EMPIRE! A Community World-Building Tale of People & Discovery

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Sorry about the whole multiple posts thing. Won't happen again.

I guess I should post progress tables for my region when I update it instead.

S'all good. :)

[Arkhosia]

THE GREAT CHEESE WAR OF 362! Where the molten cheese magi-nuke weapons were unleashed, and the world was changed forever.

Dr. Ripport van Squeakenheimer:"We knew the world would not be the same. A few rats laughed, a few rats cried, most rats were silent. I remembered the line from the Skriit scripture, the Sympolemou-Krike... "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Ron the Rabbit: "War, war never changes.""

[Silver Ablaze]

By the way, I hope everyone will understand it if rules are subject to change. Most of this was whipped up in a short amount of time, and admittedly a bit too hastily. (Like, within an hour of posting.) Making Diplomacy/Faith more solid, for example. I want to solidify the rules over time so that it could even be played without a GM, but that it would be more interesting with a GM, as they control the random events that can make things more interesting.

As for extra resources beyond the rules, I will keep track of the things in the Countries and Rulers posts, but beyond that I'll link posts by players who keep track of things a bit themselves in their own way. This will allow control and workload to be spread around and lightened, allowing the game to go on even when I won't be able to GM it anymore. I will be able to for coming months, but by September I hope to start my education in Game Production & Design, at which point that will require all my attention. (This is also partly why I hope to evolve its rules to enable it to possibly be a GM-less game, so I can present it during my interview.)

I figured I should tell all this up front, as I figure you all expect this game to run for a good amount of time, even if that isn't forever. As the game is right now, players can tap out for a round or two before coming back in without problem, or even come back in after it's Game Over, by simply starting anew with a new character and dynasty, whether it's in the same region or a different one. If it'll evolve further, it'll allow the GM to do the same, which will also make it an easy game to start up on other boards, or even have several going on GitP. The scope of this game right here allows for this many players we have right now, but if it were easier to run or even GM-less it could've just as easily have been split into a number of smaller games, if that's what the players themselves would prefer.

At the same time, allow me to say that I am immensely looking forward to how all your interactions with one another will turn out. Economically, socially, religiously, culturally, politically, scientifically, magically... Just remember: no matter how strongly you are enemies towards another character, as players you are most certainly like-minded kindred spirits. I look forward to throwing many random events, challenging and curious, at all of you.

Now enough with the sap, continue on.

-patpat- There there...

[Tychris1]

Ron the Rabbit: "War, war never changes.""

Corporal Quikgore:"I love the smell of bloodfire in the morning. Smells like.... Victory."

[Silverbit]

Corporal Quikgore:"I love the smell of bloodfire in the morning. Smells like.... Victory."

*ride of the Cloudiz begins playing*

[Arutha]

i think this is a gooda idea.


EDIT: im thinking of changing my stat that gets the +1 to curiosity. may I? the game has yet to start.

[BladeofObliviom]

That would be a sight to behold in the field. Make it a sunny day and you can blind yer enemies!!

Aye! And then I can suddenly abort the charge and pepper their flanks with arrows just to confuse them.


Also, since you have Curiosity 5 anyway, you could get some benefit out of that mithril immediately if you want. Just saying.

[Lord_Burch]

I think I have to agree with Arutha; I don't see much use in my +1 in Diplomacy, and would like to move it to Curiosity as well.

EDIT: Also, Blade, did you get my latest PM about our trade agreements?

[Lady Serpentine]

Heeey! Quit putting ideas in his head. I want my bottled lightning, Blade, and I'm going to be very annoyed if I don't get it because you make him do stuff with Mithril.

[Morph Bark]

You can switch stats for your first character before Round One starts, no problem.

Hm, this means at least 8 people have put their +1 into Curiosity. Depending on how that works out in play I'll have to clarify the others to show that they're good, make them better, or nerf Curiosity.

I'll make a final check-up on all the countries and rulers tomorrow, as from tomorrow night 'til Sunday night I'll be less available due to guests and events. Do your own final check-ups, cross-reference them with what is in the Countries and Rulers post, and adjust or inform me accordingly. Keep in mind that for rulers and their children, gender and age should be noted as well.

