Topic: Creating a Dwarf Forum game {processes, etc) (Read 15518 times)

Truean · « **Reply #15 on:** December 08, 2014, 10:03:41 pm »

Example of World Content Creation (reorganization system on to do list)

So I've talked a lot about these detailed areas, but I haven't shown one. I don't mean maps, I mean showing the outline for detail used. Let's give it a shot shall we? Note, that this may or may not be an area used in any possible future game, as this entire thread is me sorting out how to actually create and run said game.

Note: This is a rough outline for starting the process and will be difficult without a map, but you can still get a lot done in just plain text. In any case, outlines help give structure.

Steps
Step 1 Overall large scale framing
1A Nations
1B.) Organizations (guilds, religions, martial orders, trade companies, whatever)
1C.) Regional Features (Forests, Deserts, Island Chains, Tundra, Plains, Swamps, Etc)

Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

Step 1: Overall large scale framing

You want to create a detailed part of a larger world instead of something that exists in a vacuum, right? That means we have to at least sketch out a part of that larger world to make those larger world parts interact with the smaller one, and vice versa. This will create a feedback loop that will create more interaction and content. Additionally, one or more of these larger world parts will probably influence any individual area directly to a greater degree than others based upon physical proximity and local beliefs. Chose one of these areas, and start near there, and perhaps end up somewhere else. Also, you might end up visiting or otherwise dealing with these larger world areas later, and this will provide a framework for that to FILL IN LATER. It's much easier to color when you have lines to color inside.

1A.) Nations
1A#.) (Ancient Destroyed Empire upon which several successor states are based) Ethalonia [Human, Bronze Age, Religious,
1A1.) Kingdom of Belavus
1A1A.) Dutchy of Lotivia
1A1A1.) County of Swevia
1A1A2.) County of Fov Estia
1A1A3.) County of Sov Vosia
1A1B.) Dutchy of Esvalia
1A1B1.) County of Fov Gesia
1A1B2.) County of Balus
1A1C.) Dutchy of Volstia
1A1C1.) County of Fov Selvia
1A1C2.) County of Sov Lestofia
*"Fov" and "Sov" are two ancient family clans who are still competitive with one another*

1A2.) Kingdom of Ethalonia [Original founding location of the Ancient Ethalonian Empire holding onto the ancient traditions]
1A2A.) Dutchy of Thal
1A2A1.) County of Ethal [Former location of ancient capital]
1A1A2.) County of Rovia
1A1A3.) County of Fovalia
1A1A4.) County of Destav [May become City State independently in modern times, was conquered in ancient times as a tribute state]. *****
1A2B.) Dutchy of Fov Dovalia
1A2B1.) County of Nesevia
1A2B2.) County of Kalvai

1A3.) Lands of the Frozen Wood [Traditionally Tribal area historically under Ethalonian Empire, but independent again]
1A3A.) Frost Tooth Clan
1A3B.) Ice Pelt Clan
1A3C.) Silver Bear Clan
1A4D.) Frozen Fox Clan
1A3F.) Tundra Tusk Clan

1A4.) Avosia (City State)

Explanation Text: Avosia (City State)

Avosia is the one place safest from invasion, because it is a miserable little island with nothing anyone wants and everything they don't. It's Monarch, Her Royal Majesty Queen Alexstresiana XVIII insists she rules the entire world and steadfastly refuses to let reality convince her otherwise. She can trace her noble bloodline back to the third cousin twice removed of the very first Ethalonian Emperor. She occasionally finds it "necessary" to issue forth decrees of varying types, which the people feign interest in hearing. She is incredibly relevant in her own mind....

The island itself primarily consists of cold marshland and the singular stone outcropping upon which the Royal Avosian Castle is constructed, as well as the quarry from which it was constructed. The three villages largely live off hunting and fishing in the fairly cold environment, and are descended from royal servants who fled the fall of Ancient Ethalonia. The population live largely indoors when possible, as that keeps the numerous environmental conditions (cold, and summer insects) at bay.

1A5.) Dalonosia (City State)
1A6.) Velisia (City State)
1A7.) Gathavia (City State)

Explanation Text: Ethalonia Region
The Ethalonia Region is Westward bound by the Thovindol Mountains, the Risen Ocean to the East and South, and to the North by the Horvindin Region at the Horv River. Overall climate is temperate, cooling towards the south. The ancient and extinct Ethalonian Empire grew out of what is today the County of Ethal as it slowly took over its neighbors and made them tribute states. It fell apart after [placeholder for years] in a war of succession between the emperor's 7 children (5 of which died in said war).

Today, the Ethalonia Region's political entities are composed of successor states to the Ethalonian Empire including the Kingdom of Belavus, Kingdom of Ethalonia, Lands of the Frozen Wood, and Four independent City States (Avosia, Dalonosia, Velisia, and Gathavia). Internal Regional Relations between the various successor states are often complex and contentious for a variety of reasons including economic and historical (The Kingdom of Ethalonia wants the entire region back under its control and its empire back). Although, Gathavia's position at the Thovindol Mountains often makes it a diplomatic buffer state to the various external threats to the region from the mountain's inhabitants, and it doesn't hurt that the Steel Sovetia Clan of Dwarves has good relations with Gathavia.

[Placeholder for _______]. [Placeholder for ______].

1B.) Organizations

1B1.) The Elder Order of the Shining Bronze

Symbol: A large Bronze Bell
Seal: A large bronze bell over a hill, with a single tree to the left and a lantern to the right, with a shield in the foreground.

Explanation Text: The Elder Order of the Shining Bronze
Predating the Ethalonian Empire and outlasting it, the Shining Bronze is a monastic society with an overriding martial philosophy. The Shining Bronze is a semi autonomous organization composed of several stronghold monasteries united in philosophy. Typically, the Shining Bronze will not militarily aid any government, but will provide tribute goods, services, and sometimes coin.

The original Elder Order of the Shining Bronze grew out of unprotected refuges from the [placeholder] invasion. [Placeholder] the smith cared more for his neighbors than their local lords, founding the order to preserve his life. He ordered abandoned peasants to forage food, mine copper and zinc, and forged them into a makeshift militia. Left for dead, the peasants survived, astonishing and embarrassing their local lords, who attempted to take credit for the peasant survival and "officially recognize" the Shining Bronze.

After the [placeholder] invasion, some peasants returned to life as normal. Others ignored their lords as they had been ignored, and constructed their first monastery, resolving to provide for themselves, largely excluding the world. All governments from the Ethalonian Empire on have treated the Shining Bronze as a semi autonomous tribute organization and gladly collect goods or gold while the Shining Bronze ministers to its population. While no member will provide military service to any government, times of great tragedy and danger may call the Order to action, providing shelter for ordinary people, a foe to region wide threats.

Generally, the Shining Bronze focuses on producing necessities for itself and practicing largely defensive techniques and its traditions. Members must adhere to the Shining Bronze's strict code of conduct banning alcohol, drugs, unneeded violence, greed, vanity, gluttony, and excess in most things. Members may be born into the Shining Bronze, but all must pass rigorous testing, and focus upon self improvement making and keeping themselves worthy. The Shining Bronze will gather tin and copper to form its namesake. Several items crafted by the order are often simple, functional pottery, but bronze items have added significance. The order considers bronze bells incredibly important and its symbol.

The order is not restricted to the territory of the Ancient Ethalonian Empire. Rather it is a series of scattered monasteries in various lands. Governments have views ranging from happiness to suspicion about the idea of a monastery in their territory. The Shining Bronze stays out of political conflicts and battles between nobility while serving as an emergency militia should a massive regional threat appear (goblin invasion, famine, Large magical beast attack. Additionally, the monastery may provide basic necessities to the population in times of great need, and they will pay tribute to governments. Conversely, the monasteries are semi autonomous, won't assist in most military matters, won't follow orders, and can be seen as a pain due to this.

1B2.) Religion of Sacrenia

Explanation Text: The Religion of Sacrenia

Sacrenia is a religion originating in the Ancient Ethalonian Empire.

1C.) Regional Features
1D.)

(Note: This is a work in progress and is being updated as fast as I am reasonably able to do so.)

Arcvasti · « **Reply #16 on:** December 08, 2014, 10:14:42 pm »

PTW. This seems really interesting.

MaximumZero · « **Reply #17 on:** December 13, 2014, 01:01:13 am »

I'm in. Also, posting to watch and maybe pluck ideas out of thin air.

Truean · « **Reply #18 on:** December 25, 2014, 01:43:47 pm »

(Note: I've been trying to make this post for the last several days and I have written and rewritten it many times. Part of it is that nagging self doubt I seem to struggle with lately and other parts are over game philosophy: maps v. text. Too many modern games rely strictly upon good graphics and have crap gameplay. If it comes to my invested time in more and better maps instead of better gameplay, then I am not sure I like that. We'll have to see how that goes. Also it's a trade off between quantitative and qualitative gameplay; I don't want to be taken over by the min maxing +1, +2, etc mindset, but maybe something. Who knows.)

Alright, so I've been adding to the last posting I made here and slowly filling in more and more details when possible. That's a good thin: g overall.

Just as I did in the beginning, I think we need a new set of temporary goals (everything here is a work in progress, naturally). Here's the basics subject to change, of course and only labeled temporarily with indicators. Consider it a sort of To do List, generally:

A.) Aspects Traits for species, cultures, and religions.
Species traits are common for nearly all members of the species, cultures have commonality of region or nation, etc. Religions form faiths with a section or sections of beliefs that can be split on occasion (Martin Luther Nailing the Note to the Door).

A.1.) Obligations, prohibitions and detriments of religions:
Inability to eat certain foods at all or outside a certain sacred time of year.
Mandated sacrifices of things, food, plants, and in the case of some of the more evil religions, sentient beings.
Performance of certain rituals.
Construction of temples, shrines, and altars
Worship rituals, prayers, masses, gatherings etc.
Possible conflicts with other competing religions

A.2.) Benefits of aspect traits of religions:
Certain benefits of eating certain foods
Abilities granted by rituals, such as improved resilience to disease, wilderness survival, knowledge, etc.
Cohesion with other religious members of same faith.
Religious materials and icons.

A.3.) The different levels of religion benefits
Individual
Community
Founding group
Etc

These will probably be qualitative as opposed to quantitative (none of that +23 stuff here).

