fighting a war.
Field Consul:
A Field Consul has no real power and is always selected to go fight the first war. If however the Rome Consul dies the Field Consul is now the HRAO and runs the Senate.
Pontifex Maximus Election Phase
The new HRAO will nominate a senator for Pontifex Maximus. Unlike every other major office, this is a lifetime post. The PM gains +5 Influence (which is tied directly to that office).
The good things about Pontifex Maximus are as follows:
a) The PM is a lifetime post.
b) He gets a dr of Talents every revenue phase
c) His votes count double on any vote related to the raising or deployment of troops.
d) He must assign, remove or reassign one minor title of "Priest" anytime during the Senate Phase to any Senator except himself every turn. A Senator may only hold one "Priest" title. This title give that Senator a +1 to any vote relating to the raising or deployment of troops and +1 Influence for as long as he holds the title. If he losses the title he loses 1 Influence.
e) He may veto any legal proposal once a turn without a tribune card.
The bad things about being the Pontifex Maximus are as follows:
a) You may never hold another major office.
b) If an evil omens comes up the PM must pay 20T to the bank. If he does not have 20T the faction must pay it and he is stripped of his office. If the faction cannot pay this the Faction leader can be subject to a Major Prosecution during the next Prosecution Phase.
c) He can be removed with a 2/3rds majority of the vote. He cannot use his special veto to veto this removal vote.
d) He can also be removed from office by a Major Prosecution. Since he holds an office every turn he is always available for a Major and Minor Prosecution.
e) The +5 Influence given the PM is tied to the office. If he losses the office he losses 5 Influence.
Dictator Election Phase
A Dictator is available to be appointed/elected. the follow situations exist:
a) There is one or more active war with strength of 20 or more/ Land strength may add to fleet strength (but not fleet support).
b) There are three active wars.
A Dictator can be elected/appointed in the following ways:
a) A Dictator can be appointed with the consent of both Consuls. This appointment cannot be vetoed and is not an election.
b) A Dictator can also be elected by a simple majority vote, provided it is done before the Election for Censor.
The Dictator’s proposals cannot be vetoed!
Once Elected/Appointed a Dictator permanently gains +7 influence and becomes the HRAO controlling the Senate from that point on. The Dictator immediately appoints a Master of the Horse who gets +3 Influence. The Appointment of the MoH cannot be vetoed and is not an election. The Dictator is the first to be assigned to a war, followed by the Field Consul and then the Rome Consul. When sent to war the Dictator gets to add the Master of Horse’s Military ranking to the battle total. The Master of the Horse does not get to use any of his special abilities.
Censor Election Phase
A Censor must be elected after the Dictator (if there is one) but before any other business. The only eligible candidates for Censor are those that hold a prior consul marker. If there is only one available candidate he is appointed automatically. This appointment cannot be vetoed. If there is no available candidate anyone who does not already hold a major office may be nominated. Once elected the Censor gains +5 permanent influence and immediately conducts any prosecutions.
For the Prosecutions the Censor is the HRAO and may state the voting order. He also names a prosecutor for each prosecution.
Prosecutions Phase
There are two types of prosecutions: Minor and Major. Either two Minor Prosecutions may be undertaken or one Major. A prosecution is handled the same way as any other proposal with all the senators of Rome acting as jury and the Censor acting as the temporary HRAO. The only exception is that the accused may add his influence into the vote, along with his normal votes.
Minor
To be eligible to undergo a Minor Prosecution you must have:
a) Held a major office last year (sans governor).
b) Received Money from a Concession last year.
c) Be a returning governor who took personal income (corrupted).
The effects of a successful prosecution:
a) The accused loses 5 Influence (which can’t drop below 0), and 5 popularity (which can drop below 0).
b) Any concessions held by the accused are returned to the forum.
c) The prosecutor gains half (round up) of the influence lost by the accused.
Major
To be eligible to undergo a Minor Prosecution you must :
a) Have held an office last year (sans governor).
b) Be the faction leader of a caught assassin.
The effects of a successful prosecution:
a) The accused is killed. If this was because he was a faction leader of a caught assassin his family card is removed to the Curia.
b) The prosecutor gains half of the total Influence of the executed Senator.
Popular Appeal
When it is time for the accused to vote (usually 1st) he may, in addition to including his influence into the vote, make a popular appeal. This is done by rolling on the popular appeal table and adding the accused popularity. The result is the number of additional votes garnered (or lost). A popular appeal precludes a senator from going into exile.
Exile
Instead of voting a senator may elect to flee Rome and go into exile. The senator loses everything on the card except knights, legion allegiances, personal treasury and negative popularity. He is still susceptible to mortality chit draws both at home and foreign epidemics. He garners no money and has no votes. A statesmen that goes into exile has his family card put in the curia. If a mortality chit is drawn an both the family card is in play the death is diced for.
A Senator may be returned from exile by a simple majority vote. If the family card is in play a Statesmen will automatically return to the family as if played. Otherwise he goes to the forum. The faction that cast the most votes for his return however gets one immediate unopposed persuasion attempt on the returning Senator. If there is a tie there is no attempt.
Governors Elections Phase
Any provinces in the forum now must be assigned governors. These nominations may be proposed together or separately (up to the HRAO). Governors may not hold Major Offices. A governor serves for three years.
While away from Rome my only do the following:
a) Collect and distribute revenue normally
b) Hold Games & Contribute Money
c) Die due to normal mortality chit during the mortality phase and foreign epidemics.
While away from Rome a Senator may NOT do the following:
a) Contribute votes of any kind (knights or oratory)
b) Be assassinated or conduct an assassination.
c) Be prosecuted for anything (even an implicated caught assassin faction leader)
Provincial Income
Governors may collect personal income from the province and in doing so become corrupted. A corrupted Governor can undergo a minor prosecuted upon his return to Rome, for the initial return turn only. The state income will always go to the state treasury unless the governor is a Rebel, in which case he may collect the state income.
Frontier Provinces
Provinces with an underline are considered Frontier Provinces and can be affected by Barbarian Raids events (which can be mitigated by garrisons and high military rankings)
Improving Provinces
Provinces will attempt to improve every turn during the revenue phase in which there is a governor present. Normally they will improve on a dr of 6, with a +1 if the Governor did not collect personal income this turn. An improved province provides better security from barbarian raids, more personal income and more state income.[/u]
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