- Location
- Asia
This might be one of the first industrial workshops in the empire.
-
For all readers and writers
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Into History Through Blood and Steel: Blood of the Frontier Sequel (Ck2)
Magoose
SV's Questing Fanatic
- Location
- California USA
- Pronouns
- He
Second. The first one is in Berlin, producing canons.
Dark Words
Magoose
SV's Questing Fanatic
- Location
- California USA
- Pronouns
- He
Dark Words
(Unknown POV)
Perhaps they had trusted their compatriots in the House of Lords too much. The slow agonizing crawl in which the Lords and Commons did anything was always something you and the rest of your compatriots relied on. The bureaucracy could be kept under their complete control, and with it a status quo maintained. A strong emperor with no way to direct his authority was almost as bad as a weak emperor who had total control.
The seed of disunity was similar very easy to sow in the past. A few raids with Turkish nomands here and there to remind the Balkan Princes who was in charge. And in turn, make the Tepes Family and their compatriots heel. They were always too headstrong for their own good. They liked ruling their peaceful and prosperous lands. Rulers of a small, self-sufficient kingdom in the guise of submission.
Of course, the Sultan of Rum was all too eager to accept the offer of Greek fire from your organization in exchange for… dealing with Tepes and his sons.
You had not expected that Vlad would be clever or ruthless enough to escape on his own, with his baby brother in tow. And then managed to swim in the Bosporus long enough to get rescued by an Imperial ship.
The consensus after that information became known was the event would leave the young Vlad traumatized. The horror would damage him to where he was weak willed and cowardly, like his grandfather.
Unfortunately, instead he took after his father, the man they called Dragon.
It was a loss, but not a permanent one. The boy Tepes was far too focused on the Turks and the Sultan of Rum and his own revenge. He'd never thought to ask the real questions of why his father and the boys themselves were captured, instead of left for dead like the other pilgrims in their group. There were ventures further to the east that troubled you.
One man in particular. Vasily Aristov.
Unlike Tepes, he was not accounted for in your organizations plans. He was a bastard of a dying family who was both too young to assume his throne as prince and too illegitimate to even take it.
But Alexander outplayed you, even if he did not realize it. He'd forced his way through making his son the heir, and got people to train him better than you thought the Frontiersman could afford.
Vasily Aristov was a god among men, his tactical mind outshining even his own legendary prowess as a warrior. He had a way of winning the hearts and minds of all around him. His anger tempered by his wits, and his weakness hidden by his pure determination to succeed.
In short, he was emperor material in the Frontier. But you noticed him far too late to kill him. Natasha, damn her and all of her allies, defected to him when she realized what you were doing. You had hoped that assassin killed her, but he did not. The Emperor's madness was a nice way to disguise your orders for execution, but it failed. The Black Hand were always amateurs compared to others in the world. In hindsight, you should have bent the knee to those damned Hassassins and gave them what they wanted.
Destroying Rome itself was a small price to pay for your goals.
You had miscalculated how others would see Vasily. His friendship with the Emperor, the cadets amongst the Imperial Academy, and even Vlad Tepes were something you did not forsee.
The destruction of the Mongol nation in all but name, something that you had been planning for decades, had been the first of the final nails in a plan that would have seen the Empire under new control. When the news of the Khan's death reached your ears, it became unpleasantly clear to all that the Emperor knew of your plans, if not your organization itself.
The cannons he had were far to numerous, their crews far too trained and organized to be something that was just invented for military use.
He had them built, moved them to the Frontier under your nose, and made sure Aristov had the means to make them himself.
It was then you realized that Aristov needed to die. He was far too powerful to be allowed to live any longer, and if he remained as a popular supporter of the Emperor, your plans would fail.
And you hated it when your plans failed.
When you got the news he was wounded, you almost breathed a sigh of relief. The so called "Blood of the Frontier" was going to die, and you could proceed unabated.
His survival made you use the rest of the goodwill you had with the house of lords to imprison him and make him stand trial.
