(Almost) final draft of the first half of the IB5 rules (ie everything except war and espionage)
Housekeeping
Setting
IB5 is set in an alternate-history version of Earth, populated by player-created nations. The games starting year is AD1831. The level of technology and cultural development of this world is similar to Earth in our timeline (so no nuclear weapons in the mid-19th century, for instance).
Update Policy
The game is turn-based, with a turn representing five years in game-time (and later four years or two years as the game approaches the 20th century). A turn will be divided into a peace phase and a war phase, with a mid-turn update in between. A combat update separates the two combat rounds. A new turn begins with a final update from the GM summarising all the events of the previous turn.
Orders: Peace Phase
You will have five days (=120 hours) after an update to send your orders for the turn. In your orders you can give out instructions for how your country would develop, what treaties you have, building orders, and so on; basically, everything including spy actions but excluding battle orders. Send your orders secretly to the GM by private message. If you change your orders, you must send your entire order again in a separate PM.
Any new declaration of war (DoW) must be made within the first 24 hours of an update. Allies of the belligerents can respond with their own DoW within the next 48 hours after that. All DoW must be in the main thread no surprise attacks can be made. Any land transfers between countries must also be made during this time.
Three days after the update, I will not accept any new or changed orders, and I will start to work on the mid-turn update. This can take anything from a day to a week or more to finish, depending on my schedule.
Orders: War Phase
If there are no wars, then the war phase is skipped and a new turn begins. Otherwise, the war phase follows a mid-turn update (MTU)
Combat is divided into two rounds (see below). You have 48 hours after MTU to send in your orders for the first round. Then a combat update will be posted, after which you have another 48 hours to send in your orders for the second round.
Roleplaying Policy
Roleplaying is very encouraged. The way you roleplay your country can have in-game effects. The more you guys put into roleplay, the more lively our alternate history timeline will be.
When deciding to take action, this is how I determine the impact of a post on world affairs.
1) A post in the main thread is like publishing in the main world newspapers, these can cause an event or impact in between updates
2) A post in an alliance group, chat room, social group, etc is like a diplomatic meeting behind closed doors and will usually only cause an impact when the results of these discussions are publicised in the main thread.
3) A PM between the GM and a player is considered secret and will only make an impact when the update is announced.
NOTE: Items 2 and 3 can be investigated via espionage.
Game Concepts
Events
The world is a chaotic place. As leader of a country, you will have to deal with unpredictable happenings and intended and unintended consequences of your policies and actions.
The game will be involve lots of events, and the way the player respond to their events will influence the way their country develops. Some will be random events, others will be events issued at GM discretion based on how the player roleplay their country. You will mostly be given several choices on how to respond to an issue, each with its own pros and cons.
Industrial Capacity (IC)
IC is the most important number in game. It represents the economic resources that you have at your disposal.
The world is divided into provinces, each of which will be level 1-5. The sum of all the province levels you own is your Base IC. Each country will also have an industrial score. IC is calculated simply by Base IC multiplied by your industrial score. So if you have three level 5 provinces, and a score of 2, then your IC is 3 x 5 x 2 = 30
IC is also affected by other assorted modifiers (eg events). You can also pay or get paid IC for trading with or lending to other countries. Note that if you receive IC from another country either from trade or aid or loan you cant spend it until the next turn.
Province levels can be upgraded with improving technology (see below) or events. Industrial score can be increased by spending what I call the IC Cost. Each upgrade increases your industrial score by 0.1. This too can be modified by events, tech, etc.
IC can be converted to money and banked, where it earns interest.
Resources and Trade
Some provinces produce resources which are important to keep your country running and which you can trade with other countries. They are divided into two general categories: mining and agricultural products. Resource extraction/production increases with technology level. Resources can also run out; mines and oil wells in particular can become exhausted.
Dissent
Dissent is an abstract measure of how happy your populace is with your rule. Dissent grows naturally, but its growth can be controlled. Factors which can effect dissent and dissent growth includes government type, war weariness, economic situation, standard of living, responses to events, and food shortages.
If dissent gets too high, you may pay IC to attempt to reduce it. This is akin to, say, giving people a tax break. Dissent will be reduced, but randomly.
Depending on your government type, too high dissent can spark spontaneous rebellion. The level of dissent when this can happen is the critical level.
Dissent also affects your chance of getting an event; higher dissent means a higher chance of controversial issues being raised that you have to respond to. Depending on your perspective this might be a good or bad thing.
Research
You can put money into researching new technologies to improve living standards, military capabilities, and so on. Everyone starts at level one and invests IC into research until you reach the next level. The first country to reach a new level gets a one-off bonus through a special event, as well as the bonus from researching that level of technology.
There is no set tech tree; what will be researched and its effects depend on roleplay and the historical time period when a particular level is reached.
