IOT Organisational and Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Tee Kay
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Imperium Offtopicum Today!
Imperium Offtopicum XIII: Feeling Lucky? by SonicTH is accepting sign-ups. Using a decidely inferior map and very simplified rules, the game is a throwback to IOT IV roleplaying and RIOT-styled provincial economics. The ruleset, which is nearly only fifty words long, is intended to encourage the roleplaying of early IOTs without being a drain on the time of resources of either the GM or players. There are currently six players.
Multipolarity IV by SonicTH is currently ongoing, but still accepting sign-ups. MPIV is currently the most complex and largest ongoing game. The game is focused on economic development and international relations than war, but war is still a punishing possibility. While the game does have a lot going on, orders can be automated through the GM, who will take your general orders and translate it into game without you needing to work specific numbers yourself. There are currently between 18 and 22 players. I think.
SpeedRisk by me is currently the third actual Risk game I've ran. The game uses the Europe map of Iron and Blood 2 and is accepting sign-ups. SpeedRisk has the simplest ruleset currently, with points only being spent on armies, which act as ships when in water. SpeedRisk will have a quick turnaround period for updates, with the goal being to do an update a day. It currently has 5-8 sign-ups.
IOTMAD: Mutually Assured Destruction by Lighthearter has the distinction of being locked and unlocked twice, so you know it must be good. The game is set with the Cold War in mind, but the year of the current update is currently 2021. The game sees the return of the DEFCON mechanic from the older Cold War games by the same GM, as well as national traits, trade routes, and provincial improvements.
Shogun IOT by Christos200 is the latest ChristosIOT, this time set during the Boshin War in Japan, making it currently one of the outliers in IOT (most games are roughly the same time period in practice except FalloutIOT and GangIOT). The game uses JoanK's map of Japan. Shogun IOT puts extensive focus on the different between Imperial Clans and Shogun Clans, as well as focusing on the important of generals and Daimyos in battle. The game is team-based in the sense that it a state of war always exists between Imperial and Shogun clans and the victory condition is that only one faction can win. In any case, the last ChristosIOT saw an ending so if you're looking for a long-term stable game, this probably is up your ally and the game is still accepting sign-ups.
GangIOT by AlexRomaniaGrig is paradoxically set specifically during the time period of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, already making it one of the more unique IOTs. ARG himself is a new GM. The game is about recruiting gang members and committing a spree of felonies to promote the advancement of your gang while playing one of the big two NPC gangs off each other to stay alive. Despite this being a strange addition to IOT, the ruleset is actually extremely detailed down to the cars being a resource required for drive-bys and the ability to go on tagging sprees to lower the internal loyalty of another gang and increase your own. Unfortunately, players who join The Happening gain a bonus in GangIOT, forcing you to join both to say competitive.
FalloutIOT by Terran Emperor is the second attempt by the new GM to run a Fallout IOT, and has taken on a lot of advice from other players and older GMs to help forge the ruleset. Fallout IOT is light on the economics department and military department, while maintaining the interesting diversity of armed forces by giving each faction three unique units. The game uses a modified SPECIAL from the Fallout games that determine your effectiveness in actions ranging from combat to trade, science, impressing NPCs with your culture, and just general luck. The game is geared toward player interactions through roleplaying.
IOT XII - The Happening by Nedim Napoleon is the tenth game in the main IOT series and is based on a combination of IOTVII and NRIOT rules. The rules are simple, but not XIII simple. Still, like most IOT mainline games, the game is a good jumping point for new-new IOTers wishing to get a basic grasp of detailing orders and playing with other players. The game isn't entirely serious, and is based on the DoomPaul meme, but it should be enjoyable nonetheless.
IOTer Diplomacy I by Bowsling is a hard adaptation of Diplomacy to IOT with a twist. Each of the six countries have internal politics and there is an addition of an election phase where the regions of a country vote for one of the country players to send in orders. Of course, if the player doesn't send in orders, an opposition player has 24 hours to. And if THAT doesn't happen, the units are put on hold.
Imperium Offtopicum XIII: Feeling Lucky? by SonicTH is accepting sign-ups. Using a decidely inferior map and very simplified rules, the game is a throwback to IOT IV roleplaying and RIOT-styled provincial economics. The ruleset, which is nearly only fifty words long, is intended to encourage the roleplaying of early IOTs without being a drain on the time of resources of either the GM or players. There are currently six players.
