Shakespeare Game Post

[vcczar]

I think I've determined how the game will contain the roster of actors. These roles will have to be filled. Note that the acting troupes routinely had the same lead actor for all lead roles, same comic lead, and etc. Actors played similar character in all plays and the plays were actually written with the specific actors in mind. 

Anyway, as an impresario, you'll have to cast the following each season:

Lead Dramatist: (must be at least 21 years old)

Lead Clown: (must be at least 21 years old)

Lead Support: (must be at least 21 years old)

Support #2 (must be at least 21 years old)

Support #3 (must be at least 21 years old)

Lead Apprentice: (must be at least 18 years old)

Apprentice #2: (must be at least 18 years old)

Apprentice #3: (must be at least 18 years old)

Boy #1: (must be under 18)

Boy #2: (must be under 18)

*Note: During this weird time, the apprentices played minor male or major female roles, and the boys played child and female roles. The theatre staff would also fill in during scenes that required a lot of actors, generally not speaking. 

 

[vcczar]

I might possibly start the Shakespeare game in 1576 because this is when the theatre became legalized in London. It's a natural beginning with the theatres becoming illegal in 1642. I'll have to do a lot more research for this earlier period because it's much more obscure as most research goes into Shakespeare's time. I also need to figure out a way to rapidly go through the years. For now, each turn is a season (4 seasons a year). However, each season has a lot going on. 1576-1642 is a lot of time and I'd like the game to be someone that two players can finish in 2 or 3 hours of playing. Anyway, I'll figure it out. 

[vcczar]

Game now includes 160 historical actors, 21 historical impresarios, and 63 historical playwrights. There's also probably 50-75 celebrities from the time who could show up to the plays. More will be added for all of these, although they're all likely to be obscure. 

[vcczar]

The game will include a lot of personal life events that could disrupt one's ability to manage or finance their theatre. Players can also die from the plague. If one has a wife or son, they can continue the game. Since the game will go from 1576-1642, it's most likely the player will play two or three generations, although it's possible someone could make it through to 1642 with a impresario that's about 90 years old. 

[10centjimmy]

31 minutes ago, vcczar said:

The game will include a lot of personal life events that could disrupt one's ability to manage or finance their theatre. Players can also die from the plague. If one has a wife or son, they can continue the game. Since the game will go from 1576-1642, it's most likely the player will play two or three generations, although it's possible someone could make it through to 1642 with a impresario that's about 90 years old. 

Could the impresario tag a writer/actor to take over the company?

[vcczar]

21 minutes ago, 10centjimmy said:

Could the impresario tag a writer/actor to take over the company?

Perhaps if they have impresario, but the idea is to RPG a single person. With a family member you can sort of RPG them from the beginning. 

[vcczar]

I’m thinking of making the Shakespeare game just a one player RPG like game until I got something working smoothly, then I might adapt it for multiplayer after successful playtests. The one player method would certainly be easier to script event-wise. 

[vcczar]

I have about 140 historical events so far in this game. Players will be able to choose historical or alternate events...Both will use alternate events but there's a chance the events will fall in different years. This is to aid in replayability. 

[vcczar]

Historical events now up to about 350

[vcczar]

431 events from 1576 to 1642 are now included. These are only major English events. I'll add some major European or world events that a Londoner might be privy too, as well as look up some specific events for London for this time. 

[vcczar]

Since the game will likely now be a one-player RPG experience, with a possible expansion into two players, 

You will start in 1576 as a 21-year-old. You're the old child of parents who had just died of an illness. You've inherited some money and the profession of your father, but you are interested in getting involved in the theatre business, as you seeing it as likely the more profitable business in the entertainment industry. It is currently non-existent as a business profession, but you've heard rumors that conditions for beginning the industry is ripe. 

Depending on your parents professions and your education, you will have an easier or more difficult time getting started in this business. 

Since you'll start off as 21 in 1576, this establishes a birth year of 1555. If your character makes it to the 1642 end date (when the theatres are closed), you'll be 87-year-old----ancient in an era when even the wealthy were dying in their 50s. It's most likely, that you'll pass on your theatre business to a descendant or to a widow. 

This game will be much more narrative than AMPU since it will operate more like an RPG. 