After that, I'll PM those that have the most to do still, see how they're doing. Players who aren't finished yet cannot yet play after all, but they can finish up even after Round One starts, as long as they finish before next week's weekend, to allow them the time to still post their actions for Round One, else they'll simply miss it.

[Elemental]

I don't think it's because Curiosity is more powerful or anything, I think it's just because we all want shiny new stuff. Like flame-throwers. At least, I assume that's what some of you people are thinking of using Bloodfire for. Not the Ashenites though, we're going to waste our curiosity developing something more revolutionary. I just need to check something first...

Also, note: In the second post, the people section of Ashenia is still blank. I assume you're getting to it, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.

[Arutha]

i think curiosity five needs to be nerfed, cause thats where all the good bits of it are. its where all the benefit of curiosity is, with 1-4 being left out. im keeping mine at five even if you change it, cause early game science is good no matter what. but if 1-4 get proportional benefits as oposed to zip that would change things.

[Elemental]

I disagree. Curiosity also happens to be the stat for economic matters, such as farming and building things, so it remains useful even without a five in it.

[Lord_Burch]

Alright, I went through and changed my stats, as well as creating a bit larger of a family for myself (Just immediate family of Lord David). I wanted a slightly larger royal family, for diplomats and marriages and the like. Also changed Ygrittes name, because I felt it did not fit well into the naming conventions I was going for.

[zabbarot]

The main reason I would say Curiosity is a little strong is because it will always be useful. As described the benefit of Faith 5 might only be useful once to establish your religion. Diplomacy 5 is only good for uniting multiple regions you control. Right now these two are situationally useful, nobody can make use of Diplomacy 5 this turn, and for those worshiping the Lord of Fire Faith 5 does nothing.

Meanwhile the ability to add something new to the game will be useful every single turn without exception. Really it doesn't need a nerf. The more situational stats need a boost.

[Lord_Burch]

Meanwhile the ability to add something new to the game will be useful every single turn without exception.

You do realize that you can only make one advancement with C5 per ruler, right?

[Rain Dragon]

@ Rain Dragon: fisherworks, aka exploding fish. and i need food, so if i get my hands on blood fire, we could work out some deal

If you're going to be using the bloodfire then I doubt there's enough for you to pass on. Nevertheless, you have coal... Fish for coal would be great.

Hey, man, we live in a freaking desert/tundra/icy wasteland. I'm sure food would work just fine.

Oh? What are the others? After all, not all trade needs to be commodity for commodity. If you have ideas you wish to work on, those are valuable too.

Your immediate neighbours happen to be exporting quite a bit of food.

Well this is true, but what was summoned to mind was several ways assimilating Bloodfire into the body could fail spectacularly. Were I to gain access to Bloodfire, unfortunately I would be boring and attempt to find a way to use it to light fires reliably enough to have hotter forges, as it sounds like it burns hotter than coal. We are only in the early medieval era, so one step at a time before crazy innovation comes in.

The people of Tekorva are currently fascinated with metals, so it only makes sense really.

Try this FAQ on for size, folks!

Awesome. I haven't finished snipping all of the questions it has answered, but there are some questions on your list that are pending. EDIT - By this I mean, I assume you have questions waiting to add already and have written the more important ones down first.

Would it be worth writing down the Bloodfire Vs. coal and mithril Vs. iron thing?

Okay, so of the main Regions...
Completed Regions that need a Poplation Generated:
Tekorva (missing elements/see below)
Other features missing from Nations (whether by Morph's error or your own...):
Tekorva, by Rain Dragon - Religion

I've finished with my post for now. Also including succession laws, which I believe Morph mentioned we get to choose...

Hm, this means at least 8 people have put their +1 into Curiosity.

I will never change my 5 Curiosity. Nevar!! It was there in the first place because this is how I role play 90% of the time. Even if Curiosity would not advance my civilization very far or cause it to be crushed underfoot by a war be it of swords or words I would still have chosen it to be 5.

I feel that Curiosity has the most obvious immediate benefits. Though if Diplomacy were to affect trade for Bloodfire positively, how would that change things?

Luck so far is a very mysterious stat and I look forward to seeing how 'lucky' I get. If I had another 4 I would've dumped it into luck because I really am curious to compare it to nations with 1 luck.

