Lords of the Earth, Campaign 30

Turn 12

856 - 860 ad.

Greetings and salutations!

Turn costs have changed. I have given more than enough time for people to get their accounts up to date. The following outlines my new costs per turn:

BASE COST + PER BL POINT

$ 2 + $ 1

For example, if you have a BL of 3, it will cost you $5 a turn. The maximum cost is $5 a turn.

I’ve found that with the higher BL a player has, and thus more leaders, there is a much larger number of problems that will tend to occur processing those empires. Therefore, I must spend much more time each month on those players. If you have a zero account balance (at the top of your turn sheet) then you will need to send money.

I had a player recently ask about the cost per turn increase. This is what I told him:

To date, I’ve made just over $260 from all the players in the game. In the previous year (before running the game) I’ve replaced the printer ribbon just once -- during the campaign, I’ve had to replace it 5 times so far, at a cost of around $40 each. Also, you may not realize it, but the computer programs that come with the GM’s kit, doesn’t do everything. Generally, I spend 50-100 man hours a month processing certain aspects of the game. This includes the time spent forwarding messages to other players through their respective embassies, a step that adds considerable realism to the game. Over the last year that would make about 800 hours spent. Gee, that means that I’ve been making a whopping 7 cents an hour. Don’t you think I deserve a little raise by now? With this raise I may be up to 20 cents an hour. Whoopee! And this still doesn’t cover the initial investment to license a game ($75). Plus, I’ve had to get new copies of the most current rulebooks. Hmmn, I think I’m into negative numbers per hour now.

Seriously, I do enjoy running the game, but I’m really just trying to cover costs.

Last month I asked the question:

Do my players want an open game?

Only 3 people responded. 2 wanted things to remain as they are. 1 wanted limited info based on the region (Brittania, W. Europe etc.), that they are in.

Players should all know the rules by now, but I had a player recently try to move troops out of an EA region. Please see rule 2.14.6.10 for why you can’t do this.

CURRENT CHANGES / UPDATES

1 - FYI: I am now endeavoring to update my game to the most current rules. Some players NFP rates have changed (again!).

MERC POOLS Inf Cav Sge W/Ts

Britannia: 8 3 - 6/1

West Europe: 4 7 2 1/-

Central Europe: 14 14 - 2/-

East Europe: 6 9 - 6/-

Middle East: 9 14 4 2/1

North Africa: 4 4 2 5/-

Central Asia: 12 12 3 -

The next turn is due 25 November. Due to the approaching holidays, I will not have the time to process turns in much of December, so after receiving them, I will make every effort to have them back to the players by 3 December. And after the limited response to my questions about an open game, I guess we’ll see who bothers to read this letter or not. :)