NB: Due to initial GM hiatus, EvictedSaint is now running this game.Ripped without shame, but with apology, from Sensei's superior arms race game.Here, you will join one of two nations, and attempt to design spells and enchantments to destroy the other one.
Arstotzka: Thread!Moskurg: Thread!The year is 910, and these two nations having been warring over the small landmass of Forenia in the North Atlantic, some distance west of Ireland. Europe is entering the High Middle Ages, whilst in the Middle East the Golden Age of civilisation is still taking place. Forenia remains mostly cut off from these intrigues, as the two long-standing tribes are disinclined to conquer elsewhere (lest they drop their guard for a second and those bastards on the other half of the island take advantage) and too far away for most other cultures to try and conquer. The Norse established a series of trading posts and a colony in the northern taiga, and were all killed and their technology taken by the local Arstotzkans. Shortly thereafter, Iberian settlers from the Ummayad empire tried to colonise the southern deserts and were killed by the Moskurgers, who took their technology and breed of fast horses. The war has continued ever since.
Six months ago, in the hotly disputed centre of Forenia, an old ruin was discovered belonging to some pre-Forenian people. Contained within, amongst incidental treasure and corpses, were two wands and two spellbooks. Unfortunately, those bastard Moskurgers/Arstotzkans raided the camp at the last moment and you were only able to get away with half of the loot. Nevertheless, the discovery has revolutionised war; magic is real, and your nation has been able to train a handful of wizards based off the spellbook and wand you recovered. The only problem now is trying to figure out more spells and ways to make use of your magic to get one over on those bastard Moskurgers/Arstotzkans!
Torches light the streets and rain falls constantly from the sky. You are meeting around a table strewn with parchment and quills, in a longhouse under watch by the local King's guard. After a period of
extended argument discussion, the old team of wizards has been
murdered in their sleep dismissed, and you have been chosen to replace them.
THE NATIONS
Arstotzka resides in the cold north of Forenia, much of which is frozen taiga. Moskurg has its capital in the hot sands on the south end of Forenia. In between them is a range of mountains, through which passage is difficult by foot or horse. Around the mountains to the west is a warm, wet jungle region, terminating in swamps rather than beaches. To the east are relatively exposed plains, ideal for farming and consequently hotly fought over. Old Roman roads lead through here, straight from Arstotzka's capitol to Moskurg's, when they aren't blockaded, which they currently are. The sea all around is prone to sudden and treacherous storms that make naval excursions risky, and threaten any ship not in a bay (there is one on the north, south, and west sides of Forenia each). Therefore, ships can only operate in zones adjacent to a friendly bay.
Each region in Forenia has four sections of ground (a total of 20 across the whole landmass). A region is controlled when a faction has gained all four sections, and holds them for a turn. Home regions (Arstotzka, Moskurg) remain controlled by their side until the capital.
Arstotzka starts with the following weapons and resources:
Mundane Equipment
Broadsword: Officer weapon. An iron age classic. A double-edged blade designed for speed, flexibility and force. Requires training to wield, can be used one or two handed. Expensive.
War Axe: General infantry weapon. Can be used as a tool in a pinch, this is a single-handed weapon that does well against heavily armoured foes. Can be used with minimal training.
Wooden Shield: General infantry equipment. Couples well with an axe, cheap, easy to replace. Works best in heavy melee. Can be used with minimal training. Cheap.
Hide Armour: General infantry armour. Cheap, thanks to the plentiful sheep in the taiga. Turns aside weak blows. Cheap.
Chain Mail: Officer armour. Expensive, due to the steel required. Very effective against most weapons. Expensive.
Longbow: General infantry weapon. Difficult to find wood and requires a lot of training, but long ranged and powerful. Expensive.
Shire Horse: A heavy riding horse. Survives and rides well in cold weather. Powerful charge. Expensive.
Longship: Oar-rowed wooden ship. Slow, but sturdy, and can carry large numbers of landing troops. Very Expensive.
Moskurg starts with the following weapons and resources:
Mundane Equipment
Sabre: Officer weapon. A single-edged blade that favours cavalry combat over infantry combat. Requires training to wield, one-handed. Expensive.
Spear: General infantry weapon. Essentially a dagger on a long stick. Very cheap, requires minimal training to use. Can be used double-handed, or single handed with a light shield. Cheap.
Buckler: General infantry equipment. A small iron shield, held in one hand. Only protects a small area, but can be wielded alongside a shield. Moderate cost, requires training to wield properly.
Padded Armour: General infantry armour. Very cheap, just layers of cloth, but doesn't protect against much. Well ventilated in hot conditions, though. Cheap.
Scale Mail: Officer armour. Scales of steel on a leather backing. Expensive, but lighter than chain mail. Expensive.
Short Bow: General infantry weapon. A light bow composed of laminated wood and horn. Inexpensive enough to equip many troops with, but short ranged.
Arabian Horse: A light riding horse, from short-lived Iberian settlers in the past. Very fast and manoevrable, but not too strong. Expensive.
Sailing Ship: Wind-propelled wooden ship. Fast, requires minimal crew, cannot carry many passengers. Very Expensive.
The magical starting equipment of both sides is not yet determined.
