Republic of Rome forum game II

Aemilius proposes himself as Consul for Life.

For the glory of Rome!

@CF_Kane @scottagibson @antlers

Clearly Shepherds vote yes.

No, it’s 17 votes + Aemilus’s influence of 28 for a 45.

vs

Everyone against me assuming Antlers spends his talents is 8 + 17 + 11 for a 36.

@scottagibson, you going to kill this dude or what?

Me? I don’t have any cards, man. Someone else is holding the assassin card.

Ugh, fine. @rho21, Furius attempts to assassinate Aemilius. I’ll play my assassin card.

Boy I’ve been calling this one forever.

Hence all the setup if you get it.

No, I get it. Good luck.

I would say good luck but you are actually trying to assassinate Macedonius, you know. I kinda hope you miss.

Nothing personal. Just trying to keep Rome free of tyrants.

Really enjoyed/enjoying the game by the way, even if we end here. Thanks @rho21 for moderating and everyone for playing.

I have a whole essay to write when the game ends, but I 99% expect you to kill Aemilius. Because that’s my forum game life, yo.

See you all tomorrow when I awaken late and see what happened.

Looks like a lot for me to process.

  • Governorship assigned to Acilius
  • Land bill created; popularity and unrest adjusted
  • Tax farmers assigned

That seems like a strange choice for a tax farmer, given he will either be consul for life or dead. Mentioning which, I’ll roll a die when I’ve woken up properly and can do the write up justice.

👀

345

Aemilius Macedonicus, a war hero and fine statesman was nonetheless getting far too big even for his own ample boots. Influential, wildly popular with the people. And now using that to suggest that Rome needed to go back to the time of kings in order to be able to combat the threat of Carthage. As if a king would frighten off Hannibal!

There was nothing for it though: it was clear now that Aemilius would have the votes to crown himself king - sorry “consul for life”, obviously not the same thing, oh no - so the only hope for the republic was for death to intercede.

Furius was the senator to step up in the republic’s hour of need, though he was far from without support from other quarters. He knew it might mean his life, proscription for his immediate family, even infamy for all time in the annals of state, but what price can be put on that compared to the future of an entire city?

Aemilius’ guards were close about him at all times now that his nomination for consul for life had been announced so Furius chose a different way. His agents suborned a senior cook in the Aemilius household, also a patriot of the republic willing to risk all for principle despite his years of service to a family that had treated him well. The plan was to poison the spiced sparrows’ eggs - made to the head chef’s own recipe and well known as Aemilius’ favourite dish - at a banquet he was hosting.

The poison was acquired and applied liberally, the spicy sauce could be expected to hide the taste for long enough. The dish was presented among many others to the reclining diners and naturally placed close to Aemilius.

But for once Aemilius was in a generous mood and insisted that his fellow diners (senators all, now drawn to his rising prestige) must taste his favourite eggs. He was looking forward to the effusive praise that must surely flow for his chef’s wonderful creation. Instead the eggs got only as far as the fourth senator before the first started choking.

Hearing the news, the suborned cook took his own life; despite their best efforts the investigators could find no leads to accomplices and it was concluded the cook must have acted alone.

Assassination

Furius attempts the assassination of Aemilius Macedonicus.
One assassin card provides a +1 modifier.

The die rolled a 3, modified to 4 giving no effect.

Sorry, that took much longer than anticipated. I imagine most of you were asleep anyway.

Aemilius Macedonicus is truly favored by the gods! All hail Macedonicus, the savior of Rome!

Optimates vote Yes for Aemilius Macedonicus as Consul for Life.

@rho21, I really enjoy your write-ups and the effort you make to give flavor to the game. Thank you so much for that!

Yes, thanks @rho21

We aren’t really going to sit through a vote…

…are we?

@rho21 You do the best game write-ups. Suck it, @CraigM

Giving Tax Farmer to Aemilius may or may not have been a mistake…

I made a lot of mistakes.

Thanks again @rho21, and well played @Knightsaber. I am sorry all for some of my failures in this game, most notably misreading the rules on Consul for life and thinking 35 Influence was required in the early era for a vote, rather than resulting in automatic elevation to Consul for Life. Obviously that error proves relatively costly. Otherwise, I suppose I would prefer the Republic collapse due to the ambitions of a Senator rather than through foreign wars.