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Braunsteins

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Glass Empires is built to be managed either as a traditional RPG campaign featuring a party of Players whose Party is based on the premise of working together to achieve a larger goal set out at the start of a campaign or as what is known as a Braunstein.

A Braunstein is an open-ended scenario featuring Player vs. Player conflict under a fog of war with simultaneous order execution via a staggered periodic turn cycle. The role of a GM (of which there may be more than one) in a Braunstein is to organize players, manage information & resolve conflicts in order execution while maintaining the world in a way that exacerbates the tensions & conflicts that forms the heart of the game.

If you’ve ever played the board game Diplomacy or heard of how it runs, you’ve encountered a very close relative of the Braunstein.

What Makes a Braunstein?

  • Conflict between players. The GM must engineer an initial scenario wherein players have a reason to interact & potentially fight over resolutions to their problems. A “hard” solution is to design a scenario wherein not all players can win; where the world is at least in some way zero-sum. Many softer solutions exist that allow for conflict while remaining open to potential negotiation, provided that players can figure out where they stand in relationship to each other.
  • Asymmetric capabilities. Players who have variable assets have something to trade, and negotiation is the lifeblood of a game like this.

Setup

The GM should arrange for the following:

  • A public space wherein all Players may communicate with each other & where shared information such as the world map may be put on display;
  • Private channels wherein Players may privately communicate with selected other Players;
  • A means of conveying announcements, such as the outcome of issued orders;
  • A selection of times wherein GMs can gather Players whose orders conflict in such a way that requires they be present at an ad-hoc session to resolve the conflict.

An instant messaging server & a virtual tabletop platform is perfect to achieve all of these requirements.

Player Communication

All Players may freely communicate with each other via direct conversations (in text or voice). No Player may provide proof of conversations or statements (i.e. via screenshot), although if both players agree, a written document can be created as an artifact as part of written orders submitted to the GM.

Periods & Phases

The game is played out as a series of Periods representing a certain amount of real-world & in-game time. By default, 1 Period is:

  • 1 week of in-game time;
  • Up to 1 week in real-world time, depending on how long it takes for each Player to issue orders to the GM(s).

Phase Structure

There are two real-world Phases that occur during each Period: Diplomacy & Execution.

Diplomacy Phase

During the Diplomacy Phase, Players may scheme, communicate, and otherwise talk among each other in public or private. In addition, throughout this phase, each Player determines & issues private written orders for their actions during this Period to the GM.

Until the Phase ends, players can edit or override orders they previously set in.

Diplomacy ends when all Players issue orders or it has been 1 real-world week since the start of the Phase. Players who haven’t issued orders by the end of the Phase are assumed to do nothing other than defend themselves during the Execution Phase.

Why can our PCs communicate over long distances?

Because players may always have communication with each other in order to facilitate role-playing & engagement in the game, the Diplomacy Phase does not necessarily correlate to actual conversations that happen in-game. Instead, this phase represents:

  • Public knowledge being shared, such as rumors or leaks about behaviors or events being shared between players through intermediaries such as courtiers, friends, or allies;
  • Past conversations held at an opportunity
  • Strategic wargaming or intuitive reasoning performed by both sides not through talking but rather by reasoning out in private what the other members of the conversation would do in any given situation.

Figure whichever one suits the situation. The important part is that no orders, agreements, or material exchanges can happen during the Diplomacy Phase. Only (verbal, non-binding) agreements can be made, and in order for actions to be executed upon, each Player must explicitly issue orders to a GM that would facilitate those agreements or exchanges, such as by sending messengers to the other parties involved in the agreement(s). The only exception to this rule is if the Players’ PCs are in close in-game proximity to each other during the Diplomacy Phase, and even then, both must still issue orders to the GM explaining their actions in order to execute upon it.

That said, in the default setting of Aia, there is a substantial in-world explanation for why factions in close proximity can communicate quickly: all Factions have access to & make use of harpy messengers, who can travel at a pace of nearly 50 miles per day. Accounting for general lag, all events should be public rumor 2 weeks after occurrance — 1 week if spies are trying their hardest.

Execution Phase

During the Execution Phase, the GM(s) analyze all written orders received during Diplomacy & determines what happens during the actual Period. In particular, the GM figures out if any of the Players’ orders results in a collision or potential point of conflict that must be resolved before the next Phase can begin.