[vcczar]

I'm now thinking the Shakespeare game might include a story mode (RPG) and multiplayer. The latter will be very ahistorical in that events will be randomized. Also, the game might cover a shorter time period. 

[vcczar]

Story mode in this game will start of sort of like a tutorial. You will have an initial business partner--a close friend who has done a lot of research on business and the theatre but who hasn't the time to deal with the affairs of the business as he's a lawyer at Gray's Inn or the Inner Temple. Ultimately, he leaves the business, but will still be a source of information for news, loans, legal matters, and friendship. I think I might kill him off with the plague or something sometime after he provides enough information to give the playing his or her bearings. 

 

[vcczar]

Here's the Shakespeare update:

STORY MODE

I plan on a story mode, which will use historical events occurring when they do historically. Historical playing companies will be run somewhat historically. Fictional player will form a fictional company with the possibility of running three fictional companies at once by the end of the game. As such, there are a few fictional theatres. Historical actors and playwrights won't necessarily join their historical companies, however. So a player could get Shakespeare, for instance. There will also be a lot of fictional actors and such too, just to ensure there aren't any random depletions at any time. Fictional actors won't be very good though. 

Multiplayer or Free Mode

This mode will not strictly follow the historical timeline, so no one can do any research to determine when someone will die or whatever. This mode is 1 to 10 human players or 1 to 10 computer players and combination not exceeding 10 total players. This is a much more competitive game than story mode in the sense that historically there were only about 3 to 6 London theatre companies vying for power historically with some with a head start. This game could start with 10 players all starting on a level playing field. The goal is to run other companies out of business and dominate the theatre world. 

Other facets:

• Players can rise up the social rank by gaining prestige, mostly through purchases and wealth
• Players can invest in money, provide loans, etc to make money on the side
• Players will micromanage their theatre company (or companies) or they can delegate tasks to a manager. The latter becomes much more necessary the more things the player gets involved in
• Players want to maintain harmony with both the royal and local governments
• Players want to out-strategize rival companies but may have to ally with some occasionally, especially in plague years. 
• Players can use a capitalistic management system or a shareholder system. In the former, player has total control but also a lot more of the financial responsibility, but also the greater chance at profit. The latter might curb your unilateral power, but it is also less risky.  Historically, Shakespeare's company was the latter and was the most successful. 

Setting up a production might follow this format: 

• Purchase a playwright's play or assign a hired playwright to write a play. 
• Once the play is finished or purchases, the play is sent to the Master of the Revels to approve, suppress, or demand alterations to the play. 
• If the play needs alterations, you will need to find a playwright to revise the play, who needn't be the original playwright. 
• Once a play is revised, it must go back to the Master of the Revels. Once approved, the play can be staged. 
• If the company doesn't own or lease a theatre, the player will need to rent a space to perform the play. 
• The actors will need to rehearse the play (historically there would be maybe one rehearsal right before the play was staged), which will help determine the quality of the performance. 
• Staff will need to advertise the play. The greater spent on advertising, the more likely you'll take more of the London crowd. 
• There will be other steps in here. 

Factors that might lead to a great or poor performance:

• Skill of the playwright
• Skill of the actors (Make sure you have actors in their appropriates kind of roles)
• Current popularity of the genre of the play (Avoid out of fashion plays and follow the popular trends)
• The power of the play itself. (A strong play by a weak playwright might sometimes best a weak play by a strong playwright). 
• The size of the theatres (Single gallery inn-house, indoor private theatres, double or triple gallery amphitheatres, etc). 
• Location of the theatres (How close is the theatre to the center of London? Are any rival companies in the neighborhood?) 
  • Note: If you're confident, you want your theatre in a rival neighborhood because you stand a greater chance of running them out of business. 
• The weather
• Your companies reputation 
  • Reputation is generally built on recent success. If your company scored a "hit of the season" and scored greater profits in the previous season in general, then you are more likely to gain higher paying customers. 
• Etc

The game will also include a bunch of shenanigans that you can employ on other companies. 

Current Issue

Currently, my biggest issue is how to manage historical time. Companies would play 6 days a week and they would only repeat a play about 1 time very month to three months. This was done only if they hadn't enough plays. If they game operated like theatre today, I could easily make one turn like three months. You select one play and see how it goes until it concludes. The fact that players will need to select a new play every day of the week makes skipping several days difficult. 

