Oh, if they're clever, they'll be in the LAST place you think of looking
for them...
Also, with wandering monsters, building in Hades probably won't work
anymore. Perhaps if you had an entire faction of Necromancers...hmm,
interesting idea...
As for the debate over whether or not this is a war game...
To me, one of the things that makes the game most enjoyable is that the
world is NOT a safe place. When you're a newbie, hopefully you don't run
too much risk because you don't have anything people might want (unlike in
G1). As soon as you start building up possessions, though, you have to
worry that someone will come along and take them away. The only
civilization is whatever WE create. Will you protect yourself by
joining/forming an alliance? Building an army? Structures? Beasts?
Travelling so far that no one can find you? Good diplomacy? A well-armed
society needs to become a polite society, as Fox's proteges found out to
their cost.
Even though I don't plan to fulfill my goals through military conquest, if
the possibility of conflict didn't exist, the game would become a whole lot
duller for me. As an example, I've been making quite a bit of money
through trade. I've also spent quite a bit of time and effort trying to
protect myself from the possibility of piracy. So far there hasn't been
much news of any, and if one of my ships or caravans did get robbed, I'm
sure I'd scream and yell and seek utter revenge. But secretly, I think I'd
be a bit grateful that the threat existed. Well-organized pirates might
well be pretty successful, and would make the game a lot more interesting
to boot!
Likewise, I don't think that the AOO was necessarily a bad thing in G1.
It's too bad that they preyed on newbies, of course, as that made the
player quantity go down and the game less interesting. But you have to
admit, Bastestric and Marat were the Darth Vader and Emperor of g1 -- the
villains you loved to hate. Sure, it's too bad they won, but maybe that
will make the good guys be better organized next time.
I think it would be a great thing in g2 to see a bunch of players who were
clever enough and well-organized enough to be unabashed villains -- to take
on the rest of the world through guile and conquest, and survive. (Note
that I don't think PLATO qualifies for this distinction yet!) So bring on
the wargamers! They'll make the game a lot more fun for us roleplayers,
moneymakers, explorers, castle-builders, and all the rest of us in g2 while
we try to hold them back! The Shire is a pretty uninteresting place
without Sauron around to test its mettle.
The Carnival