Having now had a chance to consider Marco’s rather depressing message, and to hear what some of the rest of you think, it seems to me that there are five main alternatives.

A. We can call it a day, go our separate ways, and store Imperium away for the long winter evenings. I would be very reluctant to go down this route unless absolutely forced to it. The very suggestion would certainly have appalled Fabio.

B. We can carry on with Imperium as it is, utilising the services of the various volunteers to carry out the tedious administrative tasks. Marco doesn’t think this will work but I’m not convinced. We have people who have graphic, Excel and html skills, none of whom are stupid. Preparing and maintaining the Imperium background statistics is hard work but it isn’t rocket science. I think we’d be able to manage OK. I admit that this is my favourite alternative. Certainly I believe we could give it a go and see what happens.

C. We continue with the present Game but with altered, simplified administrative procedures and Rules. I don’t see a great deal of point in that. If we are going to play by new Rules then we may as well do away with the build-in imbalances of wealth and power accumulated during years of previous play.

D. We reset the Game at 200 BC and start again under simplified administrative procedures. This has its attractions but would mean that the older players would find themselves retracing old ground, not very inspirational, I’d have thought.

E. We start a new Game in some different time period. A few thoughts here:

(i) I don’t believe this can be the 1st century BC. That would largely have to be a (Civil) War Game, something radically different from the successful “Socio-political” Imperium. It would probably mean that we would have to divide into “camps” to fight each other, and having a largely independent Umpire would be a thing of the past. I for one wouldn’t be very interested in this period, which has been done to death in role play anyway.

(ii) 366 BC would be a possibility. Rule by military Tribunes with consular power had just been abolished and the lex Licinia Sextia had opened up the consulship to plebeians. So far as territory is concerned Rome controlled Veii and, to some extent, the Latin League. We would largely be dealing only with the surrounding Italian States, therefore, and would have to be much politer to any outside powers we might come across. As players we’d all start at the bottom, fighting for election to Tribune, Aedile or Quaestor. There would be far fewer Praetors too.

(iii) 300 BC would be another alternative, immediately after the priesthood and augurship had been opened up to plebeians. By this time Rome also controlled Aequi and Campania but not much more. Playing conditions would be about the same as in (ii) above.

(iv) 240 BC would be another. This is just after the end of the First Punic War and with Rome controlling almost all of Italy plus Sicily. This would be closer in “feel” to the original Game, but with a more powerful Carthage to consider.

Personally I see little need for any sweeping changes in the Rules as applied to the Players. It is the fact that there are Rules that attracts Imperium players, and makes sure we don’t get into profitless arguments about what could or could not be done in out time period. In particular I think the dreaded Statreps should stay.

I think the administrative side could be pruned, however. The slave trade is only ever used by PMT and could be abolished. I think the Military Reports could be reduced simply to Part I, with an automatic Rule that all losses are made up after, say, two months. Prodigia could surely be abolished without loss. To avoid sudden over-expansion, however, I think we really have to keep the Aerarium, tax, regional productivity etc Rules in place. The Forma Urbis was only ever a bit of fun; I’d be reluctant to see it go but it can’t really be allowed to add to the administrative burden unless someone positively wants to do it. The Grain supply rules could also be discarded without loss. The Gaz could probably be radically reduced in scope, perhaps to a mere list of cities and taxes, though again it would be a shame to lose it.

It may be we need to take a formal vote, but in the meantime, any reactions? For the moment nobody, understandably, is prepared to put effort into a game that might be over, so it goes into suspension once more.