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Lords of the Sword Coast: A Castle Management Game (Forgotten Realms /Crossover)

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    • butchock

    butchock

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    Hi guys! Who here has played Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, the Guild 2, or Pillars of Eternity? Anyway, this game is inspired by the castle management in those games, where due to your choices (and while running around doing quests and finding stuff in the game world) your castle upgrades with the decisions you made. Which was pretty awesome when I first played it... however, those games either ended too quickly (or was buggy in the case of the Guild 2) for my tastes and I didn't really enjoy Stronghold... anyway, to the game!

    Pick Your Castle:
    [] Bladepoint Keep (start at the Northern part of the Sword Coast)
    - Located at the foothills of the Sword Mountains near the Long Road and an unnamed river connected to the Mere of Dead Men (North: Neverwinter; S: Thornhold; E: Mere of Dead Men; W: The High Forest)
    - Start with 1 Guard Company (veteran) with average equipment and 2 Militia Company (green) with poor equipment
    - Has 2 small farming villages (100 food each per turn) (you can build further infrastructures to improve it)
    - Has a quarry (+100 supplies per turn)
    - An abandoned mine... somewhere... probably needs a Military action
    - Has access to a road, mountains, forest and river
    - There is a lot of rivalry between the city-states in these parts
    - High Undead activity to the east (mostly the unthinking variety)
    - There are rumors of Elf Ruins nearby... along with their magics and guardians.



    [] Stormward Keep (Start at the Southern part of the Sword Coast)
    - Located at the foothills of the Cloud Peaks near the Coast Way and an hour away (by cart) from the Sea of Swords (North: Baldur's Gate; S: Amn; E: The Nelanther; W: The Green Fields)
    - Start 2 Militia Company (trained) with good equipment
    - has 1 small port village (+1 Gold per turn) (you can build further infrastructures to improve it)
    - has 1 small farming village (100 food per turn) (you can build further infrastructures to improve it)
    - A disputed quarry... filled with litigants... probably needs a Social action
    - Has access to the sea, road, mountains, open fields
    - A huge expansionist country (Amn) to your south, a huge expansionist city-state (Baldur's Gate) to your north.. yay!
    - Frequent Sahuagin raids up and down the coast... (luckily, shark-teeth necklace are in-fashion this season)
    - Ruins of old cursed human kingdoms are uncovered here and there from time to time...


    Make Your Character:
    [] Name:
    [] Profession: see below
    [] Short Description:
    [] Free Improvement: see examples


    Choose a Profession: Bonus to related action
    [] Commander (Military)
    [] Scholar (Research)
    [] Diplomat (Social)
    [] Wright (Production)
    [] Artificer (Design)
    [] Infiltrator (Covert)

    Improvement Examples:
    [] a Company of Veteran Guard
    [] A castle-upgrade: write-in what
    [] A village-upgrade: pick which village and write-in what
    [] a Merchant Caravan
    [] a Mercenary Charter
    [] an Old Map of (Area/City)
    [] a strange (insert race here) artifact
    [] a small fishing fleet
    [] unmanned watchtowers along your border
    [] horses (a company-worth)
    [] a set of books regarding agriculture (includes animal husbandry)
    [] a magic wand of infinite magic missiles (this would bring a whole lot of problems)
    [] minotaur slave-labor (brings along their own set of problems)
    [] a high elf archaeologist
    [] a lizardman scout
    [] a dwarf smuggler
    [] a representative in the nearest large city
    [] Write-in: subject to GM approval


