"You are the Senate" RPG FAQ

[Kritias]

Greetings!

If you are reading this then probably you are thinking of joining our merry band -- that's good news! Well, a question often asked - and rarely answered before - is what the heck is this group... With no further adieu, I present you the YOU ARE THE SENATE RPG FAQ:

Q: What is the YATS, lad?
A: The YATS, as we call it for short, is a group of dedicated members, set on having a way of multiplayer campaign; you see, since CA hasn't blessed us with a multiplayer campaign feature, we thought it could be amusing if many members came together and decided - through voting and debating - the fate of a single faction. The project was a great success when we first started one year and a half ago and still it attracts a great amount of people to it. In a few words, YATS is a multiplayer campaign, played by many members who vote, get elected and finally execute the will of the majority in a single campaign of Roma Surrectum 1.5 a mod.

Q: But why name it "You are the Senate"?
A: Because after a landslide vote in favour of the Roman faction, the YATS evolved from being a game of democratic principles to a role play game during the Early Republic, when Pyrrhus is still in Italy and Romans fought to expand their empire.

Q: But how can a campaign be played by more than one member?
A: You see, the whole point is to share the campaign's save file. Once the term of the member assigned to play out the campaign is over, he hands over the save to the next elected member to continue the campaign from there. The simple and most easy way for me is to upload the save file to a site and then post a link to the appropriate thread.

Q: You mentioned terms, elections and offices; what about it?
A: As the Roman Republic, the YATS also has some of the Republican Government offices as that of Consul, Proconsul, Quaestor, Praetor, Tribune of Plebes and Censor. Many other variations may come up as one plays the game: as a true Republic, our game evolves to allow the participation of more and more members. Now, regarding the terms: as you may understand, we wouldn't be a great Republic if we did not include limits on how much time can a member stay in power. To that end, we have weekly elections, in which the people decide who gets what office -- in a fact, the people decide who want to be the player of the campaign, called Senior Consul in Role Play sessions, for the following week.

Q: But how decisions are reached?
A: Well, in the beginning of each term, in the appropriate thread, all registered members start debating about the fate of the Roman Faction. Everyone can make a "motion", a proposal to be voted upon, and if his proposal has the backing of the Senate - the majority of the votes - then the proposal is passed and the Senior Consul must make its context happen; for example, let's say that Senator Marcus proposes to declare war on Egypt. If the Senate votes in favour of the motion, then the Senior Consul has the responsibility to declare war on Egypt and so forth. As you see, the point is that the majority decides on everything, from raising the taxes to starting the construction of aqueducts throughout the Republic or to having a nation face oblivion!

Q: What offices there are and what is their purpose?
A: There's the Senior Consul's office who is held by one member each week and is the member who plays out the save, posts reports about the Republic(in an AAR fashion) and generally plays out the will of the Senate. Then, there's the Junior Consul, who is the member that keeps order in the Senate, commences the voting process, opens threads for proconsulships etc. Other than these, there are the offices of Censor, who inspects the save for any misdeeds of the active Senior Consul (like using cheats, recruiting legions without authorization etc), the Tribune of Plebes, who acts as a counter balance for the enthusiasm of the Senate and Consuls (by using vetoes in the case that the faction is over expanding, if the faction levies constantly from the free citizenry etc) and the Praetor,
who is a reporter of shorts; he provides info on what is being done in the senate, in the Republic in general etc. Finally, there's the "unofficial" position of the Senator who gets to vote on the fate of the Republic.

Q: Isn't all this too complicated? How am I to know what to do?
A: No fears, young Senator! For that reason, we have a constitution with all information on what one can and cannot do. Simply advice the constitution or a senior member for advice!

Q: How can I register?
A: Simple; go to the "RPG Registration" sub-forum and click on the "Census" thread. There you can post your Roman name (Praenomen - Nomen - Cognomen) and you're in!

Q: On what sub forum can I post in?
A: You can post anywhere in the YATS forums, except in the "CATACOMBS". However, you must know if the thread you are posting is the correct one for the job; so on the "SENATE HOUSE" thread you can post as your Senator; that means that the Senate House is where all in-game decisions are taken. There's also the "ROSTRA" forum, which is also a Role Play forum, meaning you post as your character, in which you can have any secret dealings or anything that involves your character but not the immediate government of the Republic(chatting with fellow members, plotting your rise to power, throwing games for the people of Rome etc).Lastly there are the "RPG REGISTRATION" forum, strictly used for new members who wish to join, the "SENATE RECORDS" which is a forum where we keep threads from the previous threads and "THE CATACOMBS" where previous YATS campaigns threads are held and treasured.

Q: Which mod are we using?
A:Currently for this current YATS we are using Roma Surrectum V1.5a. Also the force diplomacy mod is used however not essential. In most cases it would also be wise to have a clean version of Rome:Total War Vanilla. But why we will keep till a later stage.
(PM me other questions you may want to ask and I will post the answers in the FAQ)