I am thinking of starting a game, first tell me your interest...

Kaenash

Warlord
Joined
Nov 13, 2001
Messages
121
Here is my criteria to evaluate a game to run, you decide if this will work for you and provide a little constructive feedback, please.

1- "Rules Lite": I want the game to be easy to manage and run, but at the same time encompass all the strategic decisions that need to be made. It makes no sense to me to run an industrial nation if you only consider money as the resource, however I do not need to track how many tires they produce. So whatever game I create must be fairly simple to understand and manage the information.

A good rule of thumb is if I am crunching more numbers than a CIV IV game, its too much for Play-By-Post.

2- "Cool and Fun": Should be a fun setting to play, should make you feel like this is fun to you. If I set up a parliamentary game where you make policies and laws, will there be enough going on in addition to that, to make it enjoyable to play?

3- "Should not take more than 2 hours a week": GM burn out is a big problem. Should not take MORE than 2 hours a week to manage the game. If I am spending more than this willingly fine, but if I want to maintain it doesn't take that long. If I create 10 individual mini-games where each player manages their own domain this can often increase the time spent on the game. I need to find a good balance that gives everyone more time to focus on the big events together and roleplay their solution.

Here is a partial list of game ideas I have had:

1- Each player is a member of the Empyerean Council, you are a Preist or Mage sent by the Emperor to rule over a newly conquered land. You will each have a 'Household' of Armsmen and Heroes and only the resources will be Quoryx Chrystal, Scolls, Reagents, etc. very Wizardly based. This would be set in the Fall From Heaven Further Mythos/game world very closely. (not exact)

2- Each player is a Knight in a Jolly-Old England style Ivanhoe type game. Same premise, the King wants you to settle the borderlands between his kingdom and Durenor. Now I can remove having the players have to deal with magic and focus on saving damsels, fighting giants and questing as well as running their own kingdom together.

This game would be strongly based on "Castles I" by Interplay if you remember that game. I may include some aspects of magic or goblyns but they would be rare and mystical like Merlin or Morganna are in the King Aurthur mythos. Something generally outside the players direct control.

The question is scope.

How I see it going is possibly one of two ways:

In the start the player controls a broken down border keep and a few surrounding villages, the only real resource we track is Currency. I give them an idea of how much their supplies are and how much it costs to recruit and arm a new man-at-arms.

This let's me put the players directly in matters as simple as "The Masons" won't finish their work because Sunday is holy to them, or your wardens found a poacher on your lands.

The other is to increase the scale to a more epic size, where you are dealing with barons and lords and more sizable strategic level thinking.

Of all the settings this one to me is the easiest to get started on.

3- Each player is an Adventurer and you've all settled down after many years adventuring. The Dwarven Warrior, the Elven Lord, the Magi, The Halfing Rogue, the Paladin, Ranger and the Priest. You each run a small holding near one another.

This campaign flaw is that now you have a lot more mini-games going.

4- It's 1585 and the Spanish succesfully invaded England. The wind shifted in the right direction that day and you are one of the Spanish Dukes or Nobles put in charge of a Regency Council while King Phillip decides what to do with England. Queen Elizabeth is thought dead and potentially King James of Scotland will be placed on the throne. In the meantime you all take the roles of Lord Protector or some powerful position and jockey for power. Spanish Tercios take the field. This game would be midly ahistorical, and have a "Tudors" on showtime feel to it (Sort of how the movies treat history) so that you can hire Da Vinci or employ Machiavelli, or deal with figures from history.

5- Evil Genius: The players are Masterminds within a Supervillain organization circa 1987. You have access to super computers and are based on an Island in the carribean. You must plot and plan and use your minions to engage in nefarious schemes.

6- Evil Genius +: The game makes the assumption that you managed to sieze control of the United States, now what? You are part of an organization running it...what do you do with it?

7- Machinae: The player is an AI awakened at a robotic controlled bunker. You have one resource, some sort of uber-inflation-protected economic unit that the station overriding Super-AI uses to measure its resources/work costs. The Super AI uses you all to vett it's ideas and plans as a matter of protocol, you have no physical form, you are simply a set of morals coded into the computer a shadow of the person who you were based on. You must now make contact with civilization (or not) and decide how to handle things.
Warning: The world outside maybe like in Fallout or Gamma World type setting.
The downside here is that players can be disconnected because they have no physical form. They can't marry or fall in love, they can't watch in pride as their son becomes a man.


8-Overlord: In this game, you are a Wizard or an Orc Warlord or something, and you run a small dungeon with the other players, This is a game where periodically a band of adventurers will decide to invade your domain and you react, or you want to go burn out the elves of Eversmile down below so you prepare your armies.

I could also do a few other settings, but these are the ones I am willing to discuss.
 
You've got a big range of ideas here, should have done a poll. If you decide on running a more RP style game I might run a game based on what I was saying in our PM convo. Anyway, these ideas sound pretty good, you may want to run one of the more smaller scale games though as this will be your first time at GMing a game on the forum. If you run an RPG then you might want to speak to zxcvbnm, who is running erebus and erebus 2, he might be able to give you any advice or whatever.
 
I wold like a RPG set in England, but I want the dark, ravaged, pre-Normans England, none of that Jolly-Old-England crap tyvm.
 
I'd join any of them, but my main preferences are:
-5
-1
-3
-4
 
When I say "Jolly Old England" what I really mean is the High Middle Ages, the time of Royal Tournaments, Ivanhoe, Robin Hood. When the Longbow and Knight ruled the battlefield and castles weren't obsolete barriers for the Gunpowder age.

