Ruler Advice

Ruler Advice

Gathered from multiple players.

1. Keep the realm safe. You have to have the military capability to deter aggressors. you can do this by armies, militia or alliances. Make sure that your alliances are in place.

2. Be wary. Some players play aggressive and untrustworthy characters. You're responsible for anticipating trouble. Paranoia is an occupational necessity.

3. Watch out for troublemakers in your realm. You have to learn to handle them without either giving in to their demands or alienating them completely. A sure sign of a troublemaker is someone who keeps demanding benefits rather than support the realm. That flags "Potential Traitor" to me.

4. Find the people who are loyal and put them in positions of power whenever you have the chance. you can recognise them because they're always the first to contribute with good ideas or good actions. Make a Royal Council of those people that you trust absolutely, so that you can get advice from them that will remain confidential.

5. You MUST keep your knights interested and active. Give them things to do that will excite them and keep them busy, even if its just recovering lands from rogue. This builds pride and interest in the realm.

6. You must develop a consistent identity for the realm so that everyone within the realm and outside the realm knows what you are and what you stand for. For example Arnor has a very carefully crafted identity as a semi-barbaric, warlike, but honourable northern realm. A place of warriors standing against the rogue hordes of the north and Daimons. This will give pride to your knights and a cue to your neighbours as to what they can expect if they mess with you. Dhara is a very old realm, find out about the history and identity.

7. Don't make rules merely for the sake of making rules. People will just leave if they can't do anything

8. Don't worry about the "survival of the realm". If everyone quits, it won't survive anyway.

9. Don't get caught up in your special councils and forget to include the average knight. The average knight knows a fraction of what you think he knows, because the average council shares a fraction of what they think they are sharing.

10. Don't worry about troublemakers, misfits, crazies, etc. A single noble can't do much against the realm unless many others agree with him. Only if he's becoming an OOC pain in the ass should you really make a strong move to rid your realm of them. Otherwise, the realm will prolly drive him out for you.

11. Don't worry too much about internal conflicts. That's called role playing. It SHOULD happen, to a point. Realms where everyone are sheep are boring, and people stop logging in.

12. Rule the way that makes you happy.

13. Keep your character in character and try to keep all conversation in the realm IC and avoid OOC (something like this is an exception as it's nothing to do with actions within the game). It is the ruler's role to keep the realm interesting, but if others feel involved in the realm then that often covers that job itself - sending OOC messages encouraging people to get involved or to do something doesn't really work.

14. Ideally, you rule the way you want to and if you're enjoying it, as long as you're not micromanaging others, then the rest of the realm should enjoy it as well. Get involved and people should join in (though sometimes they don't, it can depend on the mix of people in a realm, sometimes it just doesn't work and you find yourself in a realm with others that rarely say/do anything... But they tend not to last too long before they either wither and die or something happens to spur some action.

15. Set goals for yourself, your realm and the key people in your realm. Engage them and give opportunities. Create little quests or missions, this could be anything really. Keep in mind that whomever you address in your realm they view you as the number 1 guy. Your messages can create awe, terror, nervousness and joy. Be mindful of how you word things and guide rather than force.

16. The best leaders get things done without ever having to directly ask for them. Its just like learning, you learn best by figuring stuff out by yourself with the occasional nudge in the right direction.

17. One of the biggest thing this game offers is diplomacy, social aspects and intrigue. Consider yourself a super diplomat and at the same time a super herald. You bring the news, you set the course, you are the highest authority.

18. People like to read stories, they want to fantasize, they love to be enraptured. You are the figurehead and the prime candidate to take the players in your realm on a grand tale of adventure, wonder and spectacle. Don't be afraid to go off the beaten track and leave a legend in the books of Battlemaster.

Enjoy. Its a lot of fun.