The Role of the Host

In order to play Allies of Majesty, someone must act as the Host. The Host is the storyteller. The Host’s role is to present a story that is fun and engaging for the other player’s enjoyment. The ultimate goal is fun, but most missions, by the very nature of the game world, will present some reason to ponder the spirit realm and how it impacts our own, material realm. Players will find plenty of stimulation to consider the Most High, his love for mankind, and his intentions for his creation. 

While the aforementioned aspects of the game are constant, the manner in which each Host runs the game will not be. Some Hosts will focus more on telling the stories and spend most of their time in a narrative style of play. Other Hosts will focus more to the War aspects of the game. In this case, much of the story could be told in prologues and epilogues, setting up and recapping what effect the War actually achieved. For most players, it keeps the game most interesting when the Host can find a balance between story and War. 

While the Host controls the evil characters, they are not against the Players. They control more than just the bad guys. They also control any spirits, friendly or oppositional, that are not controlled by a Player. They control any humans involved in the story, too. Some people might assert that the Host also plays God and that may make some people uncomfortable. My response is that everyone involved should know and acknowledge they are participating in a fiction. The need to "play God" does not actually come up often. When it does, the Host will not be intending to speak for God, but to make their best guess at how God might respond given the current situation. If done in good faith and acknowledging that it is fiction, it should not be a problem. If you are okay having read a story that contained an act of God, then I predict you should have no problem here. If someone in light of this still has a problem, I suggest rolling dice and letting that be  when deciding how God might respond.   

The Host makes all final calls on measurements and rules enforcement. They should err on the side of keeping things moving along so that people do not become disengaged. Sometimes the Host will make a call that a Player will feel is not the correct one. They may feel that the Host is misjudging a Range or is not taking some factor into account. Ultimately, try your best not to let a measurement or a rule become a point of contention and sour the session. In a tabletop roleplaying game, rules and systems are intended to be tools to increase enjoyment of the game, not stumbling blocks to stifle it. The Host will make a decision for the situation and the game will proceed.