If we go with the 1585 scenario, the Spanish Tercio (Pikeman/Musketeer) will have become dominant on the battlefield.

Yesterday I went to the gamestore to get a few things to inspire me, I grabbed Ars Magica and a few board games, so stay tuned.

Does anyone have any experience with the site www.rpol.net?

I am not sure I want to play the game primarily in the same message thread competing with other messages from other games. I am excited about this idea though.
 
I have not completed the rest of the game design this is just a preview of my rough draft.
STILL TO BE COMPLETED:
Details of each household
More detail on the skill list and what happens each year to determine child birth/skill increase
Economics of England
Dueling Rules
Military Combat Resolution
Titles and their function

Welcome to a Role playing game of “What-If”, in this game you will take the role of a Patrician of a Noble Family that is part of a Regency Council ruling over England.

The Year is 1588, it is a time deep within the renaissance when great advancements within Science, Culture and Religion were taking place. The game is not entirely historically accurate, in fact poetic license has been taken and the best analogy I have for you is to consider how the movies may treat this time period. If you are familiar with the showtime feature “The Tudors” or even those old classic movies of daring swashbucklers and musketeers.

The reality of what happened was that King Philip II of Spain had been king consort of England until the death, in 1558, of his wife, Queen Mary I of England, and he took exception to the policies pursued by her successor, his sister-in-law Elizabeth I. The aim of his expedition was to invade and conquer England, thereby suppressing support for the United Provinces – that part of the Spanish Netherlands in possession of the Dutch rebels – and cutting off attacks by the English against Spanish possessions in the New World and against the Atlantic treasure fleets. The king was supported by Pope Sixtus V, who treated the invasion as a crusade, with the promise of a further subsidy should the Armada make land.

The fleet set out with 22 warships of the Spanish Royal Navy and 108 converted merchant vessels, with the intention of sailing through the English Channel to anchor off the coast of Flanders, where the Duke of Parma's army of tercios would stand ready for an invasion of the south-east of England.

The Armada achieved its first goal and anchored outside Gravelines, at the coastal border area between France and the Spanish Netherlands. While awaiting communications from Parma's army, it was driven from its anchorage by an English fire ship attack, and in the ensuing battle at Gravelines the Spanish were forced to abandon their rendezvous with Parma's army.

However, some say if the wind had just shifted a little that day in August, the invasion may have succeeded. Conquest wouldn't have been totally necessary as there would have been local nobles and city garrisons willing to accept King Phillips coin for their surrender.

So in this game, we say the wind did shift that day. That day Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake who valiantly led the British Naval Forces could not turn the tide of battle and your side, the Royal Spanish side was victorious.

It has only been a few months. Queen Elizabeth and her court has been scattered, although the Queen's body has not been discovered. No heir is readily apparent and as her death has not been confirmed at this time, you reign in full stead as the sovereign council over England.

King Phillip has placed Duke Alexander Farnese as Governer over his dutch holdings, but makes no claim to the Throne of England. Instead, he only seeks that it name a true Catholic Sovereign ruler. He has entrusted you to rule until such time as a Ruler is named.


(Note: One player will be the Son of Duke Farnese, ruling in England for his Father)

Overview of Play:

This game is not intended to be an exercise in Micromanagement or accounting. One key aspect of GM burn-out in games is trying to run six or seven separate “Mini-Games” by having each of you run your own separate empires.
Instead, I propose a game that should require no more than 2 hours a week of time to maintain or play and that while there are quantifiable game mechanics, this should be a simple system to track and maintain (Yet fairly realistic). To that end, I've simplified some aspect of economics. I have prepared fairly detailed rules in regards to economics, law and military action however you may find I have simplified the system as a form of poetic license.

The intent is to provide you with an interesting challenge to roleplay: You must work with Five other players who have have their own agendas to rule the nation under a Regency Council. In that time you can gain vast amounts of wealth of power for yourself and your family and/or you can return England to it's position as a world power.

Unlike roleplaying games where you decide to attack the Orc, scale the tower, save the damsel and steal the dragons treasure, this is a game of politics, intrigue, economics and morality. You will be asked to decide matters of law. The burgers and merchants of the age seek more rights and privileges, this is a time when religion is in direct conflict withs science, when military tradition of Castles and Knights are still employed on the same field with musketeers and cannon-shot on the battlefield. It is a time when you will be asked to make important decisions and eloquent speech, or to be the velvet glove behind the decisions.

It is a “Thinking” persons roleplaying game. As GM I will provide you with situations and events that you will be able to use your vast resources to deal with. Instead of drawing a blade and doing battle with the Evil Knight though, you may more likely send your spymaster or negotiate to marry your daughter to the foreign court.

This is a game where you play not only yourself, but the “Patrician” of your family, and as head of that family you do have a lot of authority in the choice of career or spouse, but ultimately they are people with freewill and they may choose to ignore your will, be careful though in how you manage these people for as your blood, they can be your most loyal advisors (and if you should die in the game, you will play your heir).


The Regency Council

In this game you can hold only one Title, in this case one of the six high offices of the regency council.


Lord Chancellor (Secretary of State/Keeper of the Seals)
Lord High Treasurer
Lord Protector
Earl Marshall
Lord High Admiral
Lord High Constable

The Lord Chancellor is elected by the other members of the Regency Council and the Chancellor than assigns the other Title as they see fit to the other members of the Regency Council.

