New NESes, ideas, development, etc

So with you, Game Moderator = Dungeon Master?
GM = Game Master for me. I use GM if I'm doing any tabletop RPG that isn't Dungeons and Dragons, and DM if the game is D&D.

I prefer Mod for games and Moderator for BirdJaguar's kind.
GM reminds me too much of the company so I really don't use it too often.
I would say Mod for games and Forum Mod to talk about the guys who police Civfanatics.

Mod or whatever they refer to themselves as.

Also, spoiler!

Spoiler Shakar :

Shakar,
the Dark Continent



Artist's representation

Shakar is the smallest of the three continents, and by far the most isolated. Although once connected to the other two by a land bridge separating the Western Ocean from the Centrel Sea, a great flood smashed away portions of it, creating the island of Lavra.

Most of the northern coast of Shakar is tropical, with lots of rainfall, hot summer days, and endless sunshine. Not many monsoons make it this far off the Tempest sea, but the occasional hurricane is not unheard of. Racially, northern Shakar is split pretty evenly between Issith and Lavran.

The rest of Shakar is split in two by the Cold Mountains. The west coast is warm in the north but gets gradually cooler as we head south. Likewise, the populace changes from primarily Symphok in the north to more Lycalidk and Kaul in the south. Hurricanes are extremely common along the coast, and regularly travel inland.

The eastern half of the continent is barren, comparably. The high grasslands turn to cold deserts, and then lifeless tundras as we head even further south. Tough Issith nomadic tribes crawl the landscape here, and not much else.



---- ****---- ____ ----**** ****---- ____ ---- **** ----


Spoiler Lycalidk :


Lycalidk warriors charging

Very man-like in that they stand upright on their hind legs, and have opposable digits, however with the face and body of a great hyena or dire wolf. The average Lycalidk stands on its hind legs at 6'8", and has, at least when compared to the human limb, abnormally long arms. Their thick fur coats range from brown to grey to black, and are usually shed for white new growth in the hotter months. Their eyes are usually black or brown, but in very rare instances are blue.

CLothing is seldom worn by the Lycalidk save for leather loins or armor in combat or on the hunt.

Natural herders of sheep and goats, they have in the eons past lost most of their feral instinct, and innate speed. Their superhuman strength has remained, however, as well as thick coats of brown to grey to black fur. They usually live in small tribes along the W'tawni river, and never organize large cities of their own. The more peaceful of these born warriors has been spotted in the markets of human cities, trading luxuries, though.

The Lycalidk native tongue sounds much like a combination between the baying of a donkey and the shrieking of a prairie dog, but in recent memory they have adapted a gravelly Kaulic, emphasizing the longer vowels.

Military
Lycalidk infantry are armed with wooden spears, the odd well-trained bow, and their fangs and claws. They make powerful shock troops.

Lycalidk navies consist of large, crude rafts, fashioned mainly from twigs and fallen branches, used only for crossing rivers at narrow points.


Spoiler Kaul :


Kaulic children playing drums

The average Kaul stands at 5'5", has a dark complexion, and has hair varying from blonde to brown to black.

Kaul wear silks in the hot, wet summers and leathers or wools in the cool, wet winters.

Kaul are natural hunters and traders, and dealing with many different people (such as the aggressive Lycalidk or the finnicky Lavran) has made them adept at getting what they want out of a trading deal. Many fur trappers have a good life trading with the Lavran who send the goods across the seas, however agriculture, mining and fishing make up the majority of the economy of the average Kaulic village.

Military
Kaulic infantry are armed with wooden spears and the occasional bow, making them a good overall unit, but very good at raiding.

Kaulic navies consist of river-worthy ships (usually hewn from one single tree trunk) and rafts, but few if any ocean-going vessels.


Spoiler Symohook :


A Symphook mother and her chick

Symphook are identical in appearance to the giant flightless Moa bird, towering 10 feet into the air including necks, 6 feed for their 'shoulder' height. Their feathers range in color from whites to blacks to blues and browns, while their beaks are uniformly brown.

