An exodus, a fallen kingdom, a new age. Watch as the survivors of the land of Ulfyre reestablish themselves after paradise lost. Few lessons that should have been learned were. The same mistakes can be repeated again. But perhaps things are changing in ways unseen...
The legendary era, a 300 year period after the great exodus in which anything could happen. But what did happen? Only those who were there truly know, and their surviving words are few and far between...
Welcome to Oren, a land encompassing everything you've come to expect from the fantasy genre. Players take control of a small kingdom belonging to 1 of 5 groups, then further select from 2 subgroups. Choices at this stage are purely aesthetic and preference, and only have bearing on the story:
-Mortal Tribes Select 1 of 2 options for leader type
Feudal Lord
Warlord
-Forest Tribes Select 1 of 2 options for leader type
Elf Noble
Fairy Lord
-Earth Tribes Select 1 of 2 options for leader type
Dwarf Lord
Goblin King
-Undead Select 1 of 2 options for leader type
Necromancer
Vampire Lord
-Monster Tribes Select 1 of two options for leader type
Ogre Lord
Beast King
Once players have selected their tribe and leader type, they then roll for 2 servants. Servants are how all actions are carried out, and successful actions require successful servant dice rolls. But first, servant stats need to be established. Actions generally fall into 1 of 4 categories: Diplomacy, Administration, Leadership, and Combat Ability. Roll 4d6 twice (8d6) for each of your servant's 4 skill levels. Once rolled, the GM will draft up your starting servants based on their skills.
Actions can be generic and loosely defined. They are submitted to the GM via private messages, where they're approved and then adapted to the game. Once approved, players then assign a servant to the action and roll in-thread for success (without telling other players what they're rolling for). Everyone finds out each other's actions the next turn when both successful and unsuccessful actions are detailed.
Example of player actions submitted to GM: Raise an army
Improve castle
Send someone to neighboring village to convince them to swear fealty
As many actions as servants exist can be taken per turn, though more actions involve more risk of backfire. Player goals and actions will likely require prerequisite actions if they're too ambitious or broad.
Battle mechanics involve players rolling against each other and the GM in a 3 way battle against their armies and the environment. Official rules will be detailed during the 1st battle.
Once players have your tribe type, subgroup type, and have rolled for 2 servants, I'll draft up a quick map and we'll get started. Minimum players will be 4. Max probably won't be an issue.
(This is designed to be a bare-bones game that can be run from a mobile device while I'm traveling, and I'll be traveling for 2 weeks, so that'll be the trial period I try this out for, assuming there's at least 4 players. If it runs smoothly and you guys enjoy it, we can go longer)
Z: Hmmm. Important question: are the undead inherently evil in this game? Because if not we're tempted to play as a lesbian dwarven vampire who retains her industriousness.
Uh, I have a question too, what exactly do you mean by Beast King? Is it like a Warhammer thing with multiple individuals having different features of multiple animal species, but in the end are the same thing?
Z: Hmmm. Important question: are the undead inherently evil in this game? Because if not we're tempted to play as a lesbian dwarven vampire who retains her industriousness.
The dead's actions are determined by the necromancer, who are generally understood to be evil. But even then there are some necromancers who figure out a work around for the darker side of their arts, so if you want to play a good necromancer I could work it in as a faction
Uh, I have a question too, what exactly do you mean by Beast King? Is it like a Warhammer thing with multiple individuals having different features of multiple animal species, but in the end are the same thing?
The dead's actions are determined by the necromancer, who are generally understood to be evil. But even then there are some necromancers who figure out a work around for the darker side of their arts, so if you want to play a good necromancer I could work it in as a faction
Z: Hmmm... @Lop if we were to play as a necromancer, would we be capable of raising undead made out of wood? It is once-living tissue after all. And wood golems seem both much more sanitary than meat and bones, and much more PR-friendly. Not to mention easier to source in bulk.
Apologies, missed the 'vampire' part (getting used to mobile!) yes there can absolutely be vampires who do good and noble deeds, but they are seperate from necromancers.
Z: Hmmm... @Lop if we were to play as a necromancer, would we be capable of raising undead made out of wood? It is once-living tissue after all. And wood golems seem both much more sanitary than meat and bones, and much more PR-friendly. Not to mention easier to source in bulk.
Apologies, missed the 'vampire' part (getting used to mobile!) yes there can absolutely be vampires who do good and noble deeds, but they are seperate from necromancers.
Z: Hmmm. So, what's a vampire's whole deal in terms of powers and limitations? We're definitely interested in playing with the undead, but we're currently hemming and hawing between Communist Carpenter Necromancer and some endearingly quirky vampire.
