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Monday, March 5, 2012

Fall of An Empire

Ok, so the Thousand Year Game with Birthright didn't turn out so well. Such is life. Now, however, Eldest Child wants to play a game. So after some debate, I'm going back to my roots. My old Homebrew game, Ronlin.

An Introduction (Or Reintroduction, as the case may be);

It is a time of great strife. The Human Imperium is shattered. The Emperor died with no heir, or rather no legitimate heir. Pretenders to the throne rose up, but none of them satisfied the demands of the clergy. The Empire split assunder as two powerful men gathered support. Neither had Emperial blood, but both were men of conviction and cunning. The White King and the Black King.

The White King is a paladin who controls the southern half of the Empire, rich in land, magic, and psychics.

The Black King is the Black Blooded grandson of Colm the Assassin, who rules the northern half of the Empire, rich in resources, and technology.

The only part of the Empire that is not under the direct control of these two rulers is the Imperial City of Crynin. It is being held in trust by High Lord Piercival Ramirez. If the Black King and White King go to war it is Crynin that will be smashed in the center.

The people who would usually have the power to dissuade this course of action, the Cult of the Blue Oyster has fallen. Many of the old power houses have died or retired from active duty. There has been a lack of births of those who would be worthy to join their ranks. They are a shadow of their former forces, and are barely able to act as the enforcers of magical crime as is their writ.

The Dwarf/Elf war was barely avoided by G'norm the High Priest of Garl Glittergold revealing the secrets of gun powder to the world. This has lead to an interesting devolpment, while it ended the Dwarf/Elf conflict, it lead to the rise of the Orc Hegemony. The Hegemon, Karook, has changed the way that Orcs are acting. Previously they were the mercenaries of the world, going everywhere and fighting for all sides, they are now the weapons dealers of the world. The power of might which used to be their meat and potatoes, is now secondary to the amassing of gold. The Elves do not like their position as the worlds merchants being usurped, but are realitevly powerless against it, being hemmed in at all sides by enemies. The Dwarves on the other hand have become even more insular. The New Tychis is barely out of his childhood and is considerably more conservative then his predisissor.

So that's the state of the world today. Its been twenty years since the last heroes set out on a journey to the Land Unspoken Of, and thirty years since the Legendary Heroes ended the threat of the Shadow Realm, forty years since the Great Heroes slayed the Dragon known as the Eye, and it has been almost sixty years since Colm, the Assassin attempted to kill the Emperor.

Here's the Types of Campaign I am willing to run;
1. Keep Crynin free: An espinogue campaign based in Crynin.
2. Bastard Son of a Bastard God; The prophecies are clear, Jad, the true immortal of the Bastard God of War has had two children. The only way to stop the war is to kill the young generals.
3. Exploration: There are still great quantities of magical and psionics left over from the Psychic War. These artifacts can change the tide of war. If the Black King were to obtain them it would cause a massive shift in power. If the White King were to gain them, he would be unparalleled mystical might.
4. Agents of the Cult: Enforcers of magical crime. Psionics, Arcane, and Divine power are the enemy.
5. Merchants: Gold is the name of the game. There are people out there who can make money, and people who lose money. This is a game about the latter.
6. Dirty, Sexy, Politics: A political campaign.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Year 1- Fall

Year 1- Fall

Public Record;

Seilwode: Seilwode is declining into madness. However, with Rhoube Manslayer taking action, decapitating the wayward Lt. However, he is less pleased at the Emerald Queen's decree for all to attack elementals on sight. This puts many commoners at risk. The elemental siege has been resolved, but at great cost of lives. However, the Emerald Queen decreed a national celebration (agitate) and while wildly popular in the rest of the Domain, is barely holding onto Iscare, who are practically asking for Rhoube to rule them.

