Bay 12 Games Forum

INTRODUCTION:

The Yamato are weak, and the government is heavily decentralized.

A Player (maximum of 12) picks a Province, a Color (Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Orange, Silver, Purple, White, Teal, Pink, Blue, Grey) and from there, they must take control of neighbouring lands, depose the corrupt government officials, establish a new capital and reunite Japan!

If any Player gets eliminated, they can take a different color (if still available), pick an independent Province, and try their hand in the fight for the throne. You cannot start adjacent to another Player's territory if that Player has already sent orders for the current Turn.

If a Player joins later in the game, their Province's Rice is increased by 2 per Turn, minus 2 (for example, if they join at Turn 3, they start with 10+(2x3)-2 = 14 Rice total)

Players cannot join/rejoin the game after Turn 5 begins.

TURN ORDER:

The turns of all Players are SIMULTANEOUS. Orders can be sent through Personal Messages to the GM (Haspen), or if you're not caring about what people see, in the game thread itself.

For your orders to be valid, they must be bolded using the forum bbcode.

A simple example of a Player's turn:

5 Rice for Defense of Shima.
5 Rice for Investing of Shima.
10 Rice for Conquest of Ise.

You cannot edit your orders once you've send the post! Think twice before posting!!

PROVINCES OF THE YAMATO:

The map is divided into 64 Provinces, each with its own name. A Player starts with one Province. The only off-limits state at start is Yamato, seat of the corrupt government officials currently in nominal power.

Each Player starts with 10 Rice, which is used to support their forces when conquering and defending, and can be used to invest into states so that they generate more Rice.

There are numerous Provinces that, due to coastal proximity, are considered adjacent to each other despite having water between them. Such adjacency is denoted on the Map with black lines.

IMPERIAL VICTORY:

First, you need to conquer 33 Provinces, including Yamato.
Second, you need to bring one of your Provinces to 30 Rice; this Province cannot be fully Mountainous (thus Iga, Hida, Shinano and Kai are disqualified).
Third, your dominion must be continuous; any gaps between your provinces (whether due to neutral states, or other Players' conquest) must be filled up with your glorious state color!

INDEPENDENT PROVINCES:

Non-Player Provinces will always dedicate themselves to defense of their borders, meaning that 10 Rice will always be spent on Defense. Yamato, being the capital of the former Empire, is much more developed, and has 20 Rice to spend on defense.

All Independents are followers of Shinto religion, therefore receive +5 Defense bonus against attacks from across any Mountains.

The independent Provinces will never use Rice for Conquests, nor they will Invest Rice to improve their economy. Fools, all of them!

RICE AND INVESTMENTS:

Rice is used twofold; to supply soldiers fighting abroad or defending the states, or to improve the economy of the state.

If you do not dedicate any Rice to defense of a province, any opportunistic Player can simply walk their well-fed soldiers into it and automatically take control of the state!
The more Rice you dedicate for defense, the greater chances of repelling the enemy. Same with conquering your neighbours; the more Rice you set aside for the conquest, the greater chances of success.

You can also Invest your Rice in a Province that you control. Each Province at start lets you use 10 Rice per Turn.
For each 5 Rice Invested into a Province, the Province will provide you with 1 extra Rice, starting from next Turn. Partial Investments are not allowed.

Example: You have 90 Rice, and your home Province, Hizen, provides you with 15 Rice. If you invest half of your Rice, 45, into Hizen, this will raise Hizen's Rice output to 24 (15 + [45/5=9] = 24).

The maximum amount of Rice a Province can reach is 30; such Provinces are marked with a tiny * on the map.

CONQUESTS, DEFENSE, DEVASTATION, AND THE DIE OF WAR:

Once you decide to conquer some of your neighbours, you must know that each combat is resolved using a d10 die. You can only Conquer Provinces adjacent to the ones you control.

Combat formula is simple: d10 + Rice = your number. If you roll higher than the opponents' defending force, you win and the State is yours!

Example: You decide to conquer State of Noto, and dedicate 19 Rice to the task. State of Noto can afford to dedicate only 12 Rice for defense of its borders. You roll is 4, their roll is 6. 19+4 = 23, 12+6 = 18. State of Noto loses the fight and its lands are now yours!

If a State is attacked by more than 1 Player at once, the Rice spent on Defense is spread as equally as possible with any leftover spent against the Player with highest amount of Rice dedicated to the conquest.
If a State is defeated by more than 1 Player at once, the control of the State falls into the hands of the Player that dedicated more Rice into the State's Conquest. If Players invest same amount of Rice, then a coin toss will determine the new owner of the State.

Once a State is conquered, inevitably there will be looting, pillaging and destruction at hands of victorious soldiers. The Rice output of the State is thus HALVED, and the new owner of the pillaged land will need to re-invest into it. This can lead to Devastation:

Devastated States are those States that have 0 Rice output; it is not possible to launch attacks from Devastated States, and one must first Invest in them to be able to launch attacks from it in the next Turn.

HOUSEHOLD SPIRITUALITY:

The ambitious Lords wanting to restore the unified Japan need to follow a spiritual path that guides their actions and morals. Shinto, the animistic belief in millions of Kami is traditional religion of Yamato; however, in recent decades Buddhism has taken roots, therefore allowing a Lord to choose:

Shinto: Investing in Provinces costs 1 Rice less. Mountain Defense Bonus increased by +5.
Buddhism: +2 Bonus to Foreign Trade Roll. Pillaging will lower Rice of a conquered Province by 1 Rice less (to minimum of 0 Rice pillaged).

You cannot change your spiritual path after you join the game.

THE BEAUTY OF MOUNTAINS:

The archipelago of Yamato is very mountainous; indeed, there's very few plains and rivers to traverse, forcing any strategist to rely on available passes and chokepoints.

Any Defense fielded against an Attack sent across Mountains gets an automatic +5 bonus (this bonus applies to both Player and Independent Provinces; following Shinto religion boosts this bonus to +10).

Note however, that if the Defending Province has a non-Mountain border with Attacker's Province, the Mountain bonus is negated, as it is assumed the Attacker simply takes the easier route in.

TRADING NEAR AND FAR:

If you are adjacent to another Player by sharing a land border or maximum are 5 Provinces apart along the Coastline, you can establish a Trade Route with them. This requires both Players to declare establishing a Trade Route with each other through the commands they send.

A Trade Route provides +5 Rice to both Players, and prevents the two Players from attacking each other.

To stop trading, simply notify the GM about your wish to do so when sending orders. (remember to specify which trade route you wish to cancel if you have several!)

You can also trade with distant lands of Silla and Tang, provided you own a Province adjacent to the western seas (any Province from Dewa to Satsuma counts). However, these distant lands have their own rulers and governors, which need to be 'persuaded' with gifts to open trade.

These gifts are equivalents of 10 Rice; once you send it, a 1d8 Roll occurs, which is the amount of Rice you shall receive from Foreign Trade from next Turn onwards. If you're unsatisfied with the amount, send another gift package, and the roll will be redone (higher result prevails). Buddhists, being foreigners, grant you +2 Bonus to this roll.