Santa Paravia and Fumaccio is the first computer game that I had played. It was originally on an Apple II system in monochrome graphics. This game was adapted to a PC platform. In it's current form, it is a keyboard based game for one to six players. The first player governs Santa Paravia, and the subsequent players govern Flumaccio, Torricella, Molinetto, Fontanile, and Romagna.
The basic scheme of the game is that you are a Noble of a province and that you resource manage, in a turn based fashion, in order to progress through the ranks (eg.
Santa Paravia and Fumaccio is the first computer game that I had played. It was originally on an Apple II system in monochrome graphics. This game was adapted to a PC platform. In it's current form, it is a keyboard based game for one to six players. The first player governs Santa Paravia, and the subsequent players govern Flumaccio, Torricella, Molinetto, Fontanile, and Romagna.
The basic scheme of the game is that you are a Noble of a province and that you resource manage, in a turn based fashion, in order to progress through the ranks (eg. Duke, Prince, King). The first player to achieve the status of King wins the game; at which point you get a cheesy graphic of a stick figure walking out and fireworks appearing,
this if followed by the announcement of the winning player. The game has four difficulty levels (Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, and Grand Master) with each subsequent level requiring a greater accumulation of resources and structures in order to obtain the status of King.
Within the game play, each player's turn begins with reviewing your resources (grain and land). You are given the opportunity to buy or sell either of the resources. The price of grain depends on the current market environment; including famine, rats eating your grain, etc. Land prices are random but will increase as you gain ranks. This screen also shows you how much demand there is for grain which depends on your population size. This takes us to the next screen where you determine how much grain you will release to your people. You must disperse at least 20 percent of your grain, but must also retain 20 percent of your grain in your reserves. Based upon how much you release, the next screen will determine how many of your "serfs" are born, how many die, and how many move to your province.
The other aspect of the game deals with the financial aspects. The next screen reviews your income from various sources as well as how much you paid your soldiers. Remember that you need to maintain a certain number of soldiers to protect your kingdom from attack. If you do not have enough, invading provinces will claim acres of land (ie your fellow players will be selected to gain acres depending on who has the most number of soilders). However, this is an aspect that you do not have direct control.
Then next screen is about State Revenue in which you determine the amount of Customs Duty, Sales Tax, Income Tax, and level of Justice. You are then shown a drawing of your kingdom. Finally, you are given the opportunity to purchase various structures to improve your kingdom; Mills, Markets, Castle pieces, Cathedral pieces, and Platoon of soldiers. You are then shown another drawing of your kingdom with the added structures.
Overall, it is a very simple game that is fun for the first few times but it does not have the depth of the later resource management games. This limits its replay factor. I enjoy it for the nostalgia. There is also a glitch in the game in that if you finish a game and play again with the same name, you will start with all the structures you had purchased in the previous game. Thus causing you to reach king status at the end of the turn...ending the game again.
