Bret Devereaux

I desperately need to finish figuring out next fall's game--which will be fun and I'm excited and what-not!--but I really just want to play New Vegas again. I'm definitely teaching it fall 2022.

Could duck out of the story-driven RPG space to do mechanics-driven simulations, like Crusader Kings III or Mount&Blade: Bannerlord to get into how the mechanics repackage assumptions and perceptions about the medieval world.

Please elaborate on Bannerlord.

Very briefly, I suppose - it is striking that Bannerlord types troops based on their point of origin, making it impossible to retrain recruits in non-native fighting styles. It is striking that it is impossible to raise anyone up into the nobility (except yourself)...

...it is interesting and notable that the forms of wealth ownership - noble landholdings, urban craftswork and long-distance land-based trade - are the ones that dominate a lot of popular thought, but small landholdings (the gentry), and banking are excluded from the game.

There are mods out there to that allow you to raise certain well performing troops or companions up to Nobility. Granted, the game is still in early access so they could add more. I'd imagine that a lot of whats included vs excluded has to do with what they can focus on.

I think in this case you've got to focus on the product that exists, not the mods or potential future development. This was a game that went early access with whole skill trees that were in the UI but dummied out and marriage options for family unimplemented but in dialogue.