MERCHANT ADVENTURER DESIGNER'S NOTES

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Merchant Adventurer takes its name from the English investors who identified themselves as such starting in the 1400s CE. The game is loosely based on the economics of overseas trade that took place between coastal Europe and the world from the 1300s through the 1500s CE. Players are nobles that represent a family that attempts to manipulate business and government in order to gain wealth. The game is meant to cover the economic strategic elements and mood of the many Europeans, often in multinational ventures of both private and public financing, that explored the world, traded, and established businesses outside of Europe, especially around the Mediterranean Sea area.

SHARE INVESTING

In these times, corporations usually did not exist in the same manner as they do today, though in some cases they did, such as the Bazacle Milling Company in Toulouse. Often in those times, when not owned by an individual or estate, singular ships and mines were owned by shareholders, such as in the case of the Falun copper mine in Sweden (many merchant ships in Venice were owned by the government and auctioned to merchants for a temporary charter). To add to this complexity, commercial arrangements themselves usually had temporary contracts that were probably influenced by the commercial contracts of the Middle East and North Africa. These were often partnerships between a handful of passive and active investors, though it wasn't unusual for many shareholders to be involved. In the case of maritime ventures, these shares would pay dividends at the end of the journey based on revenue. Sometimes an appointed investor in a contract might use its funds to invest in others on behalf of fellow investors; cases like this were more common in Florence. Contracts were also sometimes renewed to the point of lasting beyond the lifetime of the original participants. So rather than corporations themselves owning shares of other ventures similar to how they do in contemporary times, comparable investments were often done through a complex web of contracts and business relationships. However, the earliest documented case I could find of a permanent organization owning shares was the case of the abbey of La Grasse, when a mill share was donated to it in 1095 CE. This probably wasn't the first instance of an organization holding shares, but it probably wasn't common for actual centralized commercial organizations to invest in other commercial endeavours until at least the 1600s CE. I have still included the option of companies holding shares in the game because it was certainly feasible at the time. English merchant companies of the 1400s CE were usually not incorporated but were composed of independent merchants who were licensed with the company and who followed the restrictions and enjoyed the privileges of the company's charter, similar to a regulated guild. Later in the 1500s CE, many of these associations became joint-stock companies in the traditional sense. Considering the lack of standardization of share trading in the medieval and early Renaissance ages, I have opted to use a traditional stockholding mechanic in this game. This will allow players to focus on investment strategies while also considering governmental, trade, and other financial factors of the game. Companies represent the commercial organizations, commercial contracts, and commercial governmental endeavours of the time (which usually had private stakeholders, such as with Portuguese expeditions). This mechanic also provides a practical way to spread risk as well as enabling the potential for profit with limited funds, which are the main reasons for shareholding. I will focus on covering the peculiarities of the financial aspect of investing during this era more in the games Medieval Stakeholder and Merchant Adventurer Sequel. Though in this game, companies will be required to make dividend payments if they have too many coins. This is meant to represent how most investments during this historic era were short-term and the rarity of commercial associations to establish long-term capital. The last important consideration in regard to shares is the shareholders' responsibility to pay debt during these ages. With some exceptions, shareholders could be required to pay debts or pay for necessary operations when funds were needed.

DEBT

During the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, regular loans were the most common method of investment. Loans usually came with some type of fee rather than collecting interest to avoid religious usury laws. Christians, Jews, and Muslims all had such religious views. In Christendom, Jews were often the bankers for several reasons, including their barring from certain other industries. But also because, according to Jewish religion, Jews were allowed to profit from lending to gentiles but not fellow Jews. Throughout the age, these rules were slowly overturned or provided loopholes to allow more Christians into the industry. Monarchs would often take advantage of usury laws to avoid paying back debts, to the great detriment of the lenders. This game captures that element by allowing magistrates to banish the moneylenders from their port. The moneylenders act as their own entity with limited funds, so it is possible that they will fail if early debts are not paid back. This situation could be very problematic for players if they need to take out loans. Governments and companies can also issue bonds, as the bond market for government securities was quite active in parts of Europe during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. However, the bonds in this game function more as a regular loan than an actual bond, though they can still be traded as such. But that suits companies in this game because I actually couldn't find any details on when private organizations started issuing bonds. But again, as with shares, I am dealing with a compromise to simulate historical elements as best as possible in relevance and proportion to other game features.

