08-19-2026, 03:29 PM
Blood Feuds
Blood Feuds is a concept intended to provide Hyborian War players in Organized Games of Hyborian War with an option to ensure that some relief from peace treaties can be obtained by those players who choose to embrace the philosophy that your kingdom hates another kingdom in the Hyborian Age so much, that both of the affected kingdoms willingly into into the declaring of a blood feud to exist between said kingdoms.
A primary benefit of the blood feud approach to playing Hyborian War is that it provides players subject to a blood feud a way to still have access to peace treaties with regard to their foreign relations with other kingdoms in the game, while simultaneously ensuring that they have at least one other kingdom in the game that they can attack and drink to the lees of war with. Mano a mano, with regard to that other kingdom that your kingdom's peoples have a declared blood feud with - but it's no guarantee that your kingdom won't end up fighting other kingdoms, as well, as your diplomats and your peace treaties and your silver-tongued words may still fail you, where other kingdoms in the game are concerned.
Blood feuds, as such can take the form of either being game-long in duration, from beginning to the bitter end, or they can be ended, and thus, only be in effect for a single set of war seasons (or even multiple sets of war seasons).
While other kingdoms continue to run the risk of getting locked down in peace treaties by all of their neighboring kingdoms, yours can bask in beauty of a blood feud, and war to your heart's content with that one other certain kingdom who hates your kingdom as much as your kingdom hates their kingdom.
What does it require?
1. That a game organizer for Hyborian War include the Blood Feud option in the special rules for their particular organized game.
2. That yourself and one other player in the same game openly declare a blood feud to be in effect towards each other's kingdom. Blood feuds are not forced upon your kingdom and its peoples. Rather, blood feuds derive from the Old Ways, and are the result of a mutual agreement by the affected parties to carry their mutual hatred for one another forward in the glory of war, without resort to diplomats and peace treaties to resolve their differences.
3. That both parties to a declared blood feud live up to their word. Mutual agreement is better, quicker, and easier than relying upon RSI to finally getting around to tweaking the programming of Hyborian War. It's also less work for RSI, and can be achieved without programming of any sort, at all.
4. If only one player declares a blood feud with another kingdom, then no blood feud goes into effect. To agree to a blood feud is to agree to a feud, after all. Blood feuds are mutual affairs, not unilaterally declared. Remember, it is the players, themselves, who bind themselves into a mutual blood feud, and it is up to the players, themselves, to make the concept work as intended.
5. Players declaring a blood feud must also declare whether it is eternal and forever, until the end of the epoch (until the end of the game), or just for a certain specified and agreed upon amount of time. The mutual agreement to blood feuds is what binds the respective players to them.
6. Other players in the same game will watch these blood feuds play out over the course of the game. If you really hate getting stuck in peace treaties and being unable to invade anyone else, then why not give blood feuds a try?