It is an interesting concept. Two problems though.
One is the answer to the question where roleplaying ends and godsims or strategy games start. I've had a similar problem myself with the border wars thread. Playing on a larger scale usually means having to abandon the single character and instead roleplay an entire branch of government [img]smile.gif[/img]
I've tried to solve the problem by taking away a large part of the responsibilities of a ruler, and by giving players the ability to move to any point within the realm so they can always issue orders where needed. In this case, that wouldn't be the answer. (By the way, PMs are not scary, you just don't get a higher postcount by playing
The advantage is that they are truely private).
I do not assume a low roleplay factor means the game can't be played here, as we simply do not have a godsim forum [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Maybe in the misc games category though...
The other is the game itself. What tasks do you want to give the players, how will you decide what realms are advanced and which are not. Also, what do you expect a round of playing will look like?
If players rule their countries from their thrones, they are not likely to meet often. Your orders will be heard by your councillors, who'll instruct others, who will in turn arrange people to bring the crops inside or build that colloseum. With so many options for peace, and NPCs doing the work (including trading and showing up as diplomats), there'll be very little interaction between the players. On the other hand, if players occupy the more active positions, they'll be taking orders from an NPC who may do very different things to the nation than the player may like.
Two solutions are letting the players create multiple characters so there'll always be someone present in neighbouring realms, or gathering enough players to have them form a body of government together (a ruler, two or three councillors, some diplomats, captain of the guard, royal seer etc.). Since it's about realms interacting, you'd need enough for two governments at the very least. Three would be nice, four better.
Even with plenty of players it's going to be difficult to have them do anything other than follow a trade, build, do justice routine. You want to have things happening in the different realms, preferably so that the governments will have no choice but to interact (for better or for worse).
Here you coul;d think of rebellions, resentment between two peoples turning into hostility despite the government's wishes, or an outside threat.
In any case you'll need to mention such things well in advance so players have a chance to prepare the realm for such things.
It is not going to be impossible, but getting something as varied as this to run smoothly and keep everyone's interest will certainly be difficult. Kudos to you if you can pull it off [img]smile.gif[/img]
(oh, disabled my sig just in case
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