However you still lost, and the Emperor outplayed you again. Around that point, you'd had to leave any ideas of being a 'secret society' behind. There was no doubt he knew about your organization now. But that mattered little. You had enough men in his network to just disappear into the sands of history.
That did not mean your plans were vanquished, so that meant you stayed and tried to salvage things.
You needed to deal with Vasily Aristov. He was the key to all of Alexander's plans. And you knew that.
But attacking Vasily directly would not be feasible.
However, your organization was not out of options. Far from it.
"It's simple really. We cannot hurt Aristov personally, he's too well guarded. So we attack his wife." You stated to the other members of the high table.
They nodded in agreement. "Just make sure he is brought into the fold." The high lord said.
You nodded, bowed… and walked away.
Reward: Zima, Alexi and Dimitri are now all in mortal danger. The enemy will kidnap them or kill them to force you to do things for them.
New Actions Available.
AN: Enjoy.
(Unknown POV)
Perhaps they had trusted their compatriots in the House of Lords too much. The slow agonizing crawl in which the Lords and Commons did anything was always something you and the rest of your compatriots relied on. The bureaucracy could be kept under their complete control, and with it a status quo maintained. A strong emperor with no way to direct his authority was almost as bad as a weak emperor who had total control.
The seed of disunity was similar very easy to sow in the past. A few raids with Turkish nomands here and there to remind the Balkan Princes who was in charge. And in turn, make the Tepes Family and their compatriots heel. They were always too headstrong for their own good. They liked ruling their peaceful and prosperous lands. Rulers of a small, self-sufficient kingdom in the guise of submission.
Of course, the Sultan of Rum was all too eager to accept the offer of Greek fire from your organization in exchange for… dealing with Tepes and his sons.
You had not expected that Vlad would be clever or ruthless enough to escape on his own, with his baby brother in tow. And then managed to swim in the Bosporus long enough to get rescued by an Imperial ship.
The consensus after that information became known was the event would leave the young Vlad traumatized. The horror would damage him to where he was weak willed and cowardly, like his grandfather.
Unfortunately, instead he took after his father, the man they called Dragon.
It was a loss, but not a permanent one. The boy Tepes was far too focused on the Turks and the Sultan of Rum and his own revenge. He'd never thought to ask the real questions of why his father and the boys themselves were captured, instead of left for dead like the other pilgrims in their group. There were ventures further to the east that troubled you.
One man in particular. Vasily Aristov.
Unlike Tepes, he was not accounted for in your organizations plans. He was a bastard of a dying family who was both too young to assume his throne as prince and too illegitimate to even take it.
But Alexander outplayed you, even if he did not realize it. He'd forced his way through making his son the heir, and got people to train him better than you thought the Frontiersman could afford.
Vasily Aristov was a god among men, his tactical mind outshining even his own legendary prowess as a warrior. He had a way of winning the hearts and minds of all around him. His anger tempered by his wits, and his weakness hidden by his pure determination to succeed.
In short, he was emperor material in the Frontier. But you noticed him far too late to kill him. Natasha, damn her and all of her allies, defected to him when she realized what you were doing. You had hoped that assassin killed her, but he did not. The Emperor's madness was a nice way to disguise your orders for execution, but it failed. The Black Hand were always amateurs compared to others in the world. In hindsight, you should have bent the knee to those damned Hassassins and gave them what they wanted.
Destroying Rome itself was a small price to pay for your goals.
You had miscalculated how others would see Vasily. His friendship with the Emperor, the cadets amongst the Imperial Academy, and even Vlad Tepes were something you did not forsee.
The destruction of the Mongol nation in all but name, something that you had been planning for decades, had been the first of the final nails in a plan that would have seen the Empire under new control. When the news of the Khan's death reached your ears, it became unpleasantly clear to all that the Emperor knew of your plans, if not your organization itself.
The cannons he had were far to numerous, their crews far too trained and organized to be something that was just invented for military use.
He had them built, moved them to the Frontier under your nose, and made sure Aristov had the means to make them himself.
It was then you realized that Aristov needed to die. He was far too powerful to be allowed to live any longer, and if he remained as a popular supporter of the Emperor, your plans would fail.
