Alright, so here is what I got so far for the combined turn-vote and grand-strategy system:
0. Considerations & Design Goals
As became apparent in the discussion, the currently used system for allocating actions has shortcomings for the state of the game we are currently in. It used to work fine for a lower number of PCs acting mostly as PCs, but these days we are running a true kingdom and the scale will continue to escalate. By now, the current system shows the following issues:
- too high complexity, caused by the escalating number of tracked actors and making both crafting and adjusting turn-plans cumbersome
- too granular task allocation, giving incentives to micromanage to a too large degree
- many disjointed tasks crammed into a single turn, leading to fractured narrative and slowing down play
- lack of modeling of the tools and tasks of a ruler
- lack of scaling beyond the personal level
While trying to address these issues, the following principles and goals will be prioritized:
- high depth, but low complexity, making turn-plans more accessible again
- a plan should be doable without using spreadsheets, though using them for cleaner organisation is deemed acceptable
- the system should fluidly interlock the actions of persons and institutions
- the system should be self-contained and not require other systems on a macroscopic scale
- the system should be able to interface cleanly with the D&D based resolution of microscopic actions
- the system should not require any instruction beyond this small handbook to use
- the system should not require any resource that can't be provided by the forum itself
- the system should require as few calculations as possible
1. Game Board
The system divides the world into a playing field consisting of provinces. Provinces are sea or land areas, divided either by historical borders or geographical features. Sea provinces are essentially empty, baring the presence of special buildings, while land provinces usually contain settlements and are firmly owned by a polity. Each land province has the following statistics:
Population - The number of people living in the province in thousands.
Manpower - The number of people living in the province in thousands, who can be trained to serve in a military. Whenever a military unit is trained, the owner must mark the appropriate amount of manpower of any one of his provinces as "in use". Should the military unit be destroyed through high losses, the associated manpower is also destroyed.
Wealth - This statistic gives the average wealth and income of the province, given on a scale from 1 to 20. Low values are found in rural or underdeveloped areas, while high values indicate major trade or production centers.
Infrastructure - How well the area is developed, given on a scale from 1 to 20. Low values indicate the area being mostly compromised of untamed wilderness, while provinces with high infrastructure have well developed networks of roads, channels and ports. This statistic also influences the speed of troop movements through this area.
Administration - How much administrative control the government of the area has, given on a scale from 1 to 20. Low values mean that either through corruption, lack of institutions or fiercely independent local rulers, the province is barely more then nominally in control of the owner, while high values represent a well developed and efficient bureaucracy.
Law - How well the owner of the province can enforce his laws and protect the area, given on a scale from 1 to 20. Low values indicate rampant crime, banditry and a lack of stability and order, while high values indicate a well developed law enforcement group being present that can effectively combat crime.
Life-Quality - How good the life is for the average inhabitant of the area, given on a scale from 1 to 20. Low values mean a suffering, often unruly or impoverished population, while high values indicate a good place to live that will often draw immigrants from less well-developed areas.
These statistics can change over time, either through dedicated actions, random events or as the results of war and intrigue. They interact with each other in the following fashion:
- Manpower can never be higher then 1/10th of Population
- If Administration is lower then Wealth, any Wealth above the Administration value is considered wasted and will not generate income.
- If Law is lower then Wealth, any Wealth above the Law value is lost to graft and banditry and will thus not generate income.
- If any of the statistics Wealth, Administration or Law are more then twice the value of Infrastructure, the value is lowered to twice that of Infrastructure. Note: Unlike the capping of Wealth by Law and Administration, this is a permanent effect.
- Life-Quality is calculated by adding Wealth, Infrastructure, Administration and Law, including bonuses, then dividing the result by 5 and rounded down.
At the end of each turn, a province incurs expenses and generates income by the following formulas:
Tax Income - (Population - Manpower) * Wealth * 25 IM
Military Expenses - Manpower * 3,000 IM
Administrative Expenses - Population * Administration * 2 IM
Law Enforcement Expenses - Population * Law * 2 IM
Infrastructure Expenses - Population * Infrastructure * 1 IM
Furthermore, a province can contain special improvements, with each of them having special effects. These are covered in a later section.