Most of the game will be played from the Palace of Westminster in England, where you shall be given reports of your forces and decisions, but in the course of the game you may certainly leave and go about affairs on your own.

Each of these positions guarantees you a place on the “Regency Council” which rules in the stead of a Sovereign Crown. There is a “Charter of the Regency” in place to determine how you shall govern, and changes to this can only be made with the permission of King Phillip II of Spain.
In addition, the King has reinstated a new Parliament with limited authority. This is made up of two houses, “The House of Lords” which is by invitation to those of noble birth and “The House of Commons” which is made up of Burgers and Merchants. These groups will occasionally provide you with new laws that they wish you to decide upon (by vote).

This body elects a spokesman, currently Lord Great Chamberlain William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley who will act as your advisor, he bears the sword of state and will preside over the next coronation in a ceremonial capacity. He was an advisor to the previous monarch and does bear some watching, however King Phillip is a man who sometimes brings his enemies close for such a purpose.

A quick guide to each Title of High Office:

Lord Chancellor (Secretary of State/Keeper of the Seals): will gain the most authority in the course of the game. They lead the council and generally put forth matters to vote upon.

Lord High Treasurer: In matters of taxation and economics the high treasurer appoints and controls the taxmen and excise/toll roads. This is a path to extreme wealth.

Lord Protector: The Lord Protector will maintain the royal stables and as such commands the Royal Cavalry, in addition to a stipend from the government in Military Arms. The Lord Protector is the only one who can create mounted troops (but he can grant these troops to other players)

Earl Marshall: The Earl Marshall commands the militia and standing Royal Army, in addition to a stipend from the government in Military Arms. The Earl Marshall has access to the very best troops and stores and their units will always have a bonus in combat.

Lord High Admiral: The High Admiral commands the Royal Navy (what is left of it), in addition to a stipend from the government in Military and Naval Arms. The Lord high admiral is the only one who can build military warships of all the players (but they can grant these to other players)

Lord High Constable: The highest law enforcement official in the land. You work hand in hand with the Lord High Treasurer to maintain order, but it is you who manage the roadwardens and town watches. You also manage and look after the Bailiffs of each of the seven provinces. You will assign the Bailiffs of each of the seven provinces (Very powerful titles, best to spread these around to other households besides your own)

This is just a quick guide on each of these Titles, more will be forthcoming on them, as well as the Titles they can appoint, and exactly how much the Title pays.


Each of you will start the game by Selecting one of the Six Ruling Families:


Robert Dudley-1st Earl of Leicester
Don Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno -Duke of Medina Sidonia
Hercule François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon
Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma
Archduke Rudolf II of Habsburg
William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle

Each of these individuals were handpicked by King Phillip II and his advisors to due to their actions in the invasion or leading up to it to be on the Regency Council (Even though many of them are not native to England itself).

As a Patrician you will also have 10-20 family members and your own personal advisors that serve you. This will be referred to in future as your “Noble Household” and over the course of the game as people die/are born into it or present themselves for recruitment you shall have a chance to manage that household to your pleasure.

I will go into detail on each family and their reasons for being chosen in a seperate post.

Each Male is rated in the following attributes, from 1-10

Nobility-
Marshall-
Admiral-
Stewardship-
Courtier-
Dread-
Scholar-
Faith-
Rake-
Discipline-
Age-

Each Female is rated in the following attributes

Beauty-
Charm-
Wisdom-
Chastity-
Faith-
Age-

This is due to the fact that at this time, even though women can be head of state, the attributes that best represent them are fewer than their male counterparts. (Call me a mysogynist or a student of history if you will)

It is also possible that notable figures of court will have a “Skill” in this game a Skill generally affects what kind of specialty knowledge you can have, but it could also be a personality flaw or notable trait such as drinks heavily or scandalous reputation.

Here is a quick definition of each of the Attributes:

Nobility- This represents the general education of all noblemen in conduct as well as sport such as hunting, riding, and dueling. (There is a dueling mini-game). It is also used for health and virility checks (as you age this value may be reduced).

Marshall- This is added in land combat to any dice when you are in a leadership role. It reflects your skill at commanding troops in battle, and to add your score you must be in a key leadership role.

Admiral- This is as with the Marshall skill, except in matters naval.

Stewardship- This represents your ability to manage a court or kingdom, negotiate with merchants and the business of actually running a kingdom.

Courtier- This is your charm and wit and ability to be revered at court, to gather information, to be diplomatic, to seduce women or ally with others. It is not necessarily tied to looks however a honeyed-toungue or a charming smile never hurts. Some one with a high Courtier skill must remain chivalrous and have a good reputation as well.

Dread- This is the fear and awe you inspire at court and on the battlefield. If you govern a people they fear your iron fist, if you marshall your troops for war they wonder should they fear you more than the enemy.

*The combination of courtier and dread cannot exceed 10.


Scholar- A Man of letters, you've been given a classical education. If you have a 6+ Scholar you can choose one of four backgrounds:
1- Seminary +1 Faith and a solid understanding of the church, its teachings and structure
2- Law: A good understanding of Law and Mathematics.
3- School of Ptolemy, classical training in geography, astronomy and history.
4- Engineering: you have an understanding of how to construct buildings/military siegecraft

Faith- This is more perception of your faith than a measure of it's actual value, even if you give lip service to it only, but are a patron of the church, this value can increase. The Faith of your household equals a certain amount of Piety (A resource)you receive monthly which can be spent to influence the church.