B.) Increased description of general game philosophy experience.

B.1.) NOT modern countries
Few strict, hard borders but rather fuzzier things and perhaps some overlap where multiple entities claim land.
Unclaimed land
Overlap between official nations and other species civilization via projection of power / settlement.

B.2.) Possibility of either multiple maps for areas, or overlapping informational maps showing several types of information at once. Perhaps taken care of with detailed descriptions (at least initially).

C.) Examples of micro player experience:

C.1.) Initial suggestion gaming leading to possibly earning characters.
C.2.) Customization of various player items etc
C.3.) Various room/area/person uses and information presentation.
C.4.) Use of "NPCs" for more than repeat conversations: interaction and socialization, crafting, exploring, delegation and other tasks, information.
C.5.) Being your character instead of yourself: goals, hopes, dreams, fears, friendships and relationships, enemies, etc.
C.6.) Reactionary environment, weather (when's the last time it rained in a forum game?), larger movements outside player control from world's population and geography.

D.) To magic or not to magic

Magic is basically specialized technology abilities only available to some: mages, priests, etc. It's the old troupe about this. The question will essentially be to include it or not, because it causes troubles in and of itself. You have countries and individuals facing off with whoever uses it better winning. It's destabilizing overall. Sure, it may be fun for the player to do this, but the problem is one of simple numbers, they are one person, and the rest of the world is the rest of the world.... It's going to have huge backlash practically speaking. Forget the other magic users being mad at the player or just power hungry etc. The everyday ordinary people are not going to want to deal with this stuff, because it's so incredibly unfair to them (turned into a frog were you?). At some point, there's going to be witch hunts at a literal sense, and that's going to cut off many players right away from this world being built. Odds are there are more pitchforks than mana if it comes to that.

On the one hand, it sounds really neat and would be, but then you've got the backlash and making skills/building redundant. I'm leaning against it, at least in the traditional sense of RPG matters, because of this. If it is included, then you're talking about a radically different form that's far more subtle. Otherwise it's a fireball based system of anything once that "roasting you alive via magic" threat comes into the picture. Meh.

E.) Maps

While Neat and surely nice, these are time consuming and there's the question of how to use them in terms of players actually making them part of an action or not and how.

If you have a map with little indicators on it, what does that really mean? Is this the 5 ft by 5 ft square grid system with defined movement rates of D&D or a more general thing? How is that indicated, especially over the internet? Would you have to somehow draw an arrow for movement or something and thus be able to edit and save different versions of said map?

Same idea with player customization of various things, especially building structures. At some point, it's simply not going to be 100% customizable, because come on, how would you propose to do that, especially if there is a graphic component, in this setting? Are you going to have graphics for everything in a room (furniture items etc?) or just for the dimensions of the room itself. Words can be used quite a bit to flesh out things especially given scale of drawings being rather small all things considered, though zoom could be a helpful thing here....

F.) Words:

Text is going to be a major factor and information relay in this; it must be used effectively. As anybody who has ever sat down to write a paper knows, that blank page is intimidating. Conveying where things are relative to one another in space is hard, and adding in their qualities is another challenge. Even excellent writers have a hard time painting such pictures with their words.

Take the notion of describing even one wall of a customized room of a player if it looked cool like this:

Now, that kind of thing would be a nice perk to have in game. Given that it is wooden, you'd need access to a really good carpenter, or if it were stone, you'd need masonry. If you wanted that bit of glass, same idea. Then of course there'd be a clothier for all that stuff actually in the closet. Same idea for the little metal handles, but this wouldn't be impossible by any stretch of the imagination. Sure you'd need some infrastructure but you could do it and I think it'd be neat. Imagine part of that held suits of armor and weaponry as well as clothing. Perhaps other areas in your rooms/home were similarly outfitted and you had all that storage to fill.

Now try to describe what that is in easy to read words....

Fully capture it and give the player the information of what they have stored in each area....

Then double that just for this room, because that's two walls instead of four and the other two walls are also probably similarly situated.

Even with the picture as reference, you've got to somehow indicate what you're talking to, and I used this as a simplified example. Same would go for building things, and battles....

The real key to writing is conveying a lot while saying few words. Otherwise people won't read it or get bogged down in the text wall.

This is just a small measure of some of the things I've been pondering over in my head. It's the problem of having a lot of gameplay features but being simple and streamlined. This is every single user interface problem ever, really. That IS the POTENTIAL appeal of reducing things to symbols such as +1 or whatever, but the problem is that doesn't mean crap. +1, +2, etc are supposed to be shorthand to convey large amounts of data in small amounts of space for easy reference. Instead of that, the shorthand has taken over with null content and lack of meaning. What exactly is a +2 sword of whatever? It's better than a +1 sword of whatever, but not as good as a +3 sword of whatever.... You're left with the non dairy creamer problem. No idea what it is, but I can tell you what it isn't: dairy. Those shorthands of +1 or whatever have to mean something or else you're just throwing numbers around and your game has become calculator fodder. That's why I tend to like the qualitative instead of the quantitative approach.

Truean · « **Reply #19 on:** December 25, 2014, 04:08:56 pm »

Species Trails, Cultures, and Religions (In game)

(Disclaimer: Religion is a clearly hot button issue and it often leads to tons of fights. For this reason no real religions can be used or will be used in game. You'd be surprised what can cause a fight online and so I want to say that this is all play pretend and says nothing about religion in real life

Example of Religion
Religion of Sacrenia

Flavor Text and Dogma:
Tracing its roots back to the ancient Ethalonian Empire, Sacrenia is still the predominant religion in the region today among many. Sacrenian Doctrine focuses on Acrenia Sov, a member of the Sov Clan and featured holy profit of the faith. (Acrenia Sov, Sacrenia... It takes the S from the clan name and places it before the individual's name). Acrenia Sov was a huntress just as the Ethalonian Empire was experiencing the roots of the agricultural revolution. Many turned to the new more stable food supply. Massive crop failures proved stability was not always the norm with farming, though several had staked their lives on this belief. Acrenia Sov made certain to supply entire communities with meat through the lean times of bad growing seasons and promoted the hunter's art and traditions originating from a forgotten pantheon of gods. Care was taken in the method of hunting and trapping prey, as well as the butchering, cooking and eating processes.

Obligations, prohibitions and detriments of religion of Sacrenia:
It is strictly forbidden to eat any animal's liver. Livers are offered up to the heavens in sacrifice.
Temples house stores of bows, arrows, spears, and ceremonial hunting clothing.
Temples must incorporate certain specific bone decorations in construction.
Ritualistic Hunts held for specific and exotic prey
Temples must house specific breed of hound dog, treated exceptionally well.
May be at odds with commercial butcher, leather, cooking and leather working enterprises. (They consider it a holy undertaking)
Priests must craft certain leather holy items for their temples and at times as offerings/sacrifices

Benefits of aspect traits of religion of Sacrenia:
Hunters gather more edible food from prey
Hunters recover arrows more easily
Believers are all trained in at least rudimentary hunting, and are often skilled.
Temple Priests are expert butchers, cooks, tanners are leatherworkers
Temple serves as excellent hunting school.

The different levels of religion benefits for the Religoin of Sacrenia

Individual
1.) If an individual believer of the Religion of Sacrenia attends daily or weekly mass, then they will be given a small amount of food gleaned from the Temple's hunters.
2.) Hunters bring their kills to the temple to be properly and sacredly butchered, skinned, cooked, and skinned to make leather goods. The temple and the hunter divide up the spoils of the kill according to long held temple tradition meaning each gets a portion of food, and leathergoods. (Implied services between hunters and temple).
3.) An individual may receive instruction in hunting techniques from the temple priests.
4.) In times of great strife, the temple may serve as a gathering point for organizing protection of the faithful under watchful eyes of armed hunters.

Community
1.) Food is more readily available to members of the religion and hunting is a more well regulated activity (less chance of overhunting)
2.) Famine from crop failure mitigated or perhaps avoided by alternative source of food.
3.) Basic hunting training is available readily.

Founding group
The founding group of the religion is the Sov Clan. They gain many social benefits from having Acrenia Sov be in their bloodline as a person who greatly influenced the shaping of their society. Generally the Sov Clan is well received on a social basis and several are in positions of importance. The Sov Clan has a large hunting estate and will never want for hunting equipment or weaponry. Additionally, they have massive storehouses of preserved food and have kept up large populations of prey animals. The Sovs will simply never starve and will be living well as master hunters.
__________________________________________________________________

Religions are a thing you can subscribe to and believe in and can potentially be changed, though not easily.

Culture is a thing you are often a part of via origins. You can go to another place and assimilate into another culture, but it's sometimes rather hard, and does depend upon the similarities to the original culture you come from:

[Work in progress but something to think on.]

Truean · « **Reply #20 on:** January 04, 2015, 03:59:51 pm »

Combat.

This is clearly going to be a large part of any sort of RPG, and unfortunately it is also the most quantitative and prone to min maxing crap. This is where people have let "+1, +2" take over and suck all the realism out of things.

Combat is about the following things, period.

1.) Timing - "Timing is everything." ~ Bruce Lee.
2.) Positioning - Using your surroundings to your advantage, footing, cover and concealment, traps and ambush, area denial (back against wall)
3.) Perception - If you can read your opponent or they are telegraphing their next move, that's everything. Spot weakness? Please.
4.) Perseverance - Endurance and not exhaustion, defense rolling with punches, absorbing attacks, Stamina, Dodging. Mobility. Survival
5.) Tactical - Large or small scale, goals matter. Crippling your opponent or obtaining tactical advantage. Can't breathe? Can't fight.
6.) Power - Force projection, punching, shooting, artillery shelling

Power is dead last for a reason. It doesn't exist without the other elements and if it does, then it won't for long.

In game, combat examples begin at the individual level and scale up in terms of symmetry (even fights) and asymmetry.

Individually, everything a character does is given a rough numeric value composed of everything and every circumstance in play.

Let's say as an incredibly rough example that this is composed of base + training + weaponry + armor + tactical insight + agility/mobility + terrain bonus + immediate area bonus (cover, concealment etc).

Let's say this equals up to 14 for the hell of it. Say the enemy's number equals 10

The fight is reduced to a fractional proportion in terms of 100% being divided between the two:

14/10 .... Total distribution of 24

14 / 24 Combatant 1's chance of winning combat round = 58.3333% chance

10/24 Combatant 2's chance of winning combat round = 41.6666%

Roll d 100......

