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{"id":22836,"date":"2021-05-12T17:15:18","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T20:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/?p=22836"},"modified":"2021-05-12T17:15:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T20:15:20","slug":"os-triunfos-de-tarlac-dev-diary-7-a-diplomacia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/2021\/05\/12\/os-triunfos-de-tarlac-dev-diary-7-a-diplomacia\/","title":{"rendered":"“Os Triunfos de Tarlac” dev diary #7: a diplomacia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/a>\n\n\n\n

Quando fazemos um game hist\u00f3rico, certas coisas s\u00e3o dif\u00edceis de acertar porque s\u00e3o complicadas ou abstratas demais para fazer caber em um jogo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J\u00e1 outras s\u00e3o dif\u00edceis porque n\u00e3o parecem fazer o menor sentido.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A diplomacia na Irlanda medieval \u00e9 uma delas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Esse \u00e9 um problema que salta aos olhos a qualquer um que se aventure a ler Os Triunfos de Tarlac<\/em>, a saga em que nosso jogo \u00e9 baseado. Embora estejamos lidando com uma guerra civil entre duas dinastias\u2013 que continuaram basicamente as mesmas do in\u00edcio ao fim \u2013 as coaliz\u00f5es que as apoiavam parecem ter sido montadas por uma dan\u00e7a das cadeiras ap\u00f3s uma festa com muito \u00e1lcool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S\u00e3o casos de aliados atacando aliados, inimigos virando a casaca, fac\u00e7\u00f5es que at\u00e9 ent\u00e3o n\u00e3o sab\u00edamos que existiam aparecendo de \u00faltima hora, personagens hist\u00f3ricas que consider\u00e1vamos protagonistas sumindo de vista. Como muitos dos envolvidos tinham nomes id\u00eanticos, \u00e9 at\u00e9 dif\u00edcil entender quem est\u00e1 lutando contra quem \u2013 e por qu\u00ea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O que fazer para transformar uma confus\u00e3o dessas em um jogo? De onde n\u00f3s tiramos que  poder\u00edamos ensinar aos nossos jogadores um pouco de hist\u00f3ria se n\u00f3s mesmo est\u00e1vamos arrancando os cabelos em desespero?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H\u00e1 algo de louco aqui, sem d\u00favida. Mas h\u00e1 uma dose de loucura envolvida na cria\u00e7\u00e3o de todos os games. Ap\u00f3s meses de pesquisa, esbo\u00e7os descartados e fins de semana debru\u00e7ados na frente do tabuleiro, conseguimos, ainda que timidamente, dar alguma ordem ao caos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hist\u00f3ria de como chegamos a uma solu\u00e7\u00e3o foi t\u00e3o complicada que bem mereceria uma saga pr\u00f3pria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Dan\u00e7a das cadeiras<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O primeiro desafio era decidir o que est\u00e1vamos eu estava chamando de \u201cla\u00e7os diplom\u00e1ticos\u201d. E aqui a quest\u00e3o, que j\u00e1 era espinhosa, tornava-se complicada a ponto de nos convidar a virar a mesa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
E n\u00e3o s\u00f3 metaforicamente<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Para come\u00e7ar, como j\u00e1 adiantei no \u00faltimo di\u00e1rio, certas fac\u00e7\u00f5es tinham la\u00e7os de vassalagem <\/strong>com outras, o que implicada no dever de providenciar servi\u00e7o militar. <\/strong>Contudo, \u201cdever\u201d n\u00e3o \u00e9 sin\u00f4nimo de \u201cquerer\u201d, e vassalos n\u00e3o tinham escr\u00fapulos para dar as costas a certos reis em favor de seus rivais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Para contornar esse problema, uma solu\u00e7\u00e3o era arranjar casamentos<\/strong> entre as fam\u00edlias em quest\u00e3o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outra solu\u00e7\u00e3o popular era entregar crian\u00e7as<\/strong> para serem apadrinhadas <\/strong>por um vassalo. Parece estranho para nossas sensibilidades contempor\u00e2neas, mas na Irlanda medieval crian\u00e7as muitas vezes viviam com os pais apenas durante a primeira inf\u00e2ncia. Depois, eram enviados para outra fam\u00edlia, que terminava sua cria\u00e7\u00e3o. A ideia \u00e9 que o padrinho e a crian\u00e7a desenvolveriam um v\u00ednculo que perduraria mesmo depois que o protegido crescesse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviamente, n\u00e3o era poss\u00edvel apostar o sucesso de uma alian\u00e7a somente em la\u00e7os como esses. De onde acordos eram geralmente selados com a entrega de ref\u00e9ns. <\/strong>Para