There will be no shortages of bastards, all my children will be bastards... Out of necessity (same-sex marriage). If that qualifies as bastards that is. o_O;

But yeah, I'm sure a system where intercourse would for example provide a timed bonus (as an incentive) with a chance of a child spawning later would make for more drama. But this could pimp the games rating up (if there is such a thing for MMO's) as well as being a more complex system requiring more workload to develop than the current one. So I'm not sure if the story benefits really outweigh the potential negatives.

I personally prefer the bureaucratic conception though.

This is actually really interesting. Although confirming their DNA in that context might take magic or relics.

But yes I think certain social contexts should actually come with an inherit chance to have a child without the contract or room. For example (a combo trigger), drinking together, flirting, having compatible skills and traits and sleeping in beds together (or nearby).

Though mechanic sake each accidental child wouldn't be able to become a player. The effect this would have is to not only create interesting story, but it would create more naturally occuring wards and people that didn't 'need' an upbringing. Perhaps they also have certain dispositions, like deviancy.

So as that King that you were talking about, you would meet your son (and maybe the game lets you know) but he will always be an entity you can't control and instead you can only boost or damage your relationship with them. Ergo, they can never be Hiers you inhabit but they are still Hiers that threaten your throne. Dramz.

As you pointed out, the use of contract for children negate the possibility of bastards. The status of the child is decided by parents when the contract is signed and as such the family, culture, name and inheritance rights of the child are decided by both parents.

Some questions still remain, let say we have a couple, Duke X married Duchess Y.

first what happens to that new family?

• from DJ#18 Kingdom & Land Management : "Marriage

Perhaps the most straightforward route to obtaining land is through marriage. Unless the marriage contract is specifically altered not to share ownership, any land owned by either spouse becomes the shared property of both. We leave the option open for a prenuptial agreement because you never know, he/she may be a gold digger. Seriously, they may actually be trying to dig up gold on your land."

So we have a family with a now double duchy, than one of the spouse decide to have a children with not his/her partner.

for the sake of the questions lets say that Duke X is having a baby with waitress A, can Duke X decide to welcome the child into family XY or is he limited to family X; if of family X will that child be unavailable for Duchess Y (only through child code) or will it naturally appear as a potential heir for her ?

If the child is of family XY can Duke X reserve that child and block Duchess Y access to it ?

If both Duke X and Duchess Y agree for each other to have babies on the side will they be able to welcome them in family XY, with both of them signing the baby contract on top of the other parent ? ( example would be a political marriage between 2 Neran Duke but they want to have mixed babies, say brudvir/neran babies, so they agree to see a surrogate brudvir parent and produce a child or two)

So a few questions but no bastards as the parents are always willing and responsible for the child.

If it is really possibile to have bastards I think the really interesting part is what if the character we play die? Then is there a possibility that we ware reborn in the family from the bastard child? Or would we reborn in the family we have build (Like we met our beloved partner, married and get some childcontract if it is possible)?

And what will be if this was the case from a duke or a king? Will be there a kings family or will this the end of the royal family?

And if we talk about pragnancy...is there a posiblity about some woman who can't get pregnant? If there is then the contract to get a child will completely changed all possibility to get a family and - in case of some royals - a heir!

If I remember correct there will be a mechanic to get a new body even though there will be no child. If this happen to a commener I think this would not so bad because every player have the opportunity to learn the skills they want. But if this is the case by some royals will there be a replacement of the royal family? Or even a complete new royal family because of the childless from the first family?

And to get back to the initial question: If only one of the partner are barren and e.g. the male partner get a bastard but no one knows him and there are a new royal family have this bastard the right to get on the throne? Or will the new royal family get the throne?

I hope it was not to confused (I myself feel confused @.@ xD )

Posted By Sagan at 07:41 AM - Tue Dec 12 2017

This is actually really interesting. Although confirming their DNA in that context might take magic or relics.

It doesn't even have to be magical. SbS has already mentioned that knowledge can become a "token", and if you are one of the few who had knowledge of a transgression it could lead to interesting things such as extortion or possibly people motivated to keep others quiet via payoffs or even (GASP) murder.