Multipolarity IV by SonicTH is currently ongoing, but still accepting sign-ups. MPIV is currently the most complex and largest ongoing game. The game is focused on economic development and international relations than war, but war is still a punishing possibility. While the game does have a lot going on, orders can be automated through the GM, who will take your general orders and translate it into game without you needing to work specific numbers yourself. There are currently between 18 and 22 players. I think.
SpeedRisk by me is currently the third actual Risk game I've ran. The game uses the Europe map of Iron and Blood 2 and is accepting sign-ups. SpeedRisk has the simplest ruleset currently, with points only being spent on armies, which act as ships when in water. SpeedRisk will have a quick turnaround period for updates, with the goal being to do an update a day. It currently has 5-8 sign-ups.
IOTMAD: Mutually Assured Destruction by Lighthearter has the distinction of being locked and unlocked twice, so you know it must be good. The game is set with the Cold War in mind, but the year of the current update is currently 2021. The game sees the return of the DEFCON mechanic from the older Cold War games by the same GM, as well as national traits, trade routes, and provincial improvements.
Shogun IOT by Christos200 is the latest ChristosIOT, this time set during the Boshin War in Japan, making it currently one of the outliers in IOT (most games are roughly the same time period in practice except FalloutIOT and GangIOT). The game uses JoanK's map of Japan. Shogun IOT puts extensive focus on the different between Imperial Clans and Shogun Clans, as well as focusing on the important of generals and Daimyos in battle. The game is team-based in the sense that it a state of war always exists between Imperial and Shogun clans and the victory condition is that only one faction can win. In any case, the last ChristosIOT saw an ending so if you're looking for a long-term stable game, this probably is up your ally and the game is still accepting sign-ups.
GangIOT by AlexRomaniaGrig is paradoxically set specifically during the time period of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, already making it one of the more unique IOTs. ARG himself is a new GM. The game is about recruiting gang members and committing a spree of felonies to promote the advancement of your gang while playing one of the big two NPC gangs off each other to stay alive. Despite this being a strange addition to IOT, the ruleset is actually extremely detailed down to the cars being a resource required for drive-bys and the ability to go on tagging sprees to lower the internal loyalty of another gang and increase your own. Unfortunately, players who join The Happening gain a bonus in GangIOT, forcing you to join both to say competitive.
FalloutIOT by Terran Emperor is the second attempt by the new GM to run a Fallout IOT, and has taken on a lot of advice from other players and older GMs to help forge the ruleset. Fallout IOT is light on the economics department and military department, while maintaining the interesting diversity of armed forces by giving each faction three unique units. The game uses a modified SPECIAL from the Fallout games that determine your effectiveness in actions ranging from combat to trade, science, impressing NPCs with your culture, and just general luck. The game is geared toward player interactions through roleplaying.
IOT XII - The Happening by Nedim Napoleon is the tenth game in the main IOT series and is based on a combination of IOTVII and NRIOT rules. The rules are simple, but not XIII simple. Still, like most IOT mainline games, the game is a good jumping point for new-new IOTers wishing to get a basic grasp of detailing orders and playing with other players. The game isn't entirely serious, and is based on the DoomPaul meme, but it should be enjoyable nonetheless.
IOTer Diplomacy I by Bowsling is a hard adaptation of Diplomacy to IOT with a twist. Each of the six countries have internal politics and there is an addition of an election phase where the regions of a country vote for one of the country players to send in orders. Of course, if the player doesn't send in orders, an opposition player has 24 hours to. And if THAT doesn't happen, the units are put on hold.
Robert Can't
Éponine
That's a nice little summary you have there Sonereal
NedimNapoleon
Weird Little Human
Doom Paul is not a meme. It's a serious warning. If you wen to /pol/ you'd understand.
AlexRomaniaGrig
Warlord
Wow, you actually read the ruleset....
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- Mar 31, 2008
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- 14,928
Didn't have time to read it until this morning. I can honestly say that despite reservations, the ruleset is actually well-written and thought out and if not for my workload, I would've joined it as well as Shogun IOT.
Bowsling
Deity
Hey, that's rather nice. Except that Diplomacy has seven countries. And I need to update it. 