Since the game covers 1576-1642, I'd like each turn to be a month or a season. 

Tentatively, I think I'll have each month be a turn. Companies will just have to have 25 plays in their repertoire, and then amend their list each month.  

Anyway, so much more I want to say about everything. 

 

[vcczar]

Doing my first playtest function here: Forming a Company.

A company has to be formed before a patron is sought. A patron was required or actors were liable to be arrested as vagabonds. 

A player will start the game forming a company, but they can also form multiple companies at a time once they get enough money. 

Forming a company will grant the hopeful company five randomly unemployed adult (21+) actors. More will need to be hired and actors can also be fired later. You'll need 3 apprentice actors (18 to 21 yrs old) and 2 boy actors (younger than 18), as well as staff. 

For my playtest, the prospective company gains the following actors at the 1576 start date:

1. Thomas Shipwash (fictional), age 28, inconsistent, skill 1 actor, member of the ironmonger guild, law-bender, can function as a tireman
   1. His guild membership can help in playing at city pageants if the Lord Mayor is of that guild. He has a propensity to break the law. If he's replaced as an actor, he could be kept on to be a tireman (Elizabethan term for "wardrobe keeper," who had responsibilities over the costumes). 
2. Robert Smith (fictional), age 32, inconsistent, skill 1 actor, member of the vintner guild, spendthrift, lawbender, can function as a tireman
   1. Spendthrift means that he has chronic money problems and is more liable to bolt to another company if pay isn't consistent or is liable to ask for a loan from you. This isn't bad because a hired man owing you money is indebted to you and likely to stay with the company because he knows he can get money from you when he needs it.
3. John Dutton (historical), age 28, consistent, skill 1 actor but with a potential for skill 3, +3 to play when performing in a tragic play, +2 to play when performing in a comic play, rehearser, manager, hot-head
   1. Easily the best actor in this group so far, although not a leading man. His rehearser ability helps insure performances are prepared. He can operate as a manager for the company while also acting, which will allow the player to delegate tasks, especially tedious ones. He's got hot-headed, which means he's prone to being disharmonious. 
4.  Lawrence Dutton (historical) age 26, consistent, skill 1 actor but with a potential for skill 3, +3 to play when performing in a tragic play, +2 to play when performing in a comic play, rehearser, manager. 
   1. What luck! The brother of John Dutton is gained by luck of the draw. Historically, they did act together. Lawrence is a near clone of his brother, except he doesn't have hot-head. 
5. Henry London (fictional), age 21, inconsistent, skill 1 actor, +2 to play when performing either tragic or comic play, touring vet, can function as manager or stagekeeper.
   1. Slightly more useful as an actor than your other fictional actors. He also has "touring vet," which will provide a bonus when on tour. His ability to function as a stagekeeper means he might have a job when he's replaced by a better actor. The stagekeeper is in charge of cleaning, repairing, maintaining the appearance of the theatre and for placing the playbills outside the theatre and nearby areas. 

How the player might think about his initial company:

• The company lacks an actor with the potential to be a lead comic or lead tragedian, although the Duttons and London can enhance either kind of play. The lack of a lead actor will hurt production power and hurt the player's ability to compete with playing companies with a lead actor. Ideally, the company will have a lead comic and a lead tragedian and then three adult actors that can enhance these productions. Currently, we have the Duttons in place, both whom are keepers. 
• The player realizes that he'll quickly replace Smith and Shipwash as actors, keeping one of them as a tireman, probably Shipwash because Smith will ask for loans and the player isn't wealthy enough to provide them. London might be worth keeping for now and replaced by an apprentice some day. 
• The only Computer-controlled company at this time is Leicester's Men who have the following historical adult actors -- James Burbage (2 skill, potential of 3, tragic lead), Thomas Clarke (1 skill, potential for 2), John Perkins (1 skill and inconsistent), William Johnson (1 skill, potential for 2), Robert Wilson (1 skill, 3 potential, lead comic). They have both of their leads and only one terrible actor. Player realizes they have some work to do. 

For now, the player, huddles with London, Shipwash, Smith, and the two Duttons and prepares to go to the Master of the Revels to seek a patron to allow for the formation of a playing company. This will cost some of the startup money as the Master of the Revels will have to seek a nobleman willing adopt the playing company. 