provar que estavam dispostos a cumprir o prometido, vassalos cediam um membro da fam\u00edlia para viver com seus suserano. Se a alian\u00e7a se rompesse, sua cabe\u00e7a rolaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quer dizer, isso era o plano. Como todos que j\u00e1 sobreviveram a uma ceia de natal em fam\u00edlia sabem, h\u00e1 parentes e h\u00e1 parentes. \u00c0s vezes, acontecia de um rei entregar de prop\u00f3sito membros pouco importantes (ou problem\u00e1ticos) da fam\u00edlia sabendo que seriam mortos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Por fim, havia a quest\u00e3o dos aliados externos. <\/strong>Ingleses de outras partes da Irlanda \u00e0s vezes se aliavam a reis irlandeses, seja por meio de casamentos, seja por meio de v\u00ednculos mais informais. Outros, por\u00e9m, serviam em ex\u00e9rcitos irlandeses como mercen\u00e1rios. <\/strong>E nem sempre \u00e9 f\u00e1cil saber quando uma coisa come\u00e7a e outra termina: as fontes, muitas vezes, chamam ambos apenas de \u201camigos\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

N\u00e3o havia d\u00favidas: para fazer o jogo sair do papel, n\u00f3s ter\u00edamos de simplificar muita coisa. O problema \u00e9 que a diplomacia medieval era t\u00e3o complicada que nem sab\u00edamos por onde come\u00e7ar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nosso game se passa em uma \u00fanica regi\u00e3o da Irlanda. Mas casamentos \u2013 para citar apenas um exemplo \u2013 raramente s\u00e3o quest\u00f5es locais. N\u00e3o era raro que um rei ga\u00e9lico casasse com uma princesa de outra parte da ilha \u2013 ou mesmo de fora da Irlanda. No caso de Thomond, n\u00f3s nem conseguimos ao certo saber de onde vinham essas mulheres, pois elas mal aparecem nas fontes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No caso dos ref\u00e9ns, a situa\u00e7\u00e3o era ainda pior. Os reis irlandeses eram polig\u00e2micos. Por conta disto, tinham muitos filhos<\/strong> \u2013 e mais ainda parentes pr\u00f3ximos. Boa parte deles sequer aparece nas fontes, exceto vez ou outra na lista de baixas de alguma batalha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Como n\u00f3s poder\u00edamos representar o \u00f4nus de entregar um parente se nem sab\u00edamos quantos familiares <\/strong>um rei tinha? E como, ainda por cima, decidir quais eram \u201cimportantes\u201d ou n\u00e3o?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simplificando as coisas…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Interpreta\u00e7\u00e3o art\u00edstica de encontro entre o rei irland\u00eas Art Mac Murchadha e um enviado da Coroa inglesa. Ilustra\u00e7\u00e3o de Henry Doyle<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Para nosso primeiro prot\u00f3tipo, resolvi adotar uma estrat\u00e9gia de terra arrasada. Desenvolvi o modelo diplom\u00e1tico mais simples poss\u00edvel, sob o racioc\u00ednio de que era sempre poss\u00edvel ir deixando mais complexo em futuras tentativas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agrupei todos os v\u00ednculos da se\u00e7\u00e3o acima em um \u00fanico la\u00e7o: \u201calian\u00e7a\u201d. Se um reino marchava ao lado de outro na guerra, ele era um \u201caliado\u201d. Mercen\u00e1rios, padrinhos, membros da mesma fam\u00edlia seriam apenas varia\u00e7\u00f5es de um mesmo tema.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dentro desses par\u00e2metros, elaborei dois cen\u00e1rios iniciais: o hist\u00f3rico<\/strong> e o livre.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O hist\u00f3rico<\/strong> come\u00e7ava com os reinos agrupados segundo as alian\u00e7as de 1277-78, quando a guerra come\u00e7ou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O livre<\/strong> come\u00e7ava sem nenhuma alian\u00e7a vigente. <\/strong>\u201cPropor\u201de \u201caceitar\u201d alian\u00e7as eram a\u00e7\u00f5es que jogadores teriam liberdade de tomar por sua pr\u00f3pria conta e risco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Era tamb\u00e9m poss\u00edvel trair sua alian\u00e7a e agir contra os interesses da coaliz\u00e3o. Por\u00e9m, isso custaria um ponto de febas<\/em> \u2013 <\/strong>a reputa\u00e7\u00e3o pol\u00edtica de um rei, que equivale, em termos de jogo, nos \u201cpontos de vida\u201d de um jogador. Isto representaria, de maneira abstrata, o \u00f4nus pessoal e din\u00e1stico de sacrificar um ref\u00e9m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minha ideia \u00e9 que o cen\u00e1rio livre estimulasse o gameplay <\/em>emergente, incentivando jogadores a desafiar a hist\u00f3ria tal qual conhec\u00edamos. Sabotar