Warwickshire: A Renaissance Challenge, Happy Holidays Gift!
Update: Warwickshire 3.5--Happy Holidays Gift Now Available!
Hi, All,
I come bearing gifts! This holiday season I bring you a mini update to the Royal Appointments system. From the beginning, the Royal Appointments chart has bothered me and been rather a nuisance. So why not overhaul the whole entire thing? Well, last summer I began to do just that! From the way that royal appointments are bestowed right down to what they are in themselves, I started to painstakingly rewrite each one. This process required rethinking the entire social structure of the economy, so that it would fit into the changes designed for the new trading companies, and so forth. As with everything Warwickshire, I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I have decided to release some of the work so that you may enjoy it this holiday season. I encourage everyone to take a look, playtest it, and share your play experiences with the forums. I sincerely hope you will enjoy this addition to Warwickshire. The royal appointments have been an underused element in Warwickshire, but they should be central to how your sims progress up the social ladder. So, please Enjoy!!
Happy Holidays Gift
Yours,
Heloise
Hi, All,
I come bearing yet another, slightly more complete Teaser of 3.0--let's call this Teaser 2.5, shall we?
Why upload
another teaser? Why indeed! Well, here's the truth: I have been working on Warwickshire in one form or another for the past 18 months or so. Much of what I've been doing in that time is research and painstaking playtesting of the parts of the challenge you haven't yet seen. Because the wait has been monumental and eternal, I have decided to once again release everything that I have.
So what's new this time?
Chapters 1 through 4 are now finished--what you have here are the final versions of those chapters.
Chapter 3 now includes charts to link moral alignment with Clerical and Royal favor. This completes the character alignment system, making it possible to give rewards and favors to sims with good moral alignments who have high clerical favor, and to sims with evil moral alignments who have high royal favor, which is integral to the overall alignment system in the game.
The behaviors and outcomes charts have been revised yet again to smooth the amounts of RFP and CFP earned for various behaviors, and to make it simpler for sims with neutral moral alignments to earn CFP. It is also easier now for sims with evil alignments to have high RFP since more neutral behaviors earn higher RFP now.
Chapter 4 now includes even more Royal Appointments. The largely redundant and laborious section detailing the definitions of these positions has been excised.
The section on creating and maintaining alliances is included.
The section on Clerical Favor and how to use it is included. In addition to the indulgences from 2.0, there are now new ways to use Clerical Favor, including prayers, confessions, and offerings. Offerings allow sims to convert RFP, CFP, or simoleons into other denominations, as well as allow sims to donate remaining RFP, CFP, or simoleons to the Church upon their decease.
Endless tweaks to make the entire work more readable and internally cohesive. While I am sure that there are still some incorrect page references due to additions in chapters 3 and 4, all page references have been endlessly checked with nauseating frequency and mind-numbing meticulousness. Seriously, I am going to lose my mind on checking page number references.
Still under construction:
Chapter 5, Law and Order:
The second half of the chapter on court cases is next on the docket to be rewritten. Expect the addition of lawyers and judges, along with the process to try the cases that are given in the first part of the chapter. If I finish this chapter by the end of summer, I will be beyond thrilled.
Chapter 5, Economy:
Still under construction. Period.
What's done here (that you don't yet have): charts for the trading companies. There is an entire system for setting up your trading company and expedition to the new world. These charts include:
- Sailing Chart, for weather and climate conditions
- Navigation Chart, for knowing where you're going ...
- Supply Roll Chart: for knowing how much stuff you got
- Damage Roll Chart: to see if you sunk and what not
What's not done? The chapter needs to be written ....
If anyone wants to playtest the trading companies, PM me and I'll make those charts available to you. But be forewarned, these are still in beta form, and there is really NO explanation for them yet. I'll give you the basic instructions, and I'd appreciate feedback on how the playing went. Please--serious players only, given my time constraints (summer is SOOO short!).
That's it for now.
Here's
Teaser 2.5
Update: Warwickshire 3.0--An EVEN MORE COMPLETE Teaser Now Available!: This is Warwickshire 3.3.4, Teaser 2.0!!!
Hi, All!
If you've been reading the thread, you know that I worked on Warwickshire all summer long, and made some serious headway, but what with life and murder mystery party writing, I was not able to get the entire 3.0 finished. Alas, once again learning how not to bite off more than I can chew ...