RULES OF THE GAME
In either nation's thread, you may suggest what to do each turn, and vote in favor other suggestions. Please stick to one nation, nobody likes a turncoat! Turns occur in two phases:
-In the Design Phase, you may suggest a new product (e.g. a brand new spell or magic item, a new field of magic, or a magic-altered version of a mundane item). I will secretly roll some dice, and depending how ambitious your new project is, I will assign an Expense to it, and
possibly probably introduce Bugs. If you want, you can simply revise an old project instead of making a new one.
Note: You may simply design a mundane piece of equipment if you want, bearing in mind the manufacturing methods available to you.-Once you've seen the results of your efforts, we move to the Revision Phase- you can try to reduce the expense, remove bugs, or add features to a product (e.g. reduce the human sacrifice requirement for a spell, make the fireball less inclined to cause friendly fire, apply an already-researched wind spell to your mundane ships). This doesn't have to be the product you started in the first phase, if you're happy with it.
-Then the fighting happens! I'll provide a description of who has the advantage on which fronts, and roll some dice. Resources will be gained and lost sometimes. The next year will start, and we will move to a new Design phase.
Sometimes, you might earn a Design Credit or a Revision Credit, which will allow you one extra design or revision action in one turn.
Expense: Regular equipment can be given to everyone in your army. Regular spells can be cast by apprentice wizards. If a piece of equipment is difficult to produce (or a spell is difficult or costly to cast), it has expense levels: 1 is Expensive, 2 is Very Expensive, and 3 is A National Effort. It doesn't matter how many different types you have, as you'll still only be making a total number of weapons enough to equip everyone, and wizards can only cast so many spells at once. Inexpensive equipment could be given to every soldier, if you want. Cantrips can be cast by every wizard. Expensive equipment can be given to officers, or one per squad (5-10 soldiers). Very Expensive equipment can be used by special squads only, about 1 in 100 soldiers. Your nation can only deploy one National Effort at a time, so it had better be some sort of terrifying monster or a meteor swarm if you want this to be worth it. If you have multiple weapons at a price tier, then soldiers/squads choose one for the situation. If you have multiple spells at a price tier, wizards will pick the most suitable for their situation.
You might gain an Expense Credit for a certain type of unit, reducing the expense by 1- for example, if the King desperately wants elite armour, they'll offer an expense credit for it, which might reduce your new rage-infused full plate from A National Effort to Very Expensive. Monetary gains from trade will be represented this way.
The expense of equipment is determined when you design it. The more new features, or the more ambitious, the more likely it is to be expensive. You can attempt to reduce the expense when revising equipment- this might introduce bugs, or it might permanently reduce the expense of that technology.
Wizards: The game assumes that your nation can field a large number of apprentices, a handful of skilled wizards (the survivors) and a select few masters. An apprentice can fire off several normal spells and maybe one expensive spell in a fight, skilled wizards might pull off a single very expensive spell and only a master could hope to reliably pull off a National Effort. At the start of the game, it is assumed that you can put out one wizard (probably an apprentice) per five squads, so spells will take effect accordingly. Depending on wizard training, that amount could increase or decrease.
Warning: This is a short-term game. After 31st of March, it will go on hiatus until early May if not completed by then.Included for those interested in the behind the scenes of this, and potentially might help with your design decisions.
Each land battle has three stages; skirmish, melee and rout. Sea battles only have a main battle and rout phase. During a war, each side will make a number of advances against their foes in contested territories, roughly equal to the amount of troops they have in the theatre. Troops with attack bonuses will get them throughout the advance phase, as will troops with defensive bonuses on the defending side. Some territories (pretty much just the mountains) give a flat bonus to all defence. Each advance will engage in 2-4 skirmishes, one melee and if successful a rout.
Skrmishes are fought by light, mobile, and usually ranged troops. As a rule, archers fight in this stage, but not most infantry. Numbers don't count in this stage (since guerrilla warfare is underway) but highly skilled troops and ambushers get bonuses. Light infantry and light cavalry can both act as support during the skirmish stage, but are not usually primary participants. Each successful skirmish will give a bonus to the victor in the main battle; a highly capable skirmish side may get a flat bonus of 2-4 to their rolls in the melee.
Melees are fought by the main body of troops, typically massed and heavy infantry. Numbers count, so if you can field large numbers of infantry they get a bonus, and large numbers of supporting troops such as archers can help out more than small numbers. Archers and cavalry typically support, and heavy cavalry excel at supporting during this stage. After adding the skirmish bonus (if any) this battle decides victory or defeat in an attempted advance. If successful, the advancer may gain land and forces a rout. If unsuccessful the defender holds onto the land they have.
Routs only happen if a melee is successful during an advance. During a rout cavalry are the primary participants; fleeing cavalry will screen the rest of their retreat whilst attacking cavalry will try and run down routing forces. On a successful rout, the defenders will lose a significant portion of troops in the theatre. Both sides only produce a limited amount of reinforcements per turn, so even if land captures are unsuccessful as a whole, attrition can help you win a war in the long run.
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Topic: Wands Race: Magic in Forenia [Core Thread] [EvictedSaint's Run] (Read 41615 times)