a pr\u00f3pria coaliz\u00e3o? Virar casaca tr\u00eas vezes consecutivas? Apelar para a \u201canarquia\u201d e declarar guerra contra todo o mapa? Tudo seria poss\u00edvel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Na pr\u00e1tica, contudo, isso deixou o jogo t\u00e3o confuso que derrotou seu pr\u00f3posito de existir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sem alian\u00e7as no in\u00edcio do jogo n\u00e3o havia porque qualquer jogador decidir tomar parte da guerra. E se ningu\u00e9m tomasse parte na guerra, jogadores n\u00e3o teriam nada para fazer al\u00e9m de sentar nas pr\u00f3prias m\u00e3os e se perguntar porque decidiu jogar o jogo do Viniciusem vez de fazer algo produtivo da vida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mesmo quando as pessoas for\u00e7avam a barra para fazer o jogo andar, o resultado era desanimador. Pessoas propunham alian\u00e7as a seus amigos, reproduzindo no jogo as \u201cpanelinhas\u201d da vida real. Como as alian\u00e7as eram tomadas sequencialmente havia tamb\u00e9m uma press\u00e3o impl\u00edcita para se unir \u00e0 coaliz\u00e3o com mais aliados. Afinal de contas, por que voc\u00ea aceitaria se aliar com o underdog <\/em>se seu inimigo tinha 3\/4 dos jogadores em seu bolso?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Havia tamb\u00e9m um problema hist\u00f3rico. Casamentos, apadrinhamentos e ref\u00e9ns eram rela\u00e7\u00f5es complicadas demais para serem simplificadas a uma \u00fanica mec\u00e2nica. Da maneira como hav\u00edamos implementado, ficava a impress\u00e3o de que reis medievais constru\u00edam as alian\u00e7as que queriam, na hora que queriam. O que n\u00e3o podia ser mais longe da realidade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O cen\u00e1rio hist\u00f3rico <\/strong>estava mais focado, mas tinha sua cota de problemas. Como o jogo conta com poucas fac\u00e7\u00f5es, n\u00e3o \u00e9 como se houvesse uma grande variedade de caminhos que o jogo pudesse tomar depois que o dado come\u00e7asse a rolar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

N\u00e3o demorou para que nossos jogadores encontrassem uma \u201csolu\u00e7\u00e3o \u00f3tima\u201d que fazia todas as partidas enveredarem pelo mesmo caminho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

… para voltar a complic\u00e1-las.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

N\u00e3o posso dizer que n\u00e3o suspeitava que o resultado seria esse. Como disse, todo o prop\u00f3sito de simplificar as regras era para que pud\u00e9ssemos enxergar em que partes <\/strong>ela precisava ser rebuscada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E rebusc\u00e1-las foi exatamente o que fizemos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minha primeira solu\u00e7\u00e3o foi criar cen\u00e1rios iniciais diferentes<\/strong>, correspondentes ao equil\u00edbrio de for\u00e7as em diferentes momentos da guerra. Isto n\u00e3o foi uma tarefa f\u00e1cil, pois, como j\u00e1 mencionei, a trama de alian\u00e7as era t\u00e3o complicada \u2013 e as fontes hist\u00f3ricas, t\u00e3o confusas \u2013 que \u00e0s vezes \u00e9 imposs\u00edvel saber quem est\u00e1 lutando contra quem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mas, ap\u00f3s um grande esfor\u00e7o, eu consegui fechar em sete datas selecionadas: 1277, 1278, 1281, 1284, 1315, 1317 e 1318.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al\u00e9m de bem documentados, estes cen\u00e1rios tinham a vantagem de serem bem diferentes uns dos outros. <\/strong>Em 1277 e 1278, por exemplo, um dos cl\u00e3s em disputa come\u00e7a o jogo exilado. Em 1281, o reino de Thomond come\u00e7a dividido ao meio entre eles. Em 1284, os ingleses n\u00e3o jogam no in\u00edcio da partida, refletindo uma viagem feita pelo bar\u00e3o Thomas de Clare para cuidar de suas terras na Inglaterra. Seu aliado irland\u00eas precisar\u00e1, assim, aprender a se virar sem a sua ajuda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A segunda solu\u00e7\u00e3o foi transformar a entrega de ref\u00e9ns em uma mec\u00e2nica pr\u00f3pria<\/strong>. Esta mudan\u00e7a foi feita ao mesmo tempo em que alteramos as condi\u00e7\u00f5es de vit\u00f3ria tornando a participa\u00e7\u00e3o na guerra obrigat\u00f3ria. Desta, maneira, pudemos unir as duas coisas de uma maneira que nos pareceu satisfat\u00f3ria:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Segundo o novo esquema, ser aliado <\/strong>de uma fac\u00e7\u00e3o significa que faz\u00ea-la vencer a guerra \u00e9 sua condi\u00e7\u00e3o de vit\u00f3ria<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ref\u00e9ns, <\/strong>por