Honestly though, if I were power-gaming I would've weighted the stats as they are at Diplomacy, Curiosity, Military, Faith, Luck. Diplomacy should prove invaluable in these Dark Ages (because that is where we are) to bring the people through these hardships. Furthermore, if by some stroke of genius one manages to grab another 3 regions early on, Diplomacy 5 allows you to combine them into a higher title. It has also been stated that this makes larger projects easier. You know, like crazy Bloodfire experiments, the Underway, etc. Also remembering that NPC regions have been mentioned. Wouldn't it be easier to make friends with them, trade for their stuff than have a mob of angry NPCs trample all over your new Mithril forge? EDIT - Shintouite shall not save you if you have accidentally called an NPC's mother an 'ogre' by mistake thanks to a Diplomacy score of 1...

Just make sure you think through your game plan thoroughly before making a grab at shiny, shiny curiosity.
It's so shiny right now. So shiny.

(This is simply my opinion only and should be taken with more than just a grain of salt. It has been proven before that I am wrong quite often when it comes to any sort of game with hilarious results!)

[Arutha]

Fish for coal is good. As is mutual protection, but that's secondary. And, as per what seems to be normal, we can decide not to fight over the whole religion thing.


Edit: mutual research sharing is also a Very Good Thing.

[_Brone_]

i am now joining (Morph already knows) and i am laying my claim on region 26

i will most likely be converting my CONQUEST nation into EMPIRE some time this week-end

[Arutha]

Yay more people/fodder/converts. We need more fire folks. Religion wise, not shamanic, living fire people who worship there ancestors. Though that sounds cool.

[Rain Dragon]

Fish for coal is good. As is mutual protection, but that's secondary. And, as per what seems to be normal, we can decide not to fight over the whole religion thing.


Edit: mutual research sharing is also a Very Good Thing.

Yes it sh... Ahhh! A large nation of fanatic Fire Lord worshippers with Military 4! Right next to me!

I'm screwed.

Yes. It is. Quick question, is the capitalized 'Very Good Thing' a reference I keep missing?

[avr]

The usefulness of the stats will change over time. No one cares about the diplomacy 5 special right now; faith 5 also looks like a long-term game; military 5 is declaring yourself a wannabe Napoleon (& so top on your neighbours' enemy list); luck 5 would probably be great but I'd prefer to see how it works via others. Curiosity 5 on the other hand lets me plan on having deep water ships first.

[Arutha]

@rain dragon: I think we both understand the importance of cooperation . And unless it was a reference that I missed when I picked it up, then no it's not.

But really peace is good now. I'm fine with missionary's going the slow route and converting your people with friendship and not invasion. And trade is good for that, right. And I need food anyway, so we can team up. Besides, we've both got curiosity 5, so we can do smarty things .

[Rain Dragon]

The usefulness of the stats will change over time. No one cares about the diplomacy 5 special right now; faith 5 also looks like a long-term game; military 5 is declaring yourself a wannabe Napoleon (& so top on your neighbours' enemy list); luck 5 would probably be great but I'd prefer to see how it works via others. Curiosity 5 on the other hand lets me plan on having deep water ships first.

This is ignoring the general use for the stats and focusing solely on the specials. The game would be quite broken if the main point of the skills is to have one at 5 so you can do really cool stuff with it...

@rain dragon: I think we both understand the importance of cooperation . And unless it was a reference that I missed when I picked it up, then no it's not.

But really peace is good now. I'm fine with missionary's going the slow route and converting your people with friendship and not invasion. And trade is good for that, right. And I need food anyway, so we can team up. Besides, we've both got curiosity 5, so we can do smarty things .

Indeed, except for our religions. Our nations are more or less designed to not get along at all. Having some people converted to fire lord worship would distress the rest of the people, as the balance of spiritual energies would be upset thus causing the spirits to become angry.

I've seen a lot of people type 'Very Good Thing' in this manner and thought it was for emphasis. It's alright.

At the same time, your people need not worry about the people of Tekorva trying to harm you or convert you as they don't really have an organized religion yet and have no desire for violence unless it is necessary.

tl;dr. I would really have to think about trade. It would be a little risky I think.

[Tychris1]

:( Poor Bloodfang only has 2 curiosity. He won't be able to craft his own crazy gear like everyone else. Here's hoping their are plenty of NPC nations to take over to make up for it.