Taurhievel: Taurhievel sent someone to deal with the corruption that is rife in Avalliegh, and she took care of it. In a bold move, possibly knowing that the Manslayer is watching, the Prince flat out denied the Elven Armada to establish a presence of Corellian Lanthorian in Taurhievel. She also started a summit of the elven nations of Anuire. The only one left out was Llunabright, who is even more reclusive then Rhoube's group. The Manslayer came in and of himself, and made his presence (and wishes) known.

Rhoube: The Manslayer is VERY angry at the Queen of Seilwode, and is now attending her court personally. He is possibly going to force her into marriage.

Thurazor: How the mighty have fallen. Leroy Jenkins, former Finance Minister, former King is now the most wanted many in Anuire. The goblins want him dead for descrating the body of the Grand Abbott, and stealing the Grand Abbott's magical possessions. The rest of Anuire blames him for the war with Cariele, and wants him to stand for his war crimes. In a move of stunning clarity, the High Priest has invested himself as the new regent, immediatly ending the rebellion.

Aerenwe: Aerenwe was relatively quiet. Not much publically happened.

Dhoesone: Baroness Dhoesone turned back a bit on her hard line stance against magic usage, and has proscribed re-education of those using evil magic by the priests of Dhoesone.

Rhoesone: Rhoesone made a unique decree mandating that all trees logged must be replaced. The Baroness also has started taking plans for a grand library and is searching out the best place for it.

Monday, January 23, 2012

More Proposed Changes

I am thinking of the following changes:

Domain Sequence:
1. DM rolls random Events.
2. Collect Regency Points: One point per level of Province and Holding (max of ten, unless Blooded Character, then max of Blood line)
3. Income Phase (Taxation, Guild Fees, Trade Routes)
4. Pay Maintence Costs
5.- Month 1.
Optional Free Action
First Domain/Realm Action (or 2 more Free Actions)
Optional Free Action
6. Month 2
Optional Free Action
Second Domain/Realm Action (or 2 more Free Actions)
Optional Free Action
7. Month 3
Optional Free Action
Third Domain/Realm Action (or 2 more Free Actions)
Optional Free Action
8. Adjust Loyalty and Bank Excess Regency.


Also some new action types.
Exploratory Trade (Domain)- Send a ship off to the sea to see if they can trade stuff.
Ley Link (Free)- Lend another wizard magic power.
Improve Unit (Domain)- improve a unit to be better at what they do.
Move Ships (Free)- Move ships to different provinces.
Naval Move (Free)- Move ships bearing troops by sea.
Progress (Domain- MUST BE PERFORMED AS REALM ACTION)- Social, Technological, Magical, or Economic advancement.
Sea Trade Route (Domain)- Trade route BY SEA!
Trade Chain (Domain)- Extend trade route further.
Trade Service (Domain)- Trade your Regents abilities to another regent for something.
Sponsor Adventuring Group (Free)- Sponsor an adventuring group to take care of stuff. They become the 'official' adventurers to your domain.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Timing & Play Minutiae

So, I was thinking. It seems that we have a significant amount of players who are responding only periodically. I understand that real life gets in the way occasionally. Now, there are some things we can do about this (and a numbered list)-

1. If you are going to be unable to play a turn, then you submit a partially completed form for two days worth of actions. You may want to keep an action open to deal with 'random events' that may come up.
2. Monday-Friday play only. People do shit on the weekends, its real, its what normal people do.
3. Two day turns. Instead of one turn a day, we do one turn every two days.


Here's some play minutiae to talk about. (Another numbered list, YAY!)
1. I am thinking of restructuring free actions to take place at any time during your turn. That way you can take advantage of what your Domain actions do.
2. Character actions are very vague. I am thinking of dumping the lot of them into either free or Domain actions.
3. Some extra game things that you may not realize; You can improve your bloodline SCORE through spending RP (ie the amount of RP that you get per turn), this does not effect your Bloodline Strength (ie the cool special powers you get). So it is entirely possible to have a Minor bloodline with a score of 100. It is rare that Bloodline Strength goes up, maybe once a hundred years or so.
4. Different classes get different free actions. Priests can agitate, Thieves can use Espionage. Also, different classes gain Regency from different types of holdings (but everyone gets it from Provinces), those noted with a star gain 1/2 the holdings level in Regency. Guild- Thief, Ranger, Bard*. Law- Warrior, Priest*, Thief*. Source-Wizard. Temple- Priest, Paladin.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Year 1- Summer