And you hated it when your plans failed.
When you got the news he was wounded, you almost breathed a sigh of relief. The so called "Blood of the Frontier" was going to die, and you could proceed unabated.
His survival made you use the rest of the goodwill you had with the house of lords to imprison him and make him stand trial.
However you still lost, and the Emperor outplayed you again. Around that point, you'd had to leave any ideas of being a 'secret society' behind. There was no doubt he knew about your organization now. But that mattered little. You had enough men in his network to just disappear into the sands of history.
That did not mean your plans were vanquished, so that meant you stayed and tried to salvage things.
You needed to deal with Vasily Aristov. He was the key to all of Alexander's plans. And you knew that.
But attacking Vasily directly would not be feasible.
However, your organization was not out of options. Far from it.
"It's simple really. We cannot hurt Aristov personally, he's too well guarded. So we attack his wife." You stated to the other members of the high table.
They nodded in agreement. "Just make sure he is brought into the fold." The high lord said.
You nodded, bowed… and walked away.
Reward: Zima, Alexi and Dimitri are now all in mortal danger. The enemy will kidnap them or kill them to force you to do things for them.
New Actions Available.
AN: Enjoy.
- Location
- Reno Nv
So, we now have a bitch to shank, neet. Lets get our counter intelligence on.
- Location
- ?????????
So how would our king feel about us giving him the lands of Rum as an extension of his empire? I am just asking for a friend.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
No, no, no, no. You don't have a bitch to shank.
You have all the bitches to shank. Also your counterintelligence is basically down to a semi-good Black Widow expie and some hog-chewed corpses.
- Location
- United States
The joys of relentlessly rolling nat ones. Or twos. Threes, fives, it really doesn't matter.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
QMs run on two things: Booze, and the salt of the players. We break out the booze when you win. The salt is quite self-explanatory.
Given both Magoose and I have kinda had full plates with work and school, you'll have to forgive us extracting a bit of extra salt.
- Location
- United States
It's just so fucking absurd! A never-ending series of increasingly moronic asspulls made to justify rolling a d100. It sucks any real meaning from any victory or success because it can all be made pointless next turn. We're tumbling from one stupid disaster to the next without any kind of satisfaction or justification for what's happening. There's no narrative weight to this, no build-up, no way to do anything about it.QMs run on two things: Booze, and the salt of the players. We break out the booze when you win. The salt is quite self-explanatory.
Given both Magoose and I have kinda had full plates with work and school, you'll have to forgive us extracting a bit of extra salt.
There isn't even the satisfaction of getting good rolls to counter it! The last turn was actually pretty even in the rolls, but it sure as shit didn't feel like it. You rolled in the nineties? Have some soldiers, the amount of which is also determined in a completely random roll. I guarantee if we rolled in the tens, we'd find out that half our army had deserted and was now laying waste to the Ukraine with some sort of hur-hur-hur secret conspiracy short to 'justify' it. We roll a nat 100 for mining the Urals? Have 500 of this completely pointless currency which you'll never think about again. Oh, you don't think that's a fair reward. Well you see, you failed the last two actions, which completely justifies the reward for this being a wet fart! Oh My God, you rolled a nat one! Literally your entire fucking spy network is dead. What, you think this is stupid, contrived, and implausible, as you've built it up consistently over tens of turns? But you rolled a nat one!
I've been thinking about this for a while, and I think the primary culprit is the 'disaster rolls.' Your enemies and the main plot - that shouldn't be completely random, and they shouldn't be shoehorned in to blow failed actions utterly out of proportion. There are more examples than I can think of, but the biggest and most egregious one was the end of the last quest.
We'd just taken a risky option and emulated Hannibal by moving our whole army over the Urals to steal a march on the implausibly powerful Mongols, and managed to destroy one of their armies. An audacious and risky move which worked out and had a great reward, and now we had the initiative on the enemy!
Oh, wait. You botched the scouting action! And the disaster roll is high! Gasp!
Another goddamn army is on it's way lead by the bad guy him-fucking-self.