Rake- Lustful liasons with common trollops, drinking and wenching, knowing the best bawdy and ribald tales, the young Rake is a trouble maker to be sure, but in addition to skills such as gambling and telling tales, a Rake with at least a 6+ score is good at skullduggery, poisons and sneaking. A Rake with a 6+ score automatically has a -1 to Courtier (and actions that become common knowledge can result in a further reduction, better to get some one else to do the dirty work for you.)

Discipline-This is a value that is used to measure NPC's loyalty to your household and their assignments and convictions as perceived by you. Someone with a low discipline may be a drunkard or ignore their duties while a high discipline will serve loyally. Rewards may increase this value, but some times absolute power absolutely corrupts!

Rake and Discipline cannot exceed a total of 10. This is because being a Rake means breaking the rules and not being trustworthy.

Age- At 15, a member of your household is considered an adult and between 55-65 they usually retire although it is not unknown for one to live much longer and serve til death.

For women:

Beauty- Unlike the male contemporaries, the female is measured specifically for her beauty and appearance.

Charm- Grace and manners, as well as wit this is the female equivalent of the courtier attribute.

Wisdom- Intelligence and education in women is not as acknowledged and formal as it is for male, but this is the combination of the stewardship and scholar attribute and would be used if a woman were to rule.

Chastity- Strangely, the one attribute many of you may actually wish was lower, the higher this value the more the woman adheres to the notion of chaste virtue, Queen Elizabeth would have had a 10 in this. A lewd woman who takes many secret lovers may have a 3 or lower in this, and a 5 would be a good wife who at least has managed to kept any lovers completely secret.

Faith- This value is the same as for males

Age- at 15 they become adults and marrying age (Yes I am aware that historically it could have happened earlier, but for our purposes we shall say 15). At 35 any unmarried women will join the convent or become a matron in the household and shall be unmarriable (except in special certain circumstances)


Titles

As stated previously, you can personally only hold one “Title”. However, you can have any number of “Appointments” to hand out as you see fit to anyone within your household (or even outside of your household). If the person you 'appoint' can no longer perform those duties, typically you are allowed to retain the appointment and assign it to some one else at your pleasure.

There are four types of Appointments:

Government-
Military-
Ecclesiastic-
Guild-

Government- These are offices such as a Bailiff or Magistrate, in the performance of these duties wealth and power will be returned to the household, but often they themselves can make appointments as well. You may also appoint to diplomatic positions such as envoys to various sovereign nations, as prior diplomats were loyal to Queen Elizabeth they have been dismissed or recalled. Very few have retained their positions either within or outside Brittain.

Military- The default appointment is made at 15 when a male of your household reaches 'adulthood' and can become either a midshipmen, squire, or Aide de camp. However, when raising your own personal troops you can also appoint higher rank such as Captain or Commander.
A midshipmen will serve in the British Navy
A Squire will serve at court with a Knight
An Aide-De-Camp will be a junior Officer in a British Army unit.

At this time the 'standing army' of the crown has been reduced to almost nothing, but there are many loyalist British rebels who may need to be put down and King Phillip has on loan many Spanish “Tercios”. In addition, every member of the regency council will be authorized to raise and maintain their own personal companies of Yeomen and Armsmen for their own personal needs. How you choose to use them will be up to you, but be careful of bringing England to War at this precarious time.

Ecclesiastic-The default appointment is made at 15 when a male or female of your household is assigned to the seminary in exchange for 100 Piety (A resource). However, if you should gain control of a Bishopric or through some special circumstance you could appoint a Cardinal or Bishop. A male will become a priest while a female will become a nun. In time, they can raise to great power, privilege and authority within the Roman Catholic Church and even affect the outcome of the election or become Pope themselves.

While the Protestant faith is alive and well in England thanks in part to a recent Tudor King and Elizabeth herself, the Bishoprics all owe allegiance (at least in name) to the Pope in Rome, one important matter may be to root out religious subversion within the realm.

Guild- The default appointment is made at 15 when a male of your household is assigned to one of the seven key Guilds in the land to learn a trade as an Apprentice. If you should gain control of a Guild you could potentially appoint a Guild Master. Guilds typically control the process to become a journeyman or master and it is very difficult to influence that process, and usually only a “Master” can be appointed a Guild Master. The guilds elect the 78 members of the House of Commons and it is possible also that your appointee could be chosen to be a member.

There are twenty six guilds in total, but there are only seven notable guilds that will be represented in the game (being sort of an amalgamation of their internal alliances)

1- The Stonemasons Guild
2- The Armourers Guild
3- The Craftsmans Guild
4- The Stevedores/Ports Guild
5- The Theatre Guild
6- The Moneylenders Guild
7- The Merchant Venturers Guild

Each of these Guilds will have an elected Guild Leader who shall speak on their behalf and who may want special privileges or even offer to sell their privileges in exchange for specific favors. This is an important component of the game.

There are also foreign guilds (especially those involved in banking) which may in the course of the game interact.

Power Resources

In this game we track seven types of power resources which you earn on a monthly basis:

Wealth (Ducat):
Authority
Piety Influence:
Culture
Invention
intrigue
Military Arms
Naval Power

It is not necessary to track every little workshop or guild you own, but you will have a general idea of where these Resources come from (Suitable to a Patrician such as yourself), you can spend these resources as you see fit.

Deficit Spending and Inflation: DS&I: These concepts do not exist within the game. There is certainly the ability to loan or be loaned resources at interest or without interest in the course of the game, but ultimately you cannot spend what you do not have.