Next playtest function will be getting a patron. 

[vcczar]

Second Playtest function: Getting a patron. 

As seen above, the player has an initial cast of 5 actors, which he can show as proof of a company being formed. The player then walks to the offices of the Master of the Revels, an official under the Lord Chamberlain who is in charge of theatrical productions for the nation and for the monarch. 

A patron is required for legal protection for the company. 

The Master of the Revels accepts to find a patron for the company for 10 pounds. This is a hefty sum as many tradespersons can expect to only take in 2 to 3 pounds a year. However, the player has 40 pounds in startup cash (medium difficulty). That is, 1/4 of his startup cash is expended just to get a patron. 

The player must wait, but not for long, to receive news that a patron was found. The player returns to the Master of the Revels office to see a contract written up:

Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst has accepted to provide his protection of the company on the following terms:

• The company maintains loyalty to the Queen and country.
• The company follows the rules established by the Master of the Revels.
• The company accepts its official designation as servants of Lord Buckhurst for their protection. 
• The company will be financially independent of Lord Buckhurst and will not carry any official servant duties. 
• The company, being attached to Lord Buckhurst's name, will do honor to that name through quality production. 

The player signs contract. The company is officially known as Buckhurst's Men and is now the only competitor to Leicester's Men who was formed only weeks before. 

Note: In Story Mode, the player will always get Buckhurst for their initial playing company. In multiplayer mode, there could be any number of patrons. 

Now that the company is official, Buckhurst's Men need to fill out their cast of actors. 

[vcczar]

Now that the player's company is officially licensed as Buckhurst's Men, the company needs to set itself up to make some money. 

Hiring Actors

The player needs to make a decision here:

• Does the player go tour? Costs will be low but so will profit. You only need to hire 1 more actor to do this. 
• Does the player operate rent a theatre? You'll have to pay more people and pay rent but your profit could potentially be hire than touring. 
• Does the player purchase a theatre? You won't have to pay rent for the theatre, but will have to purchase, potentially build the theatre, and pay for land use. You'll also have a property tax. With only 30 pounds left to your name, this would be the riskiest avenue at this moment. 

For this playtest, I'm going to say the player will rent a theatre. This means the company will need three apprentice actors (aged 18 through 20) and two boy actors (aged under 18). The apprentices are needed to play the roles of women because women are not allowed to act. The boys generally play children and young servants. Even if the apprentices and boys are better actors than the adults, they cannot take the adult roles until they become adults. 

The company searches and finds the following apprentices:

• Thomas Sparrow (fictional), age 19, inconsistent, 1 skill actor, Mercer guild membership, spendthrift
  • His only use is filling a hole. He'll be disposable once he hits 21. 
• Thomas Goodale (historical), age 19, inconsistent, 1 skill actor but with potential for 2, touring vet
  • He has some usefulness on tour and his potential makes him worth keeping as an apprentice. He could potentially be kept on as an adult to replace any weaker adult actors should he reach his potential.
• Edward Cole (fictional), age 18, inconsistent, 1 skill actor, Salter guild membership, stagekeeper ability. 
  • Has a shot at being the stagekeeper once he hits adulthood.

Overall, the player ended with one decent apprentice. The computer-controlled Leicester's Men start with only one apprentice, so they're also hiring two: Henry Coffin (fictional) is 1 skill, and John Adams (historical) is 1 skill with a potential for 3 and also provides bonuses and can be a lead actor. Leicester's Men bested us in the apprentice hunt, but the issue with Adams is that he'll want to be a lead actor upon adulthood, so we might be able to snag him in the future if we have a lead actor vacancy. 

[Note: I'll need to add more fictional actors for the start date time. It's suitable for story mode, but multiplayer could see 10 companies start in 1576]

The player now searches for two boy actors: 

• Charles Chaplain (fictional), age 10, inconsistent, 1 skill, hot-headed, ability to be a prompter
  • Bad actor and might not even make it a decade with that temper. As an adult they could become a prompter. This person was in charge of copying out all the actor's lines from the main manuscript, often with the help of scribes, and giving those to the actors. They also plotted out the play and hung the plot backstage for actors to look at. In this sense, they were kind of the directors. 
• David Cloth (fictional), age 8, inconsistent, 1 skill, touring vet. 
  • He's the youngest possible age but is a terrible actor. The touring ability won't have any usefulness until he becomes an apprentice in 10 years. 