The Public Record

Aerenwe: Three butterfly winged ships came out of the sky, and landed in Shadowgreen! The ships turned out to be filled with Elves! They and Queen Swordwraith moved the humans out of the territory and allowed the Elven Armada the province. This has confused most of the subjects of the land, many of whom were displaced by these sky elves. High Mage Aelies took to the crafts and began the 'Extraterristial Imports' for Queen Swordwraith.

Roesone: Baroness Roesone personally lead a diplomatic envoy to Illien to smooth over the ruffled feathers of Rogr Aglondier. Then returning, Baroness Roesone spent time in Bellam strengthening the ties between the throne and the province (Agitating for the Baroness). New trade routes were opened between Roesone/Illien and Roesone/Aerenwe.

Rhoube: Rhoube Manslayer has begun blantantly watching the elven courts. He is not pleased with thier rulers. He has not showed up personally, but he is angry.

Thurazor: The Grand Abbott was assassinated, in mysterious circumstances, his new finance minister decided to take over and continued the war with Caralie. However, the increase of taxation caused the Provinces to rebel. This has thrown Thurazor into disarray.

Dhoesone: After forging a money for food pact with Taurhievel, The Baroness of Dhoesone passed a decree about the usage of magic on subjects within Dhoesone, while this has made the general population happier, those who use magic are actually quite angry. This is having unforeseen consequences, since the clergy can no longer legally use healing magics on the injured. However, this has not resulted in any major problems since the Baroness is consolidating her Law holdings and expanding those she does not have.

Taurhievel: There is a drought in one of the provinces, but this seems to be alivated by the food for cash scheme with Dhoesone.

Sielwode: The southern province of Iscare is beseiged by Earth Elementals. No action was taken against them, and the people are losing faith in their queen.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A Short Pause

Well, I had planned on doing a world update, but due to circumstances surrounding what happened today, I felt that a pause was due. Perhaps, it's because I was vague about what I wanted. So let me explain it a bit better.

The format is what I am sending you. It is not a list of options. It is the outline of everything you need to do. There are two important documents that I've sent to everyone. The first is your Domain Record Sheet. That document is typically marked DomainDRS.rtf file. The other is the 1Kgame.rtf file. These two documents are what contain the game in its entirety. You have to refer to both of them to take your turn correctly.

What I typically send is in this format:

In italics, I give a brief thought on what is going on in the world. I try to be deep about it, but it will typically be stupid.


1. Event- These are things that you need to react to during your domain action. These can either be random events, or other domain's responses to your previous actions. Sometimes they are beneficial, most often they are not.
2, et al. These are the rest of the things that you do during your turn. This information and choices can be found in the 1Kgame.rtf file. Just look at the number you are wanting to do something with, and scroll through the document to find the information you are looking for.

Now, what I would like to show you is what Doug did on his first action. This is typical of what I would like to see in the future. Turn 2 will commence after I get these. I also will call out the notes that I gave Doug in italics. Some of the things that you do will not be successful, and some will not turn out the way that you think that they will.

Doug Year 1 Spring-

1. Random Event: Fued- The families of Partica and Dherene have begun a fight over the dowery of young Lady Partica, which has spilled over into the streets of Gheadan Forge in the Bellam Plains Province, this reduces its law level to 1 until retectified.

For this matter I will send my skilled Lieutenant Teisera of Shieldhaven, who is the court bard (5th Level, Anuirian, Unblooded). She is well skilled in the art of diplomacy and calming difficult situations. And will most likely be able to sooth whatever the situation is that has caused this feud.


This action was resolved fairly, Bellam Plains will collect one less GB and no RP in the next turn.