Bonuses may be gotten by specific tactical aims or combat manuvers. If you just swing a sword, then screw you, you get nothing. If you attempt to distract your opponent by feigning an overhead attack but then spinning around with a horizontal spinning slash, then you get a slight bonus to your attack and perhaps more if the guy wasn't expecting it. THIS SPECIFICALLY ENCOURAGES ROLE PLAYING INSTEAD OF ROLL PLAYING. Leads to a much better narative. Additionally using and gaining attacks like this is a matter of training. This process repeats until one side is dead or flees or surrenders or whatever.

Additionally this is an entirely independent system from the stupid d 20 stuff where you always have a 5% chance of rolling a crit hit or a crit failure and enough peasants can kill a tank with no planning or explanation but just a stuipd die roll.

Larger scale group combat is another thing that is similar to the above and meant to be used for larger scale groups of non elite groups / troops:

Combat Group A
You have 10 human peasant millita forming a makeshift squad. Each has a base combat value of 4 and a weapon with combat value of 1 (pitchfork/knife etc)

4 + 1 = 5
5 * 10 = 50

Combat Group B
You have 24 untrained kobolds with a base combat value of 2. 18 have a weapon with a combat value of 1 and 6 fight unarmed (0).

2 + 1 = 3
3 * 18 = 54

2* 6 = 12

54 + 12 66

Combatant Group A's base chance is 54 /120 = 45%

Combat Group B's base chance is 66/ 120 = 55%

As rounds progress, the loosing side will lose members and strength that would have been contributed from those now injured/dead members until a resolution is reached.

Now, consider the same scenario with Combat Group A providing tactical plans and bonuses for itself, such as fortifications, choke points, possibly basic traps, knowledge of home field advantage and better formation fighting to provide a + 4 bonus per each of the 10 persons involved

Now you have modified Combatant Group A at 104/170 = 61.17%

and Combat Group B's modified Combatant Group at 66/170 = 38.82%

See how adding more combatants or better circumstances through roleplay work better in this case for one side or the other in terms of a round's combat?

Now here's where the asymmetry comes into the picture

Let's say you have the same Group B as above but now you have a single more well trained unit. Keep in mind that in practical terms this individual is outnumbered 24 to 1. In a typical RPG game this doesn't even worry the player because they're a low challenge enemy. Even an infant with a gun is somewhat dangerous, even if only by accident. two dozen pissed off kobolds actively trying to kill you is certainly something.

Again, Combatant Group B from above at 66

Now we have Heroic Knight. He is a human with a base combat of say ... 8 ... and a much better weapon with combat value 3, training to use that weapon at 3, Armor at 4, a shield at 2, shield training at 2, specialized military training at 4, Good positioning with his back to the wall so they can't get a full surround on him 4, and finally he speaks fluent goblin language so he can understand what they are saying for a 4.

All told his raw combat score without any further bonuses at present is 34 / 100 = 34%
The kobolds have a 66/100 chance or 66%

Keep in mind this is in a straight up fight where the kobolds all gang up on this lone knight and outnumber him 24 to one. Two dozen of anything to one and you're sure as hell taking some damage. You can win, but it's not gonna be pretty. It shouldn't be pretty and I'm sick of RPG systems portraying characters as invincible soley due to this abstract made up BS thing called "level"

MAYBE IT MIGHT BE AN IDEA FOR MR HEROIC KNIGHT TO USE HIS BRAIN IN ADDITION TO HIS BRAWN:

The biggest problem for Mr. Knight in this scenario is that he is foolishly taking on a fight where the odds are 24 to 1 against him. Maybe if he used some basic strategy and roleplaying with narrated combat to literally change the odds in his favor, then he might manage to win or at least have a better chance.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER.

A straight up 24 on 1 fight is possible but wouldn't it be much much easier to thin out their numbers by making sure you somehow don't end up fighting all of these little gnawing nutjobs at once while they try to stab you? They can't be together all the time as one cohesive unit can they? Don't some of them have to sleep sometime? Couldn't somebody catch a scouting or hunting party unaware and pick a few off that way? Couldn't false information lead them in search of something that isn't there leaving their home either not as heavily guarded (so you can steal/sabotage their infrastructure and take on a smaller number of them at once)? Couldn't somebody use more indirect skirmish tactics to slowly pick people off (and isn't this a concern to be perhaps used against you?).

GET SOME HELP

24 on 1 is really crappy odds and doing it all alone sucks. Get some help and increase your numbers. It is what they did.... Even if it isn't direct additional combatants then have them set up traps or an ambush... something besides LEEEROOOY JENKINSSSSS ing this crap and wondering why it doesn't work without a hitch.

PUT SOME THOUGHT AND EFFORT INTO IT:

"I attack the kobold" [rolls] 12.....

WTF is that!!?? What's a 12? You've reduced all of your actions down to one freaking number and it doesn't tell shit about what you're trying to do. Try this:

I try to notice a weak spot in their armor, taking slightly longer to attack and shove my dagger through it while keeping my sword up defensively and also as a side note to distract them a little bit.... That'll give you a 2 additional combat modifier as we roll to see how that worked out for you and if you managed it v if you didn't.

(For added fun, the closer you are and the more solid you are in result the better you did, whereas if you are too closer to the point where you wouldn't have managed it, you didn't do as well but you pulled it off. )

__________________________________________________________________________________________

And that's just the beginning of my {intellectually property protected / patented} system that I don't show to players. I'm sick of the rolling the dice playing and want more ROLE playing.

Issues solved:
One experienced player is no longer an invincible god to "lower level" (whatever that is) monsters.
Additionally, this rewards players for using their heads and actually thinking about how they would deal with a situation
Tactics are rewarded.
Leeroy Jenkins is told to shut the hell up without rocks falling from the sky

This isn't the full idea yet, and I may reveal other aspects to it or not. I don't want people copying/gaming my system a la min maxing. We'll have to see.

Keep in mind the players won't know most of these numbers (and the ones they do may be their own skills perhaps but not the skills of others). You plan it out as best you can within the constraints the GM gives, but you can't min max. Kinda like real life.

As you can imagine, the idea of taking on an entire goblin fortress of 2000 of these things alone and all by yourself is significantly difficult if not impossible without large numbers of your own, tactics, or both. I never liked the idea of just strolling into essentially a city and fighting each and every person there one or two at a time, emerging without so much as a scractch and then acting bored. So, get trained, think, use tactics, get help and more numbers and figure out how to deal with them that way instead of fools rushing in.

Do you see how those special tactics and mission options I told you about here matter a whole hell of a lot now? Imagine those 18 kobolds in combat group B without those combat strength 1 weapons. That lowers their combat score by 18 from 66 to 48 .... Now a mission to steal their weapons matters a ton, because that will greatly reduce their chance of victory fighting without weapons. Foresight pays off, and here it does so literally.

Same thing with tactical maneuvers on an individual and group level, both are required to have a trainer or at least sure as hell benefit much better from having one. Do you know how to repel a chariot that charges your lines? You make a little channel for them to drive into with your troops (while avoiding any scythes they may have on the wheels) and then drag the driver and any passenger soldiers out of the thing to stab them to death. Ever had any type of martial arts lessons? Same idea with a weapon or even armor / a shield. For groups, drilling of some sort is required to master a strategy such as a phalanx formation, purposefully collapsing center, flanking, etc.

Training can beat enormous numbers when combined with tactics and strategy. That's why Persia was stopped in Greece, twice, once by land and another time by sea (though they took over and destroyed Athens the second time, in the end, they couldn't hold it for crap and had to run home). The Greeks abandoned Athens and went to a nearby Island to goad and catch the Persian Fleet in narrow straights where they couldn't maneuver. That gave them mastery of the sea, safety on the island and the ability to decimate the Persian supply lines, thereby cutting off their large army with no means of even feeding itself and forcing it to go home or collapse/starve under its own weight.

Truean · « **Reply #21 on:** January 12, 2015, 11:58:26 am »

Posting update: soon.

Seem my scratchsheet ideas have interestingly enough generated some PM traffick and interest.

So the next topics for posting are:

1.) Zoning and area detail
1.A.) Subdivisions, characteristics, naming designations and uses
1.B.) Alterations, improvements, detriments and changes to zones/ lands
1.C.) Player and NPC interaction in zones (See also alterations)
1.D.) Individualized locational based options and forced actions explained
(There's a river, it's flooding, screw you, either deal with it or avoid it, but it is a thing that is happening. If you dare make train sounds you should choke on them).

2.) Characters and NPCs
2.A.) Creation, origin, and maintenace of Characters and NPCs
2.B.) Importance of background, origination, and prior actions.
2.C.) Imperfection, balance, lack of balance, and story drivers.
2.D.) Player and NPC actions and influenes (individual and group)

3.) More modeling (hopefully)
3.A.) More base tile samples
3.B.) Conventions, applications, and indiations. Elevations/Depressions.
3.C.) Ground cover. Trees, semi transparency leaf/needle layers.
3.D.) Alterations and tile repurposing. Landscaping and terrain crafting tiles of transition and finish.

4.) More.

Until then, see you soon I hope.

Lord_lemonpie · « **Reply #22 on:** January 12, 2015, 03:53:57 pm »

This is so detailed! PTW

Truean · « **Reply #23 on:** January 12, 2015, 06:39:48 pm »

(Rough copy, will be polished later, and again copyrighted, I will eat theives. Mmmmm theives..)

Sneak peak:

1.B.) Alterations, improvements, detriments and changes to zones/lands (with added bonus preview material. The crafting/improvement/building/other things system is like them combat system).

The stupid things I won't do: a.) profession/crafting role. "I role a d 20 to determine my profession/crafting result and add my skill modifier. b.) I mix together these two pictures of things and the game gives me a picture of another thing I "made." No, no, no, no, and once again no. Those are different and lame and differently lame and yes I have a whole 'nother way of doing things that is way better kinda like I showed a bit of before.

Remember the combat examples I posted here? Remember how each aspect was placed in and contributed to a comparative percentage opposition chance? Well the same principle applies to crafting something, improving land (with a farm or some crap), and doing a job.

The only difference here is that instead of a group of kobolds or some shit, you are opposing the entropy and inherent shittiness od the universe and the environment and perhaps other people. You know damn good and well that's exactly how it is in real life too.