2. Actions & Hero Units
Actions represent a consistent effort by either a province or a Hero Unit towards a specific goal. They are used to change province statistics, construct province improvements or achieve other goals. The following types of actions exist:
- Economy
- Government
- Law Enforcement
- Military
- Research
- Intrigue
- Diplomacy
- Expedition
- Colonization
By default, each province can perform one action each turn, which can be either a Economy, Government, Law Enforcement, Military or Colonization action. Should the province have a Administration rank of 15 or higher, it can furthermore perform an additional Economy or Government action. Should the province have a Law rank of 15 or higher, it can also perform an additional Law Enforcement or Military action. By building certain Province Improvements, a province might become able to take more actions of different types, which is determined by the improvement in question.
For the ease of notation, these actions are called Province Action, Administration Action and Law-Enforcement Action.
Hero Units are special characters with extraordinary abilities, which can take one action per turn of a type available to that specific unit. They can furthermore have special qualities, which allow them to construct special Improvements or to use special equipment to aid other actions. All Hero Units can perform Research, Diplomacy, Intrigue and Expedition actions, though not every Hero is equally suited to these tasks. Furthermore, a Hero can be used once per turn to take part in a combat action related to a Expedition he is not part of. Doing this does not impact the results of their action in this turn.
At the end of the turn, the results of actions is determined. Usually this means progress towards the specific goal of the action, but special actions might have different requirements and some actions are resolved entirely outside of this system, especially those performed by Hero units. Per default, for each action spend on a given task, it gains 2d6 of progress. Once the progress bar of a action is filled up in this fashion, it is completed and the effects are applied.
Any action that affects a province must be performed by this province itself, but other provinces or hero units can aid these efforts freely.
Colonization is a special case, as it usually affects a province that can not yet take it's own actions and works slightly different. The details are given in a a later section.
3. Standard Actions & Province Improvements
This is a non-exhaustive lists of possible goals towards which actions can be spent. Each goal has a progress bar that needs to be filled to complete the goal. These effects can be to change the statistics of a province, to construct or expand improvements or more specialized things. The rules and effects are explained in each entry. For each of these goals, the required action is given and they might further have a cost that needs to be paid or special requirements that need to be fulfilled before they can be started.
Increase Manpower
By starting a recruitment drive, you can increase the available manpower in a province. When this action completes, throw 1d4 and an additional 1d4 for every multiple of 500 of Population the province has. The sum of these dice gives the number of Population that is converted into Manpower. If the Manpower would exceed the cap, no Population above the cap will be converted.
Requirements: None
Action: Military
Progress Needed: 10
Cost: 20,000 IM
Improve Infrastructure
Effort is put into constructing new roads, harbors, bridges and channels in the province to ease traffic and aid trade. When completed, the Infrastructure rating of the province improves by 1
Requirements: None
Action: Economy
Progress Needed: the current Infrastructure rating * 5
Cost: the current Infrastructure rating * 50,000 IM (Construction)
Expand Administration
By recruiting additional personal and constructing new offices, the reach of the local administration is expanded. When completed, the Administration rating of the province improves by 1
Requirements: None
Action: Government
Progress Needed: the current Administration rating * 5
Cost: the current Administration rating * 5,000 IM, the current Administration rating * 10,000 IM (Construction)
Expand Law Enforcement
By recruiting additional personal and constructing new offices, the reach of the local law enforcement forces is expanded. When completed, the Law rating of the province improves by 1
Requirements: None
Action: Law Enforcement
Progress Needed: the current Law rating * 5
Cost: the current Law rating * 5,000 IM, the current Law rating * 10,000 IM (Construction)
Create / Expand Manufacturing Business
This represents a local business that produces either raw materials or refines them into goods. It has the following statistics:
- Size - This gives the number of people in thousands who are employed in the business. When creating this business, the size is always 1 and additional actions be used to expand it.
- Profitability - How much income is produced each turn. At the end of each turn, a Manufacturing Business generates Size x Profitability x 1,000 IM of income for the owner. The profitability of a given business is decided on a case by case base by the GM.
Requirements: None
Action: Economy
Progress Needed: 10
Cost: 100,000 IM, 50,000 IM (Construction)
Establish Espionage Outpost
By establishing a base of operations for a espionage group, it can more easily work in the area. An Espionage Outpost allows the owner to perform 1 Intrigue action in the province in which it is built, which can also be used to support other Intrigue actions that target this specific province.