So, after months of deliberation and general nail-biting, I have finally convinced myself to upload a second, even more complete teaser. Really, I think this version is just going to undergo a slow, torturous release while I slog through the most difficult bits to write. I remain ever indebted to the best simmers on the internet who test-play this challenge for me and let me know how goes it. Your feedback and advice have been invaluable and are the only reason I stay with this monumental undertaking.
Here's a quick rundown of what's new here ...
Chapter 3 has finally been finished. I know, I know ... and that was the one we already thought was done already. But now we have Ethical Alignments in addition to Moral Alignments, and a full system in place for how the two work together, and for how alignment is related to aspiration. The ties to the Law and Order section are still under construction, so bear with me there--but let us just say that there are rewards and consequences in place for every possible combination of alignment and aspiration, giving you an even richer context for story development and world building.
Chapter 5 is half-written. The opening half of the chapter details violent crimes and some civil crimes. You now have at your disposal the means to create a band of thieves, or a brutal murderer. Suicides are given here, as well as poisoners, and all manner of manslaughter. This section was heavily researched, though you may not always notice it in the end product. Further, you have here two civil misdemeanors--the family and knowledge crimes.
Numerous fixes have been made all over the entire document to clean up faulty page number references and dead ends. There is also a pretty cool flowchart for the education paths open to sims of every class.
Lots of other places, too numerous to mention here, have undergone smoothing and general revision to clarify original intent and/or to improve game mechanics overall.
So what are we STILL waiting for???
The front matter is woefully blank, because this stuff has to be done last. Sorry.
Chapter 4 is still only half-written: we are waiting on alliance formation and maintenance. This is probably going to work like indentures, but still it hasn't been finished.
Chapter 5 is missing the Romance crimes, and the court cases. On the upside here, you can still use 2.0 for these.
The appendices have not been written. Yep. That's pretty sad, but true.
There is still a need to overhaul some of the royal appointment descriptions, and I think there is at least one of those charts that needs some revisiting ... again use 2.0 for this if it looks incomplete to you.
And the Glossary and Index--in other words the back matter. Both are woefully incomplete. And are going to take serious amounts of time to cross-reference and get this right. It has to be done dead last, even after the front matter.
So there's that--the full disclosure! I am in the final throes of the fall semester, and my grades are due on Dec. 23. After Christmas, guess what I plan to be doing???
And now on to the Download!
Warwickshire 3.3.4 Teaser 2.0!
--------
Finally, after months of revision, I am pleased to give you a Teaser version of Warwickshire 3.0. Seriously, I had no idea what was in store for me when I reopened Warwickshire and began working through the changes I had in mind. Though this is still a teaser version, you will find a nearly complete revision of the entire challenge--practically everything but the last chapter is here.
What's new in Warwickshire 3.0?
For starters, there is a new class station: the freeman, along with new rules for indenture and investiture, to create new opportunities to move up and down the class structure. The rules of indenture offer you an interesting and challenging means to buy your way out of servitude and advance from serf to freeman to peasant.
The new health system allows you to give every sim in your neighborhood a health score, and to incorporate diseases, doctors and more to manage the health of your sims.
Childbirth mortality and morbidity is fully integrated into the new health system, and incorporates the midwife as a healer.
You will also find an entirely new way to determine life paths, with multiple education options for young people of every class station.
Arranging marriages now works as a series of negotiations from betrothal to engagement, and finally to marriage.
There are many new behaviors and outcomes added to increase ways to earn and lose royal favor and clerical favor.
Royal favor points can be collectively amassed by fiefs and by alliances, allowing for the creation of powerful forces which can ally together to reap political benefits, or even to overthrow the monarch.
There are many, many other changes too numerous to list here, which improve the overall playability and flexibility of the challenge as a whole.
Still to come:
"The Self-Sustaining Economy," which is set to appear at the end of Chapter 2 has yet to be written. This section will include suggestions for how to have goods circulate within the neighborhood and to circumvent the get-rich-quick schemes of the silent EAxis corporation that currently runs the game's economy. It is a long standing peeve of mine, and one I have been working to get around.
The character alignment system will receive some further treatment in the full version to allow for a dual axis character profile: to the currently existing moral code, an ethical code will be added that will allow players to complicate their characters further.