outro lado, se tornaram \u201cpe\u00e7as\u201d que certos jogadores s\u00e3o a outros \u2013 e que podem ser \u201csacrificadas\u201d caso algu\u00e9m descumpra uma promessa e fa\u00e7a com que sejam executados. Eles tamb\u00e9m s\u00e3o automaticamente \u201cdevolvidos\u201d caso o jogador que os mantenha em cativeiro seja eliminado no combate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eles representam coisas diferentes dependendo de quem os cede e quem os recebe. Entre um dos cl\u00e3s dos O\u2019Brien e o jogador ingl\u00eas, ele funcionam como um misto de alian\u00e7a <\/strong>e la\u00e7o de vassalagem. <\/strong>Dar ref\u00e9ns aos ingleses \u00e9 uma prova de que um rei irland\u00eas aceita governar sob seu jugo \u2013 em troca de apoio militar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entre os O\u2019Brien e os reis ga\u00e9licos menores, eles representam uma garantia de que o jogador em quest\u00e3o n\u00e3o se mobilizar\u00e1 contra <\/strong>aquele que recebe os ref\u00e9ns. Isto representa um tipo de situa\u00e7\u00e3o bastante frequente nas fontes do per\u00edodo. For\u00e7ados a providenciar soldados a um rei que n\u00e3o apoiavam, muitos chefes ga\u00e9licos optavam por n\u00e3o participar da guerra e ceder ref\u00e9ns de sua fam\u00edlia. Desta maneira, eles n\u00e3o eram obrigados a trabalhar para o inimigo, mas tamb\u00e9m evitavam (ou assim esperavam) as piores consequ\u00eancias de desafi\u00e1-los.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resultado<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nenhum dos dois sistemas \u00e9 perfeito. Embora os diferentes cen\u00e1rios iniciais tragam uma boa variedade ao jogo, eles n\u00e3o representam como alian\u00e7as se formavam ou se desfaziam. <\/strong>Como expliquei, no entanto, esta \u00e9 uma limita\u00e7\u00e3o das pr\u00f3prias fontes, j\u00e1 que n\u00e3o temos muita informa\u00e7\u00e3o a respeito \u2013 e aquelas que temos n\u00e3o cabem em um jogo do escopo do nosso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J\u00e1 nossa mec\u00e2nica de ref\u00e9ns ignora que o fato, j\u00e1 mencionado, de que reis do per\u00edodo \u00e0s vezes usavam esses tratados para sacrificar parentes pouco importantes. Nossos ref\u00e9ns, pelo contr\u00e1rio, sempre s\u00e3o cruciais.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ainda assim, penso que conseguimos atingir um bom equil\u00edbrio entre a representar a complexidade da diplomacia no per\u00edodo e encaix\u00e1-la num jogo simples o suficiente para ser curtido. Qualquer cr\u00edtica que venha desta decis\u00e3o \u00e9 uma que humildemente aceitarei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E de resto? Se pelo menos um jogador me disser que jogar Os Triunfos de Tarlac <\/em>deixou a pol\u00edtica irlandesa menos confusa aos seus olhos, j\u00e1 me dou por satisfeito.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we make a historical game, some things are hard to get right because they are too complicated or abstract to fit into a ludic experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others, however, are hard because they do not seem to make any sense at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medieval Irish diplomacy is one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an issue that becomes obvious to anyone brave enough to dredge through The Triumphs of Turlough, <\/em>the saga-text after which our game is based. Even though we are dealing with a dynastic war between two lineages \u2013 that remained basically the same from beginning to end \u2013 the coalitions that supported them seem to have been put together in a game of musical chairs after a party with too much alcohol involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve got allies attacking each other, enemies turning coat, factions we didn\u2019t know even existed showing up at the last minute, historical characters whom we thought were protagonists disappearing from the sources. Since many of the people involved had identical names, it is hard to even figure out who was fighting whom \u2013 and for what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can be turn such a confusion into a game? How did we convince ourselves we could teach our players something about history if even we were pulling our hair out in despair?