Untitled Shakespeare Game Playtest

[vcczar]

@WVProgressive @Willthescout7 @ShortKing@10centjimmy @Bloot911 @OrangeP47 @ConservativeElector2

Production has been processed!

Top productions: 

1. @Bloot911 production of King Xerxes for a score of 48 (by comparison, last month's best play was a 43). Robert Wilson has now reached his max acting ability of 3! 

2. @ConservativeElector2 may have had a low audience but his production was excellent. 46 pts for his adaption of Ralph Roister Doister

3. @10centjimmy's Jack Juggler gets a 38

4. @Willthescout7's staging of Raph Roister Doister gets a 33. 

5. @WVProgressive's A Disobedient Child gets a 28

6th and 7th. @ShortKing and @OrangeP47 get 27s for Liberality & Prodigality and Everyman, respectively. 

On the whole, Morality plays will not be great productions. 

Up next: Converting the game to a season-by-season format and intoducing other changes. This might involve me overhauling the spreadsheets too, so this could take a few days. 

[vcczar]

@WVProgressive @Willthescout7 @ShortKing@10centjimmy @Bloot911 @OrangeP47 @ConservativeElector2

This will restart sometime after Wednesday. I still have a lot of updating to do and I'm heading back to the Shakespeare library on Wednesday. Huge update to the playest. Could feasibly be a week after Wednesday. It might require major changes to the spreadsheet too. 

[vcczar]

Just an update for those keeping up with this. I'm doing quite an overhaul/update to this game, so it's going to be a week to several weeks until I'm ready to restart this. This will be a pretty great update, I think. 

[vcczar]

@WVProgressive @Willthescout7 @ShortKing@10centjimmy @Bloot911 @OrangeP47 @ConservativeElector2

Alright, we will be restarting on Thursday. I had contemplated just starting over, but i don't think that's necessary. I was going to redo the spreadsheet for the playtest, but I'll do that as we go along. I'll also share the rules once we go through an entire calendar year. I'll be making more edits on those as we go through. 

Probably the biggest change is Actions/Events. Previously, there were almost too many choices, and outside of theatre things to do, which would have slowed the game down considerably when playing with a lot of other people. Thus, you'll be micromanaging your theatre, but non-theatre things/opportunities will now only come to you--rather than you going to them. For instance, you might get an event like, "Investment Opportunity for the Massachusetts Bay Colony" sometime during the reign of King Charles. 

Historical Events are now given by season. These will generally change the genre of plays desired. For instance, a Religious War in France will make French plays more popular. If you have a French play in reserve, you might want to put it in play. 

A lot of the events are personal. Your goal is to rise socially and to make your theatre business a family business. So you'll get events with social-rising opportunities (Vicar offers you position as a Vestryman) and family-life opportunities (Tailor's Daughter Catches Your Eye, which then leads to you courting her). The game is currently designs to have a nephew take over the business if you don't produce an heir, rather than just have the game end. I should also mention that your starting character can die, which should be obvious by all of this. 

 Eventually, there will be about 1,000 total events. I think the social-rising part of the game will be a little simplistic right now, but ultimately, I'd like to have some sort of network system. For instance, how many steps removed are you from Sir Francis Drake or Sir Francis Bacon, and what is the benefit of that connection, etc. 

We will probably playtest at least one solid year, and then I may need to stop to make more changes. I might also have to pause at times to work heavily on AMPU. Starting Sept 19th, I'll be back to teaching, which will also slow the playtest down a bit. It shouldn't impact you all too much as much of this playtest is going to be me processing your decisions. So there will be days in which you don't do anything as I'll be processing three months's (1 season) worth of play performances for every company. 

 

[vcczar]

@WVProgressive @Willthescout7 @ShortKing@10centjimmy @Bloot911 @OrangeP47 @ConservativeElector2

We now enter Spring 1576!

We had playtested through Winter 1575/1576 (Dec-Feb). Spring encompasses (Mar-May). 

Four kinds of events are drawn at the beginning of a season: Historical, Weather, Genre, and Epidemic. Here's how this draw went:

• Historical: The 5th Religious War in France ends, seeing Protestants granted freedom of worship.  French plays popular this season; French Ambassador will appear at a permanent theater, with a preference for indoors
• Weather: Normal Weather. For Spring, this means there's only a 10% chance of rain being an issue. 
• Genre: Satire!!!! The people seem to be in the mood for Satire. Thus, any play with a keyword satire will give +5 and also have a 25% chance of increased attendance. Also, because of the historical event, plays marked France/French also get the bonus. 
• Epidemic: No epidemic! 