Requirements: None
Action: Intrigue
Progress Needed: 1/50th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 20 IM
Upkeep: Population * 3 IM
Establish Espionage Base
By improving upon a Espionage Outpost, the organisation gains more power and reach in the area, and the resources necessary to act outside of it. In addition to the free Intrigue action that can only be used in the province itself, the Espionage Base provides another Intrigue action that can be used anywhere. Furthermore, if the owner of the province and the Espionage Base are the same, it gives a +1 Bonus to Administration and Law.
Requirements: Espionage Outpost
Action: Intrigue
Progress Needed: 1/50th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 20 IM
Upkeep: Population * 6 IM
Establish Orphanages
Providing care for orphans ensures that they do not have to beg and slightly lowers crime-rates in the area. An orphanage system gives a +1 bonus to Life-Quality.
Requirements: None
Action: Government
Progress Needed: 1/10th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 10 IM, Population * 50 IM (Construction)
Cost: Population * 5 IM
Establish Public Schools
Providing general education to the population allows a higher standard of living and makes it easier to recruit learned workers. Public Schools give a +1 bonus to Life-Quality and can give 2d6 of additional progress to one action performed in or by the province per turn.
Requirements: At least 50 Population and at least 10 Administration and Law
Action: Government
Progress Needed: 1/10th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 20 IM, Population * 50 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: Population * 10 IM
Establish Higher Learning Institution
Every institution of this type has a focus, such as magic, natural science, law or economics and provides 1 Research action per turn that can be only used for matching topics. Alternatively, it can provide an additional 2d6 of progress to any action that matches it's specialization. A province can have an arbitrary number of these institutions, but each must have a different focus.
Requirements: At least 25 Population and at least 5 Administration and Law
Action: Government
Progress Needed: 20
Cost: 20,000 IM, 100,000 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: 2,000 IM
Establish Healthcare Services
Providing free healing for the population increases the quality of life significantly and lower the effect of diseases and plagues. It provides +2 Life-Quality.
Requirements: None
Action: Government
Progress Needed: 1/10th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 20 IM, Population * 50 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: Population * 10 IM
Construct Sanitation Systems
Providing good sanitation increases the quality of life and lowers the effect of diseases and plagues. It provides +1 Life-Quality.
Requirements: None
Action: Government
Progress Needed: 1/20th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 50 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: Population * 2 IM
Construct Guard Posts
A network of posts that can be used by the military and law-enforcement to better control the province. Grants a +1 bonus to Law. If the province also has a Messenger Service, this bonus is doubled.
Requirements: None
Action: Military
Progress Needed: 1/20th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 50 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: Population * 5 IM
Establish Messenger Service
A organized group of messengers or similar system that allows fast communication in the province. Grants a +1 bonus to Admnistration. If the province also has Guard Posts, this bonus is doubled.
Requirements: None
Action: Government
Progress Needed: 1/20th of the Population of the province
Cost: Population * 50 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: Population * 5 IM
Construct Shipyard
Allows the construction and maintenance of ships. Each shipyard can support up to 20 ships and create one ship per turn.
Requirements: Coastal Province
Action: Economy
Progress Needed: 20
Cost: 20,000 IM, 100,000 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: 1,000 IM
Construct Training Center
Allows the training of soldiers. Each Training Center can accommodate 1 manpower (1,000 people).
Requirements: Must be a coastal province or have a major river.
Action: Military
Progress Needed: 20
Cost: 10,000 IM, 50,000 IM (Construction)
Upkeep: 500 IM
Encourage Immigration
Try to attract Population from another Province. At the end of the turn, a number of Population equal to 2d6 + local Life-Quality - target province Life-Quality moves from the target to the local province. Note: A large influx of people into a currently sparsely populated province can have impact on it's statistics.
Requirements: None
Action: Economy
Cost: 5,000 IM per moved Population, 50,000 IM (Construction) per moved Population
Enforce Martial Law
By using military force, the Administration and Law of a province can be forcefully raised. While under martial law, the province makes progress against both Expand Administration and Expand Law-Enforcement simultaneously as if every action assigned to Enforce Martial Law were used for both of those projects at the same time. However, for every turn under martial law, the Life-Quality of a province is lowered by 1. Once martial law ends, this penalty is reduced by 1 per turn. This action can't raise the Administration or Law scores higher then half of the maximum value.