Symphook have no need nor real concept of clothing for themselves. In the cool winters they grow a layer of warm downy feathers which come moltseason they sell to Lavran traders for exotic jeweleries, fish and goods. While no agriculture has developped, a fairly advanced form of aquaculture has: large fish harvests and the culling of tadpoles as delicacies in small streams and ponds in and around the Symphook mainland.

Military
Symphook infantry generally wear leather and are armed with simple wooden spear. They are good for charging.


Spoiler Uneguk :


An Uneguk family outside of their home

Uneguk, on average, stand a head shorter than their mainland counterparts, at 5'3". Their skin and hair are darkened and weathered, usually twisted into three or four long, tight braids.

Uneguk generally wear leather to protect them from the harsh weather of the islands, but cotton is common and is used to insulate their often temporary stone or woven wood homes.

Seafaring comes naturally to the Uneguk, and trading their "exotic" dyes and pearls to the Lavran has become a steady mainstay of their economies. Agriculture has begun to rise as a viable means of sustenance, however the endless bounties of the sea have never failed them and the Uneguk are not big on quick change.

Military
Uneguk Infantry are armed with short stone sword-like weapons known as Kuali (meaning sharp) and long wooden throwing spear and throwers known as Atatl. They are good for tight fighting in mountainous regions as well as amphibious landing.


Spoiler Issith :


Issith broodwarriors putting on brave faces

The average male Issith warrior stands at a mere 5'10", whereas their Den or Queen Mothers stand at a towering 7'4", a full head and a half taller than their children/mates. Their scales vary from dark green on the younger males to green-blue or even dark blue on the older mated males, and green on the younger females to green with purple trim on the older den mothers.

Issith wear little more than protective armor during the summer, and everything from furs to leathers to living mammals in the deathly cold winters, if they need to venture from their holes.

Issith settlements are ruled by a single Queen Mother usually, and all of its male inhabitants (of which make up 99% of the population) are either the brood or adopted children of that particular Queen, and their loyalties lie only to her. Supposedly. Being carnivores, their main source of food is hunting game (whether that be bear, buck or human), or having slaves tend flocks of cattle. That being said, they have a certain amount of dependancy on their fellow creatures; being cold-blooded, they are fairly unlikely sea-farers and are insistantly terrified of open water. Often, to cross great bodies or fast-moving rivers, they have to hire (also not eat, and -be nice to-) non-Issith mercenaries to build sturdy bridges or ferry them across, which has caused many an Issith Queen no end of headaches.

Raiding outlying villages provides a large amount of wealth to pay these mercenaries, and a lot of other things as well.

The Issith languages are heavy on the extended S's, as is cliched and made fun of in many human communities. It also involves a series of inter-connected hisses and clicks all but immitatable by the human mouth, but Issith have learned to associate certain human consonants with their clicks, and have attempted on countless occasions to immitate them. For their own personal amusement, of course.

Military
Issith Infantry are well-armed with wooden spears and obsidian axes. They are good for ambushes and extended combat.

One of the continents.

Will be posted on the first page for those wishing to get a quick rundown on each group of people. I try not to reference local factions as they will obviously change throughout the game.
Nice work- I think it looks good so far. :)
 
Nice work Eltain :)

Just a tip. The spelling is Stymphok, just so you know. ;)
 
But that's hard to spell :( I'll change it. No WONDER I couldn't find any of my info on my computer.
 
Edit: Also I'm thinking of doing away with navy descriptions, and instead allowing/disallowing certain types of peoples to build certain types of ships. IE:

Greek factions have access to Rafts, Triremes, Galleys, or any Ramships
Polynesian factions have access to Rafts, Canoes, Pontoon Canoes, or any single tree ships.

That might make it sort of gamey though. As it is certain types of factions have to hire expensive mercenaries to have good navies. Issith for example simply refuse to be cold water sailors. No major oceangoing vessels that aren't manned an captained by non-Issith. Any thoughts, anyone?

(For those who don't know, Issith are cold-blooded lizardmen.)

Edit2: Whoops, this is a new post, not an edit. Sorry.
 
Here is CatNES draft 0. Comment please. Last two sections are a list and a map, and will be compiled some other day. Note: I try to implement a D&D-like system without having ever played/learned D&D.