Computer-controlled Leicester's Men now needs two boy actors: Robert Browne (historical, 1 skill with potential for 2, and some other qualities), Anthony Munday (historical, 1 skill but potential for 2, but he will make a better playwright at adulthood). Once again Leicester's Men luck out in the random search! Historically, Munday would be the lead pageant writer for London in the early 1600s. 

Following the searches, the already dominant Leicester's Men also out-scout us in apprentices and boy actors. It's looking more likely they'll be the preferred London theatre for at least a year. The crowds will easily prefer them to our company. As such, we will likely want to stage plays in a different neighborhood, since we can't hope to compete with them. 

Next: Finding a place to perform. 

[MrPotatoTed]

Your posting of the playthrough has really grabbed my attention -- I wasn't that interested before, but now I'm really liking this idea.

If you're looking for more event ideas, here's some ideas from the musical I was just in, Something Rotten, where the main characters are actors/writers/owners in a theater company trying to compete against William Shakespeare.  

- Puritans become outraged by the vile filth you are producing.  Could lead to decreased attendance, a patron being scared off, arrests or blacklisting of your performers

- Paying a soothsayer to look into the future and predict what the next big thing in theater will be, to help with writing/producing shows appealing to large audiences.  (This may or may not work -- in the show, the soothsayer does see the future of theater but misinterprets it, leading to an absolute mess of a show that merges Hamlet, Little Shop of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Lion King, etc. Haha)

- A member of your cast decides to break free and start their own troupe competing against yours

[vcczar]

6 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said:

Your posting of the playthrough has really grabbed my attention -- I wasn't that interested before, but now I'm really liking this idea.

If you're looking for more event ideas, here's some ideas from the musical I was just in, Something Rotten, where the main characters are actors/writers/owners in a theater company trying to compete against William Shakespeare.  

- Puritans become outraged by the vile filth you are producing.  Could lead to decreased attendance, a patron being scared off, arrests or blacklisting of your performers

- Paying a soothsayer to look into the future and predict what the next big thing in theater will be, to help with writing/producing shows appealing to large audiences.  (This may or may not work -- in the show, the soothsayer does see the future of theater but misinterprets it, leading to an absolute mess of a show that merges Hamlet, Little Shop of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Lion King, etc. Haha)

- A member of your cast decides to break free and start their own troupe competing against yours

Puritans play a role. You can lose cast to new troupes as some actors want a chance to be a lead actor. I don't have soothsayers, but I'll consider it. 

[vcczar]

Lord Buckhurst's Men seek a theatre: Finding a performance space. 

The player has some options here:

• Go on tour, which would require releasing some of the actors or paying them half wages to stay loyal but to do no work. 
• Rent out for one season, one of the existing theatre spaces:
  • Newington Butts Theatre in Newington Butts, which is decent size but is not in an idea location as it is kind of out in the country. People don't have cars. 
  • Bull Inn in Aldgate, one of the poorer more overcrowded parts within the old city wall of London. As an inn, it isn't very large and can only be used part-time, but the company could book two inns. 
  • Bell Inn in Cornhill, a decent neighborhood in central London. Suffers from the issues all inn-yard theatres face.
  • Boar's Head Inn in Whitechapel, a poor neighborhood filled with tenements and shoddy cottages. 
  • Saracen's Head Inn in Islington, which is north of London, almost too far north for most Londoners. Basically, a northern version of the Newington Butts situation. 
• Purchase or rent land to construct a new theatre, which at this point is a little risky to do, although we could afford land rights to build at the location of the old Red Lion theatre in Whitechapel, which was built in 1567 and pulled down the next year. It was the first public London theatre in history. 
• In the future, we might have the opportunity to perform at court in the Palace of Whitehall, at the Inns of Court for law students, or at private residences, but no one knows who we are. 