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, our ambition seems crazy. But there is a dose of craziness involved in the creation of every game. After months of research, discarded sketches and weekends spent in front of the board, we finally managed, albeit tentatively, to bring some semblance of order to the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story of how we got there is so complicated that it could well deserve a saga of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musical chairs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first challenge was to decide what was it that we were labelling \u201cdiplomatic ties\u201d to begin with. And here our historical problem, which was already thorny, became so complex it seemed to be inviting us to flip the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin with, as I mentioned in the last diary, certain factions had bonds of vassalage <\/strong>to others, which implied in the duty to provide military service. <\/strong>Yet, \u201cbeing expected to\u201d is not the same as \u201cwanting to\u201d, and vassals had to qualms about turning their backs on certain kings in favour of their rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
And not just metaphorically<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To get around this issue, one solution was to arrange marriages <\/strong>between the families in question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another popular solution was to give children over <\/strong>to be fostered <\/strong>by a vassal. It may seem strange to our contemporary sensibilities, but in medieval Ireland children often lived with their parents only during their first childhood. After that, they were sent to another family, in which they would be brought up. The idea is that the foster parent and the child would develop a bond that would last even after the ward grew up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, it wasn\u2019t possible to bet the fate of an alliance just in ties like these. For that reason, treaties were often reinforced with the surrender of hostages. <\/strong>To show that they were willing to make good on their word, vassals ceded a family member to live with their suzerain. If the alliance was disrespected, their head would roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In theory, that is. As everyone who survived a Christmas supper with the family knows, there are relatives and then there are relatives. Sometimes, it happened that a king would surrender family members of little political or emotional importance knowing they would be killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, there was the matter of the external allies. <\/strong>English magnates from other parts of Ireland sometimes supported Irish kings, either due to marriage alliances or less formal bonds. Others, however, sent soldiers to fight as mercenaries<\/strong>. And it is not always easy to know when one thing ends and the other begins: the sources often called them both \u201cfriends\u201d and left it at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no question about it: to make the game work, we had to simplify a lot of things. The problem was that medieval diplomacy was so complicated that we barely knew how to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our game is set in a single region of Ireland. But marriages \u2013 to mention just one example \u2013 are rarely local affairs. It wasn\u2019t uncommon for a Gaelic king to marry a princess from a different part of the isle \u2013 or even from outside Ireland. In the case of Thomond, we couldn\u2019t even know for sure where these women came from, as they are seldom mentioned by the sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of hostages, the situation was even worse. Irish kings were polygamous. As such, they had many <\/strong>children \u2013 and even more close relatives. A good part of them is not even mentioned in the sources, except once or twice in a casualty roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could be represent the burden of handing over a family member if we didn\u2019t even know how many <\/strong>relatives a king had? And how, on top of that, could we calculate who was \u201cimportant\u201d or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making things simple\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Artistic intepretation of a meeting between Irish king Art Mac Murchadha and an envoy of the English Crown. By Henry Doyle<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So, for our first prototype, I decided to adopt a scorched earth policy. I developed the simplest diplomatic model I could think of. My reasoning was that we could always add things in for further versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grouped every kind of political