It was cheap. And it made our victory feel cheap, because we won anyway. Same reason it made the entire 'House of Lords' debacle feel stupid and cheap.
I think I'm going to give this quest break for a while, because I stopped enjoying it a while ago. I always had these problems with the system and this style of questing, but I persevered because I liked the story. I liked the characters, I liked the setting, but at some point you need to acknowledge the fact that getting invested isn't something that'll lead to anything but anger and frustration. Or as you do eloquently put it, salt.
I don't mean for this to come off as a personal attack, and this rant is in large part fueled by other quests with similar issues, but I needed to let this be said and this quest was the most glaring example.
- Location
- Asia
So the emperor know which organisation this is ?
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
I'mma be straight with you since there's a bit of genuine thought behind the rage and emotion: You're upset because you're seeing dicequests for what they are: Dice as an excuse.
Every QM on the site has a choice between one of two ways to run the quest: They own up to making their own choices, or they can claim to farm out decisions and responsibility to little pieces of plastic.
If you can't tell, this isn't my first rodeo with the subject and I already have a developed opinion on the matter. We QMs chose what the dice mean. Some of us are just more successful in keeping the gentlemen's agreement about not acknowledging the man behind the curtain going than others. This stems from the issue of quests being run on the same mechanism all questers back in the day knew: tabletop RPGs. But unlike having a set of books everyone could trust and a set of commonly agreed on house rules, it's all made up by the person running it. There is no publisher or game company we put our trust on. You play a quest, you're implicitly trusting the QM to make themselves have that same stalwart reputation. Or at the very least, entertain people enough to ignore the holes. After all, we just dice to be a random arbitrator of fate, not the QM pulling shit out of his ass. Right?
Magoose and I aren't like the big QMs on the site, or anywhere else. We're not that good at lying to you, making you suspend your disbelief. And that's our bad. And we're sorry for that. But let me make one thing about your statement clear. Let me correct one fundamental misunderstanding:
The omission of the disaster roll as a mechanic would change jack fucking shit. Like most players, you don't grasp what goes on behind the scenes, what the decision making process is when you're a Dungeon Master. All the disaster roll does is tell you the players what we the QMs rolled. And what we the QMs chose to make that roll into. If we took it out, we'd still have to make those rolls behind the scenes. You'd have even less justification for why the enemy army suddenly appeared, beyond whatever fluff we wrote up. Maybe you'd rather we omit dice all together? True, many people do run narrative quests and run it well. But that wouldn't answer your issues either. Again, we'd have to come up with fluff to justify the new plot twist, like before.
You're calling me and Magoose out as shitty DMs. "You can't make a good story or a good game". That's what it boils down to. You're saying we need to "git gud scrub".
And we clearly do have room for improvement. But your suggestion as to how we're to improve is, to put it politely, rejected.
Luminous
God Save The Queen
- Location
- Victoria, BC, Canada
Long story short; the dice have always been here and will continue to be here. Either deal with it, or leave.
Until we just catch the plague and die, I'm inclined to judge Magoose to be pretty fair with his interpretation of the rolls. Things get bad yes, but there's always a chance to recover from them.
Until we just catch the plague and die, I'm inclined to judge Magoose to be pretty fair with his interpretation of the rolls. Things get bad yes, but there's always a chance to recover from them.
Magoose
SV's Questing Fanatic
- Location
- California USA
- Pronouns
- He
Hey guys, so events have happened to where my notes have once again been corrupted to hell and back and I have lost the notes for the story. Again.
But I have a new quest for those that liked this one, this time with backups so that I won't constantly lose weeks of work: A Candle To Light The Stars: An Alternate History CK2 in a Broken and Shattered Europe.
No, it is not a prequel to this quest detailing the founding of the Empire. It is instead, just a story of a crumbling world that has lost its light.
But I have a new quest for those that liked this one, this time with backups so that I won't constantly lose weeks of work: A Candle To Light The Stars: An Alternate History CK2 in a Broken and Shattered Europe.
No, it is not a prequel to this quest detailing the founding of the Empire. It is instead, just a story of a crumbling world that has lost its light.