Every subject is a person
Click anyone and open their Character sheet: health, hunger, thirst, warmth, happiness, loyalty, faith, which estate they belong to and what they're doing right now. Their thoughts, meals, crimes, gang, house and family are one tab away.
- Happiness, Loyalty and Faith are separate. A well-fed villager can still hate you.
- They age, marry, have children, change jobs for better wages, turn to crime and die
A throne room with a line out the door
The Keep has a real throne room. Petitioners queue, kneel and plead for alms, grain or mercy while your Personal Guards stand watch. Every answer you give lands on an estate, and the street talks about it by nightfall.
- Grant it, refuse it, have them removed, arrest them, or have them killed where they kneel
- Name a Food Taster, a Royal Chancellor and up to four Personal Guards from the Almanac's Court tab
Trials, then sentences
Arrest someone and Guards bring them before three Justicars in the Hall of Justice. With evidence they're usually convicted. Without it, they might walk. The sentence can be years in a cell, banishment, or the Scaffold.
- A gang member sentenced to death may go for the bench. The court's Guards will answer.
- Prisoners pace their cells, sleep on their cots, bribe the jailer, or break out
Public executions, with an audience
A Guard marches the condemned up the Scaffold's steps. The prisoner kneels, gets a last word, goes to the chair or the rack, and dies in front of whoever came to watch. Justice here is a spectator sport.
- Condemn lets the King skip the trial. It adds Dread, more for every villager in the crowd.
- A lawful sentence from the Justicars costs you nothing
Crime that runs whether you're watching or not
Gangs form around their richest member, rob your villagers, raid the Armory and demand tribute from the Crown. Rival gangs go to war in the streets and fight to the death. Guards only act on what they see, so a robbery in a quiet corner goes unpunished.
- Crown orders against a gang member bring the rest of the gang down on your Guards
- Detain and search suspects, send your Guards in as a squad, or let it burn out
Protests, pleas and rebellion
Hungry, overtaxed or angry villagers stop in the street and call the Crown to account. Leave it and the crowd grows. Send the Army and it ends, at a price. Keep ignoring them and the Balance of Power tips toward rebellion, or your own Guards start plotting a coup.
- Tyranny comes only from unjust acts. Dread keeps the bold in line, for a while.
- Paupers kneel and beg wherever they find you. Escape refuses them.
Another player, walking your streets
An invader joins your game live as one of your own villagers. They get a briefing on who's disloyal, which gang owns which street and how many Guards are out. Then they pick pockets, recruit spies, start protests, or go for the throne.
- Join a rebellion when it breaks out and switch to the rebels' colours for the fight
- Invade as a Guard and pick a side in a coup, or strike the King yourself and have every Guard in the kingdom come for you
- Sprint away, vanish into a crowd, bribe the jailer or break out of a cell. Only death ends the run.
Buildings you can walk into
The Keep, the churches, the Tavern, the Dance Hall, the Theater, the Market, the Prison and the Hall of Justice all have interiors, and villagers really go in. Songstresses play on their stages, barkeeps pour, patrons drop by the Tavern at any hour and priests say Mass to full pews.
- Box-select your Guards and post them inside a room, or send them in after a brawl
Mass, and the Clergy who keep score
Chapels, Churches and Cathedrals have naves you can watch fill up. A Bishop leads Mass through its procession, altar, sermon and blessing while Priests kneel in the choir. Worshippers genuflect at the door, take a pew and pray. Faith is a need like food and water, and the Clergy judge you by how well it's met.
- An invader can genuflect, sit through the sermon, or lead Mass themselves as a Priest
Seasons that change how you play
Spring, summer, fall and winter each bring their own weather and pressure. Thunder sends children running for cover, winter burns through firewood and grain, and a bad harvest shows up in the throne room as a line of beggars.
Shop, run the court, find your friends
Buy goods at the Market stalls, keep your Personal Guards and advisors in order from the Almanac, and invade your friends from the Social panel. Friends-only invasions are one checkbox when you start a new game.