Iron and Blood 5
An Imperium Offtopicum Game
Rules
An Imperium Offtopicum Game
Rules
Housekeeping
Setting
IB5 is set in an alternate-history version of Earth, populated by player-created nations. The games starting year is AD1831. The level of technology and cultural development of this world is similar to Earth in our timeline (so no nuclear weapons in the mid-19th century, for instance).
Update Policy
The game is turn-based, with a turn representing five years in game-time (and later four years or two years as the game approaches the 20th century). A turn will be divided into a peace phase and a war phase, with a mid-turn update in between. A combat update separates the two combat rounds. A new turn begins with a final update from the GM summarising all the events of the previous turn.
Orders: Peace Phase
You will have five days (=120 hours) after an update to send your orders for the turn. In your orders you can give out instructions for how your country would develop, what treaties you have, building orders, and so on; basically, everything including spy actions but excluding battle orders. Send your orders secretly to the GM by private message. If you change your orders, you must send your entire order again in a separate PM.
Any new declaration of war (DoW) must be made within the first 24 hours of an update. Allies of the belligerents can respond with their own DoW within the next 48 hours after that. All DoW must be in the main thread no surprise attacks can be made. Any land transfers between countries must also be made during this time.
Three days after the update, I will not accept any new or changed orders, and I will start to work on the mid-turn update. This can take anything from a day to a week or more to finish, depending on my schedule.
Orders: War Phase
If there are no wars, then the war phase is skipped and a new turn begins. Otherwise, the war phase follows a mid-turn update (MTU)
Combat is divided into two rounds (see below). You have 48 hours after MTU to send in your orders for the first round. Then a combat update will be posted, after which you have another 48 hours to send in your orders for the second round.
Roleplaying Policy
Roleplaying is very encouraged. The way you roleplay your country can have in-game effects. The more you guys put into roleplay, the more lively our alternate history timeline will be.
When deciding to take action, this is how I determine the impact of a post on world affairs.
1) A post in the main thread is like publishing in the main world newspapers, these can cause an event or impact in between updates
2) A post in an alliance group, chat room, social group, etc is like a diplomatic meeting behind closed doors and will usually only cause an impact when the results of these discussions are publicised in the main thread.
3) A PM between the GM and a player is considered secret and will only make an impact when the update is announced.
NOTE: Items 2 and 3 can be investigated via espionage.
Game Concepts
Events
The world is a chaotic place. As leader of a country, you will have to deal with unpredictable happenings and intended and unintended consequences of your policies and actions.
The game will be involve lots of events, and the way the player respond to their events will influence the way their country develops. Some will be random events, others will be events issued at GM discretion based on how the player roleplay their country. You will mostly be given several choices on how to respond to an issue, each with its own pros and cons.
Industrial Capacity (IC)
IC is the most important number in game. It represents the economic resources that you have at your disposal.
The world is divided into provinces, each of which will be level 1-5. The sum of all the province levels you own is your Base IC. Each country will also have an industrial score. IC is calculated simply by Base IC multiplied by your industrial score. So if you have three level 5 provinces, and a score of 2, then your IC is 3 x 5 x 2 = 30
IC is also affected by other assorted modifiers (eg events). You can also pay or get paid IC for trading with or lending to other countries. Note that if you receive IC from another country either from trade or aid or loan you cant spend it until the next turn.
Province levels can be upgraded with improving technology (see below) or events. Industrial score can be increased by spending what I call the IC Cost. Each upgrade increases your industrial score by 0.1. This too can be modified by events, tech, etc.
IC can be converted to money and banked, where it earns interest.
Resources and Trade
Some provinces produce resources which are important to keep your country running and which you can trade with other countries. They are divided into two general categories: mining and agricultural products. Resource extraction/production increases with technology level. Resources can also run out; mines and oil wells in particular can become exhausted.
Dissent
Dissent is an abstract measure of how happy your populace is with your rule. Dissent grows naturally, but its growth can be controlled. Factors which can effect dissent and dissent growth includes government type, war weariness, economic situation, standard of living, responses to events, and food shortages.
If dissent gets too high, you may pay IC to attempt to reduce it. This is akin to, say, giving people a tax break. Dissent will be reduced, but randomly.
Depending on your government type, too high dissent can spark spontaneous rebellion. The level of dissent when this can happen is the critical level.
Dissent also affects your chance of getting an event; higher dissent means a higher chance of controversial issues being raised that you have to respond to. Depending on your perspective this might be a good or bad thing.
Research
You can put money into researching new technologies to improve living standards, military capabilities, and so on. Everyone starts at level one and invests IC into research until you reach the next level. The first country to reach a new level gets a one-off bonus through a special event, as well as the bonus from researching that level of technology.
There is no set tech tree; what will be researched and its effects depend on roleplay and the historical time period when a particular level is reached.