How the player might think: 

The player had decided not to tour and will keep with that conviction for this season at least. Purchasing is too risky. We also know that Leicester's Men will soon drain us dry if we play in the same location as they are. They're going to aim for the population center most likely, which is central London. As such, we expect them to alternate between Bell Inn and Bull Inn, unless they randomly decide to go on tour first. As such, we could ping pong between two inns--one in Islington and one in Whitechapel. The one in Islington is a small place, but it is also quite distant. Just to get our bearings, it might be worthwhile to rent out Newington Butts since we won't have to haul the company and its equipment every three days. 

Player applies to rent out Newington Butts Theatre. There are no other applicants. Terms are by season (3 months) and rent is half the gallery proceeds. Most theatre-goers will be "groundlings" standing in the yard or pit. This theatre has only one gallery level, which is more expensive. We can expect the theatre owner to not collect too much rent from us here. We won't make a lot but perhaps we can save up. 

Now that we have a theatre, we will have to hire staff to manage the costumes, the play scripts, the cleaning of the theatre and advertising, and we will eventually need gatherers to collect the money. The gatherers will be unnamed in the game because this was often done by wives, children, or friends of the company. 

Up next: Hiring staff

[vcczar]

We now move to the next part: Hiring staff. 

Staff will typically come from unskilled actors. So they'll be sought in the same places where unemployed actors hang out. Staff can be promoted to actors or actors can be demoted to staff. Staff is likely only to be promoted in an emergency. Historically, the staff would go on stage to act bit parts, especially if a crowd is necessary or if they need someone just to deliver a line or two. They'd occasionally play guards, for instance. 

Your staff, except for the gatherers (those that collect the money) will be given names. Eventually, I might add skills for these roles, but I haven't made them at the moment. 

Here are the staff that the player has found:

• Manager, who represents the company, runs official errands for the company, and whom handles all things delegated by the impresario (the player). The manager is often an actor. Hiring a separate person to manage is an option, but we want to cut costs. The player selects Henry London for now because he's already a terrible actor and we need the two Dutton brothers--both capable of managing--to be in top performance form to have a chance at staying alive.  
• Tireman, who looks after the costumes, repairs them, amends them, guards them, and aids in getting the costumes on and off actors: Stephen Field was found.
• Prompter, who guards the original playscripts, copies out the lines of each role on new paper to hand the actor their lines, with the aid of scribes (unnamed in this game), and who also plots the play for the actors: Benjamin Day was found. 
• Stagekeeper, who cleans the theatre, repairs the theatre, decorates the theatre, but whom also creates and posts the playbills to advertise the play of the day: Erasmus Barton was found.  

Scribes, Gatherers, and Musicians will be unnamed. Musician costs will very by the prestige of the musical company and whether or not they specialize in outdoor or indoor environments. Our theatre is outdoor and we haven't much money, so we take a rather unprofessional group of outdoor musicians. The gatherers come from family and friends, so we needn't worry about seeking them. The scribes are only really necessary when performing a new play, and we haven't a playwright at the moment, so we can dispense with hiring scribes for now. 

Now that we have a company, a theatre, and staff, we need something to perform. We want to get started performing immediately, so hiring a playwright to write our plays from scratch won't work for the moment. As such, we need to purchase playscripts of older plays that have been performed in the countryside by traveling theatre troupes. Eventually, Londoners will want new plays but at this point they'll take any play. 

Next phase: Acquire plays  

[vcczar]

Now the company needs to purchase plays. 

If the company was on tour, we'd only need 5 plays because we'd go from town to town. However, we're now in a theatre. In the 21st century, a company can settle with one play for weeks at a time. In the 16th century, companies played an entirely new play every day. The idea would be to get people to show up multiple days a week. 

As we are in the first year of the era of the public theatre, playwrights writing for the public theatre are not yet extant. When a playwright does write a play for the company, the company will own the exclusive rights to the play. In 1576, we're having to stage well-known and older work that lack exclusive rights, so we might end up staging the same play as Leicester's Men on some days.

Typically, the player will have the following options for acquiring plays:

• Buy plays from another company
• Trade plays with another company
• Purchase old published plays from booksellers row outside St Paul's Cathedral. 
• Pay a playwright to write a new play (takes some time)
• Take a play from the company playwright (this person must be a sharer in the company)

We need 26 different plays for a month of performances. We can't play on Sundays. We will be penalized if we play the same play twice or more in a week, but this might be unavoidable at first as we can't afford that many plays. We only have 30 pounds left. 