Additionally i think it would be cool to have something like a William the Conqueror type thing happen to a kingdom.

Doesn't make much sense to not have bastard in the game, and yeah I guess technically you could say they wouldn't be bastards since even if somebody were to agree to a child with somebody out of wedlock it would still take them to form up a contract. Sure, but that child would still be seen as a bastard, wouldn't it? As you say that contract defines the child's family, parents, inheritence etc etc.. so it would still make sense, it's a child that has parents from different families and stands to inherit no lands unless granted such.But yeah, I would like to see them expand on the concept of marriage and talk about bastards - mainly, how will it be decided which family that child is a part of. Will it be something like a ward? Will it have a bastard name like Game of Thrones or maybe a a rule that it needs to be part of one family (X or Y)? Would be nice to expalin upon those rules as well as the mechanics of it all, stuff like who has claims to the child codes etc

Posted By TheEvilBassist at 12/12/2017 8:02:18 PM

Doesn't make much sense to not have bastard in the game, and yeah I guess technically you could say they wouldn't be bastards since even if somebody were to agree to a child with somebody out of wedlock it would still take them to form up a contract. Sure, but that child would still be seen as a bastard, wouldn't it? As you say that contract defines the child's family, parents, inheritence etc etc.. so it would still make sense, it's a child that has parents from different families and stands to inherit no lands unless granted such.But yeah, I would like to see them expand on the concept of marriage and talk about bastards - mainly, how will it be decided which family that child is a part of. Will it be something like a ward? Will it have a bastard name like Game of Thrones or maybe a a rule that it needs to be part of one family (X or Y)? Would be nice to expalin upon those rules as well as the mechanics of it all, stuff like who has claims to the child codes etc

But see if the contract is made then it's not a surprise child. Yeah, they are still bastards but they aren't unplanned which I think was the angle with bastard children I was wanting to explore.

I like to play characters that match me on some level. My worst fear is that I have children, but they all end up being female, which would force me to play a female for a year.....

Posted By LukeSpyro at 04:28 AM - Wed Dec 13 2017

I like to play characters that match me on some level. My worst fear is that I have children, but they all end up being female, which would force me to play a female for a year.....

So then in some cases, like that, someone might actually feel encouraged to have bastard children outside their marriage.

Heck, I want my first character to be an explorer(dangerous career) with a heap of 'backups'(bastard children) because free love! Or 'I thought your spouse was okay with this' love, because close enough.

Hey, NPCs should have minds of their own. PCs definitely do (I hope). I think there should be a possibility of children even without contracts or formal marriage. Nature doesn't pay any attention to human intentions in this regard. This paves the way to bastardy as an in-game feature.

I think there is a way to tie the probability of illegitimate children to character attributes, like will, reputation, and fame for examples. Players of PCs might not be able to prevent illegitimate conception by their characters if their characters have certain attributes and get themselves into certain situations.

Well the bastard child could go to the orphanage and if chosen by a player, the orphan could find out about their secret history at a later date, provided certain conditions were met. Then it's up to them how they want to play it, revenge, blackmail, etc.

Since I am technically the bastard son of the families Black Sheep, I find this idea very interesting. I am both part of my fathers family and separate from it. I am welcomed at family events yet rarely invited or thought about. I also assume that I have other bastard siblings in the world that none of us know about. Kind of like an extended family.

I really like this idea for certain play styles or professions. Explorer, adventurer, mercenary. This would be really good when looking at Hybrid offspring, or expanding your skills by pairing with NPCs from very different professions. A character that never settles down can’t have a normal family, but they can have children in different places. Could that be a functional way of creating a pseudo family? Would it have any of the same benefits of a family?

Imagine a traveler that makes connections in more than one Kingdom and communities. Have a child in each place. Ideally with an established and respected family...

I was wondering if there was any way to introduce bastards into the game. It would make a pretty interesting political tool also.

Woah thread necro XD.