Even the “Wealth” resource is not simply money that you could simply press more of if you were without. It represents a real value of work and labor and therefore you cannot spend more than you have. You could “seize” some one else's wealth and use it as your own, but that has consequences as well.

The game will naturally adjust for inflation in due course, and while the laws of supply and demand are complex, the value of the wealth would be relative to its counterpart in another of the six power resources. So in other words, if 4 Wealth would buy 1 Invention, it will always buy that amount even if the actual value of the 4 wealth went from 20 gold ingots to 40 gold ingots.

BASE CONVERSION RATES:

It is not possible to convert more than 1000 wealth in a given month to any other resource unless you control a special guild or Office.

Wealth can be converted to any of the following:


25: 1 Authority
50: 1 Piety Influence:
20: 1 Culture
50: 1 Invention
2:1 intrigue
1:1 Military Arms
2: 1 Naval Power

So in other words, you could convert 1000 wealth to 500 naval power or 1000 military arms (or some combination).

This is hardly the most economic way to develop resources, it is probably wiser to invest in the production of all the types of resources. To do so, England itself must prosper either internally or with foreign colonies and merchant endeavors.
Your titles shall grant you wealth and periodically the GM will grant you an opportunity to invest in ways to increase overall wealth.

Typically though you must spend to make more wealth, the cost of that investment is often high and it is not as simple as “I spend 20,000 wealth to make 1,000 more wealth a month” (I wish it was). In the beginning the game you will have “Estates” which represents how much you earn a month from all your various holdings and overtime you will have an opportunity to increase.

Common Costs:

Church (Requires a Priest) – 1,000 Piety, 1,000 wealth, 1,000 culture = 100 piety a month
Workshop (Requires an Inventor/Artist) – 1,000 invention, 5,000 wealth, = 100 invention or culture a month
Free Company Yeoman – 1,000 Military Arms, 1200 wealth (and 1200 wealth a year)
Free Company Cavalry – 5,000 Military Arms, 1200 wealth (and 1200 wealth a year)
Free Company Arquebuseers (foot) – 5,000 Military Arms, 1200 wealth (and 1200 wealth a year)
Free Company Cannoneers (heavy bronze) -7,000 military arms, 1200 wealth (and 1200 wealth a year)

Spanish Tercios cannot be created on British Soil

A free company is roughly 1,000 men and comes with a free “Captain” title to appoint.





Here is a quick definition of each of them:

Wealth (Ducat): It is expressed as a “Ducat” which is a general coin of the Italian realm but in addition it reflects luxury items such as gold and gems, and also manpower to actually do work, building supplies and materials, supplies, food, wine, etc.

Wealth is used to 'get things done' except in cases where you must spend one of the resources below.



Authority: Within the government, if you want to create or assign an Office, pass a law, influence an Official through normal channels, you spend “Authority” to get it done. Each of you generate a certain amount of Authority just for holding your position on the Regency Council and you gain the authority from your household as well.

Piety Influence: The PI is your indulgence from the pope. You do good works and be a model prince for the Church and your PI increases. You do bad things and it decreases. It is possible to lose at least 50% of your Piety whenever there is a new pope.

Culture: Statues, Paintings and great works, if you are a patron of the Arts, your Culture will increase. Great men of letters, poets, authors, and other masterworks can be produced for you by simply spending Culture. To sponsor the building of a Cathedral for instance, you will have to spend wealth but also Culture.

Invention: Science is in its early stages. Thaumaturgy is thought to be a real practice, yet in this age it is these great thinkers who receive your patronage in their workshops who research and design for you. Invention can be spent to produce a more efficient cannon or to perhaps even to finish building a University.

intrigue: Your spys and agents gather intelligence for you on a constant basis. Want to buy a rumor of what is happening abroad? Want to infiltrate a foreign court? You spend intrigue to get it done. This can also be spent to obtain blackmarket/illegal goods and services, assasinate, kidnap or intimidate, by some gentlemen with less than honorable reputations. In other words, You say you want it to happen and spend the intrigue and the arrangements will be made.

Military Arms: This is weapons, military tradition and training and manpower all rolled into one. It is the ability to fight a war and typically along with wealth it is needed to maintain an army or siege. You want to recruit a Free Company of Troops? An Officer? You spend Military Arms and from within your 'supply' of this resource one is recruited. It is possible this person was always in your employ, so Military Arms are not just sitting around in a warehouse somewhere, they are probably militia who are at the ready in time of need. As a member of the regency council you take part in the defense of the realm so it is perfectly acceptable to maintain your own personal army for use by the realm.


Naval Power: Like Military Arms, except this can only be deployed at a coastal province and it not only reflects naval ships of war but also merchant ships (Sometimes they are two in the same). The reason this is tracked separately is traditionally both MA and NP are not held by the same people, although all members of the Regency Council should be accumulating some NP for the good of the realm.

In Summary: You will gain these seven resources every month (And so will all of England) to use at your pleasure. You simply say “I want to spend 1,000 Military Arms to create a Company of Yeoman” and it is done.

If you want to build something like a Castle that will take 20 years, your payment can be split up into a monthly cost, so you do not have to pay it all upfront.


(continued- this is just a preview)
 
This is continued from the earlier preview, remember game is not open yet, I am posting for constructive feedback. (don't tell me the rules are too long, please)

Trade Resources


Trade Resources are accumulated by the “Shipload” which coincide with a “Warehouse Load” for easy storage. You can store 1 Trade Resource in 1 Warehouse. You can transport 1 Trade Resource in 1 Cargo hold.