Here are the costs for plays:

• New play by a playwright is 5 pounds
• Extant, unpublished play is 2 pounds. 
• Published play of the 16th/17th century is 1 pound
• Severely outdated published play is 10 shillings (half a pound)

We don't even have costumes yet. So let's limit our purchases to 10 pounds. We also want to make sure that we have a range of plays. I've found the following for the company:

1. The World and the Child - morality play -- 10 shillings
2. Everyman -- morality play -- 10 shillings
3. Mankind -- morality play -- 10 shillings
4. The Castle of Perseverance -- morality play -- 10 shillings
5. Ralph Roister Doister -- Comedy -- 1 pound
6. Gorboduc -- Tragedy -- 1 pound *This one was actually written by the company's patron in his youth*
7. Jack Juggler -- Comedy -- 1 pound
8. King Xerxes -- History, Classical -- 1 pound
9. - Damon and Pythias -- Classical, Chronicle -- 1 pound
10. - Palamon and Arcite -- Romance, Classical -- 1 pound
11. - Predor and Lucia -- Romance -- 1 pound
12. - Abraham -- Biblical -- 1 pound

This is 10 pounds worth of plays and allows some range, although less than ideal. We will have to repeat each play once for 24 days of plays, which means we will have two days without plays, not counting the Sundays offs. This will have to do for the moment. Leicester's Men, who are better funded, will still be somewhat in the same boat. 

*Note to self: I'll need to find more plays that predate 1576*

Now that we know what our plays are, we need to get some basic costumes. We have 20 pounds of startup cash to purchase costumes. 

[vcczar]

Here's how purchasing costumes will work for now. We have 20 pounds left of startup cash:

For buying, we have the following options. As you can see these are expensive. Costumes were the most expensive asset of a company, which is why there's a staff member in charge of them at all times. Here's the current cost for the kinds of costumes. Ultimately, I may make these more specific and also have different levels of quality. Cheaper costumes won't last as long and etc.  :

• Royalty (accurate) 30 pounds
• Royalty (inaccurate) 5 pounds
• Noble (accurate)  20 pounds
• Noble (inaccurate)  2 pounds 
• Wealthy (accurate) 10 pounds
• Wealthy (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Commoner (accurate) 10 pounds
• Various Commoner (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Poor, servants, and children (accurate) 2 pounds
• Various Knights and warfare (accurate) 20 pounds
• Various Knights and warfare (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Soldiers and guards (accurate) 10 pounds
• Various Soldiers and guards (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Clothing for Classical or Biblical plays (accurate) 5 pounds
• Various special characters costumes (accurate) 25 pounds
• Various special characters costumes (inaccurate) 5 pounds

In addition to buying costumes, a company can sell, repair, amend costumes, or seek hand-me-down donations from the patron. Repairs are done when a costume is damaged. Amending is required when a new actor is brought in and sometimes when a newly-written play is staged. Donations are hard to get, but it can save a company a ton of money. 

Let's have the player seek donations from Lord Buckhurst. I'll probably give him a better chance of complying with hand-me-down donations as he was once an occasional playwright, so he's sympathetic. We get lucky and get the following:

• Noble (accurate) (saves us 20 to 2 pounds)
• Wealthy (accurate) 10 pounds (saves us 10 to 2 pounds)

Each play will need different types of costumes. We have a King Xerxes, so we need royal clothing. We certainly need commoners, poor, servants, children, and we will certainly have warfare, so we need soldiers and guards. Most of our plays are classical and Biblical. We have no occult or supernational plays or anything requiring a special costume, so we won't have to worry about at least 5 pounds. Therefore, the company purchases:

• Royalty (inaccurate) 5 pounds
• Various Commoner (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Poor, servants, and children (accurate) 2 pounds
• Various Knights and warfare (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Soldiers and guards (inaccurate) 2 pounds
• Various Clothing for Classical or Biblical plays (accurate) 5 pounds

This is a total of 18 pounds! That leaves us with 2 pounds left!!! Lord Buckhurst saved us from seeking a loan. If we have to take out a loan, the legal rate of interest is up to 10% and that will often be sought. Usury had been illegal and was thought of still as something that should be illegal still. 

Anyway, we are costumed, but most of our clothing is inaccurate, but that shouldn't matter too much for now as it's likely Leicester's Men also have inaccurate costumes at this point. 