"Creating and Maintaining Alliances," in Chapter 4 is still under construction. This was the original reason for me to revise the challenge. Little did I know that it would require so much work to get to the point where I could make this addition possible. This revision has almost gotten the better of me multiple times. I am working on this, and hope to have it out soon. (In the meantime, send some good energy my way that my rebuild of Warwickshire, which is currently underway goes smoothly so I can actually do some playtesting of this section!)
"Waging War," also planned for Chapter 4 is still under construction. This section will complete the plans for allowing fiefs to take over other fiefs and to give fief-holders the ability to increase their titles and landholdings.
Chapter 5, "Law and Order" is not yet written. In this chapter, all of the criminal activities, court cases, and outcomes will be given. Some of this will be a revision of contents from 2.0, but there are numerous additions that will appear, which are designed to make play more flexible and player controlled.
And the Glossary ... which is woefully incomplete ... a major overhaul is planned for it in the full version.
And now ... on to the Download!
Warwickshire 3.0 Teaser
Important Update: Corrections Pending to 2.0
Page Number Corrections for 2.0. I will get a revised version up as soon as possible. Meanwhile, if you've already downloaded the .docx version, you may make the following changes yourself. There are a number of incorrect page number references through the document. Here are the ones I've seen so far:
References to the Success & Failure chart in the Behaviors & Outcomes charts (pp. 47-65) should direct to p. 66, NOT p. 58.
Under Upgrading Existing Townships, p. 23, it should direct you to the Tax Code on pp. 25-27.
Under Rules Governing Adoption/Recognition of Bastard Children, p. 43, it should direct you to "The Adultery Case," p. 59 NOT p. 52.
In the Knowledge Chart, p. 51, it should direct to the Special Rules for Supernaturals on p. 52 NOT p. 44.
On the Fortune chart, for Tax Evasion, use Success & Failure chart, p. 66
On the Fortune chart, for Theft and Embezzlement, use the special formulae given on p. 64
Under The Perquisites for Royal Appointments, p. 71, it should direct to the Tax Code, pp. 25-27.
Notice: After weeks of revision, Version 2.0 is now available! With revisions too numerous to detail here, 2.0 is a fully integrated, complete playstyle designed for use with every expansion pack of The Sims 2, though players of every game configuration will find the challenge open to suit their particular needs. Now released in two file formats, PDF and .docx (MS Word 2010). The .docx file is fully navigable with a navigation pane that allows you to move quickly from one part of the document to another.
Notice: Minor Edit! Somehow ... I don't know how ... I noticed that p. 24 in the original upload is blank ... and it should not be.
![wtf](//static.modthesims2.com/images/smilies/eek13.gif)
It is a no more than a very minor irritation since it does not even make the table of contents incorrect, but it is rather foolish anyway. So, I have repaginated the entire document AGAIN
![Sad](//static.modthesims2.com/images/smilies/icon9.gif)
and here it is. HUGE Apologies for the inconvenience if you've already downloaded--just redownload. I don't anticipate any other changes.
Download the
PDF file .
Download the
docx file
Notice: Version 2.0 coming soon.
Version 1.2 has been reuploaded in the meantime, since the wait may be a few weeks more ... Meanwhile, check out the 2.0 Teaser
HERE .
Please check my profile for my policies before uploading a version of this challenge anywhere on the web.
New Features in 2.0:
- Adoption now available!
- A new class: Outlaw/Outcast, level 0
- A new tax code, with lots of player options to simplify or complicate your accounting ... and your sims' lives
- More fully integrated roles for women, including an heiress title, along with more options for life paths and education
- More options for personalizing your game--and to give players the opportunity to decide how much randomization or control is right for them
- A Glossary of Terms used in the challenge
and more!
Take me to the Teaser!
The Updated and Revised Rules are now available.
What Has Changed:
- More specific rules for Class Stations. I have divided the Merchant Class into three echelons to make it slightly easier to establish this class in your neighborhood.
- A New Knowledge Behavior: Alien Abduction, thanks go to the Almighty Hat for her Awesome Hacks! (Thanks Hat!!!)
- Education Options now for Males and Females, to give more medieval authenticity to the game
- A new age roll at the end of childhood, so that sims will need to survive infancy, toddlerhood, and childhood.
- More Careful Description and discussion of Arranged Marriage, including Bride Price and Dowry
- Women and Social Standing: a new section, giving property rights rules for women, among other things
- A Provision for Robust v. Sickly Children to address health and physical ability after an age roll for children and below
- Eccentricity defined (which I forgot to do the first time round: Thanks Louhema for the Reminder!)
