Three words. Graphic User Interface. ;>) The main difficulty that
I see with Olympia is making it easy for new players to come up with
orders that do what they really intend. If you added an order
simulator to a front-end package, folks could at least catch some
mistakes. Other mistakes will always happen because of stuff other
factions do or don't do.
Of course, the basic engine could be used to spin off all kinds of
different themes. A space game, a superhero game, a horror game,
a "pulp adventure" game, etc. etc. etc. Did I say "post-holocaust
game"?
What ever happened to your idea of having some "NPC" factions controlled
by real people but with strange, specific game goals. "The King of
Hades", "The Orcs", "The Pirate King", "The Faeries", and so forth?
I thought that was a great idea too. Of course, it's not all *that*
hard to find another player to be your sworn enemy...
Tim