Trade Resources may become available from the new world or foreign ports, these include such things as Slaves, Rum, Fine Wine, Ancient Artifacts, Chocolate, Tobacco, Dye, Incense, Spices, etc.

We do not track more mundane resources such as grain or

Typically the GM will announce there is an auction for X amount of Trade Resources and post the rules of the Auction. These resources can be stored or sold at foreign ports and may have special uses and purposes (Such as to bribe some one, or start your own colony!)

You can generally not simply accumulate these Trade Resources through the course of normal game play and must rely on special auctions when merchants bring them to port. There are exceptions such as through privateers or your own foreign colonies. Some of them are perishable and will go bad in time.

Handy Reference:

1 Trade Resource = 1,000 – 4,000 Wealth at a foreign port
1 Warehouse Costs = 1,000 Wealth
1 War Galleon (Holds 1 cargo) = 4,000 NP
1 Galleon Costs(Holds 1 cargo) = 1,000 NP
1 Merchant Ship (Holds 1 cargo) = 500 NP
1 Sloop (Holds 0 Cargo) = 500 NP
1 Cog (Holds 1 cargo) = 100 NP

*stats on these will be covered under the combat section

Empire Building

At the start of the Game Sovereign England controls seven “Provinces”which shall be known as:

East Anglia TOTAL DISTRICTS: 7
Home Counties (London) TOTAL DISTRICTS: 4
North of England TOTAL DISTRICTS: 9
Midlands TOTAL DISTRICTS: 11
Thames Valley TOTAL DISTRICTS: 3
Welsh Marches TOTAL DISTRICTS: 12
West Country TOTAL DISTRICTS: 6

*Apologies if this oversimplifies the geography of the region, but each of these are further divided into “Districts” which you could think of as “Counties” but it is intended to be more abstract. These are based on more informal geography than a specific town as a “District” represent a distinct economic unit that is both land and population density. It is entirely possible a new district will be created within a province during the course of a game.

All holdings in the Netherlands that were in British possession are now property of the Spanish Crown being Governed by the Duke of Parma. At this time, there are no British colonies in the new world.

There are three Basic District types

1-Manoral:
2-Slum District
3-Coastal



Advanced types of Districts (Must be improved upon an existing Basic District)

Bishopric
Fortification
Noble District
Guild (Must specify which Guild)
Seaport Shipyard (Only Coastal)
Naval Shipyard (Only Coastal)
University* (Only one per province)

These Advanced Districts represent a specialization that supports a particular industry. In the case of a Bishopric this province will be under the control of a Bishop and will have one vote in ecclesiastic councils of Brittain.

A cost breakdown of each improvement type:

Bishopric: 10,000 Piety, 5,000 culture, 10,000 wealth
Fortification, 10,000 Military Arms, 10,000 wealth
Noble District 50,000 wealth, 5,000 culture
Guild (Must specify which Guild), 50,000 wealth
Seaport Shipyard (Only Coastal), 5,000 naval power, 10,000 wealth
Naval Shipyard (Only Coastal), 10,000 naval power, 10,000 wealth
University* (Only one per province), 10,000 invention, 1,000 culture, 20,000 wealth

Typically it takes one year to improve a province and the cost can be divided into 12 payments. If you miss a payment this can however escalate the cost as planning/time is wasted.

You do not have to improve a province out of your own pocket, but in the course of the game you will have an opportunity to influence where such improvements are made.


In the case of the University, there can be only one such district in the province which may reflect a multitude of schools. Indeed there may be educational centers in the other districts, but this represents a distinct center of learning.

It is possible to build other specialized districts, but this may require an investment of invention, culture, and wealth.

All Districts produce the seven power resources for England and a portion of this is filtered back to the players who control those areas. In addition a province will be rated in the following things:

HEALTH: A general measure of how healthy a province is. The more slums and seaports in a province the generally more unhealthy the population is, while Manoral provinces and University tend to improve health.

DEFENSE: Fortification and naval shipyards will increase dramatically the defense of a province. Each point of defense is an additional “Dice” that can be cast when being assaulted by an enemy.

HAPPINESS: A general measure of whether the peasants of the land would drink a toast to their rulers or wish them death. (Note: The factions of nobility, burgers, and the church are tracked independently but may be affected by this overall score). A quick way to reduce happiness would be to raise taxes, impose martial law or be excommunicated by the pope. At the start of the game taxes are high and martial law had to be declared.

You as a player do not have to be intimately aware of the economics of these provinces, you will simply be told each month how much wealth you have and you will be able to spend it as you see fit.


Sample of Play


EVENT THREADS:
The GM will create a thread that deals with a specific event, let's say for instance that Sir Francis Walsingham the former spymaster to the Queen is rumored to still be alive and laying low in London.

The players will then convene to discuss the matter in the thread in character. You do not have to speak in third person, in fact I'd prefer you type what you'd say as if you were the character you play.

As this is a “play by post” game it is very easy to assume that the first person to post is the first person to take an action or speak. In most cases, when its an informal discussion like this, thats how it will go.

So just like if you were really at a table talking, unless you are an insensitive oaf you will pause to let others speak rather than writing paragraph after paragraph of speech assuming everyone silently listens to you without interruption.

In addition, you are not Donald Trump king of multi-taskers sending 20 different tasks happening at once, be patient and deal with the matter at hand.

