Factional Redesign of The Gift

[Davin]

I am trying to "round" out the faction making them fun to play and interesting to pursue things if players choose to do so.

Hmmm...  Alchemy might be a fun thing to play with, but unless it can produce tangible results I don't know if it would be something people would want to pursue.

I can see using that as trying to learn about our form of Science, and perhaps something will eventually come from using the "scientific method" to figure out other things.  But I don't see that as a direct relationship with health care and that could be done by anyone (and methodically pursued by any faction we care to "assign" it to).

OTOH, perhaps the Gift could include in their specialties the study of the natural world, improving the scientific method of such study, and looking for new treatments all the time to improve their healing arts.  Discovery of penicillin may be an awfully long way away, for instance, but aspirin might well be within reach.  We also know that sanitation is very important to health in many ways, but in the medieval times disease was considered to be caused by "bad smells".  It'll take some scientific work to make that sort of leap.  (Did you know that Air Conditioning was first invented as a hospital health measure?)  And there are a ton of technological advances related to health care that could be pursued over long periods of time (e.g. microscopes).  I think such things could provide considerable opportunity for fun play.

[DreamWeaver]

Well Alchmey covers a wide range of things but it could allow players to look into other things like:

- Greek Fire
- Gun Powder
- Oil
- Poisons (liquid/powder)
- Acids
- The Secret of Steel
- Magic (of sorts maybe)

To name a few items!

Now there are other terms too like Herbalism, and Apothecary as well.

[Davin]

AFAIK, all of those are more scientific in nature and alchemy studies couldn't figure out any of them with the methods they used.  Remember that alchemy was based on having only four elements in all of existence.

(Crude oil could be scooped off the ground in a few places in our world and may probably already be available in relatively small quantities.)

[DreamWeaver]

AFAIK, all of those are more scientific in nature and alchemy studies couldn't figure out any of them with the methods they used.  Remember that alchemy was based on having only four elements in all of existence.

(Crude oil could be scooped off the ground in a few places in our world and may probably already be available in relatively small quantities.)

Ok what about Herbalism or Apothecary....HRB - Herbalism  was a Skill in Midgard USA. Would you want to swap Alchemy  for Herbalism?

[DreamWeaver]

HRB - Herbalism:

Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of botany and the use of medicinal plants. Plants have been
the basis for medical treatments through much of human history, and such traditional medicine is still
widely practiced today. Modern medicine makes use of many plant-derived compounds as the basis for
evidence-based pharmaceutical drugs. Although herbalism may apply modern standards of effectiveness
testing to herbs and medicines derived from natural sources, few high-quality clinical trials and standards
for purity or dosage exist. The scope of herbal medicine is sometimes extended to include fungal and bee
products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.

Herbal medicine is also called phytomedicine or phytotherapy. Paraherbalism describes alternative and
pseudoscientific practices of using unrefined plant or animal extracts as unproven medicines or
health-promoting agents. Paraherbalism differs from plant-derived medicines in standard pharmacology
because it does not isolate or standardize biologically active compounds, but rather relies on the belief
that preserving various substances from a given source with less processing is safer or more effective
– for which there is no evidence. Herbal dietary supplements most often fall under the phytotherapy category.

APT - Apothecary:

Apothecary (/əˈpɒθɪkəri/) is one term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia
medica (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern pharmacist (also colloquially referred
to as a chemist in British English) has taken over this role. In some languages and regions, the word
"apothecary" is still used to refer to a retail pharmacy or a pharmacist who owns one. Apothecaries'
investigation of herbal and chemical ingredients was a precursor to the modern sciences of chemistry
and pharmacology.

In addition to dispensing herbs and medicine, the apothecary offered general medical advice and a range
of services that are now performed by other specialist practitioners, such as surgeons and obstetricians.
Apothecary shops sold ingredients and the medicines they prepared wholesale to other medical practitioners,
as well as dispensing them to patients. In seventeenth century England, they also controlled the trade of
tobacco which was imported as a medicine.

[Davin]

I like the ideas of Herbalism and Apothecaries - they make much more in-game sense.  They'd need to have some specific game-effects, though.  Just helping keep a city "happy" may not be enough to make them that useful.  They could help with wounded clan members as a side effect.  Perhaps the apothecary could put some of their non-perishable goods on the market, for starters?

[DreamWeaver]

So are you saying do away with the Skill of MED-Medical and replace it with HRB - Herbalism and APT - Apothecary so then the Gift skills would be.

PRE- Preach
REC - Recruitment
ENG - Engineering
HRB - Herbalism
APT - Apothecary

Maybe with (11) Gift cities on the market you see as a Item for sale of Medicines for sale.

Now the benefit of a bonus to a cities Happiness rating is important because with a low rating a city can be under revolt and possible change whom it is declared for. Maybe you should also add a Health & Sanitation stat to a city as well. Maybe a Gift temple also aids that stat with a bonus as well. Maybe a Order is developed to allow a clan to within a city with Gift temples issue an order like: CLAN - HEAL - <CHARACTER> <CITY #>...this way heal for a fee one character one level of wound with a cycle depending on the levels of Gift Temples in the city like: (11) Gift heal 1 point, (21) Gift heal 2 points (30) Gift heal 3 points. Thus with the more Gift temples within the city the more and better Healing care is available to anyone seeking.

[Davin]

Perhaps something like that.  As I mentioned before, I'd like to have skills be a potential add-on (for later) to what the faction is and does.  What an apothecary might do (if it becomes a Gift-based building type) is manufacture herbal remedies to be used by the city population and any excess to be added to the market that can be bought/sold, potentially for use in the field, for instance.  And Gift temples might themselves provide speedier-than-natural healing of injured clan members staying there for recuperation, more temples thereby providing help for more members simultaneously, maybe.

Of course, all this is just an off-the-cuff idea for further discussion, but it sounds like a good direction to be thinking about.

[DreamWeaver]

Many of the different factions offered other benefits at different levels like the example I gave of: (11) Gift temples, (21) Gift temples, and at (30) Gift temples (that would make the complex of a Cathedral). Some factions used different levels like (6), (15), (25) and (30). The factions can redesign what these levels could be and what the level gives you.

Now for the Gift, I like to return the faction to doing both Building and Healing. I can have a lot of fun with that in game and roleplaying. At my core I am a builder and that is super useful within this game. I believe I could very much guide the Gift to become great faction within this game. I am trying to make the faction fun to play.

[Davin]

Generally I like having smooth improvements in benefits, but I'm willing to work with "stepped" improvements if that works out well.

As for combining both, here's a quote from a sci-fi book that seems applicable:

I figured the construction company's name "BuildStrong" could also mean "build strong bodies"...

So what about updating the design description to include some of this stuff and see if we can get anyone else to comment on this.  We really need more design input than just from a couple of us.