Next part is random age-related deaths, but we have no staff or actors that are 50 years of age or older yet. 

Up next: Actions! 

Here's how to determine how many events you'll get. Please go to the game spreadsheet and let me know how many actions you have using this calculation:

1. You automatically have a default of 3 actions
2. You would get an extra action if you live close to your permanent theatre, but none of you own a theatre, so skip this. 
3. If your manager has a manging skill of 3 or higher, then you get +1 (Look at your manager in your company tab and see the manager column). 
4. If you have an adult heir, then you'd get another +1, but none of you are even married yet. 
5. If you have a spouse, then you'd get another +1, but none of you are married yet. 
6. If you spend time at one of your estates outside London, then you lose three actions. None of you have an estate outside London. 

Therefore, I only need to know if you have 3 actions this turn or 4, the latter because of a skilled manager. 

 

 

[ShortKing]

I have three actions this turn.

[Bloot911]

I have 4 actions

[ConservativeElector2]

My manager Sebastian Westcott has a 3, so I should have 4 actions.

[10centjimmy]

I will have 3 actions. 

[vcczar]

Just need @OrangeP47 @Willthescout7 and @WVProgressive

[OrangeP47]

I have 4 actions.

[vcczar]

Still need @WVProgressive and @Willthescout7

[Willthescout7]

Sorry, got busy yesterday and forgot to post.

 

I get 4 actions.

[WVProgressive]

I get three actions, sorry about the late response.

[vcczar]

22 hours ago, ShortKing said:

I have three actions this turn.

Action Events for @ShortKing's John Avery, impressario of Lord Treasurer's Men:

1. Invest in Timber Trade
   1. While walking through St Paul's to hear the latest gossip, you hear of entrepreneurs discussing investments into the Timber Trade. As English timber is being overharvested, there is a burgeoning investment opportunity in the timber trade in Scandinavia. You hear that the man expects 50,000 pounds to buy in. There is risk, but there could huge gains.
   2. Responses: A) Use personal cash. B) Use company cash, even if it upsets your company members. C) Take out a loan, if you haven't taken one out already. D) Decline to invest.  Note: If using personal cash, you must have 50k pounds in personal cash. I don't think any of you all put money in your personal account yet. 
2. No action as it hit on an action that isn't applicable because it is restricted to the next two eras. The action it fell one was "Promote your playwright as a candidate to become Master of the Revels." This would mean you'd have an ally in charge of play censorship if he wins the election, but you'd lose the playwright. 
3. No action as it hit on an action that requires having a permanent theatre. The action that fired was Theft at your Theatre. You would have ot pay to replace an expensive costume and have disruption at your theatre as a local underground organization are stealing from playgoers. 

As such, you only have one action this season. I may require that I roll until an applicable action hits, but I want to see how this works out. Will only make the change if it seems like this is happening to everyone. 

I gotta work on AMPU and my manuscript proofreading job today, so I'll post the actions for others after you respond. 

[ShortKing]

3 minutes ago, vcczar said:

Responses: A) Use personal cash. B) Use company cash, even if it upsets your company members. C) Take out a loan, if you haven't taken one out already. D) Decline to invest.  Note: If using personal cash, you must have 50k pounds in personal cash. I don't think any of you all put money in your personal account yet. 

D) Decline to invest

[vcczar]

23 hours ago, Bloot911 said:

I have 4 actions

Here are the action events for @Bloot911's George Rowe, impressario of Chandos's Men

1. Action doesn't fire because you haven't a playwright under contract. If you had, there would be a delay in his final product. 
2. Action doesn't fire because it's only for the third and final era. It was an opportunity to erect the Salisbury Court Theatre. 
3. Action doesn't fire because you haven't a playwright under contract. If you had, they would have gone off to write a cycle of sonnets instead of a play. 
4. Action doesn't first because you haven't a playwright under contract. If you had, they'd be charged with counterfieting a foreign currency. 

No actions fire for Bloot. This can actually be a relief. While actions can allow for great opportunities, they're usually negative. In all, George Rowe has an uneventful season. If we have an issue with people not getting actions. I'm not too bothered with it for the 1570s because so many are linked to playwrights and we won't get to the playwriting boom until the 1580s. 

On to the next impresario

[vcczar]

23 hours ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

My manager Sebastian Westcott has a 3, so I should have 4 actions.

@ConservativeElector2's Christian Weybridge, impressario of Essex's Men is next. 