Tani Coyote
Son of Huehuecoyotl
- Joined
- May 28, 2007
- Messages
- 15,195
If CFC had likes for posts I'd have totally liked Sone's.
I had to choose the map for nostalgia's sake.
Main problem with early IOTs was there was zero economic basis so anyone could claim to have anything. So I went with the easiest fix - an abstract economic system that's easily understood and not overwhelming.
All while preserving individual freedom of choice - players may spend their money on ANYTHING they want and I will track it in my sheet.
If nothing else the repercussions of one player spending all his money on military and espionage while another spends zilch should be hilarious.
22 Nations, along with four NGOs played by Ravus Sol, Celticfury, Christos200 and Ailedhoo. With others such as Ninjacow64 expressing interest in joining the ranks. With the greatly-simplified structure and the ability to have the GM process one's orders, even the "Old Guard" of the classic, simpler IOTs are present, such as Omega124 and Mathalamus.
I consider MP4 to be one of my best-designed games by far, having chosen a more fluid client system and much less abuseable espionage system (both were developed in-house, but I conceived each roughly around the same time as Shattered Europe and NRIOT, respectively. Great Minds Think Alike I suppose), helping prevent the pitfalls of prior Multipolarity Games. The occupation system also deals quite well with the zerg rushing problems of prior games; it takes no less than ten turns for an invaded province to be integrated into one's country, by which time the occupier will have suffered a large amount of troop losses (and discontent), and the province will have devalued itself through insurgencies and terrorism.
I had to choose the map for nostalgia's sake.
Main problem with early IOTs was there was zero economic basis so anyone could claim to have anything. So I went with the easiest fix - an abstract economic system that's easily understood and not overwhelming.
All while preserving individual freedom of choice - players may spend their money on ANYTHING they want and I will track it in my sheet.
If nothing else the repercussions of one player spending all his money on military and espionage while another spends zilch should be hilarious.
22 Nations, along with four NGOs played by Ravus Sol, Celticfury, Christos200 and Ailedhoo. With others such as Ninjacow64 expressing interest in joining the ranks. With the greatly-simplified structure and the ability to have the GM process one's orders, even the "Old Guard" of the classic, simpler IOTs are present, such as Omega124 and Mathalamus.
I consider MP4 to be one of my best-designed games by far, having chosen a more fluid client system and much less abuseable espionage system (both were developed in-house, but I conceived each roughly around the same time as Shattered Europe and NRIOT, respectively. Great Minds Think Alike I suppose), helping prevent the pitfalls of prior Multipolarity Games. The occupation system also deals quite well with the zerg rushing problems of prior games; it takes no less than ten turns for an invaded province to be integrated into one's country, by which time the occupier will have suffered a large amount of troop losses (and discontent), and the province will have devalued itself through insurgencies and terrorism.
AlexRomaniaGrig
Warlord
Then why did you said the Happening bonus is a downside? It's jsut a one-time crappy bonus that anyone can live without.
Also, You might want to review my IOT again. I improved the rules and descriptions, added succes chance tables, formatting, more in-depth information and spellcheck. Also, I'm going to add even more perks, jsut to piss you off: I'll add certain bonuses for allying with certain NPC gangs, bonuses for being in a certain city ( in-game) etc
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- Mar 31, 2008
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- 14,928
Because it is never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ok to give players bonuses for playing a separate game. For the sole purpose to get people to play that game. It is scummy.
I started sign-ups for my game the other day and I already have more views, players, and updates. You can't really piss me off.
AlexRomaniaGrig
Warlord
okay, i removed the bonuses. Happy now?
Also, Update 1 is in place and I added a little twist to the game. It's practically " play nice until christos makes a move then GO BATSHIT AND SCREW HIM UP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE " .
You should join
Also, Update 1 is in place and I added a little twist to the game. It's practically " play nice until christos makes a move then GO BATSHIT AND SCREW HIM UP AS FAST AS POSSIBLE " .
You should join
Robert Can't
Éponine
Yeah, don't fall into the Tanni trap - Advertising is something that the IOT community seems to have strong feelings about.
Robert Can't
Éponine
Bowsling
Deity
Probably not gonna be around here too much more. Got things to do. I'll still check in every now and then, but I don't think I'll be participating or GMing any IOTs for a while.