Farmy McFarmy never knew exactly what he wanted to do when he grew up and was shocked when he ended up farming. He wants to create a farm plot on which to farm his various farmable crops and stuff. Whereas before in the combat example we had to take the attributes and situations of two combatants into account, now we have to take Mr McFarmy' skills, actions, tools, circumstances, etc into account vs the land's quality, the presence of brush/trees/undergrowth/weeds, local wildlife (the god damn caddyshack gopher) local weather conditions, climate, season etc. Whereas before combat continued til one side was dead/injured/surrendered/retreated/whatever, here the whole thing keeps on going until Farmy McFarmy either manages to build a farm plot of whatever quality or lack thereof, or screws up so bad the carrots refuse to be in his area or whatever carrots do when they don't like you.

Let's look at Farmy McFarmy on a basic level for purposes of this situation. He is a human with a base plant farming ability of .... 4. He has the McFarmy family heirloom high quality farming tools including a hoe 2, spade 2, watering vessel 2, plow 2, strong ox 4, well breed plant seeds 5, and though he neglected to mention it before, family training in farming 5.

This puts Farmy McFarmy's plant growing shot at about 26...

Now let's look at the area he is trying to establish a farm plot on for growing his carrots or whatever. First off he is in a temperate area 2, with some underbrush that needs clearing 4, and some god damn weeds, 4. He is planting in mid spring which is a good time for this 1, and there is a natural spring for irrigation purposes 1. The local gophers LOVE that spring and will attempt to eat whatever Mr McFarmy tries to plant as well as dig tunnels, and it's this little shithead 5. Additionally weather for the area in question at relevant time will be fair 2.

Note: You may see things like "He is planting in mid spring, which is a good time for this 1, and there is a natural spring for irrigation purposes." These numbers are low because higher numbers would ADD to the difficulty against Farmy McFarmy. Planting in winter might be a 10 and could only be offset by using a greenhouse or other stuff.

This leads the opposition from the universe agaians Farmy McFarmy at about 19

26 added to 19 gives us a pool of 45

26/45 is Farmy McFarmy's base chance of progress = 57.78%

19/45 is the Chance Farmy McFarmy doesn't manage so well..... 42.22%

Take that roll as a percentage chance.

Now just like how in combat things will progress in rounds, in creating the farming feild, things will give progress in area plotted and quality of the farm which will come into play when we roll later to see how much and what quality food is grown in the area Farmy McFarmy planted......

Larger areas may arrigate together just like a group battle...... Yeah, the fight is the fight for carrots!

This is just the unpolished basics.

Let's examine this shall we:

There are several things that Farmy McFarmy can do to increase his farming/plant growing stuff. He could use fertilizer as a way to increase his numbers to help himself and tip the odds in his favor. He could take the other approach and go after that god damn gopher and depending upon how stupid he is about it, things might backfire on him. Perhaps Mr McFarmy could chose a different location less prone to survivalist gophers who refuse to die and insist upon burrowing/tunneling, and who consider his farming plants to be a lovely buffet.

Let's consider Farmy McFarmy's possible actions and roleplay potential in this feild for use of his valuable McFarmy time:

Lets say Farmy McFarmy decides to use that Fertilizer (gathered and provided from the animal kennel and perhaps the Character who deals with that, maybe it's also Farmy McFarmy, who knows) 4, and he also puts forth a dedicated portion of his time to put in extra effort at weeding (instead of just the stupid player saying "I roll a ..." and having my foot collide with their head before that sentence is finished) 3, and that Farmy McFarmy HIRES SOME HELP OR OTHERWISE INCREASES THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WORKING ON THIS INSTEAD OF SOLOING IT and adds on Feildy McFeildhand-in-Training whose total modifiers we will say add a grand total of ... 6.

We add these numbers to Farmy McFarmy's prior total of 26 to get 26 + 4 + 3 + 6 to get 39.

Modified pool of 39 + 19 = 58

39/58 = 67.24% Progress chance for Farmy McFarmy

19/58 = 32.76% chance of the universe giving Farmy McFarmy the finger and him not getting crap done or screwing up.

And just like with the combat system, the stronger a role Farmy McFarmy manages (the more margin and stronger he is with a more solid role further away from failure), the better of a freaking plot he has and the better number he will have when growing/crop yield is factored in....

Now let's say either Farmy McFarmy or somebody else manages to relocate, domesticate or kill the gophers to modify that number down (19 - 5 = 14, remembering to take that same -5 out of the pool number for 58 -5 = 53) and that gives us the following with Gophers literally out of the equation:

39/53 = 73.58% Mr. McFarmy's Chance without that gopher.

15/53 = 28.30% The universe's chance to STILL give Mr. McFarmy the finger even without that gopher..... Rounding errors happen.

Other factors and considerations

Slope of area effected (higher number is worse), size of area (will take longer and may yeild variances in both outcome and input factors if built on sufficiently different terrain), other stuff belief me, it's out there.

Starting to get how this can be applied to tons of things you do? Starting to see how repeat iterations matter? Right now I've just been giving you simple additions and subtractions. Imagine linear aspects, polynomials, exponential aspects, etc. Then add the scientific method with testing and null hypothesis rejection methods of research and you start to get something like a predictive equation model (actually two opposing ones), with each one starting to look strikingly like something you might do in a college research paper whereby

Y = Nz^2 + Mx +b

Add into that another equation and oppose probabilistically....

"But Truean, how do you tutor kids in math?" "I'll never use this stuff in real life."

Like this. This is how math is relevant in life with anything, and the real pain of it is, we don't know the numbers that are being plugged in, and that's why I never show players the math behind the story rulings (or do you have some way to know how bad the underground gopher infestation/habitation is?)

Remember those damn Kobolds in "Group B" who had a 66 combat score?"

24 Kobolds with base combat value untrained 2. 18 of them weapon with a combat value of 1, and 6 unarmed?

So

B = (2 + 1)X + 2Y, where X = 18 and Y = 6.
B = 3X + 2Y
B = 3(18) + 2(6)
B = 54 + 12
B = 66

....

Change your variables and make it relatable.

How does this matter in game?:

See above examples. Also you need to think about what actions you can take potentially as a Character or whatever that would be helpful to you, and again, you will probably not be able to look under the hood at the engine of the universe. Again, just like real life.

Aren't you getting philosophical?:

Yup, try to alter those odds in your favor IRL....

Truean · « **Reply #24 on:** January 13, 2015, 08:49:03 am »

(More rough unpolished copies of this and I'll get to the polish later so mesh with the complaints already. This is what original content generation and ideas look like. If anybody knows how to TURN OFF auto correct on an android phone you will get content faster by telling me, please. Thank you. )

1.) Zoning and area detail
1.A.) Subdivisions, characteristics, naming designations, etc

Saying where you are or are talking about has long been a thing and it sucks and isn't easy. There have been tons of ancient and modern ways of doing this including modern zoning stuff. Permanent Parcel Number PPN in American Real Estate? It actually stems from county recorder's office and those numbers actually tell you where in the physical books info about the property is located and what page number and what reference designation is stamped on the picture of land on the page.

We're not doing that. The last sentence on that paragraph is confusing to people because you can't picture what I'm talking about in your head In terms of WHERE the hell a given piece of property is on the page without looking at the page. There isn't a mental construct or image in your head to correspond with the ideas and words and that sucks. Let's fix that.

Clocks. Put away your digital ones and get out the kind with hands that are often round. Google it if you have to. The shape of those things is invaluable as denoted in the phrase 1 o clock low/high. You can determine that relative to a fixed point (the front of an aircraft or North or the way we are all currently facing as a group) the thing I want your attention directed to is slightly to the right and up.... If I say 6 o clock low that means the thing I am talking about is directly behind you and down.....

Fix 12 o clock (dead ahead) at North. (thus 3 o clock at east, 6 at south, 9 at west, etc). That will give you basic land directions of any defined spacial area (X Forest, Y Swamp or whatever it's called). Then nest it:

Now apply a fractal pattern.

Imagine those aren't gears within gears in that picture, but rather clocks within clocks.... Now each of those clocks and all the clocks within those clocks have the directional convention "3 O clock means East, and 4 O clock means East but slightly southeast as well..." applied to it. You now have a location system based off base 12 math and an infinite nesting coordinate system....

What the hell are you talking about Truean? Can you give us an example?:

Yes, and I have sorta foreshadowed a bit of this before without expressly showing the inner workings of the engine here.

Now let's try something by looking at imaginary space Y swamp and trying to indicate a spot we want to talk about.

Imagine a drawn map of the swamp and in your mind superimpose a picture of an analog clock over that with 12 pointing North. If I say 6 o clock, then that means we're talking about the Southern Portion of the Y swamp overall area. Now imagine whatever the southern portion of the Y swamp area looks like and superimpose in your mind a picture of another analog clock on that, again with 12 pointing north.... So now you have the beginnings of that nestled fractal clocks pattern superimposed over the map right? Now imagine instead of just saying 6 o clock to indicate South, I also tell you 6 o clock, 6 o clock and you would (based off the image in your head with the superimposed clocks) realize that I was talking about the Southern Part of the Southern part of Y swamp. Nest it further into the fractal (and this is one of the ways how I teach fractals with practical applications) and say it's 6 o clock,, 6 o clock, 3 o clock and you can see I mean for you to think about the Eastern part of the southern part of the southern part of Y swamp.

Notation:

All of that is a little cumbersome isn't it? What I'm really trying to do is direct the gaze of your mind's eye so you have a general idea even before you look at the map and all those words aren't needed if shorthand notation is used.

Y Swamp, 6, 6, 3

That little thing right there is the entire last paragraph and I can feel your mind's eye shifting on the map as follows:

South or down.

Focusing on the south, your mind's eye shifts down again.

Focusing on that area, we add in the 3 and your mind's eye shifts to the right or east of that now more defined area

Adding in a Third Dimension as an optional mechanic:

How about we move up from flatland's 2D with simply adding a base 3rd dimension? Same deal different coordinates with one addition

Y swamp 9, 6, 6 Low.

That means the Generally Western Part of Y swamp and the southern part of that and the southernmost part of that. The addition of "Low" means I'm either talking about a lower Terran area or more likely underground. If you wanna get more specific how far underground or you wanna have multiple layers like DF does (first cavern layer, second cavern layer, third, etc) then you simply add another number on top of that.

