I'm interested in roleplaying in historical periods.  I started to think about a way to run a game based on the fall of the Roman monarchy using Burning Wheel, but I wanted to tweak the rules in a few places.  After about five minutes, I realised that I was actually designing a Universalis module.  So I'm going to post my general idea to see if you guys think it is viable. 

The game will be explicitly competitive, with players making up two teams: the Tarquins and the Republicans.  The Tarquins and the Republicans are vying for power.  The Republicans have already expelled to royal Tarquin family.  The Tarquins are attempting to undermine the fledgling Republican government by both internal dissension and armed conflict, by levying troops from allied regions.  The three Republican players are trying to forge a stable government, while each pursues his own private end.  The main characters and a few Rules Gimmicks and such are the following:

Tarquinius Superbus.  Tarquin's player gets 50 coins plus 10 per refresh.

Collatinus.  He was the husband of Lucretia, whom Tarquin raped, causing the republican revolt in the first place.  Would have an “I'm the victim” trait or some such, giving him bonus dice if ever he is involved in a scene in which Tarquin is attempting to sway public opinion. Consul with Brutus.  20 coins plus 5 per refresh.

Lucius Brutus.  A strong republican leader.  Portrayed in the literature as very brutal.  20 coins +5

Publius Valerius.  Nominally he is one of the Republicans, but he wants the kingship for himself.  (this is a slight historical inaccuracy, but it would make the game more interesting).  He would have a Military strategist trait or some such .  20 +5 coins.

Clearly the three Republican players must work together in order to defeat Tarquin.  Components would include armies for both sides.  Also, Vindicius, which any republican player can use to 'erase' any scene conducted by Tarquin, but Tarquin would lose any coins already spent! 

I still need to flesh this out, but this is the basic idea.  I'm not sure about the worth of the numbers I have here.

The main issue here is in figuring out a way to make the competition work. The challenge mechanic is going to be useful very much "on one's honor" if at all. That is, using the challenge mechanic in a competitive way chucks the game right down the crapper, as written.

So you're a little out on a limb here. But I'd be fascinated to see how it goes.

Mike

I didn't evern think of that.  you're right; maybe I should just go back to my original idea and think hard about whether it can work in Univ.

I think it's worth a shot.

One easy solution is to put a GM in place. Take out the challenge rules, and just have the GM responsible for arbitration. That, of course, places a ton of responsibility on the GM's shoulders.

Have a look at "Matrix Games," and "Free Kriegspiel" for ideas on how this works.

Mike