Once everyone has had a chance to say their piece (The GM may even assign a real-time 'close of the discussion' deadline and will assign one player to summarize the will of the group. This will typically be the player who has the most at stake, for instance in matters of naval, the lord high admiral). The GM may even give some pretty obvious options as presented by your advisors/common sense. “shall we dispatch 100 of your Yeoman to scour the town for him?”

The GM will then interpret the will of the group and respond with what happens based on dice for some random chance as well as the facts.

TURN THREADS:
Each “Game” month you can specify your “Turn Orders” in private to the GM. The “Game” month may not correspond with actual time passed, its possible one game month may stretch several real months or we may even advance time a few months or even a few years.

The GM will give a deadline when these must be in and if you do not turn in a Turn Order sheet they will approximate your will based on the previous turn orders, or just assume you want to collect wealth and do nothing.

Turn Orders will look something are organized into four types of orders:

PEOPLE
BUILD
ACTIONS
MOTIONS

All of it is plain English, nothing is in code as in “I declare B)uild P)rovince etc. So just speak plainly your will.

PEOPLE: This is where you tell me who you want to have marry someone, or manage your household.

BUILD: This is how you want to spend your wealth to improve or build something.

ACTIONS: This is any action you want to have happen such as diplomatic, or to purchase something. You can combine build with actions if you so desire. I offer it really as a means of keeping the two separate for your own organizational purposes.

I may later incorporate a more detailed system that you may declare your primary action to be to rule, attend church, etc if I find that players tend to be trying to do too many things in one month. For now, lets keep it simple(r).

MOTIONS: If you wish to make a special new law you can create a motion to be provided to the Lord Chancellor (or if you are Lord chancellor just to get it out there) and then be put forth for a vote from the Regency Council. It must also go to the Parliament for a vote if it succeeds by at least 4 Yea votes in your council.

This could be as simple as something you write such as your own plain english law you want introduced and how much authority you are willing to spend to get it passed (you have to spend authority just to make it actually pass, and then get enforced)

A typical turn order could look like this: (To be replaced with a more impressive one in the future)/


PEOPLE:

Assign Frances Tudor to the Seminary, I want him out of sight for a while, it may do him good.

Allow Eileen Tudor to Marry whoever she wishes, tell her she has my blessing to seek a suitor

Recall Edward Tudor from France, when he returns have him come to my office, I want to speak with him about taking the Sugar I recently acquired to Alexandria and seeing if he can trade it for something else.

*note: not all members of your household have to be assigned, they'll keep on doing what they are doing or would do

BUILD:

Spend 400 intrigue to infiltrate the Court of King Phillip, I want my eyes and ears to report to me any juicy gossip from the Home court over the next few months.

How much to build a modest Castle in the Midlands? I want a good hunting estate with a lot of trees. I am thinking of spending up to 5,000 wealth and 1,000 culture to put in some ancient norman tapestries and a nice fountain and gardens. Can they build it in 5 years time?

I want to recruit a Free Company of Yeoman for 1,000 Military Arms, 1200 wealth. I will call them the “Golden Lions”, their livery shall be red on a white background. I will assign the Captaincy next month when they are recruited. I am thinking about Edward if he does not want to go to Alexandria for me.

ACTIONS:

Send a note to my lady love, Alamandra in the Court of France:
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I'll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.


I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honoring thee
As giving it a hope that there
It could not wither'd be;
But thou thereon didst only breathe
And sent'st it back to me;
Since when it grows,
and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee!

Sign it with a kiss from my lips and some of that perfume I got from the mercenary.


Offer 100 authority to get the Bailiff of the midlands to overlook Frances Tudors activities at the school there, and tell him I'll be sending him to the seminary so it won't happen again (hopefully).

I want to attend church very actively this month over my normal attendance.

I am interested in starting up a Royal Jousting Tournament, what would that cost to host?


MOTIONS:

The Livery and Stable Act

I want to introduce legislation that will increase the revenues of the Craftsmens guilds by requiring all stables and liveries to use only their guild provided services to support their efforts. I do not know how much authority it will cost to introduce such an act and I'd be looking to increase their profits by 5% wealth at least?

I also want to put this before the Regency Council:

“Be it known that in the future all members of the Regency Council shall be allowed to maintain Seven Free Companies for the Good of the Realm and the Defense of the Crown.”

As a replacement to this:

“Be it known that in the future all members of the Regency Council shall be allowed to maintain Six Free Companies for the Good of the Realm and the Defense of the Crown.”

In our Regency Charter.


This is just a preview, game is not yet finished...just want to get some constructive feedback so far.
 
Not sure what to call the game yet,

I am thinking In the Shadow of the Crown (SotC) for short.

I like words like Epic, Saga, and Legendary too, so I will give that some thought.
 
Can we start choosing who we play? Parma sounds appealing.

EDIT: Also, can we found colonies?
 
Can we start choosing who we play? Parma sounds appealing.

EDIT: Also, can we found colonies?


No, that was just a rough draft. I have yet to even post the detail of these people and their families yet, so I am glad they sound interesting already!

Actually, I chose them all from history, however I plan to give them a few twists.

For instance Dudley is rumored to have killed his first wife in order to dally with the queen. He then went on to fight in the Netherlands but failed as a Commander and became disgraced. When he was no longer the Queen's favorite is when he chose to aid King Phillip to "restore" the Crown. Dudley has managed to keep the rumors of this to being "just rumors" and play the part of the dutiful British Nobleman.