Game-type
Fresh-start-ish / leaning heavily towards the D&D side / open world / heavy NPC interaction / light background railroading

Setting
I’m wanting something that more or less restricts the players to my map, but I don’t want the players to start with larger-than-small sections of the map explored. Best I’ve come up with so far is ~2 newly constructed/populated suburb neighborhoods as the Chinas of the map, with some other interesting features between and around them. This would make for an interesting setting and could explain why the “pet’ cats are fresh-starting, but I would need some reason for why the feral/vagabond haven’t explored large swathes of the map (though they would start with comparatively more map exploration than the “pet” cats, naturally). One way of fixing that would be to put them all by the map edges, but that doesn’t explain why they couldn’t just spend lots of time outside the map in their old territories (which I don’t want happening).

Stats
Spoiler Sample stats :

Name: Bob
STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA: 7 (6) / 9 (5) / 9 (8) / 13 (11) / 5 (1) / 14 (9)
Experience: 4 / 7
HP: 5 / Hunger: -2 / Fatigue: -12
Irritability: 2 (6)
Wound recovery: 2 (-1)
Spoiler Traits :

Wounded [front right leg, front right paw, front left paw]
Local infection X 1
Unkempt X 1
Outside cat
Genetic resistance to FeLV
Strong immune system
Old age X 1
Stealthy
Paranoid
Day-walker

Spoiler Map :
Map goes here
Key goes here


First there’s your standard base attributes: STRength, DEXterity, CONstitution, INTelligence, WISdom, and CHArisma. Taken from D&D, they fulfill the same role as in D&D. The base stats are almost perpetually static, though there are plenty of traits that modify them. In order of ease of change, the base attributes go CON > STR > DEX > WIS with CHA and INT only modifiable via traits, though even for base CON changes will be very rare.

What can, and will, change over time is the experience stat, subdivided into cat experience and human experience. The experience stat will give bonuses to rolls across the board, with large bonuses going to a handful of actions such as passive dodge or advanced combat tactics for cat experience, and pilfering or begging for human experience.

Next are the meter bars: hit points, hunger, and fatigue. HP is bounded by the character’s CON score. At 0 HP the character passes out, at negative CON/4 HP the character dies. Hunger is bounded at a max of 5 and decreases by roughly 5 points per 12 hours. At -30 hunger the character passes out, and all non-zero hunger levels modify stats. Fatigue is bounded at a max of 5, decreases by roughly 5 points per 12 waking hours, and replenishes by roughly 5 points per 12 sleeping hours. At -20 fatigue the character falls asleep, and all non-zero sleep levels modify stats.

After that there’s a couple of specific-use, highly variant base stats: irritability and wound recovery. Irritability affects the periodic irritability roll, which determines whether or not your character randomly lashes out against a nearby entity (be it another cat, a leaf, or even a human). It’s chiefly modified by hunger then fatigue, in addition to the base attributes and several traits. Wound recovery affects the periodic injury rolls, which determine whether your injuries get better or worse. It’s chiefly modified by present injuries, fatigue, and constitution.

Finally there's a list of the traits the character currently has, as well as a map depicting the character's knowledge of its surroundings.

Attributes
Starting attributes
Players will have ~14 points to spend on attributes on gamestart. Default base attributes are 7/7/7/7/7/7.
Spoiler ”Race” :

Vagabond: +2 to human experience, +2 to cat experience, +2 to pilfering and trash-digging rolls, -3 Charisma, +1 hunger, +1 fatigue.
Feral cat: +4 to cat experience, +2 to hunting rolls, +1 STR, +1 DEX, +2 WIS.
Outside cat: +4 to human experience, +2 to begging rolls, starts with one house.
Inside cat: +8 to human experience, -4 to cat experience, -4 to hunting rolls, starts with one house I don’t think inside cats can be worked into CatNES, so I’ll likely just leave them out

Spoiler Positive :

2 – +1 to STR, DEX, CON, WIS, INT, or CHA. Can be taken multiple times.
3 – Genetic resistance to FeLV: +5 to FeLV rolls.
3 – Genetic resistance to FIV: +5 to FIV rolls.
3 – Strong immune system: +2 to all infection/disease rolls.
2 – Stealthy: increases various rolls.