See how I just explained in simple clarity, a complex idea of territory desgination by directing your mind's eye? And also, you can use this fractal pattern to get theoretically infinitely detailed down to whatever small designation you want. So that's the general concept. Now let's get specific.

Note: Add names to them if you like and we will in certain cases.

Subzones and specific delineations:

Now let's go back to That Y swamp area of Y Swamp 9,6,6, and describe conditions even better so we're giving you more than just location.

Take that last clock and nest it fractally one more time and then describe that area like I've been saying as far back as this thread exists.

Y Swamp, 9,6,6 (and add one more clock)

Take those areas and give them characteristics like the list we had here:

Quote from: Truean on October 26, 2014, 11:33:35 am

Fairly natural forest features
A clearing with scattered bushes (berries, useful economically later)
A small stream (Watering hole for prey animals)
Fallen trees (lumber and habitat area)
A gorge or depression in the terrain)
A hill, hills or ridges. (defensible terrain/difficulties in building/travel)
A spring (water source).
Exposed bedrock (Quarrying and possible mineral resources)
Game trails (making natural pathways through the area)
Dense foliage and underbrush (cover, possible to pass through but difficult, habitat etc)
Rocks and stones of significant size
Patches of rare plants
Animal lairs/caves
Water Features like lakes, waterfalls, rapids, aquifers etc.
Different types of trees, though largely decorative, might be economically valuable

Unnatural/created features
Economic structures: lumbermills, mines, tribal settlements (temporary or otherwise)
Shrines (abandoned or otherwise)
Settlements/Camps
Infrastructure (Roads, trials, aqueducts, canals/dredged waterways)
Trading posts
Economic resources (claimed or not)
Military bases

This is far from an exhaustive list. Once you have some features you need to place them within the forest and think about how they will interact with the area and inhabitants around them and far away from them.

Indicating where they are within a reason can be done via a locator dot or icon on a smaller sub region map. Additionally, it can be indicated in text by using cardinal directions or the O'Clock system (12 o clock being north. 6 being south, 3 being east, etc), relative to the center of the sub area. Additionally you can use "near, middle, and far" in relation to the center of the sub area.

I dunno, say Y Swamp 9,6,6, 7 has exposed rock that can be used for quarrying. Y swamp 9,6,6, 5 has dense underbrush and is in about 4 inches of water on average. Say Y Swamp 9,6,6, 11 has rare herbs growing in it and Y Swamp 9,6,6, 8 has a game trail going east to west.

Additionally, you can use ranges of numbers to define larger areas such as Y Swamp 9,6,5, 1-4 as the area of a mostly dryland clearing that has some soggy ground (it's a swamp) but not much. This would indicate a slice area of the clock from 1 o clock to 4 o clock that would include a feature spanning those numbers. Additionally notice that we're dealing with Y Swamp 9,6,5 area instead of Y Swamp 9,6,6. That is to say these are two different areas NEXT TO one another that have detailed subdivisions.

So now on that usually blank picture of a swamp or forest or whatever that occupies most freaking maps as filler space you've got something that looks rather detailed if you flesh it out like so:

Picture the clocks and you have a ton of detail and can say exactly where shit is with ... relative ease if you're willing to do the work.

NOTE: Keep in mind the land areas are NOT circles themselves but rather this is to direct you towards them and make it easier to refer to them when you have a shitload of detail involved. They may have round landmarks and be mapped with different borders and I'll probably insert a map with superimposition of the coordinates on it to illustrate this when possible.

So now on that usually blank picture of a swamp or forest or whatever that occupies most freaking maps as filler space you've got something that looks rather detailed if you flesh it out like so:

Y Swamp Area details.

Western Y Swamp with text detailed subdivision (in real game this would have a map too probably)

Work in Progress

-Y Swamp 3,1 (Eastern Area)
--Y Swamp 3,1,1
---Y Swamp 3,1,1,1-3 Standing water 5 in average, Sturdy reeds, [placeholder for wildlife]
---Y Swamp 3,1,1,4-8 Standing water 3 in average, Moderate willow trees, Mild underbrush, [placeholder for wildlife]
---Y Swamp 3,1,1,9 Soggy Ground, Single willow tree, Nesting crane birds
---Y Swamp 3,1,1,10 Soggy Ground, Patch of rare (vibrant green) dye herbs, [placeholder for wildlife]
---Y Swamp 3,1,1,11-12, Standing Water, 3ft average, light fish and crawdad population.

--Y Swamp 3,1,2
---Y Swamp 3,1,2,1 Soggy Ground, Single willow tree, nesting tern birds
---Y Swamp 3,1,2,2-7 Open water 2.5 ft average, fish, crawdads, alligator territory.
---Y Swamp 3,1,2,8-12 Soggy Ground, light Willow trees, alligator territory.

--Y Swamp 3,1,3
---Y Swamp 3,1,3,1-12 Standing Water 7 in average, Sturdy reeds, light fish, water beetle infestation.

--Y Swamp 3,1,4
---Y Swamp 3,1,4,1-12 Standing Water 9in average, Reeds, crawdads, poisonous snake(s)

--Y Swamp 3,1,5
---Y Swamp 3,1,5,1-2 Standing Water 3 in average, Water lilies and cattail plants, frogs
---Y Swamp 3,1,5,3-7 Standing Water 5 in average, Duckweed
---Y Swamp 3,1,5,8 Standing Water 2 in average, Duckweed, crayfish.
---Y Swamp 3,1,5,9-11 Soggy Ground, Cattail plants and light grass, ducks
---Y Swamp 3,1,5,12 dry land, Patch of rare (vibrant green) dye herbs

--Y Swamp 3,1,6
---Y Swamp 3,1,6,1-12 Standing Water 2 in average, Duckweed, crayfish
--Y Swamp 3,1,7
---Y Swamp 3,1,7,1-8 Standing Water 1 in average, Cattail plants. Crayfish, frogs
---Y Swamp 3,1,7,9-12 Soggy Ground, Cattail Plants

--Y Swamp 3,1,8
---Y Swamp 3,1,8,1-12 Soggy Ground, rocks of appreciable size and cattail plants with dense reeds

--Y Swamp 3,1,9
---Y Swamp 3,1,9,1-12 Soggy Ground, Milkweed plants, rare butterflies, lizards

--Y Swamp 3,1,10
---Y Swamp 3,1,10,1-12 Standing Water 2 in average, Bromeliad plants and moss, Light willow trees.

--Y Swamp 3,1,11
---Y Swamp 3,1,11,1-12 Standing Water 1 inch average, duckweed and cattail plants

--Y Swamp 3,1,12
---Y Swamp 3,1,12,1-12 Soggy Ground, Single Willow tree, Nesting Heron Birds

Temp Spoiler

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, what does the area you are settling in look like? What's around it and what is it for? This tells a hell of a lot more than even a really neat looking picture of a swamp from above is going to tell you doesn't it?

Wanna plan for something to live there ([uY Swamp 3,1,1[/u]) ? They might hunt some of the wildlife there and gather some of the plants for trade. They might have to deal with an aligator or 14 who aren't happy they are around fishing/eating the alligator's food. Maybe they could find a way to cultivate that land by draining it or establishing what the aztecs called "floating Islands," or what the Dutch call a "Plodder." There is a small amount of stone in that immediate area but not a whole lot, so that's a concern. Wood is there if you like Willow Wood, but those nesting birds are gonna be pissed about it and might fly off depriving you of hunting birds/possible egg resources. Wow isn't it amazing how just that one area without even considering the neighboring areas produces a large amount of possibilities to settle/travel through or have somebody else do that? And, that's just a wilderness area. That one doesn't even cover an improved area as of this time (but potentially it could become improved by some civilization or creatures later. Maybe the Goblins find those crawdads and crayfish tasty? Maybe this becomes their home or a hunting ground for them?)

Truean · « **Reply #25 on:** January 18, 2015, 11:32:04 pm »

Posting update and preview(s):

Whelp, things are slowly but surely coming together and Even though everything isn't done, it's all about forward motion.

I think a lot has been done already on the combat, action, and crafting mechanic systems with rather detailed posts that still aren't even the whole deal with that subject. Again, some parts of it may never be told to players to avoid min maxing but it's good to know there is a system, it is well thought out, and it is pretty fair overall. That's not to say it won't screw over players and characters. It absolutely will, but then again so does real life. If anybody should be ablr to understand that, then it's probably the people who play a game where "losing is fun...."

Two said, based off the last update on posting there is still some character information to be presented and some graphical work.

As a preview of coming attractions we have the following;

Characters;

1.) Wherever you go, there you are. Wherever you've been is why and how you are.

Let's just say something right out shall we? Most BS RPG characters are at best one dimensional and interchangeable things that are usually not more than a race and class combination. Stupid.

Q "What are you playing?"

A "A Dwarven fighter."

And that's the extent of the character development. Perhaps the min maxer will devote some time to fighting style Two handed, sword And board, etc. So perhaps it's nothing more than the real life travesty trap of "you are only your job:" That sucks.

At some point everybody here comes from somewhere. Every skill comes from somewhere and where did said Dwarven fighter learn to use an ax and where did he learn to do it well? Remember that great big post on combat examples I gave earlier with all the numbers that added up to form a score used to create a percentage chance of winning a round of combat? That. That matters here.

There are multiple sources for training, from the difficult self study to the tutelage under the master. Each may have different benefits and detriments that appear and apply situationaly.

Let's say Mr. Human Warrior is a self taught spear wielder by necessity. That doesn't mean he won't eventually get very good at using a spear but it does mean that he might miss out on some of the lovely aspects of being taught a given school of combat and uses thereof. Additionally, just like everything else that makes trouble, it generates content and helps you fill out a page with GOOD content and background.

Now Mr. Dwarven Citizen was born and raised in the mountain hall of Stoel Kathenadal. (Roughly Translated: Steel Aimed Purpose).

Combat Training:

1.) His family was militarily focused and children in his family played with toy axes quite often from an early age. Additionally, it is a common method of bonding between children and adults to spar playfully at times, and focusing on instruction in others. Children participate in mock battles in the mountain hall's recreational areas and reenact tactical battles fought by their ancestors for fun (analog, manual FPS games). These tactics often emphasize group infantry formations and heavy use of shields with axes, along with heavily armed crossbow ranged support troops.

