It's not simple. There are often very good reasons why characters don't respect the military command structure.
Some characters have to reject orders, freedom priests for example (though I'd note that Cumberland treats each order as a suggestion and evaluates it's merits on the basis the person giving it knows more about military matters that he does). It is assumed that the military have come to accept their presence for there usefulness. Think of it as the equivalent as hiring and incorporating native guides in a real world military endeavour. They won't fit into the military structure, but this is much less important in the face of the needed skills they bring.
However, a lot of characters particularly high level characters have learnt there disrespect for the military from experience. Sometimes that's incompetent players over the course of the first and generally very formative year of play - this year for example Linte has found that the non-guard warriors have generally been much more effective and intelligent and capable than the guard ones. However some of the Scouts and Wardens have been very good, so he's learning to follow people based on their capability not their rank. It's not quite 'all military are shit', but neither is it 'he's in charge so he should be listened to'.
The other cause is GM's and the world set up. If a party goes out with out a healer IC it's the Defender's poor planning, the military become responsible for factors outside of it's control. Then there is the fact that many games are based around an incompetent commander, partly because it's an effective plot device, and partly because it often explains why more isn't being done. Again because of the system the only defender in the party will be put in charge of a party, even if people know he's a really poor leader.
The Borderland's year is an excellent example of all of that. The Commander for the area is an idiot with a bought commission, this is to justify the strange mix of people in the patrols (like the chaos priest and the death priest). This was then coupled with a lack of guards and a set of fairly awful scouts. Leading those who came out of the year to if not just simply disrespect the military to at least have very low expectations and opinions of them. That year though the party had a clear leader, even followed orders, the leader though was a Justice Priestess, not any of the military. A lot of the characters can be swayed by a competent military mind, but they will be treated as an exception to the rule, until events prove otherwise.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-04-04 10:09 am (UTC)Some characters have to reject orders, freedom priests for example (though I'd note that Cumberland treats each order as a suggestion and evaluates it's merits on the basis the person giving it knows more about military matters that he does). It is assumed that the military have come to accept their presence for there usefulness. Think of it as the equivalent as hiring and incorporating native guides in a real world military endeavour. They won't fit into the military structure, but this is much less important in the face of the needed skills they bring.
However, a lot of characters particularly high level characters have learnt there disrespect for the military from experience. Sometimes that's incompetent players over the course of the first and generally very formative year of play - this year for example Linte has found that the non-guard warriors have generally been much more effective and intelligent and capable than the guard ones. However some of the Scouts and Wardens have been very good, so he's learning to follow people based on their capability not their rank. It's not quite 'all military are shit', but neither is it 'he's in charge so he should be listened to'.
The other cause is GM's and the world set up. If a party goes out with out a healer IC it's the Defender's poor planning, the military become responsible for factors outside of it's control. Then there is the fact that many games are based around an incompetent commander, partly because it's an effective plot device, and partly because it often explains why more isn't being done. Again because of the system the only defender in the party will be put in charge of a party, even if people know he's a really poor leader.
The Borderland's year is an excellent example of all of that. The Commander for the area is an idiot with a bought commission, this is to justify the strange mix of people in the patrols (like the chaos priest and the death priest). This was then coupled with a lack of guards and a set of fairly awful scouts. Leading those who came out of the year to if not just simply disrespect the military to at least have very low expectations and opinions of them. That year though the party had a clear leader, even followed orders, the leader though was a Justice Priestess, not any of the military. A lot of the characters can be swayed by a competent military mind, but they will be treated as an exception to the rule, until events prove otherwise.