Requirements: Need to have at least 10 soldiers per Population of the province present. This can be halved by spending an additional Military action and quartered by spending three additional Military actions.
Action: Military
Cost: None
5. Special Qualities & Equipment
Both provinces and Hero Units can have special qualities that either provide bonuses or allow special actions. These qualities can only be gained or lost by special events, though occasionally a special action might become available to gain or loose a quality.
The following special qualities for provinces exist:
Poor Region - Loose 50% on Tax Income.
Trade Center - Gain +50% on Tax Income.
Major Trade Center - Gain +100% on Tax Income.
Backwater - For the purpose of migration, the Life-Quality is considered 5 points lower.
Cultural Center - For the purpose of migration, the Life-Quality is considered 5 points higher.
Major Cultural Center - For the purpose of migration, the Life-Quality is considered 10 points higher.
Primitive - The area is either inhabited by primitive tribes or significantly underdeveloped. The statistics Wealth, Infrastructure, Administration, Law and Life-Quality can not rise beyond 5.
Barbaric - The locals are primitive, wild or simply opposed to modern civilization. The statistics Wealth, Infrastructure, Administration, Law and Life-Quality can not rise beyond 10.
Center of Learning - Provides 2d6 of extra progress to one Research action performed in the province per turn.
Holy Site - The province contains a major holy site of a widely followed faith. It produces a set amount of free income, depending on significance of the site and how widespread the faith is.
Slavery - This province practices slavery. Population from here can be moved freely to other provinces, but the Life-Quality is lowered by -2 due to the often inhumane conditions under which slaves live.
The following special qualities for Hero Units exist:
Bard - Can use a Lyre of Building.
Architect - When performing actions that require only construction efforts, provides 2d6 additional progress.
Researcher - Either through a depth of knowledge or natural genius, this Hero adds and additional 2d6 of progress when performing Research actions.
Famous Leader - Through military experience or simple fame, this Hero is better at organizing troops and inspiring them to work harder. He adds additional 2d6 of progress to Military actions.
Organizer - Through experience in working with beraucracies, this Hero adds additional 2d6 of progress to Government actions.
Business Prodigy - Having much experience in matters of money, this Hero adds additional 2d6 of progress to Economy actions.
Lawgiver - Through experience in legal matters, this Hero adds additional 2d6 of progress to Law-Enforcement actions.
Elusive Shadow - Having mastered the art of intrigue, this Hero adds additional 2d6 of progress to Intrigue actions.
Diplomat - Mingling with the rich and mighty is a second nature for this Hero and he adds additional 2d6 of progress to Diploamcy actions.
Yeoman - This Hero Unit can take Colonisation actions, except Send Colonists. For the purpose of these actions, he is assumed to have province statistics of 10.
Furthermore, there exist some specialized equipment that can be used to aid some actions:
Lyre of Building - Lowers all costs marked Construction by 90%.
Titan Tools - Due to the powerful magic of these tools, they lower all costs marked as Construction by 99% and double all progress on the task, but can be only used for tasks that require only construction.
6. Colonization
To colonize a currently empty province is a major undertaking that usually requires persistent effort from a large realm. When a colony is established, it begins with all statistics set to 0 and is dependent on another province sending supplies and taking over functions of the government. This is called the parent province and while the colony exists, the action to support it is locked in and can't be re-assigned. Other provinces can spend Colonization actions to aid the development of a colony.
The owner of a colony can declare it self-sufficient at any point as a free action, but doing so makes it impossible to use further Colonization actions to further it's development and the colony must have at least a rating of 1 in every statistic before this can be done. A colony can't take actions until it has become self-sufficient. A colony automatically becomes self-sufficient if it exceeds the population of the parent province, the parent province becomes unable to take a Colonization action or the realm that established the colony crumbles. Should the colony still have any statistic at rank 0 at this point, it descends into chaos and is immediately destroyed.
Each uncolonized province has a hidden Wealth statistic, which gives the expected wealth of the resulting colony once it has become self-sufficient. If no preset value exists, roll 2d6 to determine the expected wealth at random. Special events can change the expected Wealth of a colony. This wealth often takes the form of special resources and trade-goods available in the area, which require a certain minimum amount of population and a dedicated action to realize this potential.
