Bay 12 Games Forum

Well, the beasts aren't quite like the usual bears and wolves, although those are plenty too. Magic, like all folk tales in these kinds of societies is always believed to be real, but to what extent it's all a coincidence and to what extent are these forces real depends on how much you discover in the world... The settlers have not found much in the way of magic, but the Storms are far from normal climatic occurrence.

Despite coming from the distant and now unreachable homelands, settlers are pretty much started from a blank slate and pretty much all of culture has developed from that point. Feel free to reference other apps like Ghaz did if you like it and would like to see them included alongside yours.

To the rest: so far so good, interesting pick all around. I  sense quite strong Polish/eastern theme coming about, but other apps make it varied so it's good so far. I have not chosen any apps yet however, so do not take the comments as a final yay or nay - but they do help.

Few comments:
Ghaz, gunpowder is a no-no, for simple reason of it messing with the setting and my dislike for it. Every attempt to create it will end with you disappearing in the resulting explosion .
Fallacy, your math needs correcting - since I am rolling 3 d6 dice, the minimum roll is 3, and you cannot score under it, so those skills with 0 have to be 4. Same thing with that 20 - you cannot roll higher than 18 with three dice so the max skill ceiling is 17, so adjust accordingly.

It’s been over 200 years since the first ships of your forefathers touched upon the shores of Eseria. This land, beyond the horizon of the Homelands and cut off by raging currents of the Wild Sea, offered shelter and promise of better life far from the dying lands of the east.

This new country was rich in minerals, full of game and fish, bountiful and full of exotic plants. The small bands of colonists, ferried by small ships to the edge of the world and at the limit of their ability, multiplied and claimed the land as their own. The life was good and prosperity reigned for long years, until the Storms came. The clouds became ever darker, the air became dank and the sun grew dim. Harvests failed, monstrous beasts came from the mountains and forests and disease began to claim more and more people.

Cruelty and darkness, absent in times of abundance, rose in the hearts of men as they struggled to survive. Only the determination of the people allowed them to stave off the calamities, but at a great cost. Now, many lands are abandoned, nightmares stalk the forests and greedy lords huddle in their castles and towns.

Yet, you are the mightiest of them, the descendants of the original captains and chiefs of the ships that landed. You command strength and demand respect, but whether you will manage to survive new the Storms is up to you.

What is this?

Lords of Eseria is a RP game of feudal rule, colonization and warfare. 5 players will take charge of noble houses that rule the lands colonized by their ancestors and try to survive in the new world. Central rule is absent and only the ancient customs and force of arms are the rules of the land. Players are free to trade, conquer, vassalize, explore and treat with one another in whatever manner they like. The noble houses are of player’s own devising, so creativity and originality are welcome (within reason of course). You are free to describe the culture, land and people and those will be placed on the map accordingly.

Setting: Setting is equivalent to high middle ages - technology is fairly simple but robust. Guns, mass steel production and printing press are unknown. Feudal rule is the law of the land, but cities are more inclined towards trade and manufacture, with guilds and merchants being in advantage there. The land itself is quite rich but largely unexplored and recently depopulated, so expect surprises and adventures.
 
Rules

Players:
Players are free to make up their characters and are given 3 points to stat them out of the available skills and traits with base being 10. Those affect their ability to lead, fight and deal with others. You can also go below 10 for extra points but negative (that is, more difficult) rolls. You are also expected to describe their house and the land they inhabit, which will determine their starting position on the map and circumstances.

All rolls are done with use of 3d6, with the goal to roll under the target figure, with modifiers to affect the rolls accordingly, with degrees of sucess determined by how much you've made the roll:

Leadership (bonus to max limit of vassals and sub-commanders/officers)
Marksmanship (bonus to ranged chance to hit)
Swordmanship (bonus to combat with swords, sabres and the like)
Strategy (bonus to strategy roll in battle)
Charisma (bonus to any speech, persuasion and political rolls)
Subversive (bonus to traps, plots, covert ops and ambushes)
Logistics (bonus to army supplies, construction and the like)
Administration (bonus to income, land governance and law)

Land:
Land is divided into regions, with each region possessing different amount of resources, level of settlement and thus varying levels of wealth. New regions can be opened up and colonized, but only after investment and resolution of whatever issues plague the land. The regions themselves can be split up, merged and reorganized, but any major changes will require vassals and administrators. These will also be needed to handle the land for you beyond certain level. Cities and towns can be part of region or stand of their own, affecting both the administrative status, wealth but also arrangement of the land.

The main resource in the game is money, described in (d)ucats. Some regions may possess described resources, which factor into trade or access/training of some troops.

Combat:

The combat is based on GURPS (or Generic Universal Roleplaying System) Mass Battle Rules, which are fairly robust and detailed, although simple and concise enough to resolve battles by taking into account troop types, troop numbers, troop quality, strength, terrain, strategy and pretty much all aspects that would be of interest to anyone. All battle calculations and bookkeeping will be done by me, although it will be nice if players could keep track of their armies as well. Details will be delivered after game start. Armies are limited by one's leadership ability, which responds to how many people can single person manage viably without difficulty - in this case it means officers and vassals, but also retinues and immediate bodyguard.

Actions:
The game flows by turns, of which there are 2 per year. These in turn have apportioned amount of solid actions that can be undertaken - this limitation represents the flow of time. RP actions and the like are unlimited, but expect them to be shuffled around in time if things are dragged out.
Unless on an active campaign or quest/mission, each character begins his turn by giving out any administrative orders and resolves any issues. They are free to make their moves and meet afterwards, but each player is limited to 3 diplomatic actions per season (treaties, courts, etc.) but can perform additional actions if he's willing to pay for it (to represent the administration cost of increased business); this can also be done while away. After all of those are resolved, military actions (up to 3) can be performed, either in person or by calling up vassals/officers. Those involve recruitment, movement of troops (dependent on army speed and terrain) military operations like amphibious attacks, engineering works, ambushes or sieges. One can attempt to gain a free military action by rolling relevant stat (but can be done only twice per turn) with failures taking an action away. While on a campaign/quest/mission, unless a clear regent/steward is nominated, diplomatic and economic actions are limited to 1.

How do I join?

Application form:

Applications are based on quality of writing and not on first-come basis.

Ouch, that doesn't sound good.

I could not stay away and seeing how You Are King kinda dried up... I'll bite, providing there is a spot for one more minor house.

Well, not really, you are doing business with another player that isn't incredibly consistent.

Given that this is my first stint in GMing I was hoping for more but if this can't be refocused...

In the interest of keeping this game alive, I will be considering some options - whether to replace Erika's player with someone else, turn her into an NPC or replace the character with someone else altogether.

As much as I hate the idea of any of these three coming to pass, I am not letting this game die just yet. Iituem, you are a great player and you are good in your writing, but the role you picked is one that is most demanding and truth be told, enough time passed to keep this going, I'm not fond of prodding people.

I know others are interested in carrying on as I inquired about it and I do have some things ready for them, as well as the orders they were given by Erika, but with her stuff unresolved the game cannot move forward.

So, are we waiting on 2 more players or can we expect a start soon?