INTRODUCTION:
The Eternal Night has come at last! But the great lands of Rumania are fragmented, the Cattle are without a Sire, the Lordships are without an ruler - but not for long!
A Player (maximum of 12) picks a Lordship, a Color (Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Orange, Silver, Purple, White, Teal, Pink, Blue, Grey), creates their Nosferatu (read below), picks a Cult (Giorgios, Llelith, The Red Countess, Viy) and from there, they must take control of neighbouring lands and declare their own Principality.
Only then can they start a campaign to unite Rumania and declares themselves the Eternal Imperator!
VAMPIRE LORDS:
When you first claim Lordship, you must create your Nosferatu. They need a Name/Title and 2 Positive Traits. For extra edgy vampiric flavor, try a mix of
Romanian and/or
Vampire name generation!
They also have a Command Value (CV), which value depends on random roll and Tier. You can assign your Vampire to personally Lead an Attack or Defense to increase the roll result by that value - they require at least 1 Cattle assigned to them to perform the task (can't go to fight on an empty stomach!).
If the Attack/Defense they were Leading fails, a Coin Toss is used to determine what happens; on Heads, your Vampire returns home; on Tails, they die.
Vampire Tiers:
Nosferatu: Highest tier, every Player starts as one. CV Roll: 5-7. 2 Positive Traits.
Greatblood: Second tier, once your Nosferatu dies in combat, you get a randomly generated Greatblood. CV Roll: 3-5. 1 Positive Trait.
Thinblood: Third tier, once your replacement Greatblood dies in combat, you get a randomly generated Thinblood; all subsequent replacements will also be Thinbloods. CV Roll: 1-3. 1 Positive and 1 Negative Trait.
Vampire's Traits (positive/negative, mutually exclusive listed in pairs):
Conqueror/Weak: +2/-2 to all Attack rolls.
Defender/Unprepared: +2/-2 to all Defense rolls.
Hedonist/Necrotic: -1/+1 Cattle required when Investing.
Just/Cruel: Pillaging lowers Cattle by 1 less/Pillaging lowers Cattle by 1 extra.
Slavemaster/-: +5 Cattle score.
-/Indecisive: Cannot dedicate more than 25 Cattle to a singular Attack, Defense or Invest action.
-/Impotent: Cannot create Ghouls.
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 Cattle for Defense of Tiris.
5 Cattle to Invest in Tiris.
10 Cattle for Conquest of Soara.
You cannot edit your orders once you've send the post! Think twice before posting!!LORDSHIPS AND PRINCIPALITIES:
The map is divided into 66 Lordships, each with its own name. A Player starts with one Lordship.
Each Lordship starts with 10 Cattle, which is used to support their forces when conquering and defending, and can be used to invest into states so that they generate more Cattle.
To create a Principality, you must rule over 4 Lordships in continuous manner at start of a Turn. This allows you to announce creation of Principality when sending your orders for that Turn to the GM.
There's special Cattle bonus for being a Principality: a non-Lordship dependent +5 to your Cattle count (+10 if you worship Giorgios), and this bonus persists until end of the game (or your early demise).
Your main goal, however, is to become the Eternal Imperator. There are three requirements for this:
A) It must be Turn 10 or later.
B) You must have more Total Cattle than any other Player combined.
C) You must have more Lordships under your control than any other Player.
At Start of a Turn that these three requirements are fulfilled by any Player, that Player wins the Nosferatu Wars!
INDEPENDENT LORDSHIPS:
Non-Player Lordships will always dedicate themselves to defense of their borders, meaning that 10 Cattle will always be spent on Defense.
The independent Lordships will never use Cattle for Conquests, nor they will Invest Cattle to improve their economy. Fools, all of them!
CATTLE AND INVESTMENTS:
Cattle is used threefold; to supply soldiers fighting abroad or defending the states, or to improve the Cattle count of the Lordship, or can be converted into Ghouls.
If you do not dedicate any Cattle to defense of a province, any opportunistic Player can simply walk their own Cattle into it and automatically take control of the land!
The more Cattle you dedicate for defense, the greater chances of repelling the enemy. Same with conquering your neighbours; the more Cattle you set aside for the conquest, the greater chances of success.
You can also Invest your Cattle in a Lordship that you control. Each Lordship at start lets you use 10 Cattle per Turn.
For each 5 Cattle Invested into a Lordship, the Lordship will provide you with 1 extra Cattle, starting from next Turn.