Mosher
Mushroom dad
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2010
- Messages
- 8,873
WhiteRobber
Twinkle twinkle Wunderbar
Umm, Hello.
My name is Lance and I'm "new" to this forum , altough I've been stalking around Civ3 , Jokes&Humour and never Ending Stories for the past three weeks.
The idea of playing a game without actually playing something, but writing how you'd like to play got me interested into these games (I think you call them IOT's ? )
Can someone tell me a list of IOT games that are still open , and if there are any prerequisites for joining? I may play a bit out of character at first , but I'll use my roleplay to compensate.
Oh, and how do you send private messages? I've read through some threads and seen " PM me whatever" , but I have not yet seen any button that allows me to send private messages.
Also, is there any other website where CFC users gather? It's tedious to post messages in forums. Something like a wiki , a chatroom? I've seen that CFC has a chatroom, but it requires a download, and it's not compatible with my smartphone, and I try to keep the laptop for games.
Also, I don't own Civ5 ( I don't "own" any Civ game except a Civ2 , my cousin somehow provided me those games and I doubt it was in a legal way.) so don't be mad at me for not knowing anything about the Civ5 mechanics.
And I wish to change my avatar.How do I upload my own, I do not see such options, but I see others with clearly different avatars than the basic CFC ones. Sorry for being a dummy
My name is Lance and I'm "new" to this forum , altough I've been stalking around Civ3 , Jokes&Humour and never Ending Stories for the past three weeks.
The idea of playing a game without actually playing something, but writing how you'd like to play got me interested into these games (I think you call them IOT's ? )
Can someone tell me a list of IOT games that are still open , and if there are any prerequisites for joining? I may play a bit out of character at first , but I'll use my roleplay to compensate.
Oh, and how do you send private messages? I've read through some threads and seen " PM me whatever" , but I have not yet seen any button that allows me to send private messages.
Also, is there any other website where CFC users gather? It's tedious to post messages in forums. Something like a wiki , a chatroom? I've seen that CFC has a chatroom, but it requires a download, and it's not compatible with my smartphone, and I try to keep the laptop for games.
Also, I don't own Civ5 ( I don't "own" any Civ game except a Civ2 , my cousin somehow provided me those games and I doubt it was in a legal way.) so don't be mad at me for not knowing anything about the Civ5 mechanics.
And I wish to change my avatar.How do I upload my own, I do not see such options, but I see others with clearly different avatars than the basic CFC ones. Sorry for being a dummy
Ailedhoo
wonderer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2012
- Messages
- 7,809
Good day conscript! Welcome to IOT! 
Games on include:
MP4: with lots of nations. Pick a NPC of your choice to take over them or become a NGO that manipulates the nations.
IOTMAD: your move might be the last in this nuclear risky game. Will you gamble it for fortune or lose it all?
The Spirit of Man - Part 2: Brave New World!: a game getting re-set up. In a post-Marsen invasion world how will your nation handle the aftermath?
IOT13: madness rules the nations. How will you stand out in this chaotic world?
IOT12: it Happened... we should have listened. Now nations set to rebuild and some new bizarre appear. How will you withstand the Happening?
FalloutIOT: even if you have not played Fallout you may enjoy this post-nuclear doomsday game.
These are the game on at the moment on CFC.
If I may the take liberty I am GMing my own game, Beyond the Revolution, on Beyond the Lampshade. Consider if you fancy.
Games on include:
MP4: with lots of nations. Pick a NPC of your choice to take over them or become a NGO that manipulates the nations.
IOTMAD: your move might be the last in this nuclear risky game. Will you gamble it for fortune or lose it all?
The Spirit of Man - Part 2: Brave New World!: a game getting re-set up. In a post-Marsen invasion world how will your nation handle the aftermath?
IOT13: madness rules the nations. How will you stand out in this chaotic world?
IOT12: it Happened... we should have listened. Now nations set to rebuild and some new bizarre appear. How will you withstand the Happening?
FalloutIOT: even if you have not played Fallout you may enjoy this post-nuclear doomsday game.
These are the game on at the moment on CFC.
If I may the take liberty I am GMing my own game, Beyond the Revolution, on Beyond the Lampshade. Consider if you fancy.
Thorvald of Lym
A Little Sketchy
FRESH MEI mean welcome to the board!