2. Collect Regency Points: One point per level of Province and Holding (max of ten, unless Blooded Character, then max of Blood line)


Collected 24 Regency Points

Total Previous Accumulated: 56 RP... (So, 80 Available)

Total Treasury: 15 GB

3. Income Phase (Taxation, Guild Fees, Trade Routes)


Moderate Taxation (using online randomized roller... with permission)

Caercas: 4 GB
Ghoried: 3GB
Abbatour: 3 GB
Bellam: 2 GB
Duerlin: 4 GB
Edlin: 3 GB
Fairfield: 1 GB

Total Collected: 20 GB


4. Pay Maintence Costs

Domain Maintenance Cost: 3 Gold Bars (14 total Provices/Holdings)
Court Maintanance: 3 Gold Bars
Blacktower Castle (Level 4 Castle): 1 GB
Military Payroll and Maintenance: 11 GB

Total Costs: 18 GB (This could be tough... especially considering I lucked out with some high rolls this time around)

Total Available for Costs: 17 GB

5. Declare Free Actions.

None

6. First Domain/Realm Action


Domain Diplomacy... toward Arenwe. Request for an alliance, both in trade and mutual protection. As a sign of good will, no attempts will be made to expand the size of settlements within Abbatour, thus leaving the Erbanian untouched and open for the mystical needs of Arenwe for the forseeable future.

Total Cost: 1 GB
Total Regency: 1 RP

Successful.

7. Second Domain/Realm Action
Rule: (Domain Action): Increase the province of Caercas from 4/1 to 5/1
GB Cost: 5
RP Cost: 5

Caercas is now a 5/0 province. Improving the level of people decreses the amount of available mebhaiglin.

8. Third Domain/Realm Action


Rule: (Realm Action): Improve Law Holdings within the realm

Caercas Law improves from 2 to 3:
Ghoried: Improves from 1 to 2
Abbatour: Improves from 1 to 2
Bellam: No improvement
Duerlin: Improves from 1 to 2
Edlin: Improves from 1 to 2
Fairfield: Improves from 1 to 2

Total GB Cost: 6 GB
Total Regency Cost: 13 RP

Successful

Remaining Treasury after Realm turn: 5 GB (Pretty much drained it did I not... such is the cost of solidifying my realm)

Regency Cost: 19 RP

Remaining RP: 61 RP

Some of this stuff will require an update to Doug's RoesoneDRS.rtf sheet. This is if you do it, but if you don't want to, I can do it for you. If you do not have a DomainDRS.rtf document, please let me know.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Year 1- Spring

The Public Record:

Roesone: The feud between the Patrica and Dherene families took a toll on the province of Bellam Plains. It was finally resolved after the Court Bard made promises for the Baroness to make up the difference in what was needed in the dowry in the upcoming months. The drive to increase the numbers of people living in Caercas was a resounding success, but the last bit of Mebhaiglin was destroyed by the increase of people, cutting Rogr Aglongdier from one of his sources of magic, he has taken no action...as of yet. However, that may change once he realizes that Roesone entered a mutual defense pact and trade agreements with Aerenwe, in exchange for leaving the Erbanian undeveloped.

Dhoeseone: Collects Taxes, that is all. Begins building a castle.

Aerenwe: The great captain of Ranger Flehnish was made the Grand Guard of the Erbanian, and given a gift, and the province of Baenin's Deep returns to the fold. Queen Swordwraith's inviation of alliance with William Moergan of Osoerde failed miserably. William Moergan sent back 'the spies' of Jaison Raenech without thier bodies. William Moergan is convinced that he is now fighting a two front war with him in the middle.

Thurazor: In a move to placate the Bugbears that were attacking the trade routes, the Grand Abbot decreed an open enlistment for a war, which he then proceded to declare on Cariele. In another unexpected event, the Grand Abbott declared a Finance Minister to encourage trade, which is odd since they are attacking a Trade Nation.