He has 4 actions:

1. Doesn't fire as your company does not have a former Hit of the Season play to revise. Also, the play has to have not been staged for at least a season to revise it. 
2. Send the manager to the Inns of Court to negotiate performing to law students in Winter.
   1. With an eye on Winter, you are hoping to perform in the indoor environment of the Inns of Court. A potentially harsh winter could spell disaster economically for those performing in outdoor theatres. It might be a great idea to send your manager to the various law courts to book up performances.
   2. Responses: A) Send manager to secure a performance every other week during Winter; B) Send manager to secure a performance once a month during Winter; C) Decline to send manager because you'll find an indoor theatre elsewhere or own a permanent indoor theatre already.
3. Puchase Cross Keys Inn to Convert it into an Innyard Theatre
   1. While taking a walk around London, you realize that Cross Keys Inn could be converted into an innyard theatre with little effort, although it would require some funds. The current owner of the inn would have to be willing to sell and then you'd have to pay for the costs to convert the business to be both an inn and a theatre. The standard set up is to stage plays three days a week, leaving the rest of the week exclusively to innkeeping purposes. Perhaps it will make some money. The owner will sell for 180,000 pounds. [Note: You'll make money off plays and off inn patrons. You'll also be in charge of booking the companies to perform here, whether your own or someone else's company.]
   2. Responses: A) Purchase with personal cash, if you have any; B) Purchase with company cash; C) Take out a loan, if you haven't a loan already. D) Decline
4. Doesn't fire as there are not at least 10 hits of the season yet. The event is the Francis Meres event when he publishes his list of the greatest playwrights in England. 

Gotta work on AMPU now. Will get to the rest of you all later. 

[ConservativeElector2]

1 hour ago, vcczar said:

@ConservativeElector2's Christian Weybridge, impressario of Essex's Men is next. 

He has 4 actions:

1. Doesn't fire as your company does not have a former Hit of the Season play to revise. Also, the play has to have not been staged for at least a season to revise it. 
2. Send the manager to the Inns of Court to negotiate performing to law students in Winter.
   1. With an eye on Winter, you are hoping to perform in the indoor environment of the Inns of Court. A potentially harsh winter could spell disaster economically for those performing in outdoor theatres. It might be a great idea to send your manager to the various law courts to book up performances.
   2. Responses: A) Send manager to secure a performance every other week during Winter; B) Send manager to secure a performance once a month during Winter; C) Decline to send manager because you'll find an indoor theatre elsewhere or own a permanent indoor theatre already.
3. Puchase Cross Keys Inn to Convert it into an Innyard Theatre
   1. While taking a walk around London, you realize that Cross Keys Inn could be converted into an innyard theatre with little effort, although it would require some funds. The current owner of the inn would have to be willing to sell and then you'd have to pay for the costs to convert the business to be both an inn and a theatre. The standard set up is to stage plays three days a week, leaving the rest of the week exclusively to innkeeping purposes. Perhaps it will make some money. The owner will sell for 180,000 pounds. [Note: You'll make money off plays and off inn patrons. You'll also be in charge of booking the companies to perform here, whether your own or someone else's company.]
   2. Responses: A) Purchase with personal cash, if you have any; B) Purchase with company cash; C) Take out a loan, if you haven't a loan already. D) Decline
4. Doesn't fire as there are not at least 10 hits of the season yet. The event is the Francis Meres event when he publishes his list of the greatest playwrights in England. 

Gotta work on AMPU now. Will get to the rest of you all later. 

2. A

3. D 

[vcczar]

1 hour ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

2. A

3. D 

@ConservativeElector2's manager Sebastian Westcott is successful in securing performances at the various inns of court for the Winter. The company will at least make some money in the event of a severe winter. 

[vcczar]

On 8/11/2022 at 2:19 PM, 10centjimmy said:

I will have 3 actions. 

@10centjimmy's Edmund Guttersworth, impresario of Oxford's Men gets the following actions:

1. Action doesn't fire as you don't own a theatre that you can rent out to a visiting playing company.
2. Action doesn't fire because you haven't a spouse to demand that you purchase an estate outside of London where the air smells better.
3. Pawnbroking
   1. A pawnbroker in Southwark announced outside St Paul's in the City that he has put his business up for sale with all commodities included. He's asking for 500 pounds for the business. It might be a way to make some money on the side.
   2. Responses: A) Use personal cash; B) Use company cash but risk upsetting members; C) Take out a loan, if you haven't taken one out yet; D) decline

The latter event is based on the fact that Philip Henslowe and other impresarios had all sorts of quasi-illegal businesses in the rougher neighborhoods. The pawnbroking industry was sort of a "legal" way to money lend, since money lending was technically illegal for Christians to pursue but it was rarely punished anymore. 