- More Popularity Behaviors, including consequences for Enemies, Throwing Parties, etc
- More Fortune Behaviors, including Top Level Business ownership, etc
- More Knowledge Behaviors, incl. teaching Toddler Skills,etc
- Major Changes to Natural Chance of Success for getting caught doing evil behaviors. More leniency now to encourage some bad behaviors to emerge. (Yay!))
- More RFP and CFP to be earned for raising large families--because this is really very hard to do.
Hello, Fellow Simmers,
Over the past few weeks, I've been turning over a question in my mind, one which has led to the writing of this little challenge. The question, simply put, is whether one can ever get ahead in life while following the rules; that is, is it ever possible to change one's lot in life without playing the system? Or must one cheat to get ahead? To get at this question, we shall begin in the Renaissance, a time of new beginnings, when the rise of the individual begins to assert itself with ever greater force against the backdrop of a new secular humanism that permits the question to be posed in the first place.
Here is the Scenario:
The year is 1600. You are a Serf, eking out a hard existence from the soil. Though your life is hard, you love your country and your King, and believe that your place in the Natural Order of things is ordained by God. If He wills it, a Serf who is hard working may be smiled upon by Divine Providence and given a higher place in the Natural Order of life, though it has never occurred to you, until now, to question your place in the system. However, the world is changing. Everywhere, the foundations of feudalism are crumbling. New possibilities are arising for those who are enterprising enough to seize them, but these people, many believe, threaten the Natural Order and create chaos. Still, others maintain that man’s destiny is not written in the stars, that one must seek opportunity and advancement where it presents itself—that a New World is emerging, one which favors free thought and trade and which rewards those who seek to better themselves. These self-made men rationalize that the ends justify the means, and that Nature’s laws reveal that there is a Divine plan for all of creation, but one which rewards those who study her mysteries and who exploit her resources for personal gain. For these new thinkers, Knowledge is Power, and the keys to power are through Intrigue and Cunning. Nature, according to them, is a vast repository of resources, ripe for the taking, and they are not willing to sit contentedly by in their “rightful” place and accept their place in the “Natural Order.” Such antiquated thinking is for them a nuisance, a foolish belief of their elders. For you, you’re not sure about all of this. There have been wild moments, when working the soil or fishing in the Lord’s ponds, that you’ve fancied yourself a Duke, but such nonsense didn’t amount to much of a real concern. Now, as you see the world changing about you, you consider whether you’d like to change your position in society.
This is where the challenge begins. To successfully complete the challenge, you must see a family rise from the level of Serf to Duke within ten generations. To answer the question whether it is possible to succeed without cheating, you will find multiple ways to play the system in order to get ahead more quickly. Death, disease, and general difficulty will be your constant companions, regardless of how virtuous or evil you plan to play the game.
I realize that other challenges exist with historic themes and which address issues of class and hierarchy; however, I think that you will find this challenge to be materially different from the rest here. Both the ultimate goal and the general mode of play differ substantially from currently existing challenges.
I have attached a PDF of the challenge since it is too long to post here. You will find right away that the challenge depends upon your having a large degree of latitude in managing the romantic attachments and general life choices of your simmies, so a few hacks will be necessary to complete the challenge as written. These include, but may not be limited to, the following:
Simlogical School Table
the SimBlender
Autonomous Casual Romance
Inteenimator--or other hack that allows teen pregnancy and miscarriage (optional, but highly recommended)
MATY, Squinge's Nursing Babies Hack (Highly Recommended)
Boiling Oil's Nursemaid Hack (as a nice addition to Squinge's Nursing Babies Hack)
Inge’s Teleporter (Highly Recommended)
Piou Piou’s Realistic Sickness (Highly Recommended)
Merola's Mind Control Mirror (Highly Recommended)
Additionally, you may use any other combination of hacks that give you increased control over your sim's lives, but you must record your use of them according to the Behaviors & Outcomes chart--if you violate the "Natural Order," you have cheated the system and must account for that "evil" behavior somehow.
Please post your pictures and family stories--I am quite interested in how this all turns out. Also, feel free to send a barrage of questions my way--some of the details may conflict, and I am still working this whole thing out, so don't be shy about asking. I look forward to hearing your stories
Version 1.2 Available Here
Version 2.0 PDF Availablehere
Version 2.0 .docx Availablehere