M&B: Warband - How to be a Medieval Con Artist

RPS's Brendan Caldwell tells the riotous tale of his adventures as a con man in his Mount & Blade: Warband retrospective.

Mount & Blade: Warband is an old game to be writing about. But despite its age and flaws it remains surprisingly popular among fans of medieval jousting and RPG politicking. And with a sequel somewhere on the horizon now is as good a time as any to revisit that world, which is exactly what Brendan has done. Read on, serf!



At dawn I hear the sound of swords from my cell. One of my captors comes in and tells me they will consider my release if I pay them a hefty sum. I spit on his offer. That sound of clashing steel outside tells me everything – the castle is under siege, and I will be free soon enough, whether my captors want it or not. Besides, I would rather rot in this dungeon than give these dogs any of my hidden wealth. I have done terrible things to get all that coin. Terrible things.

And to think it all started with some stolen ale.

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To be a successful con man you need to sell a story.
Since M&B doesn't have a story at all, I'm not sure if I should bite and read that RPS article.

M&B often gets hit for not having a story. The article shows how how I play the game and "make" my own story; not as some chosen one prophesied from ages past but as just another poor sob making his way in the world

I love me my M&B

joxer said:

Since M&B doesn't have a story at all, .

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That is bold. A large part of the article tells a story. A story written while playing M&B.
The story might be dull, unexciting, shockingly bad. It remains a story.
That is 1 is 1 remark.

Another 2+2 are 4 comment was made ages ago. M&B is heavy on storytelling.

Another obvious point made ages ago: Storytelling meets the demand of two audiences.

The storytellers: players who write their own story. The game quality depends on the narrative elements the game provides.

M&B is made for storytellers.

The storytolders: players who read the story others have written for them. They want to feel exceptional, larger than life...

TW3 is one product for them.

Chien, by your logic, M&B fans would adore Sims games. No story, a player makes their own one. Yet tell me how many M&B fans bought a Sims game.
On the other hand, I adore Sims games. And while I do own Sims Medieval game, there is no way I'd buy M&B which is supposed to be the similar setting.

What's wrong with that picture?

Please leave TW3 aside, it's not Sims nor is M&B.

At least one plays both.

Beside, M&B and the Sims have strong differences. One is that the player plays one character tighly in M&B.

While in the Sims, players are encouraged to create or recreate a bunch of characters (Sims can be "Me, my family, my friends, my neighbourhood) kind of story.

Actually it isn't quite like that.

Sims 1 - never played so dunno about it.

Sims 2 - oriented on family play. Single character just won't do.

Sims 3 - oriented on SINGLE character. You can still play families but it's not the game's forte. World Adventures expansion introduced puzzles that require you to play a PAIR of characters.

Sims 4 - oriented totally on a PAIR of characters. Single and family play are still possible, but yucky.

Sims Medieval - oriented on shuffling characters of different class, traits and skills (it's light RPG).

Sims Freeplay - phone scamware good for nothing except filling EA's pockets.

I doubt you are able to have melee and ranged combat with very satisfying control and mechanics in the Sims.

Nor able to command and manage an army, with all the blood and sweat in the heat of the battle.

Moreover, and as others have mentioned, the world and npcs are simulated and have their own agenda, but you have the ability to change that if you wish. This is why I play mount and blade (well used to, but not any more as it is indeed a time sink).

SpoonFULL said:

I doubt you are able to have melee and ranged combat with very satisfying control and mechanics in the Sims.

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No I don't have mushroom controls in Sims, it's not arcade game.
Sims 3 World Adventures expansion adds Sim Fu (kung fu) as melee fighting and sparing plus tournaments, archery however is sold bundled with dragon pets and violin playing skill as overpriced DLC and I, of course, refused to pay for that scam.

joxer said:

Actually it isn't quite like that.

Sims 1 - never played so dunno about it.

Sims 2 - oriented on family play. Single character just won't do.

Sims 3 - oriented on SINGLE character. You can still play families but it's not the game's forte. World Adventures expansion introduced puzzles that require you to play a PAIR of characters.

Sims 4 - oriented totally on a PAIR of characters. Single and family play are still possible, but yucky.

Sims Medieval - oriented on shuffling characters of different class, traits and skills (it's light RPG).

Sims Freeplay - phone scamware good for nothing except filling EA's pockets.

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No. Wont go long on that since it was already done.

Once again, it is about restricting The Sims to one way of playing: puppeteering. Which is not even the way it is supposed to be played.

In The Sims, the player can control one character or more. The player is not expected to control them all.

When a player recreates her family, friends and neighbours, it does not mean she is going to play every single character. It means she is going to direct her character among the recreated neighbours, friends and family. She might never control her father, her mother etc

The storytelling as it is performed in TS is very different from M&B.