Game in the Brain

I might as well make it a fairly complete low tech booklet. So I’ve added templates for adventuring professions: Rogues and Warriors. Under Rogues, i’ve put Courtiers, Mandarins, Courtesans, and Agents.

Agents are tricky, because not a lot of people are familiar with Patronage and Brokers. There are decent brokers and there are sleazy ones, and there are enough anecdotes of brokers that go around that can skew a point of view about them. I personally have a hard time with the term broker. Dan Ariely’s book points out how social norms when replaced with monetary exchange can quickly remove the common good inherent in the relationship. I also have my own anecdotes that support that theory of social norms.

Guanxi is a big deal, and cannot be simplified. I can say I’ve seen more snake oil being peddled than really useful products/services if I go by my own experience. Guanxi cuts that for me, since I rely on friends and good relations to help me navigate through all the noise. Its uncomfortable standing in a room where you know the other person would sell you down the river if they could (gulp).

I’ve put contacts advantage in the Low Tech booklet, and thanks to simplification of LITE it would be easier to use. From being a player, I realized it was so HARD to know how to employ contacts and not a lot of GMs emphasized it (only Spielmeister did, and it was not used a lot in the games; also its so hard to use in Traveller because you are total strangers to these new worlds).

My real life has too much intrigue, and I would be very quick to admit that I would be much happier if it stayed purely in fiction. Although it does give me more ammo for when I gm or play.