Spoiler Mixed :

2 – Old: +2 to human experience, +2 to cat experience, -1 STR, -1 DEX, +1 WIS, -1 to human-related CHA rolls. Can be taken twice, cannot be taken with Young.
2 – Young: -2 to human experience, -2 to cat experience, -1 STR, -1 DEX, -1 WIS, +1 CHA, +3 to human-related CHA rolls. Can be taken twice, cannot be taken with Old.
2 – Daywalker: sleep is 25% more effective during day, 25% less effective during night, -2 to fatigue.
2 – Nightwalker: sleep is 25% more effective during night, 25% less effective during day, -2 to fatigue.
2 – Paranoid: +1 WIS, +2 Irritability, increases various rolls, decreases various rolls.

Spoiler Negative :



Other attributes
Spoiler :

Unkempt: -1 CHA, -2 to human interaction rolls, -4 to animal shelter avoidance rolls.
Groomed: +1 CHA, +2 to human interaction rolls, +4 to animal shelter avoidance rolls.
Collar: +10 to animal shelter avoidance rolls, roll DEX+Irritability every six hours to take it off.
Local infection: -1 CON, -1 HP, +1 irritability, goes away if modified wound recovery roll is a 10 or higher, turns into extensive infection if it’s 5 or less. Can have up to 3 times; a 4th automatically grants extensive infection.
Extensive infection: -2 CON, -2 HP, -1 DEX, -1 STR, +2 irritability, +2 fatigue, goes away if modified wound recovery roll is a 15 or higher, turns into local infection if modified recovery roll is 10 or higher, turns into widespread infection if it’s 5 or less. Can have up to 3 times; a 4th automatically grants widespread infection.
Widespread infection: -6 CON, -6 HP, -2 DEX, -4 STR, +4 irritability, +5 fatigue, turns into extensive infection if modified wound recovery roll is a 15 or higher, incapacitates target if it’s 8 or less.
Human injury care: +5 to wound recovery rolls, cannot leave house for that 12-hour period.
Veterinary injury care: +10 to wound recovery rolls, cannot leave house for that 12-hour period.

Map overview



Edit 1:
About leveling. From the above, the only way to really level is through the experience trait. This would definitely not be it; I intend for progress to work more or less as in NESes: territory expansion and securing valuable resources. The experience trait will change far slower than territory will too.

Edit 2:
Irritability was a random thing I decided to throw in because cats do that. Game-wise it stops characters from taking hunger/sleep gambits: the -30/-20 limits are not really supposed to be reachable other than in very niche cases. I've half a mind to simply take it out and make hunger/sleep hit stats harder instead.

Edit 3:
Is there any real reason to distinguish between base attributes and modified attributes?..

Edit4:
Edited a handful of traits in.
 
For elections, do you feel like it is better to let the players choose who wins (with the mod determining the appropriate effects on the nation, like any dissent) or allow the mod to determine the winner? If you believe in the latter, how should the mod determine the winner? Should it be based on the player's previous actions, the nation's response to player's actions, etc?
 
If the mod decides when the player's peeps are fed up and revolt they should decide which elected official will be put in, based on the player's past actions, etc.
 
Players should have the ability to choose, but mods can overrule this decision if the results are massively improbable, or they can give stability/confidence hits to nations which re-elect unpopular parties. A lot of it depends on the style of NES, to be honest.
 
I agree with Iggy, it depends entirely on the style of the NES. What I had meant was 'if it is in the style of the NES to have revolts based on unpopular actions, I think it is also in the style to have the officials picked by the people.'

It also depends on the mod obviously and I was just giving my opinion, not trying to say 'this is how it should be darnit'.
 
The problem with having elected officials chosen by the people is that NESers who are not very good at roleplaying will not actually change their policy to suit the new government. It also dampens the sense of connection between the NESer and the thing that the NESer is playing.

Of course, this just brings us to the question of who, exactly, a NESer is playing as in a given NES. The head of state? The head of government? The ruling party or dynasty? The whole state? Or some sort of gestalt consciousness of a given society? The answer to that - assuming there is an answer, and most mods don't give one - depends on the NES.
 