    The game set-up:
    - There would be two factions with 3-5 players each (I will make two separate threads for both factions once we start: no peeking please!)
    - Both factions will take over a castle and its surrounding improvements, the winner will be the one with the most "Influence" in the Sword Coast by game end.
    - the max tech-level in the game is a combination of Magitech and Steampunk (some diesel-punk is also allowed subject to the GM)
    - you don't need to Research a technology provided that it is readily available in the game setting or its common knowledge/ or commonly used in real life like those in the high medieval era, but when in doubt, consult the gm (gunpowder is not readily available in setting and several powerful gods are biased against it, but eventually you can use or research it)
    - a single turn is usually 3 months
    - have no idea what to build? then i recommend looking at quests like @thales' Rise Quest or the one that started it all with @Knighterrant's Knight Quest
    - may add new rules or amend old ones for game balance
    - some things you can delegate, however, a lot cannot

    There are 4 resources, namely:
    -- supplies: what you need to build as well as in arming your forces
    -- food: what you need to recruit people and to not starve
    -- gold: for things food and supplies cannot solve
    -- ???: wait for it!

    Game Mechanics:
    Each player have six actions in a turn, namely:
    Social, which you use to perform diplomacy, set policy, etc.
    Research, which is used to develop technology and scientific principles.
    Production, which you use to create units and infrastructure.
    Design, which is used to create weapons and gear for units using unlocked technology.
    Military, which is for performing various military operations.
    Covert, which is yer spy action.

    Improving your Holdings:
    Improving Villages (    by default, a village is a 'farming' village unless stated otherwise)
    - all villages starts with peasant houses and a small pub

    Improving Castles
    - all player faction starts with a Central Keep and essential rooms like a Barracks... and that's it for now...

    special thanks to @Gideon020 for allowing me to copy his game mechanics...
     
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    • Lords of the North at Bladepoint Keep!
    @Sinsystems application
    @Simpli application
    @Estro application
    @Jeboboid application
    @bryanfran36 application
    @Wade Garrett application

    Your Castle Awaits!!!!


    -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

    Lords of the South at Stormward Keep!
    @Hannz application
    @Faith application
    @BCK233 application
    @Mina application
    @Kuciwalker application
    @Gunther application


    Your Castle Awaits!!!!


    -x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

    Waiting List

    @skaro application
     
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    • I'm interested.

    Give me time to think up a character. I'm torn between the usual max Diplo route, or a more "Merchant of Death" kind of character.
     
    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, while the setting is Forgotten Realms, there are things that causes alternate realities/ different fantasy settings to appear in this world (see: Spelljammer), so don't be surprised if darker or more 'fantastic' things appear in-game.
     
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    Looks interesting~ Maybe I will have time....it at least reminds me that I wanted to make a Railroad Tycoon Game at the Sword coast ^^
     
    [X] Bladepoint Keep (start at the Northern part of the Sword Coast)

    I'm picking this because the large numbers of mindless undead nearby are perfect for my aims.

    Edward D. Gaster
    ​

    Age: 28
    Species: Human
    Specialty: Wright (Production)
    Occupation: Doctor, Necromancer.
    Backstory: Edward D. Gaster was born to a family of merchants that plied the High Road between Neverwinter and Waterdeep. From his father he learned the tools of the merchant from simple mathematics to supply and demand to more advanced concepts such as how to calculate profit margins when accounting for labor, time and danger costs.

    However it's from his mother that Edward would learn the skills that he would devote much of his life to. For while her husband was busy managing their little merchant caravan Maria D. Gaster served as their groups doctor with her son acting as her assistant as she taught him everything she knew.

    As time passed on Edward eventually left his family's caravan, which disappeared a few years afterwards, to settle down in a no named village in the foothills of the Sword Mountains overlooking the Mere of Dead Men. There he worked as the village doctor, using all his free time to further his research into medicine and in secret Necromancy.

    He spent countless days observing the Mere from afar trying to draw some insight from the forsaken place. It was on one such day that he met the woman who would become his future wife, her name was Julia. To many she was but a simple baker's daughter who while no ugly was far from what you would call beautiful, but to Edward D. Gaster she was the most perfect human being he had ever encountered.

    From that meeting a friendship was born that would soon blossom into love and before long it bore two beautiful girls, the eldest being named after Julia's grandmother Francheska and the youngest being named after Edward's grandmother Veronica. The couple would love their daughters for 3 full years, content to live their lives in their small cabin at the edge of the village.