Acquaintances and skills developed.

A.) Squad bonus (Specify squad based on participants)
B.) Phalanx formation use intermediate level.
C.) Advanced marching
D.) rudimentary ax use.
E.) Rudimentary Shield use
F.) Rudimentary armor use.
G.) Rudimentary tactics.

2.) Adolescence traditionally brings formal military training in the form of intermediate ax, shield and armor use for primarily defense focused attacks. Instructions include mass drills and individual reviews of technique with accessed evaluations of technique and implementation focused not upon judgment but improvement. These include specific recommendations on how to move, proper breathing, and what to look for to recognize potential problems, opportunities, and events relative to combat.

Formal Trainer: Major Thalmorva Evadorin
Vice Trainer: Sargent Uvlin Facinom

A.) Advanced Ax techiques
i.) Counterattack disarm (Catches enemy weapon in backcurve of ax and twists with leverage to disarm)
ii.) Reverse Strike (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head (behind the blade, blunted area) to try to stun and off balance)
iii.) Joint strike (attempts to hinder or if possible disable a foe with an ax strike to joint areas)
iv.) Pommel strike (a faster but somewhat shorter ranged attack using the ax handle tip instead of the blade or ax head)
v.) Rising attack (used when rising from a prone position or rising from a rolling / tumbling motion to employ a somewhat un expected attack)
vi.) Trip attack (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head to try and trip a foe if possible)
vii.) Ax head ram (attempts to shove the fairly blunt top part of the ax head straight into the enemy's stomach or other flesh)
viii.) Leaping strike (attempts to attack from higher ground and avoid injury from falling. Attack may rend or ignore armor)

B.) Phalanx formation use Advanced and adaptive
i.) Defensive area formation (greatly reduces non artillery ranged weapon attack effectiveness
ii.) trampling march (after maiming or injuring (and perhaps killing several) enemies, the phalanx keeps advancing and slowly stampeding over others).
iii.) Repell Chariots (drilled in making a "channel" or path for a chariot to drive into (and uses shields to avoid damage from wheel sythes etc etc).

C.) Shield usage
i.) shield bash (using front facing or sides of shield, does blunt damage to target (you hope)).
ii.) Expert blocking (After hundreds of hours of drilling, please say somebody gains some experience and does it well.
iii.) Shielded strike (uses shield to conceal the movement of the axhead until a strike is made)
iv.)

D.) Armor Usage:
i.) Blow deflection {sometimes an armor wearer can roll with the bunches or otherwise make the blow fall on those who don't do exactly what England says at all times)
ii.) Armored elbow (throwing an elbow is hard enough sometimes without havin to worry about what some who knows unquestioning nutjob says

E.) Situational Uses
i.) Anti polearm (The axes in question are well designed to catch or deflect polearms due to the back curve of the blade, and additionally using a sheild helps
ii.) Use against Orcs and Overhand attacks (orcs love overhand sweeping attacks and these axes are used to make a quick disemboweling movment before that blow can land or in some cases even swung.

Again that's a very rough version of it. It's a hell of a lot more interesting than "I rolled a 10," or "+1" or whatever crap that is, isn't it? And there are complicated possibilities on future combat. Suffice it to say that damn dwarf is going to be far more combat capable than the human in this example and additionally he's going to have more friends and other known persons as a result of this than just saying "I learned to do X." .... really? that's all then? If this little shit dies he's pretty much entirely replaceable with the next race/class combination character to come out of the pipeline huh?

Graphics:

It appears my ideas are actually so new in some cases that they haven't been done before and are hard to explain. The biggest / oddest one is showing two layers in one, i.e. "The god damn tree leaves are in the freaking way" problem."

I wanna show ground area as well as the fact that certain areas are covered and that others aren't. What to do, what to do: transparency/translucency. I want a leaf wireframe with a tinted lens effect superimposed over the map areas where leaves would be overhead, and oddly this is a major thing it seems that is hard to explain and hard to make somehow.

But Truean, what the hell are you talking about:

You see those glass lenses? Not the metal frame part, the actual lenses that are tinted? That's the effect I'm going for. I'm want to show areas with significant tree growth leaves overhead by showing a bunch of black and white outlined tree leaves with that transparent/translucent lens effect and have that OVER the map stuff.

The key being you should be able to see through it much like you would with those lenses. I want it tinted green for the leaves.

Damned if I can figure out how to easily do it. Suggestions?

MaximumZero · « **Reply #26 on:** January 18, 2015, 11:49:43 pm »

Just so you know, I really want to play whatever you make with this.

Truean · « **Reply #27 on:** January 22, 2015, 10:10:08 am »

Hey Max.

This can perhaps maybe happen later, but right now you can clearly see we're not there yet. I haven't been thinking too much on the player base potential yet. I've been in a sort of "if you build it they will come," mode. Focusing on product before purchaser (not literally) as the saying goes. Right now I'm actually trying to make that tinting lense effect happen. It's harder than it looks, but I hope it's worth it.

I suppose I should give some thought to how eventual players may play this game huh? Seems a reasonable enough question.

Anyhow my thought was to eventually begin, later when I do, as an internet suggestion game and slowly broaden certain aspects of player control both in general and for specific players. I'd have to realistically keep in mind various constraints, but it might go in something like this:

1.) Alpha Build
a.) What I'm doing now.

2.) Beta testing
2.a.) Different area settings than the main game are planned and used in limited scope
2.b.) Internet suggestion game, closed format is used.
2.c.) Players in beta testing are given temp beta sub control. They do not control diretly a character but do have added voting weight (their opinion counts more). Additionally, some levels of customization and virtual possessions and locations will be possible (primary beta virtual item/locale testing protocol)
2.d.) Possible repeat for bug fixes.

3.) Primary Gamma 1.0 Release
3.a.) Limited forum game participation
3.b.) Internet suggestion game mode. Prior beta testers are rewarded with immediate heighten voting weight (your vote may count twice or three times, etc), and Prior beta testers will be given premium first in line consideration for full character control.
3.c:) A certain amount of players may earn dedicated characters in game taking into account limited resources.

4.) Secondary Reflection Period.
4.a.) Review conducted with primary dev and prior beta testers and perhaps Gamma 1.0 earned in players
4.b.) Possible system training for additional assistant GMs. Resource load increase for additional game content and production/play.

It's an idea at least. We'll see.

Truean · « **Reply #28 on:** January 25, 2015, 08:54:48 pm »

Update:

1.) Question on Forum linking procedure.
2.) The Lens transparency effect proves difficult for me to do.
3.) Movement and effect abilities/restrictions
3.i.) How fast you can go.
3.ii.) How much you can do in a given time.
4.) Thought Experiment Alpha 0.01 Site Creation

1.) Question on Forum linking procedure.
If I want to link a to a different area of the same post as the link is in, can I? Example. See that update list up there? If I wanted to embed a hyperlink so you could click on "1.) Question on Forum linking procedure" it would lead you here and so on and so forth. Overall, the same idea would go through to every individual part of the update with part 2 linking to part 2, etc.

Does that make any sense and does anybody know how to do this?

2.) The Lens transparency effect proves difficult for me to do.
Well the lens transparency thing is a bitch to do. I might end up making a makeshift overlay that will not be a lens transparency/translucency effect but will have certain parts see through and others not. It's hard to explain and I don't want to unless I have to, so hopefully this won't be needed.

3.) Movement and effect abilities/restrictions
So in a video game, you have a character moving across the screen and graphics. Here there are limited graphics and there is no visualized art assets on movement (you can't see Mario or whoever moving across the screen). Therefore you have to imagine it. That said, how much movement over what period of time and real estate do you imagine.

Simply put, how fast can you go?

More than a "rough guess" system might be desirable, yet a hard and fast "x ft per round," is too hard and fast of a rule here. Also, you can imagine things get in your way, literally. The terrain and other obstacles slow you down. Other obstacles can be passive (terrain, buildings, structures, etc) or active (other people or creatures).

Additionally, any type of anything in my work is practical and applied. Xft per round makes you try to figure things out when really time and travel doesn't work like that (it should, but it doesn't). This is especially true in artificial environments like a forum game where all you really have is posts like the one this text is contained in. Posting may also be adaptive and only concern the players for choice purposes when it actually might matter, or at least some of the time.

In other words, who wants to be bothered with every little thing? Even this is a fine line, because something COULD potentially be a material point that matters and if people get upset that things "could" have been different,then it sucks. Monday morning quarterbacking could rightfully point out that if that one tree could have been mentioned, the player might have hid his or her character there for an ambush instead of walking into a bad situation. Who knows. A computerized game would show everything. A typical (in my view deficient) pen and paper game wouldn't show enough. I suppose it will have to be a case by case basis.

The same applies to issues of crafting. THAT is solved by the comparative chance roll (just like the combat system). Some of you can see where I was taking you there.... This was the justification for it and the explanation of why it is hard to implement because movement will determine the flow of game play, when certain options are given etc.

That's right, movement, like combat and crafting, can be based upon that lovely comparative chance roll.... This is the theory I may use. Factors taken into consideration may be as follows

Traveler Considerations
The Trade Caravan is composed of three wagons pulled by strong oxen, with 8 horse mounted guards, and 10 walking guards.

Well trained caravan leader (4), familiarity with area (5), well bred horses and oxen (4), Well maintained wagons (4), Well trained guards (5), and prepaid tolls/arrangements (2), means we're looking at 24

Impediment Considerations

To cross a given area such as the X Grasslands, several considerations are met out:

Generally flat land (3), Roads over 80% of path (2), Bandit activity (4), a large stream/small river that must be forded (4), aggressive wildlife (3), size and weight of caravan (4) and distance (13) means that the opposition number for this is 33

24+33=57

24/57=42.10%

33/57=57.90%

So what does all that math mean?

It means if the caravan rolls successfully they make it through a certain area without travel difficulties (though other difficulties might happen to slow them or stop them). This can't be seen as a guarantee, but only an approximation. Player and other actions might render this null, but it at least gives you a rough idea. You wouldn't like it one bit if I stopped your character from intercepting an enemy supply train merely because they rolled this result better than you, would you? Yeah, I didn't think so. (Note, they might have anticipated this and your interception is far from guaranteed merely because you're a player represented character. You probably aren't God.).