For me it depends on the player. Some players (such as myself) like playing personalities. Others just like playing as the society in general.
That just makes things more confusing.
 
I don't see how? Example in Absolution, Eltain's Shamans are merely names and are almost exactly the same-he clearly plays as his country. Meanwhile, I play almost specifically as personalities (as well as in nearly every other NES I participate in). Unless a NES specifies, that's just how it goes.
 
I don't see how? Example in Absolution, Eltain's Shamans are merely names and are almost exactly the same-he clearly plays as his country. Meanwhile, I play almost specifically as personalities (as well as in nearly every other NES I participate in). Unless a NES specifies, that's just how it goes.
Yeah, see, that's absolutely not what I'm talking about. Both of you have control over pretty much everything, but you choose to emphasize different aspects of that control for role-playing purposes.
 
@Eltain: Augh, jesus I want to play in the NES so bad :C
 
Aiiiiight there's one player11
 
Mod or whatever they refer to themselves as.

Also, spoiler!

Spoiler Shakar :

Shakar,
the Dark Continent



Artist's representation

Shakar is the smallest of the three continents, and by far the most isolated. Although once connected to the other two by a land bridge separating the Western Ocean from the Centrel Sea, a great flood smashed away portions of it, creating the island of Lavra.

Most of the northern coast of Shakar is tropical, with lots of rainfall, hot summer days, and endless sunshine. Not many monsoons make it this far off the Tempest sea, but the occasional hurricane is not unheard of. Racially, northern Shakar is split pretty evenly between Issith and Lavran.

The rest of Shakar is split in two by the Cold Mountains. The west coast is warm in the north but gets gradually cooler as we head south. Likewise, the populace changes from primarily Symphok in the north to more Lycalidk and Kaul in the south. Hurricanes are extremely common along the coast, and regularly travel inland.

The eastern half of the continent is barren, comparably. The high grasslands turn to cold deserts, and then lifeless tundras as we head even further south. Tough Issith nomadic tribes crawl the landscape here, and not much else.



---- ****---- ____ ----**** ****---- ____ ---- **** ----


Spoiler Lycalidk :


Lycalidk warriors charging

Very man-like in that they stand upright on their hind legs, and have opposable digits, however with the face and body of a great hyena or dire wolf. The average Lycalidk stands on its hind legs at 6'8", and has, at least when compared to the human limb, abnormally long arms. Their thick fur coats range from brown to grey to black, and are usually shed for white new growth in the hotter months. Their eyes are usually black or brown, but in very rare instances are blue.

CLothing is seldom worn by the Lycalidk save for leather loins or armor in combat or on the hunt.

Natural herders of sheep and goats, they have in the eons past lost most of their feral instinct, and innate speed. Their superhuman strength has remained, however, as well as thick coats of brown to grey to black fur. They usually live in small tribes along the W'tawni river, and never organize large cities of their own. The more peaceful of these born warriors has been spotted in the markets of human cities, trading luxuries, though.

The Lycalidk native tongue sounds much like a combination between the baying of a donkey and the shrieking of a prairie dog, but in recent memory they have adapted a gravelly Kaulic, emphasizing the longer vowels.

Military
Lycalidk infantry are armed with wooden spears, the odd well-trained bow, and their fangs and claws. They make powerful shock troops.

Lycalidk navies consist of large, crude rafts, fashioned mainly from twigs and fallen branches, used only for crossing rivers at narrow points.


Spoiler Kaul :


Kaulic children playing drums

The average Kaul stands at 5'5", has a dark complexion, and has hair varying from blonde to brown to black.

Kaul wear silks in the hot, wet summers and leathers or wools in the cool, wet winters.

Kaul are natural hunters and traders, and dealing with many different people (such as the aggressive Lycalidk or the finnicky Lavran) has made them adept at getting what they want out of a trading deal. Many fur trappers have a good life trading with the Lavran who send the goods across the seas, however agriculture, mining and fishing make up the majority of the economy of the average Kaulic village.

Military
Kaulic infantry are armed with wooden spears and the occasional bow, making them a good overall unit, but very good at raiding.

Kaulic navies consist of river-worthy ships (usually hewn from one single tree trunk) and rafts, but few if any ocean-going vessels.