    Of course these happy days came to an abrupt end when one day while Edward was out gathering herbs for medicines the village was attacked by bandits. Seeing the smoke he rushed home as fast as his legs could carry him...but he was too late. The village burned, most of it's residents lay dead or dying, it was only by dumb luck that Edward didn't join them as the bandits were too preoccupied by their looting to notice the man rushing to a small house on the edge of the village.

    What he found haunts his dreams to this very day.

    His home was in ruins, the door had been smashed in, furniture had been broken and shelves full of rare books and bottles of valuable hers had been smashed. In a corner lay his daughters, their once pristine faces marred by numerous cuts and shattered glass.

    But what made him see red was the man....no the monster that stood over the unmoving form of his wife, blood still dripping from the knife in it's hand. Gaster saw RED.

    Even to this day he doesn't know what happened, only that one moment he had been standing in the doorway and when he finally came to his senses the bandit was dead and he was missing about a third of the skin on his face.

    Not knowing what else to do the widowed man did the only thing he could. Grab his daughters and what supplies he could carry and run into the woods before the bandits stopped looting long enough to notice him....

    It has been almost 8 years since then and now Edward D. Gaster was a Lord of Bladepoint Keep, his face hidden behind a mask to hide his scars. A reminder of that fateful day so many years ago.

    ​


    [X] Free Improvement: Undead Labor Force, a large number of mindless undead that Gaster has acquired over his travels that he now puts to work as laborers. Turns out a tireless labor force handling the really tedious jobs does wonders for productivity.
     
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    Sinsystems said:
    [X] Bladepoint Keep (start at the Northern part of the Sword Coast)

    I'm picking this because the large numbers of mindless undead nearby are perfect for my aims.

    [X] Name: Edward D. Gaster
    [X] Profession: Wright (Production)
    [X] Short Description: A middles aged man who mainly wears a pitch black coat with white gloves and a bone white mask when in public (Basically he looks like this). By trade Mr Gaster primarily works as a Doctor using his skills to ensure that laborers don't get crippled or killed as he knows the value of men. On the side he dabbles in Necromancy, however his primary focus is in using it for the betterment of others by turning the mindless undead into workers for jobs too dangerous for living humanoids.
    [X] Free Improvement: Undead Labor Force, a large number of mindless undead that Gaster has acquired over his travels that he now puts to work as laborers. Turns out a tireless labor force handling the really tedious jobs does wonders for productivity.
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    I approve of this improvement, but I hope that you are aware that certain factions like the followers of Kelemvor (the god of the Dead) "frowns" upon this kind of practice.
    edit: frowns = they get violent
     
    I am interested, probably in making a more research focused character.

    Give me a bit to think someone up.
     
    butchock said:
    I approve of this improvement, but I hope that you are aware that certain factions like the followers of Kelemvor (the god of the Dead) frowns upon this kind of practice.
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    Oh i'm well aware, it's going to be a nightmare from a PR standpoint. I just hope my castle gets a good diplomancer to help with the issues.

    Although I'm probably going to formalize a system where the undead are essentially earning a proper burial or something along those lines, will need to work on that. Still at the very least once we get that mine set up we don't have to worry about staffing it with living people.
     
    Bladepoint Keep (start at the Northern part of the Sword Coast)

    Name:
    Selena Merylle

    ​

    Profession: Artificer (could swap to Diplomat)

    (WIP - will write it as soon as I finished something else I'm writing on)

    Free Improvement:
    Castle Upgrade: Machine-workshop

    With a hiss the water pours into the canister and is quickly brought to boiling point by the fire fanned under it, the steam rising up and with a groan the machinery starts to come to life - mechanical hammers rushing down on different anvils as slender hands place one piece of metal or another on them, watching them being turned into sheets as thin as mortal hands can barely do and then taken them over to another table, where a set of fine tools was waiting for her to start cutting into it as she slowly began to artfully craft the parts for her next prototype design out of it. Set into a corner of the castle, her workshop was just big enough to house her and a few assistants as they worked on designing the tools of the future, the smoke belching out of it to the irritation of the guards having to patrol the walls above it.