So what I'm getting here is that:
1= Piss Poor
2= Average, mediocre
3= Good
4= Great!
5= Flash Gordon tier

Or is 2/3 worse then I think it is?

[avr]

If there's a big difference between 1 and 3, or 2 and 4, it's a problem with the game because some people just had much luckier/unluckier rolls than others.

If the difference is serious it'd be better to tell people 'You have a 5, a 4, a 3, a 2 and a 1; assign one of each to diplomacy/military/curiosity/faith/luck as you choose.'

So I'm assuming that there is not a big difference between a 3 and a 1 or a 4 and a 2.

[Elemental]

You're ignoring what else the curiosity stat is for. Yes, a five allows you to do cool things, but the stat has other uses that don't require a five. Such as collecting libraries, building ships, founding universities, improving highways, making agriculture more efficient, expanding canal systems, dredging rivers, commissioning great works of literature, upgrading fortifications, establishing artisan guilds, etc. etc.

[Percy]

By the way, I hope everyone will understand it if rules are subject to change. Most of this was whipped up in a short amount of time, and admittedly a bit too hastily. (Like, within an hour of posting.) Making Diplomacy/Faith more solid, for example. I want to solidify the rules over time so that it could even be played without a GM, but that it would be more interesting with a GM, as they control the random events that can make things more interesting.

As for extra resources beyond the rules, I will keep track of the things in the Countries and Rulers posts, but beyond that I'll link posts by players who keep track of things a bit themselves in their own way. This will allow control and workload to be spread around and lightened, allowing the game to go on even when I won't be able to GM it anymore. I will be able to for coming months, but by September I hope to start my education in Game Production & Design, at which point that will require all my attention. (This is also partly why I hope to evolve its rules to enable it to possibly be a GM-less game, so I can present it during my interview.)

I figured I should tell all this up front, as I figure you all expect this game to run for a good amount of time, even if that isn't forever. As the game is right now, players can tap out for a round or two before coming back in without problem, or even come back in after it's Game Over, by simply starting anew with a new character and dynasty, whether it's in the same region or a different one. If it'll evolve further, it'll allow the GM to do the same, which will also make it an easy game to start up on other boards, or even have several going on GitP. The scope of this game right here allows for this many players we have right now, but if it were easier to run or even GM-less it could've just as easily have been split into a number of smaller games, if that's what the players themselves would prefer.

At the same time, allow me to say that I am immensely looking forward to how all your interactions with one another will turn out. Economically, socially, religiously, culturally, politically, scientifically, magically... Just remember: no matter how strongly you are enemies towards another character, as players you are most certainly like-minded kindred spirits. I look forward to throwing many random events, challenging and curious, at all of you.

Now enough with the sap, continue on.

-patpat- There there...

Keep up with Dwarven compassion and friendliness I meet that -patpat- and raise it with another -patpat- "You're doing good!" for Morph.

Aye! And then I can suddenly abort the charge and pepper their flanks with arrows just to confuse them.


Also, since you have Curiosity 5 anyway, you could get some benefit out of that mithril immediately if you want. Just saying.

^ this is why people need friends. This is why I need friends. I did not pick that +1 in Curiosity for fun, I lack imagination so hard I need people to give me pointers at time. Comes with the territory.

Gonna do just that Blade, thanks. I was so fixated on "you can get another" resource that I kinda forgot about the technological leap ^^. I knew I was forgetting something, now I just feel silly again >.>...

If there's a big difference between 1 and 3, or 2 and 4, it's a problem with the game because some people just had much luckier/unluckier rolls than others.

If the difference is serious it'd be better to tell people 'You have a 5, a 4, a 3, a 2 and a 1; assign one of each to diplomacy/military/curiosity/faith/luck as you choose.'

So I'm assuming that there is not a big difference between a 3 and a 1 or a 4 and a 2.

As an unlucky roller I support this post.

Also is too late to change my resources?

[Lady Serpentine]

...You do realize this means our trade agreement is based on a now-nonexistent item, yes?

[Silver Ablaze]

Keep up with Dwarven compassion and friendliness I meet that -patpat- and raise it with another -patpat- "You're doing good!" for Morph.

But... that is a sign of death, you have marked the GM... * hands axe * Do your dwarven duty..