[10centjimmy]

3 hours ago, vcczar said:

@10centjimmy's Edmund Guttersworth, impresario of Oxford's Men gets the following actions:

1. Action doesn't fire as you don't own a theatre that you can rent out to a visiting playing company.
2. Action doesn't fire because you haven't a spouse to demand that you purchase an estate outside of London where the air smells better.
3. Pawnbroking
   1. A pawnbroker in Southwark announced outside St Paul's in the City that he has put his business up for sale with all commodities included. He's asking for 500 pounds for the business. It might be a way to make some money on the side.
   2. Responses: A) Use personal cash; B) Use company cash but risk upsetting members; C) Take out a loan, if you haven't taken one out yet; D) decline

The latter event is based on the fact that Philip Henslowe and other impresarios had all sorts of quasi-illegal businesses in the rougher neighborhoods. The pawnbroking industry was sort of a "legal" way to money lend, since money lending was technically illegal for Christians to pursue but it was rarely punished anymore. 

D

[vcczar]

On 8/11/2022 at 4:03 PM, OrangeP47 said:

I have 4 actions.

@OrangeP47 John Jones, impresario of Leicester's Men is faced with these actions:

1. doesn't fire because you don't have a son to send to Europe
2. doesn't fire because you haven't a playwright to rescue from debt
3. doesn't fire because you don't have enough skillful actors for them to demand to be shareholders
4. Purchase Curtain Theatre [Note: Even if you don't purchase the theatre, it will now be active for any company to rent]
   1. The Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch is for sale for 400 pounds. The location is outside the limits of city authorities, which means it will likely be free of being shutdown outside of pandemics. This amphitheatre rests in one of the fastest-growing, if congested suburbs of London. Most actors in London live in this neighborhood and go to the nearby St. Leonard's Church.
   2. Responses: A) Purchase with personal cash; B) Purchase with company cash; C) take out a loan if you haven't already done so; d) decline

With the Curtain Theatre in play, we finally have an amphitheatre better than Newington Butts.

[OrangeP47]

22 minutes ago, vcczar said:

@OrangeP47 John Jones, impresario of Leicester's Men is faced with these actions:

1. doesn't fire because you don't have a son to send to Europe
2. doesn't fire because you haven't a playwright to rescue from debt
3. doesn't fire because you don't have enough skillful actors for them to demand to be shareholders
4. Purchase Curtain Theatre [Note: Even if you don't purchase the theatre, it will now be active for any company to rent]
   1. The Curtain Theatre in Shoreditch is for sale for 400 pounds. The location is outside the limits of city authorities, which means it will likely be free of being shutdown outside of pandemics. This amphitheatre rests in one of the fastest-growing, if congested suburbs of London. Most actors in London live in this neighborhood and go to the nearby St. Leonard's Church.
   2. Responses: A) Purchase with personal cash; B) Purchase with company cash; C) take out a loan if you haven't already done so; d) decline

With the Curtain Theatre in play, we finally have an amphitheatre better than Newington Butts.

C (yolo)

[vcczar]

23 hours ago, Willthescout7 said:

Sorry, got busy yesterday and forgot to post.

 

I get 4 actions.

@Willthescout7's Henry Lincoln, impressario of the Earl Marshal's Men get the following events:

1. Doesn't fire because Lincoln is not of gentlement status or has 100,000 pounds in personal income to be wealthy enough for consideration for owning an estate outside of London. 
2. Doesn't fire because he hasn't enough high-quality actors to demand the company create a sharer system
3. Doesn't fire because event isn't allowed in the Elizabethan era and the company hasn't a deceased playwright that has written hit plays and the actors are not sharers in the company. This is the Shakespeare Folio event. 
4. Become an Unsolicited Money Lender
   1. While at the local pub, you overhear a local businessman mention how he makes some money on the side lending money and charging high interest rates. While technically illegal for Christians to lend money, government authorities rarely do anything to prevent it. It can carry some risk, but it allows a chance for more income on the side. Historically, Christians often approached Jewish citizens for moneylending purposes, but Jews have been officially banned from England since the year 1290.
   2. Responses: A) Use 10% of your personal cash for moneylending; B) Use 10% of company cash for moneylending, even if it upsets members of the company; C) Decline the urge to moneylend.