As an anti-spam feature, private messages are only enabled once a user has 5 posts and has been on the site for 5 days. Since you have the posts, my guess is you just have to wait a few more days.
Custom avatars are available once you have 30 posts and your account is 30 days old.
We have both a (poorly kept) wiki and a chatroom that doesn't require additional software.
As an anti-spam feature, private messages are only enabled once a user has 5 posts and has been on the site for 5 days. Since you have the posts, my guess is you just have to wait a few more days.
Custom avatars are available once you have 30 posts and your account is 30 days old.
We have both a (poorly kept) wiki and a chatroom that doesn't require additional software.
Mosher
Mushroom dad
Welcome to the subforum; it's great to see a new face around here. I'd recommend getting into IOTMAD by Lighthearter, Multipolarity IV by SonicTH (we call him Tani), and/or waiting for Robert Can't to launch the Spirit of Man 2.
I'd also recommend bumming around some other boards - like Off Topic - to boost your post count enough so that you can access all the features on the site, since this subforum does not grant post count.
Like Thor above me said, we do have a chatroom, located at iotchat.chatango.com where I am the admin (mods include CivOasis, Sonereal, Mechaerik, Hoplitejoe, and Double A); come on at any time, there's usually one or two people on on the off hours and up to 15~ during peak hours (at around 19:00 -5 GMT)
You don't particularly need to know anything about the Civilization series to play IOTs; the games we run aren't really related to Civ (the closest is some of Sonereal's hex-based games that are somewhat similar to Civilization 4/5)
The only prerequisite to joining an IOT is that you pick an open NPC/plot of land (in all of the above cases there is no open territory, just NPCs that can be grabbed) and post a little bit about your nation (such as a name, flag, government, etc), though we of course encourage you fleshing out nations a lot - if you feel like digging through the archives a bit, Tailleskangaru/Kiwitt's Iron & Blood features a lot of really well done nations - particularly Mechaerik's - and there is a similar level in quality in some of the nations in the Spirit of Man 2, as well, as some examples.
Just as a warning, though, if you want to run an IOT I would first recommend playing a few games first and integrating yourself into the community, or you will receive a poor turnout - there are some tips located here for new GMs, and there are some guidelines (laid down by our cruel and arbitrary dictator, Birdjaguar) for IOT etiquette and such here. I'm only putting this here as we often get newcomers who will immediately post an IOT with a rather low quality ruleset before playing any games or interacting with the community much, and then get angry when they do poorly.
Welcome to the subforum! I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay, and remember to visit us here if you'd like to talk to some of us in person. Don't mind Tani, he won't bite.
I'd also recommend bumming around some other boards - like Off Topic - to boost your post count enough so that you can access all the features on the site, since this subforum does not grant post count.
Like Thor above me said, we do have a chatroom, located at iotchat.chatango.com where I am the admin (mods include CivOasis, Sonereal, Mechaerik, Hoplitejoe, and Double A); come on at any time, there's usually one or two people on on the off hours and up to 15~ during peak hours (at around 19:00 -5 GMT)
You don't particularly need to know anything about the Civilization series to play IOTs; the games we run aren't really related to Civ (the closest is some of Sonereal's hex-based games that are somewhat similar to Civilization 4/5)
The only prerequisite to joining an IOT is that you pick an open NPC/plot of land (in all of the above cases there is no open territory, just NPCs that can be grabbed) and post a little bit about your nation (such as a name, flag, government, etc), though we of course encourage you fleshing out nations a lot - if you feel like digging through the archives a bit, Tailleskangaru/Kiwitt's Iron & Blood features a lot of really well done nations - particularly Mechaerik's - and there is a similar level in quality in some of the nations in the Spirit of Man 2, as well, as some examples.
Just as a warning, though, if you want to run an IOT I would first recommend playing a few games first and integrating yourself into the community, or you will receive a poor turnout - there are some tips located here for new GMs, and there are some guidelines (laid down by our cruel and arbitrary dictator, Birdjaguar
) for IOT etiquette and such here. I'm only putting this here as we often get newcomers who will immediately post an IOT with a rather low quality ruleset before playing any games or interacting with the community much, and then get angry when they do poorly. Welcome to the subforum! I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay, and remember to visit us here if you'd like to talk to some of us in person. Don't mind Tani, he won't bite.
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