The Execution Phase lasts as long as is required for the GM(s) to find all points of conflict that would occur during the in-game Period, bring the affected Players together in order to resolve those conflict(s) (i.e. via ad-hoc sessions to host battles or in-character discussions, text chats, or whatever other methods are required), & then declare the results of all orders to all parties that would have heard of them.

The Execution Phase ends as soon as the GM(s) are finished resolving all conflicts & issuing new information to the Players.

Order Formatting

Orders are a sequence of Moves that are undertaken by the Player’s PC over the course of the in-game Period. Players can only order their own PC to take actions. PCs can delegate via communication with Retainers (to order Subfactions) or courtiers (to order their directly-ruled Factions).

The total action economy for each PC is, therefore, down to how many Retainers/Factions they can issue orders to in-game in addition to their PC’s own personal time that can be dedicated towards a Move during the Period.

Players must provide a strict order of operations for their orders. Otherwise, orders will be executed in the order received by the GM.

Players may specify breaks or conditional reasoning based on the outcome of orders.

Other than for these rules, there is no strict formatting on what orders can be issued so long as the orders are coherent enough to be understood by the GM.

Special Conflict Cases

The staggered weekly turn sequence may lead to some conflicts that the GM will have to resolve on an as-needed basis.

  • Two player-led armies unknowingly march to same location: Who has initiative? Is there a battle, or does one arrive first?
    • On Aia, this is unlikely to happen without advance notice. Harpy scouts enable each army to see ~50 miles around their location.
    • That said, if it does occur, the GM determines which army becomes aware of the other first, & during the execution phase provides this information to the Player in control of that army. The Player may make decisions based on that information within the scope of the conflict. The other army’s leader receives the information at a future period.
    • If no PC was directly leading an involved army, the GM has the ability to adjudicate how the NPCs in command react according to the data they receive at the time when they receive it.
    • They have a battle if one or both sides can force it & want to force it given the world scenario. The GM has the information to adjudicate an outcome.
  • A player wants to discover a piece of information & then decide what to do upon receiving it.
    • GM determines when during the in-game Period the PC would uncover the information, and then (after resolving any preceding conflicts) describes the scenario to the Player at the time of their discovery of the information. The GM may set a time limit for the Player to react beforehand.
  • Racing for the same NPC faction’s allegiance
    • Who gets there first? Who has the most compelling offer?

As a general rule, most conflicts can be resolved by asking “who does what first?” In periods of special conflict, a quick Skirmish should clear up most concerns & give an excuse for the Players to yell, pose, and stab dramatically at each other.

Special Notes

The Negotiation rules don’t apply when dealing with other PCs.

Written Contracts

Players can agree to create written contracts. In-game violation of contracts might Please or Anger NPC Factions or Subfactions who have an interest in the upholding of law (or in the stakes at play regarding the contract’s contents).

Asset Transfers

You have to literally issue orders to give another PC items. This might come down to a GM-resolved conflict or negotiation period.

Fog of War Rules

Much of this comes down to the GM determining what PCs would have the opportunity to observe or see during the Period’s events.

  • What if players want to negotiate or trade in-person?
    • They can arrange to meet up during Diplomacy, issue orders to do so, and then have a meeting (with or without GM mediation, depending on if anything happens in the negotiation that demands GM presence to resolve).
  • What do players learn about other players’ actions at period end?
    • “As much as they could observe, and nothing outside that unless the players in question choose to share it.”
  • How do spy networks/intelligence gathering work as orders?
    • Again, espionage is not something we’ve rules for, which is bad since it will come up literally instantly.
  • What triggers discovery of covert actions?
    • See above.
  • The Panopticon presumably gives Arcades special information — what exactly?
    • The controller of the Panopticon can see armies, towns, fleets, & castles as per the Hills visibility level across the entirety of Aia & much of the surrounding Rim ocean.

NPC Faction Behavior

All Factions that aren’t PC-controlled are ordinarily managed by the GM. This includes Subfactions managed by PC Retainers. A GM may delegate decision-making for a PC’s Subfaction to that Player if the Subfaction in question is compliant or has no reason to rebel against that Player.