GOVERNMENT

During this era, Europe was ruled mostly by monarchs, but there were a significant amount of plutocratic republics as well. The inner workings of monarchy are beyond the scope of this game, but wealthy players will be more able to take control of local governments. This was often the historic reality of the time, especially in the maritime republics of Italy. During the Renaissance, plutocrats started to gain much power throughout much of Europe, which greatly reduced the power of the monarchs.

MAINLAND

The Mainland Power is meant to represent the historic excursions into Italy of entities such as the Holy Roman Empire (Germany), France, Castile, Aragon, and, to a lesser extent, England. Though parts of France, Portugal, England, and what is now Spain could be counted among the port cities, just as the Italian republics of the era.

NATIVES

The Natives are mostly meant to simulate North Africans and the Ottoman Empire, and to a lesser extent, various Asians and Amerinds. The economic and political situation of North Africa and Anatolia at the time would provide an interesting topic as well, but it is much beyond the scope of this particular game.

STORMS

Storms are a fun mechanic that adds some randomness for players to react to. The storm mechanic is derived from the storm mechanism of the 2010 video game Tactical Overload. Storms in this game serve other purposes too. They simulate settlement and growth quite well for the Natives. Also, they serve as a timer for the game because they continue to discover tiles even if players aren't interested in exploring further. And since they discover tiles, they serve as a sort of NPC explorer that nicely simulates players becoming aware of other lands discovered by unseen characters, so that the entire map does not depend on the players themselves.

COMBAT

As with most of my games, combat mechanics are minimal but included as an additional tool (or pitfall). It's not that I'm against wargames, but that I want to focus more on economics and interdisciplinary strategies (especially combining political, social, and economic elements). Also, because economic games are severely underrepresented and wargames are relatively popular. This particular game features the applied strategic options of economics, politics, and combat. And though combat in this game is simple, I have added flanking maneuvers to add a bit more strategy to this aspect of the game. The combat mechanics in this game are also very balanced, much more than they seem. Players often think they can get a quick result by having a decisive naval confrontation, but this usually results in a costly, drawn-out conflict. Usually, when players engage in significant levels of combat with themselves, it totally disrupts the economy of the ports and results in the NPC entities gaining a huge advantage in score.

PIRATES

Pirates can fill the rolls of regular piracy and privateering, as well as those of both European and Berber pirates. The nobles are able to choose what percentage of the pirate campaign they want to fund and then leave the rest up to other players or an undefined force, which could represent unseen connections both in Europe and North Africa. Pirate ships are the only pieces that can be created from a Native village. The financial aspect of pirates in this game is not necessarily accurate, but similar arrangements were probably made. Endeavours of piracy would often be the result of mariners going rogue and upgrading ships through theft, but it was also common for nobles to engage in piracy during times of upheaval. Such was probably the case with Jean de Bethencourt during the Hundred Years' War. The question is, if he took part in this piracy, how was it funded? Did he fund it all himself, or did he have financial partners, as he did with many of his legal business ventures? The history of piracy back then is not well documented, not only because of the lack of surviving documents from those days, but obviously also because it was an illegal activity. Therefore, it is very difficult to know the financial dealings behind much of the piracy and privateering back then. It is known that Berber piracy became more of a commercial business, rather than random groups of privateers and outlaws plundering, starting in at least the late 1500s. This is when even Christian Europeans started investing in the Muslim Berber pirates on a large scale.

DEVELOPMENT

2018

~1st edition published with 2 expansions (Piracy and Colonial Expansions).

2020

~2nd edition published as complete package that included all elements of the previous expansions.

MAIN CHANGES IN 2ND EDITION

*flanking maneuver added

*storms can create villages and increase their economies

*natives now attack vessels when at war with a company

2022

~Development of a computer version begins with GOBLA Studio.

~3rd edition is published.

MAIN CHANGES IN 3RD EDITION

*indebted companies can require payments from shareholders

*companies are limited in how many coins they can accumulate

2023

~Development of computer version with GOBLA Studio is suspended.

2024

~Development of computer version restarted using Claude.

2025

Computer version published.