We might be able to hold on to this 2 pounds. 

Up next is Casting Plays

[vcczar]

The company will now Cast Their Plays. In Shakespeare's day, the lead dramatic actor generally always played the lead dramatic role, while the lead comic actor generally always played the lead comic role. The lead apprentice would play the lead female role very often. For game purposes, the cast will be set once a month for all plays. 

Here's how a player might set the cast for January 1576:

• Lead dramatic actor (tragedian): John Dutton, 1 skill with potential for 3, +3 tragic, +2 comic, rehearser skill, no lead skill
• Lead comic actor (clown): Lawrence Dutton, 1 skill with potential for 3, +3 tragic, +2 comic, rehearser skill, no lead skill
• Lead supporting adult (might fill in as lead in emergency): Henry London, 1 skill, +2 for tragic and +2 for comic, touring vet *Also manager*
• Supporting adult #1: Robert Smith, 1 skill
• Supporting adult #2: Thomas Shipwash, 1 skill
• Lead apprentice (lead female role or fills in as adult in emergency): Thomas Goodale, 1 skill, touring vet
• Apprentice #2: Thomas Sparrow, 1 skill
• Apprentice #3: Edward Cole, 1 skill
• Boy #1: David Cloth, 1 skill, touring vet
• Boy #2: Charles Chaplain, 1 skill

At some point I'll have some sort of system -- like loyalty or something that might see an actor gain or lose loyalty based on their role in the company. Our company lacks a natural lead, and our clown really is a better serious actor than a comic actor. But a desperate audience with few theatre choices won't care too much while there's only one alternative company. Of the above, only the Duttons are keepers, but both should probably be Supporting Adult #1 and #2, respectively. 

Up next is Scheduling the plays. I probably won't post this until tomorrow as I need to figure out a system. 

 

[vcczar]

The company now needs to schedule the plays. 

The player will need to keep some things in mind when scheduling plays:

• State a lot of plays that are of the genre that's popular for the season (The game starts off as "Morality" as being the popular play type.)
• Avoid playing the same play twice in a month, if avoidable. (This is unavoidable for now)
• Avoid playing on days it is illegal to play -- Sundays, during Lent, and whenever plague is rampant. 
• Have a variety of plays every week. That is, don't stage the same type of play back-to-back unless the play is a sequel. 

Overall, you want to have variety in your plays. 

Here's the schedule. I'll have to find the historical days of the week, eventually

1. The World and the Child - morality play 
2.  Abraham -- Biblical -- 
3. Predor and Lucia -- Romance 
4. Mankind -- morality play 
5. Ralph Roister Doister -- Comedy 
6. The Castle of Perseverance -- morality play 
7. *Sunday*
8. Damon and Pythias -- Classical, Chronicle 
9. Gorboduc -- Tragedy -- 
10. Jack Juggler -- Comedy 
11. King Xerxes -- History, Classical 
12. Everyman -- morality play
13. - Palamon and Arcite -- Romance, Classical 
14. *Sunday*
15. The World and the Child - morality play 
16.  Abraham -- Biblical -- 
17. Predor and Lucia -- Romance 
18. Mankind -- morality play 
19. Ralph Roister Doister -- Comedy 
20. The Castle of Perseverance -- morality play 
21. *Sunday*
22. Damon and Pythias -- Classical, Chronicle 
23. Gorboduc -- Tragedy -- 
24. Jack Juggler -- Comedy 
25. King Xerxes -- History, Classical 
26. Everyman -- morality play
27. - Palamon and Arcite -- Romance, Classical 
28. *Sunday*
29. *day off forced because of lack of plays*
30. *day off forced because of lack of plays*

As you can see, we have some mild variety in the plays. We have to stage everything twice, so we can expect to make much more money at the beginning of the week then we will at the end of the week. 

Up next would be Ordering Playwrights, but we can't afford a playwright at the moment, and there aren't really many around anyway at this time. 

After that, there are Other Activities, none of which we will do this turn, but these include dynastic options, personal prestige options, social options, etc. Ultimately, the player will want a family, a social network, and prestige enough to rise the ranks of society. 

I'll next show rehearsing & staging plays, which I might not get to until tomorrow.