relationship in a single bond: \u2018alliance\u2019. If a kingdom supported another in war, it was an \u2018ally\u2019. Mercenaries, foster parents, members of a single family would be just variations on a same theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within these parameters, I elaborated two initial scenarios: the historical <\/strong>and the free play <\/strong>one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historical <\/strong>one began with the kingdoms bound by the alliances of 1277-78, when the war began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The free play <\/strong>one started without a single existing diplomatic tie. <\/strong>\u201cMaking\u201d and \u201caccepting\u201d alliances were actions players had the liberty of making out of their own volition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also possible to betray one\u2019s allies and act against the interests of your coalition. However, this would cost a febas <\/em>point<\/strong> \u2013 a measure of the reputation of a king, represented in our game as the \u201chit points\u2019 of a player. This would account for, in an abstract manner, the personal and dynastic cost of leaving a hostage to die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My idea was that the free play scenario encouraged emergent gameplay, nudging players to challenge history such as it happened. Sabotaging your own coalition? Turning coat three times in a roll? Appealing to \u201canarchy\u201d and declaring war against the whole map? Everything was possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, however, this turned the game so confusing that it defeated its very purpose for existing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without alliances at the beginning of the session, no player had any reason to take part in a war. And if no one waged war on anyone else, players had little to do other than sitting on their hands and asking while they decided to play Vinicius\u2019 games instead of doing something productive with their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when people forced themselves to take action, the result was disappointing. People would offer alliances to their friends, reproducing the \u201ccliques\u201d that united them in real life. Given that these alliances were negotiated sequentially, there was also an implicit pressure to join the coalition with more players. After all, why would you ally yourself with the underdog if your enemy had 3\/4 of the players in their hand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also a historical issue. Marriages, fosterages and hostages were political relationships too complex to be simplified to a single mechanic. In the way we had implemented it, the game left the impression that medieval kings could make the alliances they wanted, whenever they wanted. Which couldn\u2019t be farther from reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historical <\/strong>setting was more focused, but had its own share of problems. Since the game counted with only a handful of factions, it wasn\u2019t as if there was a great variety of outcomes one could reach after the dice started to roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t take long for our players to find an \u201coptimal solution\u201d that made every match go down the exact same path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

… to complicate them<\/strong> once again<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t say I wasn\u2019t expecting that outcome. As I said, the whole point of simplifying the rules was to help us see in which ways<\/strong> they needed to be fleshed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to see in which points <\/strong>they needed to be complexified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s exactly what we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My fist solution was to create different starting scenarios, <\/strong>corresponding to the balance of power at different points in the war. It wasn\u2019t an easy task, for, as I\u2019ve already mentioned, the weave of alliances was so complicated \u2013 and the historical sources so confused \u2013 that sometimes it\u2019s impossible to know who was fighting whom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, after a great effort, I managed to settle on seven selected dates: 1277, 1278, 1281, 1284, 1315, 1317 and 1318.