OddjobXL
Recruit
It would be interesting to see if there could be some different "paths to glory" that could be influenced by careers but that might muddy the waters right now. Still, if there was an event engine running in the background (similiar to Talonsoft's conditional-branching event generator in Operational Art of War, A-Sharp's King of Dragon Pass or Paradox's Crusader Kings) it might look at one's character class in deciding what's going to happen.
Priests might get unique events involving heresies, crusades, plagues (treating them - likely by transporting various cures to afflicted locations under threat of attack). Perhaps if seiges and the wargame aspects of M&B are played up Priests could end up defending chapels from raiders and protecting the downtrodden (not very profitable but could raise one's reputation/experience totals). Other random events could be inspired by the duties of a vicar. Mass, marraige, burials, tithings, excorisms, excommunications, and so forth. They wouldn't have to be simulations of a real career in the preisthood, which would needlessly complicate the game, but text-based excuses to take one's army out and fight or escort or whathaveyou. If identifiable NPC units (named recurring units with unique leaders and sigils/coats-of-arms) are introduced at some point this would be a good way to get them involved with the player's party.
If an event engine was developed, like the rest of M&B, it should be easily accessible to modders. This would allow players with particular knowledge of or interest in a career to compile quite a variety of potential situations. Groups of players might well cooperate to sort out the best collections of events and probability trees giving this whole aspect very long legs indeed. You can see this very clearly in forums for games like Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis II on the Paradox site.
Perhaps different careers could also enable special abilities. For example there was some discussion about military rank being a requirement for employing/training socially advantaged forces like knights or men-at-arms. A priest might be able to bypass that. Also, without rank, he might be able to recruit random encounters (through conversion) to his side or possibly negotiate passage with hostile groups (through diplomacy). Should a feudal structure ever assert itself, if a more wargamelike aspect allowed for conquests and subordinate officers, a priestly character might be outside the laws of the state and couldn't be forced to perform military service.
Priests might get unique events involving heresies, crusades, plagues (treating them - likely by transporting various cures to afflicted locations under threat of attack). Perhaps if seiges and the wargame aspects of M&B are played up Priests could end up defending chapels from raiders and protecting the downtrodden (not very profitable but could raise one's reputation/experience totals). Other random events could be inspired by the duties of a vicar. Mass, marraige, burials, tithings, excorisms, excommunications, and so forth. They wouldn't have to be simulations of a real career in the preisthood, which would needlessly complicate the game, but text-based excuses to take one's army out and fight or escort or whathaveyou. If identifiable NPC units (named recurring units with unique leaders and sigils/coats-of-arms) are introduced at some point this would be a good way to get them involved with the player's party.
If an event engine was developed, like the rest of M&B, it should be easily accessible to modders. This would allow players with particular knowledge of or interest in a career to compile quite a variety of potential situations. Groups of players might well cooperate to sort out the best collections of events and probability trees giving this whole aspect very long legs indeed. You can see this very clearly in forums for games like Crusader Kings or Europa Universalis II on the Paradox site.
Perhaps different careers could also enable special abilities. For example there was some discussion about military rank being a requirement for employing/training socially advantaged forces like knights or men-at-arms. A priest might be able to bypass that. Also, without rank, he might be able to recruit random encounters (through conversion) to his side or possibly negotiate passage with hostile groups (through diplomacy). Should a feudal structure ever assert itself, if a more wargamelike aspect allowed for conquests and subordinate officers, a priestly character might be outside the laws of the state and couldn't be forced to perform military service.