To establish a colony, one of the following actions must be chosen:
Establish Trade Colony
The focus of this colony is to extract wealth from the lands and send it as tribute to the parent realm. While remaining a colony, it is uses Administration, Law-Enforcement and Life-Quality equal to half that of the parent province for all purposes. Due to the increased focus on economic exploitation, the initial expected Wealth of a trade colony is doubled.
Action: Colonization
Cost: Population of the colony * 100 IM
Establish Yeoman Colony
Used as an outlet for those wishing to leave behind their current lives and homes or just to see the world, this colony attracts settlers all on it's own. While remaining a colony, it is uses Administration, Law-Enforcement and Life-Quality equal to half that of the parent province for all purposes. A Yeoman colony attracts 1d4 population per turn, usually taken from provinces with low Life-Quality. This can include neighboring provinces, colonies or even the provinces of other realms.
Action: Colonization
Cost: Population of the colony * 100 IM
Establish Military Colony
Created not to claim wealth or lands, these colonies are much tighter controlled by their parent province. While remaining a colony, it uses Administration and Law-Enforcement equal to that of the parent province and Life-Quality equal to half that of the parent province for all purposes.
Action: Colonization
Cost: Population of the colony * 50 IM
Furthermore, the development of a province can be aided by other provinces. Any province in the realm can target a colony with the actions Increase Manpower, Improve Infrastructure, Expand Administration, Expand Law-Enforcement, any project requiring a Government type action and Encourage Immigration, with the targeted colony being the one receiving the population.. Depending on the colony type, other actions can also be targeted at a colony.
Trade Colony: Any actions requiring a Economy action.
Yeoman Colony: No special actions, but the effects of Encourage Immigration are doubled.
Military Colony: All actions requiring a Military action and Construct Shipyard.
7. Military
To establish a military, a realm needs Manpower and either a Training Facility or a Shipyard. Each turn, these province improvements can train soldiers and construct ships without needing a dedicated action, though a Military action can be spend to double the productivity of any one such improvement. Each point of Manpower represents 1,000 people and ships require a certain number of people to support, while soldiers are counted by head. Depending on the soldier and ship type, a facility creates a different amount of them per turn.
The detailed costs and capabilities of military units are determined by the GM. The values here are mainly shown as a general outline.
Soldier Types:
Militia
Peasants armed with whatever weapons and armor they could get hold of on short notice. When a unit of Manpower is thrown into battle without any kind of training, they are fielded as Militias.
Trained per Turn: -
Levies
A step above basic rabble, these peasants got some basic combat training and were supplied with simple weapons.
Trained per Turn: 1,000
Men-At-Arms
Having received decent gear and combat training, these soldiers are the core of most feudal combat formations.
Trained per Turn: 500
Elite Soldiers
Through expensive equipment and high-quality training, these units represent the pinnacle of warfare.
Trained per Turn: 200
Specialists
Some tasks on the battlefield require more then swinging a sword and holding up a shield. Specialists like siege engineers and healers can be found in most armies and their training takes much time and effort.
Trained per Turn: 50
Ship Types:
Small Galley
A small vessel, usually used in coastal waters, that is propelled mainly by rowing. Due to it's large crew, it has a distinct advantage during boarding.
Crew: 200
Construction Time: 1 Turn
Medium Galley
A well armed military vessel used to patrol coastlines, that is propelled mainly by rowing. Due to it's large crew, it has a distinct advantage during boarding.
Crew: 400
Construction Time: 1 Turn
Large Galley
A small vessel, usually used in coastal waters, that is propelled mainly by rowing. Due to it's large crew, it has a distinct advantage during boarding.
Crew: 600
Construction Time: 2 Turns
Small Galleon
An average sized ship with much cargo space and decent armaments, useful both for trading and warfare.
Crew: 50
Construction Time: 1 Turn
Medium Galleon
Due to it's size, this ship type can bring a lot of strength to bear in combat and can transport large amounts of cargo.
Crew: 200
Construction Time: 2 Turns
Large Galleon
Often the backbone of large combat fleets, these ships bring overwhelming power to every naval engagement.
Crew: 500
Construction Time: 3 Turns
Sloop
A small and nimble craft, often a trading or fishing vessel appropriated for military matters, but their speed makes them valuable in combat.
Crew: 25
Construction Time: 0.5 Turns