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from being well-documented, these scenarios had the advantage of being very different from one another. <\/strong>In 1277 and 1278, for example, one of the O\u2019Brien lineages starts the game in exile. In 1281, the kingdom of Thomond starts partitioned between them. In 1284, the English don\u2019t play at the beginning of the match, reflecting a leave of absence taken by baron Thomas de Clare to take care of his lands in England. Their Irish allies would thus have to learn how to fend for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second solution was to transform hostage taking into its own mechanic. <\/strong>This change was made while we were tweaking the victory conditions, making taking part in the war mandatory. This way, we managed to combine the two things in a manner that seemed satisfactory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the new scheme, being allied to <\/strong>a faction meant that to ensure it wins the war is the ally\u2019s victory condition.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hostages, <\/strong>on the other hand, became \u201ctokens\u201d players give to others \u2013 and that can be \u201csacrificed\u201d in case someone breaks a vow and causes their relatives to be executed. They are also automatically \u201creturned\u201d in case the player that holds them captive is eliminated in combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hostages represent different things depending on who surrenders them and who accepts them. Between the O\u2019Brien clans and the English player, they work as a mix between an alliance<\/strong> and a bond of vassalage. <\/strong>To surrender hostages to the English is a statement that an Irish king is willing to rule under their authority \u2013 in exchange for military support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between the O\u2019Briens and the the lesser Gaelic kings, they represent an assurance that the player in question will not mobilize against <\/strong>they who receives the hostages. This represents a type of situation that is very frequently mentioned in the sources of the period. Forced to provide soldiers to a king they did not support, many Irish chiefs opted instead for not taking part in the war and surrendering members of their family as hostages instead. In this way, they weren\u2019t forced to work for the enemy, but also avoided the worst consequences of challenging them (or so they hoped).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Result<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither of these solutions is perfect. Although the different starting scenarios bring some much needed variety to the game, they do not represent how alliances were formed and dissolved. <\/strong>As I explained above, however, this is a limitation of the sources themselves, since we don\u2019t have much information in this regard \u2013 and that which we have don\u2019t fit in a game with such a limited scope as ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hostage mechanic, on the other hand, ignores the fact that kings of this period sometimes skirted around these treaties by surrendering unimportant relatives. Our hostages, on the contrary, are always crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be that as it may, I think we managed to find a nice balance between representing the complexity of the diplomacy at the time and fit it into a game simple enough to be fun. Any criticism this decision may come do provoke is feedback I\u2019ll humbly accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the rest? If a least one player tells me that playing The Triumphs of Turlough <\/em>made Irish politics seem less confusing to their eyes, I\u2019ll take that as a win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quando fazemos um game hist\u00f3rico, certas coisas s\u00e3o dif\u00edceis de acertar porque s\u00e3o complicadas ou abstratas demais para fazer caber em um jogo. J\u00e1 outras s\u00e3o dif\u00edceis porque n\u00e3o parecem fazer o menor sentido. A diplomacia na Irlanda medieval \u00e9 uma delas. Esse \u00e9 um problema que salta aos olhos a qualquer um que se […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[580,21],"tags":[702,175,483,589,671],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/20210505-tarlac-diplo-cover-1.jpg?fit=1510%2C1193&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9rUzW-5Wk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22836"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22845,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22836\/revisions\/22845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.finisgeekis.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}