Riots in Lowenheim (3)

Having a large collection of magazines AND an index to look up relevant wargaming articles published over the last 30 years or so, is a great advantage, W.r.t. my planned story about Lowenheim, I did a quick search and came up with the following:

• Wargamers' Annual 2015 has an article "Rioting in New Alexandria", which references the original "Rioting in Alexandria" scenario from 1970 which I also mentioned in my last post on Lowenheim. This time, the riots are set in 19th century Britain, and some ideas are given on how to generate and control mobs, how to use barricades in a wargaming scenario, etc.
• Secrets of Wargame Design #1 (2012) , a collection of articles written by Wally Simon and edited by Russ Lockwood, outlines an ancient city fight.The city map is divided in gridcells, and one unit (and buildings) occupies one grid cell. Attacking units fight their way across the city.
• Miniature Wargames 201 (Feb 2000) has an article "Pompey in Alexandria". Two armies (Romans under Ceasar/Pompey, Egyptians under Achillas) are fighting each other in Alexandria, and resupplies are brought in depending on certain areas conquered. Random events are included as well.
  
• Miniature Wargames 212 (Jan 2001) features "Escape from Constantinople", set right after the siege in 1453. The idea is that you try to escape (with a single figure) through the ruins of the city. The city is generated on the fly, and the whole scenario is more akin a dungeon exploration that a wargame between 2 massed armies.

There are probably a more relevant articles, but the selection above already gave me some additional ideas on how to run the games in Lowenheim.

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But anyway, let's start the story ...

Lowenheim is governed by the local Landvoogd. He has raised the taxes a few months ago, for "expenditures that will benefit the great city of Lowenheim". However, not everyone agrees, and something is brewing ... 

As I outlined earlier, I drew up a list of events that could happen and that evolve the story in interesting directions ... once an event is determined, the details will be fleshed out. Along with each event, I also listed some who/why/where/... questions as a reminder to further develop the event. One event will take place every week (game time, not real time). After all, the people in Lowenheim still have their daily lives to worry about as well ...
(The number after each event indicates in what week it was first included in the list, naturally, this is a 1 for all events).

1. The Landvoogd makes an important announcement. What is it? Why now? What is the result on the morale of the inhabitants of the city? [1]
   
2. A trade caravan arrives. Who is the trader? What does he or she hope to sell or trade in Lowenheim? What news does the caravan bring? [1]
3. The people living in the slums are starving. They form a mob and will go looking for food. Why now? Where will they look for food? Who is the leader of the mob? (==> skirmish wargame) [1]
4. The guards (along with the tax collector) go out collecting the new taxes, but a fight ensues. In what quarter of the city? Why is there a fight? (==> skirmish wargame) [1]
5. The Magician's guild feel their old rights of living in the city are endangered. Why? Who is their leader? What's the connection between the magician's guild and the history of the city? [1]
6. One of the scholars living in the city makes a strange discovery that is of some importance. Who is he or she? What discovery? How will it affect the city? Good or bad? Physical discovery or new knowledge? [1]
7. One of the animals escapes from the Magician's zoological garden. What is the animal? Where does it go to? Intelligent or stupid? Rampage or not? What are the consequences? (==> skirmish wargame) [1]
8. A murder takes place in Lowenheim. Who is the (important?) victim? Will there be a trial? What's the judicial system in Lowenheim? [1]
9. A drunken party assembles on the streets outside one of the inns (why?), starts shouting and destroying things. The city guard has to come in and restore the peace. (==> skirmish wargame) [1]
10. An omen is seen in the sky. Good or bad? What is it? [1]

Rolling a D10 ... a "10"! So let's start fleshing out this event ... (to be continued).

Post-edit: it just occurred to me that we have a great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn later this month, and that conjunctions were seen as omens ... let’s use that instead of the classic comet!