Axioms
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2019
- Messages
- 1,513
One of the mechanics Axioms goes well beyond the norm in is social occasions. This is an adjacent system to the various religious systems. The variety of core occasions is unique and so is the ability to select a variety of activities to engage guests in. All occasions have basic features like feasts and can add activities like a Hunt or a Tournament. There are some defining activities for different occasions however.
Ceremonies
Ceremonies are typically held for awards of various kinds as well as secular dedications. A ceremony like that of the Roman Triumph which was awarded for military success. They might also involve a dedication of a monument or statue. Ceremonies typically have the Dedication and the Feast in all cases. Other activities are optional.
Festivals
Festivals are religious celebrations including holy days for specific gods or events in the history of a pantheon. They also include seasonal celebrations. Festivals typically involve the religious Rite/Ritual as well as a Feast. Festivals will usually have a dance or ball as well.
Coronations
A coronation is the ascent of a new leader to a sovereignty. These are basically a special kind of Ceremony. An election or appointments of an official would be a regular Ceremony. Coronations usually have a feast, the crowning, and a ball. Tournaments and/or hunts are common but optional.
Activities
The most common activities are feasts, hunts, tournaments, exhibitions, dances, receptions, and parades. Activities typically require workers, a budget, access to resources, and organizational ability. The success of all the activities at a given social occasion creates a large boost to Opinion/Trust/Respect/Honor/Fear and Prestige. As noted in previous blogs Opinion, and associated values, provide what is essentially your pool of political capital.
Desired Celebrations
A variety of game events cause a desire for a celebration of some kind. War victories, allegiance pacts, births and deaths of eminent characters, important occasions and so forth. A social occasion can exist outside of these at a reduced but still significant impact.
Rare Optional Social Occasions
There are some events that provide additional unique activities. A newly coronated ruler can go on a Tour, or depending on the scale of their power a Grant Tour, visiting locations and speaking to vassals and magnates and holding smaller celebrations. There are a variety of various other unique activities as well.
Invitations
Invitations are a key mechanic for social affairs. Depending on the event there will be different suggested and recommended invitations. Not inviting a potential attendee accrues a small opinion and potentially prestige bonus while not inviting a recommended attendee is a much great and more consequential snub. A bonus is provided for inviting more characters as far as the grandeur of the event especially as you are required to provide for everyone. Invitations can specify activities, extra guests, and special treatment such as seating at the high table or something like that. This will impact the personal reaction and potential decision on whether to attend of the guest but will not have public/global implications like the general success of the event.
The Social Calender
Social affairs, of all types excepting things like Coronations, can be put on a fixed schedule. Events increase in prestige the more they often and regularly they are held. This has an impact regarding festivals and holidays as well as secular events like yearly tournaments or feasts.
Unfortunately Axioms operates, for the present anyway, on a monthly turn system. There is a special rule in place for social events as far as travel from province to province but the maximum cap for events a single character can attend is something like 48 a year, that is 4 a turn. And that would require them all to be located in a tight grouping of provinces.
Axioms does not have a “culture” mechanic the way that most games do. One reason is that without the framework of real history many limitations and necessary abstractions are avoided. Another is that culture is broken up and divied among many mechanics like Language, Ideology, Social Occasions, and so forth.
In Conclusion
Axioms has a varied, unique, flexible, and extensive set of mechanics for simulating the life of an important personage in the pre-classical to pre-industrial super-period. This is part of a robust array of character and non-military mechanics designed to provide more of a geopolitical simulation rather than a pure wargame. As far as I am aware while some games may approach the intricacy of a single system in Axioms none of them provide an integrated set of systems in anywhere near the degree that Axioms does. At some point in the next several dozen days I’ll be writing design overview posts for a variety of other character focused systems and mechanics. I am considering a defined series similar to the Esoteric Arcana series focused on this type of feature.
Ceremonies
Ceremonies are typically held for awards of various kinds as well as secular dedications. A ceremony like that of the Roman Triumph which was awarded for military success. They might also involve a dedication of a monument or statue. Ceremonies typically have the Dedication and the Feast in all cases. Other activities are optional.
Festivals
Festivals are religious celebrations including holy days for specific gods or events in the history of a pantheon. They also include seasonal celebrations. Festivals typically involve the religious Rite/Ritual as well as a Feast. Festivals will usually have a dance or ball as well.
Coronations
A coronation is the ascent of a new leader to a sovereignty. These are basically a special kind of Ceremony. An election or appointments of an official would be a regular Ceremony. Coronations usually have a feast, the crowning, and a ball. Tournaments and/or hunts are common but optional.
Activities
The most common activities are feasts, hunts, tournaments, exhibitions, dances, receptions, and parades. Activities typically require workers, a budget, access to resources, and organizational ability. The success of all the activities at a given social occasion creates a large boost to Opinion/Trust/Respect/Honor/Fear and Prestige. As noted in previous blogs Opinion, and associated values, provide what is essentially your pool of political capital.
Desired Celebrations
A variety of game events cause a desire for a celebration of some kind. War victories, allegiance pacts, births and deaths of eminent characters, important occasions and so forth. A social occasion can exist outside of these at a reduced but still significant impact.
Rare Optional Social Occasions
There are some events that provide additional unique activities. A newly coronated ruler can go on a Tour, or depending on the scale of their power a Grant Tour, visiting locations and speaking to vassals and magnates and holding smaller celebrations. There are a variety of various other unique activities as well.
Invitations
Invitations are a key mechanic for social affairs. Depending on the event there will be different suggested and recommended invitations. Not inviting a potential attendee accrues a small opinion and potentially prestige bonus while not inviting a recommended attendee is a much great and more consequential snub. A bonus is provided for inviting more characters as far as the grandeur of the event especially as you are required to provide for everyone. Invitations can specify activities, extra guests, and special treatment such as seating at the high table or something like that. This will impact the personal reaction and potential decision on whether to attend of the guest but will not have public/global implications like the general success of the event.
The Social Calender
Social affairs, of all types excepting things like Coronations, can be put on a fixed schedule. Events increase in prestige the more they often and regularly they are held. This has an impact regarding festivals and holidays as well as secular events like yearly tournaments or feasts.
Unfortunately Axioms operates, for the present anyway, on a monthly turn system. There is a special rule in place for social events as far as travel from province to province but the maximum cap for events a single character can attend is something like 48 a year, that is 4 a turn. And that would require them all to be located in a tight grouping of provinces.
Axioms does not have a “culture” mechanic the way that most games do. One reason is that without the framework of real history many limitations and necessary abstractions are avoided. Another is that culture is broken up and divied among many mechanics like Language, Ideology, Social Occasions, and so forth.
In Conclusion
Axioms has a varied, unique, flexible, and extensive set of mechanics for simulating the life of an important personage in the pre-classical to pre-industrial super-period. This is part of a robust array of character and non-military mechanics designed to provide more of a geopolitical simulation rather than a pure wargame. As far as I am aware while some games may approach the intricacy of a single system in Axioms none of them provide an integrated set of systems in anywhere near the degree that Axioms does. At some point in the next several dozen days I’ll be writing design overview posts for a variety of other character focused systems and mechanics. I am considering a defined series similar to the Esoteric Arcana series focused on this type of feature.