Spoiler Symohook :


A Symphook mother and her chick

Symphook are identical in appearance to the giant flightless Moa bird, towering 10 feet into the air including necks, 6 feed for their 'shoulder' height. Their feathers range in color from whites to blacks to blues and browns, while their beaks are uniformly brown.

Symphook have no need nor real concept of clothing for themselves. In the cool winters they grow a layer of warm downy feathers which come moltseason they sell to Lavran traders for exotic jeweleries, fish and goods. While no agriculture has developped, a fairly advanced form of aquaculture has: large fish harvests and the culling of tadpoles as delicacies in small streams and ponds in and around the Symphook mainland.

Military
Symphook infantry generally wear leather and are armed with simple wooden spear. They are good for charging.


Spoiler Uneguk :


An Uneguk family outside of their home

Uneguk, on average, stand a head shorter than their mainland counterparts, at 5'3". Their skin and hair are darkened and weathered, usually twisted into three or four long, tight braids.

Uneguk generally wear leather to protect them from the harsh weather of the islands, but cotton is common and is used to insulate their often temporary stone or woven wood homes.

Seafaring comes naturally to the Uneguk, and trading their "exotic" dyes and pearls to the Lavran has become a steady mainstay of their economies. Agriculture has begun to rise as a viable means of sustenance, however the endless bounties of the sea have never failed them and the Uneguk are not big on quick change.

Military
Uneguk Infantry are armed with short stone sword-like weapons known as Kuali (meaning sharp) and long wooden throwing spear and throwers known as Atatl. They are good for tight fighting in mountainous regions as well as amphibious landing.


Spoiler Issith :


Issith broodwarriors putting on brave faces

The average male Issith warrior stands at a mere 5'10", whereas their Den or Queen Mothers stand at a towering 7'4", a full head and a half taller than their children/mates. Their scales vary from dark green on the younger males to green-blue or even dark blue on the older mated males, and green on the younger females to green with purple trim on the older den mothers.

Issith wear little more than protective armor during the summer, and everything from furs to leathers to living mammals in the deathly cold winters, if they need to venture from their holes.

Issith settlements are ruled by a single Queen Mother usually, and all of its male inhabitants (of which make up 99% of the population) are either the brood or adopted children of that particular Queen, and their loyalties lie only to her. Supposedly. Being carnivores, their main source of food is hunting game (whether that be bear, buck or human), or having slaves tend flocks of cattle. That being said, they have a certain amount of dependancy on their fellow creatures; being cold-blooded, they are fairly unlikely sea-farers and are insistantly terrified of open water. Often, to cross great bodies or fast-moving rivers, they have to hire (also not eat, and -be nice to-) non-Issith mercenaries to build sturdy bridges or ferry them across, which has caused many an Issith Queen no end of headaches.

Raiding outlying villages provides a large amount of wealth to pay these mercenaries, and a lot of other things as well.

The Issith languages are heavy on the extended S's, as is cliched and made fun of in many human communities. It also involves a series of inter-connected hisses and clicks all but immitatable by the human mouth, but Issith have learned to associate certain human consonants with their clicks, and have attempted on countless occasions to immitate them. For their own personal amusement, of course.

Military
Issith Infantry are well-armed with wooden spears and obsidian axes. They are good for ambushes and extended combat.

One of the continents.

Will be posted on the first page for those wishing to get a quick rundown on each group of people. I try not to reference local factions as they will obviously change throughout the game.

This seems awesome!

Also, immac will probably love the Issith.
 
Thank you for the compliment! All of the races/peoples are player-made, as well as the map. I just compiled it all. I am 2/3 of the way done with the second (of 3 1/2) continent in the write-up style and about the same for stats. All I have to do after that is write a 'summary' of recent events (Update 0?) which (projectedly) won't take long.

What is your favorite of the list races, by the way?

Edit: nutranurse, I am looking forward to you and your Green Dreamer wannabes when you finally save up enough for your new computer. A new crusade against anybody foolish enough to live on the Tempest Coast while you're around. Muahahahaha.

Edit2: I can't frigigng remember the Swiech word for the Tempest Sea :( Darn you PM and not e-mailed orders!
 
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