It does go a long way towards answering the question "when does X happen/get here?"

Truean · « **Reply #29 on:** January 25, 2015, 09:09:13 pm »

4.) Thought Experiment Alpha 0.01 Site Creation LoslakvaWIP

This will be an incredibly rough outline model of this in a closed control dev alpha model. Basically, pretty much everything up to this point already has been exactly that anyhow.

The Alpha Site consists of an Isolated area directly and strictly under dev control for testing purposes. I'm looking at water/ocean borders at this time to simplify the hell out of things. Even so, shit is probably going to be more detailed than other games as a rule if this thread holds any precedent.

1.) General Backwards Working Player/Character Goals:
2.) Terrain General Setting Wireframe Rough-in.
2.A.) Geography
2.B.) Races/Species, General:
3.) Historical / Cultural / Religion Wireframe Rough-in
4.) Current Geopolitical Wireframe Rough-in.
5.) Important Character and NPC Wireframe Rough-in
6.) Local area wireframe rough-in
7.) Expanded area wireframe rough-in.

1.) General Backwards Working Player/Character Goals: WIP
So putting the very basics of this into some sort of actions it's easier to explain by working backwards. To me, this has always been how supply chain management works, backwards. Keep in mind this will be

From a backwards goal perspective, let's say the character (not the player) might want in the beginning stages of things, the following

2.) Terrain General Setting Wireframe Rough-in.

2.A.) Geography
Loslakva Region is 8 nearby islands otherwise isolated from everything else in high northern latitudes and perhaps also large polar glacial ice sheets. Formed long ago by volcanic action, the islands rise out of the fish abundant Wintergorn Sea and home of the undersea Lobiv species and its empire.

The islands range generally in a gentle westward curve from South to North thusly. Corastad, Onklad, Kousinad, Ferianad, Nobelad together with Esyalad, and Folagad together with Takad go from South to furthest North. Finally, the Polar Ice cap resides northernmost with vast and uncharted frozen reaches.

2.B)Races/Species, General:
Humans
Dwarves
Ogres
Goblins
Lobiv
Fey
Ice Giants

Humans:
   A storm blew Krovic the Red’s ship impossibly off course bringing them to Loslakva from a land they have forgotten. Nordic and now established in Loslakva, humans rely upon hunting, fishing, herding, and limited farming. Their metalworking is rudimentary and their ships are light sail and oar powered. Politically, Loslakva Humans are composed of clans, the overwhelming majority of whom have sworn allegiance to 6 separate squabbling lords. Many have difficulty surviving in this harsh land. Loyalty is far from guaranteed, as many humans attempt to pursue their own gains.

   The overwhelming majority of Loslakva Humans have never seen a dwarf and regard them as fanciful legends. Goblins are an unfortunate reality, as are ogres, though they would prefer them to be simple nightmares.

Dwarves:
   Isolated from all others and united out of necessity, the Dwarves have been in Loslakva since time immemorial. Dwarves rely upon sophisticated underground farming and ranching, with underground hunting. Dwarves have sophisticated mining and building technology, no ships, and advanced metalworking. Politically, there are three Dwarven kingdoms in Loslakva, allied against their common enemies and connected by underground passages.

   Dwarves know of and avoid humans and ice giants, hate goblins and ogres, and could care less about anything else on the surface. They are secure in a highly sophisticated society that wears the earth itself as armor. Dwarves live centuries and form strong relations between themselves. They are organized into regiments with the overall focus of improving the skills of all dwarves as a means unto itself. Art is incredibly important as it can show both beauty and practical methods to improve skills.

   Cold Summit Hold: Located on the island of Takad, this is the northernmost of tha Loslakva Dwarven settlements.

   Shine Steel Hold: Located on the southernmost Loslakvan island of Corastad

   Bronze Bane Hold: Located on Nobelad.

Ogres:
   Ogres live in hunting packs, worshiping the hunt and strength; they are as likely to spear other ogres as to speak to them.

Goblins:
   While seemingly formed into large clans and warrens, Goblins are greedy and self serving.

Lobiv:
   Giant, intelligent lobsters, can sometimes be seen on Loslakva’s shores. Unfortunately, many find lobiv tasty; fortunately for the Lobiv, they are not an easy meal to bring down. The Lobiv make their homes off the coastal shores, raise oysters for food and pearls,

Fey:
   Mysterious nature spirits, rarely seen and rarely regarded as more than legend, are nonetheless real. Their appearance varies with features varying between and among plant and animal characteristics.

Ice Giants:
   Tall, terrifying, incomprehensible, and violent, Ice giants roam the northern wastes and ice flows. It is uncertain how they survive and what if anything, they eat. What is known is that they are incredibly angry.

3.) Historical / Cultural / Religion Wireframe Rough-in

4.) Current Geopolitical Wireframe Rough-in

5.) Test Character and NPC Wireframe Rough-in

5.A.) Test Character: Main Test PC, Sharpshooter, Hunter.
Name: Yasil Colvainhald
Gender: Male
Species: Dwarf
Eyes: Brown, wide, bright
Hair: Brown, straight, braided, shoulderblade length, tucked into shirt rear.
Facial Hair: Brown, straight, 2 inches, masterfully trimmed.
Origin: Cold Summit Hold, Takad Island, Loslakva Region.

Experience Base:
Relatives:
Dronvindin Colvainhald (Father).
Drena Colvainhald (Mother).
Colvainhald (Uncle).
Selmava Colvainhald (cousin).
Velta Colvainhald (Sister)
Idonladin Colvainhald (Brother)

Childhood:
Coming from an underground semi rural Cold Summit Hold family, Yasil Learned self sufficiency via his (carefully monitored and maintained) surroundings among the well managed underground territories of Cold Summit Hold. The Hold has a long tradition of carefully managing it's underground territories in both farming/gardening and conservation preserves for well renewable hunting resources. Yasil often spent free time playing with wooden crossbows, axes, and shields, with friends among the underground reaches. It was quiet a common pastime among Cold Summit Reach youths to do this while sneaking up on one another.

Additionally, Yasil accompanied his father on hunting trips and his uncle after the hunt was done. He was taught the basics of the hunt and what to do with prey after including butchering, Tanning/Leatherworking, and very basic carpentry. His mother was an excellent cook and taught his cousin Selmava, who had lost her own mother.Yasil has long taken to protecting her.

A.) Rudimentary Crossbow use.
B.) Rudimentary Ax use.
C.) Rudimentary Shield use
D.) Rudimentary armor use.
E.) Rudimentary tactics.
F.) Rudimentary Stealth
G.) Rudimentary hunting
H.) Rudimentary Butchery
I.) Rudimentary Tanning/Leather working
J.) Rudimentary Carpentry

Adolescence:
Yasil continued his hunting training, furthering his axe and marksman abilities. Additionally his Uncle taught him more useful axe and marskman techniques, honing his cut and shot.

A.) Intermediate Crossbow use.
B.) Intermediate Ax use.
C.) Rudimentary Shield use
D.) Intermediate armor use.
E.) Intermediate tactics.
F.) Intermediate Stealth
G.) Intermediate hunting
H.) Rudimentary Butchery
I.) Rudimentary Tanning/Leather working
J.) Rudimentary Carpentry

Formal Trainer: Uncle
Vice Trainer: Father

A.) Advanced Ax Techniques
i.) Counterattack disarm (Catches weapon in backcurve of ax, twists with leverage to disarm)
ii.) Reverse Strike (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head (behind the blade, blunted area) to stun and off balance)
iii.) Trip attack (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head to trip)

B.) Shield Usage
i.) shield bash (using front facing or sides of shield, does blunt damage to target).

C.) Armor Usage:
i.) Armored elbow Strike
ii.) Armored Knee Strike

D.) Marksmanship:
i.) Concentration: Increases Damage if additional aiming time is taken. More if concealed.
ii.) Anticipation: Uses observations of target's prior movements to increase accuracy
iii.) Critical Aim: Focused aim may cause greater damage.

E.) Stealth
i.) Camouflage:
ii.) Stillness:
iii.) Silence

Young Adulthood:
Yasil remained among the Dwarven underground hunting preserves, honing his aim on well watched prey, while increasing his effectiveness and self sufficiency as a hunter.

A.) Proficient Crossbow use.
B.) Intermediate Ax use.
C.) Rudimentary Shield use
D.) Proficient armor use.
E.) Intermediate tactics.
F.) Proficient Stealth
G.) Proficient hunting
H.) Intermediate Butchery
I.) Rudimentary Tanning/Leather working
J.) Intermediate Carpentry

Formal Trainer: Uncle
Vice Trainer: Father

A.) Advanced Ax Techniques
i.) Counterattack disarm (Catches enemy weapon in backcurve of ax and twists with leverage to disarm)
ii.) Reverse Strike (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head (behind the blade, blunted area) to stun)
iii.) Trip attack (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head to trip)

B.) Shield Usage
i.) shield bash (using front facing or sides of shield, does blunt damage to target).

C.) Armor Usage:
i.) Armored elbow Strike
ii.) Armored Knee Strike
iii.) Effectively reduced weight (armor encumbers user less)

D.) Marksmanship:
i.) Concentration: Increases Damage if additional aiming time is taken. More if concealed.
ii.) Anticipation: Uses observations of target's prior movements to increase accuracy
iii.) Critical Aim: Focused aim may cause greater damage.
iv.) Focused Aim: Increases Maximum effective distance

E.) Stealth
i.) Camouflage: Attempts to blend into environment. Reduces any reflective materials.
ii.) Stillness: Knows to stay still when possibly being observed, and how.
iii.) Silence: Knows to stay silent when possibly being observed, and how.
iv.) Concealment: Better at hiding behind objects and with heights.

Adulthood: (Current)
Yasil still loved his native Cold Summit Hold but also began to enjoy the off season pay from being a caravan guard traveling between the Three major Dwarven holds underground.