Example: You have 90 Cattle, and your home Lordship, Scythia, provides you with 15 Cattle. If you invest half of your Cattle, 45, into Scythia, this will raise Scythia's Cattle output to 24 (15 + [45/5=9] = 24).
The maximum amount of Cattle a Province can reach is 30.
GHOULS IN YOUR SERVICE:
Ghouls are Cattle that were given the great honor of tasting your blood, therefore turning into a human-vampire hybrid. Ghouls are counted separately from Cattle.
Every Turn, you can raise 1 Ghoul from every Lordship you rule over - specify which Lordship(s) to raise Ghoul(s) from when sending orders. This reduces the Lordship's Cattle by 1, so make sure you don't run out of Cattle by overzealously converting them into Ghouls! Of course, Lordships with 0 Cattle cannot provide you with Ghouls.
Ghouls can no longer be used to Invest in a Lordship, but they do provide +3 Bonus to rolls to any Attack or Defense they're assigned for. Freshly-raised Ghouls cannot be assigned to Attacks/Defenses.
Note that Ghouls, being vampiric hybrids, require some fresh blood to function, therefore you cannot send Ghouls to Attack or Defense without assigning at least 1 Cattle to them.
Ghouls, unlike their masters, do not have the powers of regeneration - therefore if an Attack/Defense led by Ghoul(s) fails, the Ghouls assigned to the operation are destroyed!
CONQUESTS, DEFENSE, 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 Lordships adjacent to the ones you control.
Combat formula is simple: d10 + Cattle + Ghouls = your number. If you roll higher than the opponents' defending force, you win and the Lordship is yours!
Example: You decide to conquer Lordship of Thracia, and dedicate 16 Cattle and 1 Ghoul to the task. Lordship of Thracia can afford to dedicate only 12 Cattle for defense of its borders. You roll is 6, their roll is 4. 16+3+6 = 25, 12+4 = 16. Lordship of Thracia loses the fight and its lands are now yours!
If a Lordship is attacked by more than 1 Player at once, the Cattle spent on Defense is spread as equally as possible with any leftover spent against the Player with highest amount of Cattle dedicated to the conquest.
If a Lordship is defeated by more than 1 Player at once, the control of the Lordship falls into the hands of the Player that dedicated more 'raw' Cattle into the Lordship's Conquest. In case of draws, a Coin Toss decides the victor.
Once a Lordship is conquered, inevitably there will be looting, pillaging and destruction at hands of victorious soldiers. The Cattle output of the Lordship is thus HALVED, and the new owner of the devastated land will need to re-invest into it. This can lead to Devastation:
Devastated Lordships are those Lordships that have 0 Cattle output; it is not possible to launch attacks from Devastated Lordships, and one must first Invest in them to be able to launch attacks from it in the next Turn.
CULTS OF RUMANIA:
When creating your Lordship, you must decide which Cult you will become part of; all 4 bestow certain benefits on you.
Giorgios Half-King: An ancient half-vampire King who ruled over united Rumania some thousand years ago and managed to make Cattle and the Vampires work alongside for greater purpose. Effect: +3 to all Defense rolls. Principality Cattle bonus raised to +10.
Llelith: Perverted spider-woman goddess, who induces lustful trances in her worshippers. Cattle put under her spells are especially promiscuous and willing to breed. Effect: 1 Cattle less required for Investments. Every Devastated Lordship will gain 1 Cattle start of the next Turn.
The Red Countess: An ancient vampiric Lady who, through powers of alchemy, bloodcraft and demonology, transcended through the Second Death, ultimately overcoming it and achieving godhood, something that many Vampires aspire to acheive as well. Effect: +1 Positive Trait per Tier, starting with Nosferatu. Upon Defeat in Combat, extra Coin Toss to determine if the Vampire survives.
Viy: A grotesque, one-eyed centipede that feeds upon bloodshed and miseries of warfare. Its worshippers are granted great strength and are cast into blood frenzy, making them powerful combatants. Effect: +2 to your Vampire's Command Value. Raises Ghoul combat bonus from +3 to +4.
MOUNTAIN CHAINS:
Mountain chains can be found cutting through much of Rumania. This makes perfect opportunity to place ambushes and hold chokepoints against advancing armies!
Any Defense fielded against an Attack sent across Mountains gets an automatic +5 bonus (this bonus applies to both Player and Independent Lordships).
Note however, that if the Defending Lordship has a non-Mountain border with Attacker's Lordship, the Mountain bonus is negated, as it is assumed the Attacker simply takes the easier route in.