Z: Hmmm. So, what's a vampire's whole deal in terms of powers and limitations? We're definitely interested in playing with the undead, but we're currently hemming and hawing between Communist Carpenter Necromancer and some endearingly quirky vampire.
Really the only difference is what your early game and servants look like, as well as the type of story your faction is telling through actions. Necromancers have skeleton soldiers and wraiths, vampires have ghouls and thralls and the like, but regardless of what you choose you'll have everything eventually belonging to your tribe. A necromancer might eventually command vampires, and a vampire lord might eventually raise skeleton soldiers or have a necromancer servant
Necromancers employ the living as well as the dead, so although the dead can do labor, some of the more complex trades are undertaken by the families living under the necromancer's rule (or protection in some cases)
And alright! That's one faction, just 3 more to establish and then I'll draw up a map and we'll get started. Players can join anytime of course
(@tulpamancer roll 8d6 when you get a chance for your 2 servants that will be serving your necromancer)
Z: Not strictly necessary, but we're going to write up a short leader bio for our faction to give them some depth.
Faction Type: Undead
Leader Type: Necromancer
Leader Name: Georgette Alexandrine Simone Fay
Creed: "There's something I noticed a long time ago; most of the hard work of farming doesn't need much more planning than a small team for an entire farm, but upwards of 90% of the population is stuck doing it, squandering their potential. So I wondered if there were any way to fix this. Then I realized something.
The dead don't think. The dead don't breathe. The dead don't eat. But the dead can work."
Z EDIT: I swear we didn't rig the dice, I'm not sure how we ended up with two servants having identical stat spreads. Still, nice to know we have two broadly competent underlings.
Sorry should have specified, Warlord is part of the Mortal Tribe and Beast Lord is part of the Monster Tribes. One is viking/celt inspired and the other is mythical monsters, you can pick between them. Beastlord though was what you wanted right?
Z: @Lop to be clear, was juggling around the dice rolls for the stats of our servants to avoid them literally being identical OK, or are we stuck with the stats as the dice land? Because we REALLY don't want to be effectively incapable of defending ourselves.
Z: @Lop to be clear, was juggling around the dice rolls for the stats of our servants to avoid them literally being identical OK, or are we stuck with the stats as the dice land? Because we REALLY don't want to be effectively incapable of defending ourselves.
I'm actually fascinated by the rolls so far, in your guy's case I wouldn't worry. If you have a servant who's good at fighting you'll definitely get use out of them, but if they're bad at fighting you just have to avoid putting them in overly dangerous situations. You can also train them up, and eventually new servants can be selected where statistically at least one of them should be good at fighting.
As for why leader's don't have stats, stats are tied to turn choices, and in the beginning you only have 2 actions per turn, represented by the 2 servants who undertake them. I suppose I could have made it 1 leader and 1 servant, but I decided on 2 servants and left the leader's thoughts, actions, and backstories to the players. (That said you can roll for your leader stats if you just want to have them in mind and build a character around them)
I'm actually fascinated by the rolls so far, in your guy's case I wouldn't worry. If you have a servant who's good at fighting you'll definitely get use out of them, but if they're bad at fighting you just have to avoid putting them in overly dangerous situations. You can also train them up, and eventually new servants can be selected where statistically at least one of them should be good at fighting.
As for why leader's don't have stats, stats are tied to turn choices, and in the beginning you only have 2 actions per turn, represented by the 2 servants who undertake them. I suppose I could have made it 1 leader and 1 servant, but I decided on 2 servants and left the leader's thoughts, actions, and backstories to the players. (That said you can roll for your leader stats if you just want to have them in mind and build a character around them)
Z: What we're worried about in our case is getting attacked in the first few turns before we can fix our crippling lack of combat-capable servants. All those options for fixing the deficiency take time, and if someone decides to rush us turn one (not too implausible) we're going to get utterly wrecked with no realistic odds of survival, which isn't fun at all.
Z EDIT: Wait, is leading an army a Leadership roll, or a Combat roll?
Z: What we're worried about in our case is getting attacked in the first few turns before we can fix our crippling lack of combat-capable servants. All those options for fixing the deficiency take time, and if someone decides to rush us turn one (not too implausible) we're going to get utterly wrecked with no realistic odds of survival, which isn't fun at all.
Z EDIT: Wait, is leading an army a Leadership roll, or a Combat roll?
Leadership and combat roll, though victory is more tied to the leadership stat, (but even more so on the army's rolls). Servants are more the mechanic to send armies places than the determiner of their victory or defeat, though good servant rolls do make a difference during battle. The game should naturally prevent early game rushing, as everyone is going to have very raggedy warbands in the beginning if they raise any armies at all, and I've some hopeful safeguards to prevent an early-game raiding party from wiping out a capital.
