Republic of Rome PBEM Rules

General

1. These rules are adapted from a pbem system originally published in the now defunct General magazine of Avalon Hill.
2. The turns will generally be at one-to-two week intervals, and will not necessarily coincide with the zine publication schedule.
3. Each player is expected to come up with a set of default moves, which will be used in the event of an NMR. The generic default rules will be as follows:
   1. All income is placed in the faction treasury, and no contributions or games are made.
   2. Governors always take Graft.
   3. The only persuasion attempts to be made are against the unaligned senator with the lowest loyalty. No money is paid to support or oppose any persuasion attempts.
   4. No money spent on knight attraction.
   5. No faction leadership changes. If the faction currently has no leader, the senator with the most influence is so named.
   6. No bid on excess initiatives, if any.
   7. No proposals made, except in the case of the HRAO making the initial Consular nominations. In that case, the GM will nominate senators.
   8. Censors will not prosecute.
   9. Abstain in all votes, except for Land Bills. For Land Bills, vote yes without spending any talents to buy votes.
   10. No card play in the Senate or Revolution phase.
   11. Senators leading forces always return to Rome without checking troop loyalty.
4. The GM has the authority to alter orders in the best intersests of the game. For example, if the Rome Consul makes a proposal that has little chance of passage, the GM may substitute a proposal that he feels is in the best interests of the game. The aim of this is to keep the game moving along and to provide an interesting playing experience for all players. The GM will eneavor to use this power as little as possible, but when used, the focus will be on the best interests of Rome itself, not of any particular faction.
5. All players are encouraged to negotiate amongst themselves, and to copy the GM on all such negotiations. The GM will keep all such communications in confidence.
6. Personal treasury totals of senators are kept secret, and are only revealed when persuasion attempts are resolved.
7. We will be using all Advanded Game rules (Pontifex Maximus, Provincial Forces, and Legionary Disbandment & Recall).
8. The following rule is added:

7.3321 TIME DELAY: Whenever a War or Revolt card is drawn from the deck that would match a face-up War or Revolt card already located in the Forum, the drawn card is placed face-down in an Inactive War slot for the remainder of the current turn. If the face-up card is currently located in an Inactive War slot, it is immediately moved to an Active War slot; otherwise, face-up cards are not affected in any way. At the beginning of each new turn, before any other action is taken, all cards in Inactive War slots are turned face-up,. and one card for each War or Revolt is moved to an Active War slot in the Forum. Wars should be selected for activation in chronological order (e.g. 1st Macedonian before 2nd Macedonian) whenever possible. An Inactive War and its Leader are instantly matched and activated; there is no delay. If a Leader is drawn that matches an Active War, the Leader is immediately placed on the Active War card - but no additional War cards are activated.

EXAMPLE: First Punic War begins the game face-up in an Inactive War slot. Second Punic War is drawn; it is place face-down in an Inactive War slot, and the First Punic War is moved to an Active War slot. Third Punic War is drawn the same turn; it is placed face-down in an Inactive War slot. The Hannibal Leader card is then drawn; it is immediately placed with the active First Punic War. At the start of Turn 2, Second Punic War is moved to an Active War slot, but Third Punic War remains Inactive until the start of Turn 3. If the Hamilcar Leader card is drawn during either turn, it would be placed with an active Punic War card. Third Punic War would remain Inactive.

Setup

The GM handles all card draws. Players are advised of the initial Senator composition of all factions and the identity of the Temporary Rome Consul. Players are also notified of their own red card draws. Players provide any initial card plays (Concessions and Statesmen) as well as the selection of their Faction Leader.

Regular Play

MORTALITY/REVENUE PHASE: The GM draws and resolves the Mortaility Chit, and informs all players of the results along with faction income. For the first turn, initial card play and Faction Leader selection is also sent to the players. Players respond with their income distribution as well as whether any Governors will take Personal Imcome from their Provinces, and any Contributions to the State Treasury. The GM then rolls for improvement for all Provinces, and calculates the State Treasury.