In another case, The Archduke Rudolf is King Phillip's cousin. He has been living at the Spanish Court for a time, but in truth his destiny is to return to Austria where he will become the Holy Roman Emperor. However, in this game of "What ifs" instead before he is called to Austria, he is sent to be a member of the Regency Council.

I want to give these roles a little bit of color but not define their personalities entirely, so that you as a player have plenty of room to define them. For instance in reality Rudolf II was more intrigued by occult learning such as astrology and alchemy, which was mainstream in the Renaissance period, and had a wide variety of personal hobbies such as horses, clocks, collecting rarities. However, I won't define this for the player, letting them select that for themselves if it suits them. (I will however provide interesting details for the NPC members of the household).

Honestly, I still wrestle with whether or not to have the players potentially start married or not. It seems as Patricians they'd have to be already married to start out the game, it'd be strange with the exception perhaps of Dudley that they were not.



I have not completely ruled out the other game ideas, but I spent a good part of the last few days thinking up things and want to post the rules and see what people think on this one. I am going to take my time and put together working rules and everything before deciding what to do.

I think one downside to this game is that there maybe disappointments to some who are true students of history if I diverge from historical accuracy in the interest of a better game or perhaps because I was not aware of some miniscule detail. I have been researching this time period though and a lot of neat events in-game can take place just by following the historical outcomes.

I am in no way ready to let you start playing though. I just wanted to get feedback and thoughts.

I tend to really like this idea because even though the scope is large, it won't be too hard to run the system itself and there are so many strategies. You could become the patron of a particular guild and use it to get great wealth or you could for instance do the same with the church, or perhaps spread things around so you have a little popularity with everyone, or even try to dismantle the guild system so that freetrade rules, so many choices.

As to the question of foreign colonies, at the start of the game British would have no foreign colonies but in due time most certainly!
 
This is : This is : Undescribeable!

Is that a good or a bad thing?

Actually, I think I can describe it.

Its a roleplaying game based on a "What If" in history where the players have an opportunity to shape the destiny of a nation. Unlike traditional RTS games where you simply lasso your troops or are the only decision maker, it requires some collaboration and interaction between players. The intent being to make each player have at least one thing that is worthy of being traded and need a few other things, so no one is running their own independent empire.
 
One debate I have is with standing army size.

1,000 man "Companys" seem like the right scale for such a game because such a group could be deployed independently.

However, I was thinking maybe I should reduce that to 100 man companies and make 10 of them make up a "Regiment" or something.

I was thinking initially the King would only allow each of you to muster so many troops, and maybe 600 is fairer than 6,000 each.
 
Squad: 25
Platoon: 4 Squads: 100
A Company is about 250: 2 Platoons and 2 free Squads (support?)
A Regiment is 3 Companies and prehaps a support Company: 800-1250 men.
A Brigade is 3 Regiments, 2 free supports and 2 free Companies: about 3000-5000
A Support is such as engineers, calvary, nobles, and camp-builders.

Ok, Rambling: Try again

Squad: 20 men
Platoon: 5 Squads: 100 men
Comapny: 2 Platoons, 2 Squads, 10 extra: 240-250 men
Regiment: 3 Companies: 0-5 Platoons: 750-1250 men
Brigade: 3 Regiments, 0-5 Companies: 2250-3750 + 0-750 = 2250-4500 men
 
Squad: 25
Platoon: 4 Squads: 100
A Company is about 250: 2 Platoons and 2 free Squads (support?)
A Regiment is 3 Companies and prehaps a support Company: 800-1250 men.
A Brigade is 3 Regiments, 2 free supports and 2 free Companies: about 3000-5000
A Support is such as engineers, calvary, nobles, and camp-builders.

Ok, Rambling: Try again

Squad: 20 men
Platoon: 5 Squads: 100 men
Comapny: 2 Platoons, 2 Squads, 10 extra: 240-250 men
Regiment: 3 Companies: 0-5 Platoons: 750-1250 men
Brigade: 3 Regiments, 0-5 Companies: 2250-3750 + 0-750 = 2250-4500 men


Ultimately,the size can be anything I want. I like nice round numbers. Historically the army compositions were generally ad-hoc "whatever they had available", they didn't have a formal standing army. They commited several thousand forces to the netherlands (in a war that probably precipitated the spanish invasion).


I play a lot of Europa Universalis and the usual squad of their regiments is 1,000 which works out pretty good in terms of scale for independent operations. Thats where I got the number 1,000 for my rough draft.

Yet, It also seems like it may be difficult to cram 1,000 people into the hold of a single cargo ship, the more I think about it 100 sounds like a better number than 1,000 and I'd reduce the support cost as well. There are no platoons or squads in this military battle order. They didn't invent plattoons until at least 18th century I am thinking.

I have a very simple spreadsheet process to maintain the health of the Kingdom,but I have never posted tables here so I will have to test out how the formatting works to be able to post reports. The trick is, as players its as simple as telling you how much of that wealth is actually yours. Technicaly I could skip it entirely.

I tell you, this idea has been in my head for a long time to run. I do like the other ideas, especially the Evil Genius one and the Fantasy Based one where you are running the emperyean council in FFfH but the game I described above almost seems to write itself.

Thanks for your feedback so far, its much appreciated.
 
I ended up starting the game (#7 on my list) on rpol.net, this allows me to set up my own forum for the game.

It was a tough call. There are a lot of people on this forum who like some strategy in their RP and enjoy games of Colonization and exploration/expansion while that forum is much slicker in interface. I didn't want to just play in a single message thread.
 
Top Bottom