    Well...progress has its price - even if its only some guards needing to polish their armours more often.
     
    Sinsystems said:
    Oh i'm well aware, it's going to be a nightmare from a PR standpoint. I just hope my castle gets a good diplomancer to help with the issues.

    Although I'm probably going to formalize a system where the undead are essentially earning a proper burial or something along those lines, will need to work on that. Still at the very least once we get that mine set up we don't have to worry about staffing it with living people.
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    sure you can do that, you may have to use your first Social Action once we start the game to minimize the malus. with that being said, yeah, I see I higher chance for your Production rolls or a lower DC with things involving Necromancy.;)

    also, since your Undead have a military application, they are numbered as Company-sized.
     
    butchock said:
    sure you can do that, you may have to use your first Social Action once we start the game to minimize the malus. with that being said, yeah, I see I higher chance for your Production rolls or a lower DC with things involving Necromancy.;)

    also, since your Undead have a military application, they are numbered as Company-sized.
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    Pretty much, especially with the large number of mindless undead nearby to turn into more laborers. The military application is also useful in a pinch since my character's mindset values the lives of the living over the dead, corpses can be replaced but lives lost are rarely regained.

    Still on the using Necromancy for the benefit of the people front I plan on setting up a sort of life insurance policy where a person can sign a contract that essentially states that upon his or her death I have permission to raise them as a mindless undead to work in the mine/quarry. In exchange for allowing me to do that the family of the dead person will get a small income while I "rent" the corpse with the family being allowed to request the corpse's return at any time. By doing so I essentially allow our peasants to ensure that even if they die their families are taken care of long enough to get back on their feet.

    I'll do a similar thing with loans and debt so that in the event of the debtors death their body is raised to work it off rather than having the debt dumped on the family. The family can have the body back either when the debt is repaid from them or from the corpses laboring.
     
    [X] Bladepoint Keep (start at the Northern part of the Sword Coast)
    Mountains! Snow! Fun!
    [X] Name: Alice Heron
    [X] Profession: Scholar
    [X] Short Description:
    [X] Free Improvement: A school, that teaches the local villages the basics of numbers, writing and reading.
     
    butchock said:
    don't worry, its a bit of a generic fantasy with elves and dwarfs and stuff, besides you can ask me about the local politics in your area, provided that its general knowledge of course...:p
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    What kind of problem that magical wand will bring?.Can we improbve our characther skill?
    I kind of want to play military campaign thought.
     
    [X] Bladepoint Keep (start at the Northern part of the Sword Coast)

    [X] Name: Farora Shadestrider
    [X] Profession: Commander (Military)
    [X] Short Description: A skilled strategist and leader, Farora learned her skills in a mercenary company which specialized in scouting and guerilla tactics. Eventually coming to command a small company of her own, Farora seeks to prove her abilities as both a scout and as a commander.
    [X] Free Improvement: Ranger Company
     
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    Jeboboid said:
    What sort of species will be available for play btw?
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    any species, though that won't really matter, unless you decided to pick being an elf and decide to go on a quest into dwarven supremacist territory... so yeah, in that case it matters...;)

    edit: though the default race is human if you don't describe your race.
     
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    butchock said:
    any species, though that won't really matter, unless you decided to pick being an elf and decide to go on a quest into dwarven supremacist territory... so yeah, in that case it matters...;)

    edit: though the default race is human if you don't describe your race.
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    I was thinking of being a tiefling obsessed with learning stuff before the scholar position got nabbed, after that, I was like, "eh, lets be a newish merc commander", but didn't really wanna play a dwarf. So elven ranger commander it is!
     
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