FORUM PHASE: The GM sends the State Treasury results to the players, along with the card draw/Event result for each player. If a player draws a red card, only that player will be informed of the exact card -- other players will be notified only that a red card was drawn. All Initiatives are considered simultaneous. Players should indicate to the GM how much each senator will spend on knight attraction, as well as any persuasion attempts or games sponsorship. Unlike a face-to-face game, persuasion is not a bidding process. When making an attempt, the persuader specifies a fixed amount to be spent on the attempt. If a persuasion attempt is made against an aligned senator, the GM must decide whether the attempt is frivolous or if it has a significant chance of success. Generally speaking, an attempt is not frivolous if the persuader will back his attempt with the expenditure of money or the target senator is unable to spend enough money from his Faction Treasury to reduce the base Persuasion Number to "1". If the GM considers the attempt frivolous, he announces the attempt and the necessary transfer of funds to defeat it. If he judges the attempt is non-frivolous, he informs all players of the attempt (but not any funds allocated by the persuader) and asks all players to submit any bribes in support or opposition to the attempt. All bribes must specify a fixed amount, and none may be conditional on other bribes or persuasion attempts. All such attempts are resolved simultaneously, with the highest base number attempt resolved first. If it succeeds, other attempts are aborted. The GM then announces the results of the persuasion attempts, and players send their bids for any unclaimed Initiatives, and the senator doing the bidding. Highest bidder gets the Initiative (second highest would get second Initiative, if more than one is available, and so on). Extra Initiatives are resolved in the same way as above.

POPULATION PHASE: After all Initiatives are resolved, the GM provides the final results, as well as the final Faction vote totals, Leader Age/Senator Revival, and Population Phase results. The HRAO then must submit nominations for Consuls directly to all players. All players send their votes to the GM, and nominees also submit their preference for Rome or Field Consul. The GM announces the vote by faction, and if the nomination succeeds, which senator was elected to which position. If the nomination fails, the HRAO must then nominate another pair in the same way as above until a nomination succeeds.

SENATE PHASE: All voting is considered simultaneous, with the exception of the Presiding Magistrate. The Presiding Magistrate may make his votes (including the use of bribes) conditional on the votes of all other players. There are two exceptions. The first is in a Consul for Life vote for a member of the Presiding Magistrate's own Faction. In that case, the Presiding Magistrate may not make conditional vote orders. If the Consul for Life comes from another faction, the Presiding Magistrate may make consitional orders for the defeat of the motion. The second exception is that the Presiding Magistrate may publicly announce at the time of his proposal that he is granting his ability to another Faction, along with the identity of that Faction.

In the event that Rome faces three or more active wars or one war with a strength (including leaders and/or matching multiplication) of 20 or more, the Consuls may appoint any senator who does not already hold office Dictator. Upon accepting the appointment, the Dictator appoints any other senator as Master of Horse. The new Dictator becomes the HRAO and play continues normally.

After the Consular elections, the new Presiding Magistrate announces a nomination for the Pontifex Maximus, if that office is currently vacant. Players submit their votes on the proposal, and the prospective Pontifex also submits his Priesthood assignment.

After election of the Pontifex Maximus, the Presiding Magistrate then announces nominations for Censor. Players submit their votes, and the nominee also submits any Prosecutions he intends to make during the phase, along with the identity of any Prosecutor. Unlike in a face-to-face game, the Prosecutor does not have to consent to his role. However, if the Prosecutor's Faction votes to aquit, aquittal is automatic. The Faction of the accused must always vote first, and cannot make his vote conditional on anything. The sole exception is that he may make the play of a Tribune conditional on the results of an Appeal to the People.

After all Prosecutions are concluded, the HRAO once again becomes Presiding Magistrate, and should submit proposals to all players when casing votes for the previous proposal or Prosecution. Players wishing to play a Tribune to introduce a proposal should announce that intention, along with the proposal, to all players at the same time they submit their votes for the current proposal to the GM. Players wishing to use a Tribune to veto a proposal should notify the GM in lieu of their normal votes. Should two players attempt to play a Tribune to veto the same proposal, the tie will be resolved randomly.

As usual, the Senate Phase is concluded when the Presiding Magistrate is sent off to prosecute a War or Revolt, or when he declares that the Senate is adjourned.

COMBAT PHASE: The GM resolves and announces War results and call for players to email their orders for the entrance of new Statesmen, Concessions, and the return of forces and Revolt orders. Orders for Revolts may be made conditional on the results of legion allegiance rolls, however, any money spent to test the allegiance of legions must be reported to all players.

REVOLUTION PHASE: The GM announces all red cards played and revolts declared, as well as the result of the next Mortality Phase. Commence the next turn.

Early Republic Deck

Senators

Concessions