A.) Skilled Crossbow use.
B.) Proficient Ax use.
C.) Intermediate Shield use
D.) Proficient armor use.
E.) Intermediate tactics.
F.) Proficient Stealth
G.) Skilled hunting
H.) Intermediate Butchery
I.) Intermediate Tanning/Leather working
J.) Proficient Carpentry

Formal Trainer: Uncle
Vice Trainer: Father

A.) Advanced Ax Techniques
i.) Counterattack disarm (Catches enemy weapon in backcurve of ax and twists with leverage to disarm)
ii.) Reverse Strike (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head (behind the blade, blunted area) to stun)
iii.) Trip attack (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head to try and trip)

B.) Shield Usage
i.) shield bash (using front facing or sides of shield, does blunt damage to target).
ii.) Expert Blocking

C.) Armor Usage:
i.) Armored elbow strikes
ii.) Armored Knee strikes
iii.) Effectively reduced weight (armor encumbers user less)
iv.) Quiet Armor ( less noise from armor)

D.) Marksmanship:
i.) Concentration II: Increases Damage if additional aiming time is taken. More if concealed.
ii.) Anticipation: Uses observations of target's prior movements to increase accuracy
iii.) Critical Aim: Focused aim may cause greater damage.
iv.) Focused Aim II: Increases Maximum effective distance
v.) Reloading: Faster Reloading

E.) Stealth
i.) Camouflage: Attempts to blend into environment. Reduces any reflective materials.
ii.) Stillness: Knows to stay still when possibly being observed, and how.
iii.) Silence: Knows to stay silent when possibly being observed, and how.
iv.) Concealment: Better at hiding behind objects and with heights.

F.) Hunting
i.) Tracking: Follows tracks and signs of passage.
ii.) Bait
iii.) Trapping

G.) Carpentry
i.) Ammunition Maker: can craft bolts and some arrows
ii.) Small Game Trap Maker: can craft small game traps

Most Recent Occupation: Caravan Guard.

5.B.) Test NPC 1: Relative and food/support
Name: Selmava Colvainhald
Gender: Female
Species: Dwarf
Eyes: Brown, wide, bright
Hair: Brown, straight, braided, mid back length.
Origin: Cold Summit Hold, Takad Island, Loslakva Region.

Experience Base:
Relatives:

Dronvindin Colvainhald (Uncle).
Drena Colvainhald (Aunt).
Colvainhald (Father).
Yasil Colvainhald (cousin)..
Velta Colvainhald (cousin F)
Idonladin Colvainhald (cousin M)

Childhood:
Coming from an underground semi rural Cold Summit Hold family, Selmava Learned from her Aunt how to best utilize the fruits of the hunting and farming community around her. Her mother died when she was very young. The Hold produces an excess of food from it's carefully managed underground resources, and Selmava became exceptionally gifted at using them. Being able to cook and work leathers well lead Selmava to make many friends and earn a place for herself among two separate guilds (quite an accomplishment for any dwarven youth). Selmava attributes part of her food's taste to growing many of her own ingredients.

A.) Rudimentary Knife use.
B.) Intermediate Plant Growing.
C.) Intermediate Cooking.
D.) Rudimentary Butchery
E.) Rudimentary Tanning / Leather working.
F.) Rudimentary Herbalism/Foraging
G.) Rudimentary Herding and Sheering
H.) Rudimentary Weaving
I.) Rudimentary Clothier

Adolescence:
Selmava showed an early ability to grow plants and cook rather well, especially for her age. She earn a bit of a reputation among her kin, friends, and community as something of a good cook. She credited her talents to attention to detail and freshly gathered ingredients, along with skillful instructions and recipies from her Aunt. She had a brief romance with a young male dwarf at this time, but sadly he died while campaigning against goblins. This had a profound effect on young Selmava and she became somewhat of a recluse, abandoning the reputation she began to build for herself.

A.) Rudimentary Knife use.
B.) Proficient Plant Growing.
C.) Proficient Cooking.
D.) Intermediate Butchery
E.) Intermediate Tanning / Leather working.
F.) Intermediate Herbalism/Foraging
G.) Intermediate Herding and Sheering
H.) Rudimentary Weaving
I.) Rudimentary Clothier

Formal Trainer: Drena Colvainhald (Aunt)

A.) Advanced Growing Techniques
i.) Soil tending: attends to and treats soil for greater survivability and yeild
ii.) Pest Deterrence: Counters several common plant bothering pests
iii.) Plant health: Counters several plant borne illnesses
iv.) Multiple Plant co joining (think Three sister's technique). Cooperative plant growing

B.) Advanced Cooking Techniques
i.) Marinade: Gives additional flavor to food and satisfaction to diner.
ii.) Slow roast: Takes additional time for increased flavor and satisfaction.
iii.) Stuffed Ingredients, combinations of food types within one another
iv.) Expert recipes: Additional food alternatives unknown to many.

C.) Advanced Herbalism Techniques
i.) Plant recognition: Vastly reduces chance of gathering harmful plants
ii.) Medicinal herbs: Has chance of finding medically useful plants
iii.) Herbs and Spices: Chance of finding additional seasonings for food preparation

D.) Advanced Tanning / Leather working Techniques
i.) Pattern Expertise: Wastes less hides and yields slightly more leather.
ii.) Stitch Expertise: hides seams and creates higher quality product
iii.) Craft Bags and containers
iv.) Craft clothing: crafts clothing

E.) Advanced Butchery Techniques
i.) Anatomical meat knowledge: Knows tasty anatomy of several different animals.
ii.) Prime cuts: Knowledge of a great many butchering techniques to yield better cuts of meat and well butchered organs. Reduces fat in meat products

Young Adulthood:
Getting over her young romance's untimely end took it's toll and its time. She hit somewhat of a rut with her progress in her passions of cooking and growing. She stated they reminded her too much of him. She was still able to attentively listen to her Aunt's Instructions and gain some new skills however. She remained hung up on her prior lover and his memory.

A.) Rudimentary Knife use.
B.) Proficient Plant Growing.
C.) Proficient Cooking.
D.) Intermediate Butchery
E.) Intermediate Tanning / Leather working.
F.) Intermediate Herbalism/Foraging
G.) Intermediate Herding and Sheering
H.) Rudimentary Weaving
I.) Rudimentary Clothier

Formal Trainer: Drena Colvainhald (Aunt)

A.) Advanced Growing Techniques
i.) Soil tending: attends to and treats soil for greater survivability and yeild
ii.) Pest Deterrence: Counters several common plant bothering pests
iii.) Plant health: Counters several plant borne illnesses
iv.) Multiple Plant co joining (think Three sister's technique). Cooperative plant growing

B.) Advanced Cooking Techniques
i.) Marinade: Gives additional flavor to food and satisfaction to diner.
ii.) Slow roast: Takes additional time for increased flavor and satisfaction.
iii.) Stuffed Ingredients, combinations of food types within one another
iv.) Expert recipes: Additional food alternatives unknown to many.

C.) Advanced Herbalism Techniques
i.) Plant recognition: Vastly reduces chance of gathering harmful plants
ii.) Medicinal herbs: Has chance of finding medically useful plants
iii.) Herbs and Spices: Chance of finding additional seasonings for food preparation

D.) Advanced Tanning / Leather working Techniques
i.) Pattern Expertise: Wastes less hides and yields slightly more leather.
ii.) Stitch Expertise: hides seams and creates higher quality product
iii.) Craft Bags and containers
iv.) Craft clothing: crafts clothing

E.) Advanced Butchery Techniques
i.) Anatomical meat knowledge: Knows tasty anatomy of several different animals.
ii.) Prime cuts: Knowledge of a great many butchering techniques to yield better cuts of meat and well butchered organs. Reduces fat in meat products

Adulthood:
Finally, coming to grips with her youthful tragedy, she could focus on her skills and passions again. Making several recipes as tributes to him instead of being caught in the black hole of memory. Through much of her past, repetitive motions had been done in a daze of grief, they now made sense and manifested in renewed determination to master as much as she could. Selmava renewed her devotion to her passions of cooking and focusing on producing her craft from start to finish with grown plants and raised meats. Her reputation as an exceptional cook is beginning to revive itself and she has decided to take a caravan with her cousin to learn new and exciting cooking recipes and augmentations to her other skills.

A.) Intermediate Knife use.
B.) Very Skilled Plant Growing.
C.) Very Skilled Cooking.
D.) Skilled Butchery use.
E.) Skilled Tanning / Leather working.
F.) Proficient Herbalism/Foraging
G.) Intermediate Herding and Sheering
H.) Rudimentary Weaving
I.) Rudimentary Clothier

Formal Trainer: Drena Colvainhald (Aunt)

A.) Advanced Growing Techniques
i.) Soil tending: attends to and treats soil for greater survivability and yeild
ii.) Pest Deterrence: Counters several common plant bothering pests
iii.) Plant health: Counters several plant borne illnesses
iv.) Multiple Plant co joining (think Three sister's technique). Cooperative plant growing
v.) Plant Nutrients: expert use of fertilizers, composts, and growing enhancers

B.) Advanced Cooking Techniques
i.) Marinade: Gives additional flavor to food and satisfaction to diner.
ii.) Slow roast: Takes additional time for increased flavor and satisfaction.
iii.) Stuffed Ingredients, combinations of food types within one another
iv.) Expert recipes: Additional food alternatives unknown to many.
v.) Eclectic cook: Can cook a wide variety of meats and plants not usually cooked together

C.) Advanced Herbalism Techniques
i.) Plant recognition: Vastly reduces chance of gathering harmful plants
ii.) Medicinal herbs: Has chance of finding medically useful plants
iii.) Herbs and Spices: Chance of finding additional seasonings for food preparation
iv.) Seed Gathering: Chance of getting seeds from plants gathered.

D.) Advanced Tanning / Leather working Techniques
i.) Pattern Expertise: Wastes less hides and yields slightly more leather.
ii.) Stitch Expertise: hides seams and creates higher quality product
iii.) Craft Bags and containers
iv.) Craft clothing: crafts clothing
v.) Leather grain mastery: your leather goods are of very good quality.

E.) Advanced Butchery Techniques
i.) Anatomical meat knowledge: Knows tasty anatomy of several different animals.
ii.) Prime cuts: Knowledge of a great many butchering techniques to yield better cuts of meat and well butchered organs. Reduces fat in meat products

Most Recent Occupation: Cook and Gardener

5.C.) Test NPC 2: Self sufficient blacksmith
Name: Doresal Vorkihald
Gender: Male
Species: Dwarf
Eyes: Green, bright
Hair: Black, curly, 4 inch length.
Facial Hair: Black Curly, 5 O clock shadow
Origin: Cold Summit Hold, Takad Island, Loslakva Region.

Experience Base:
Relatives:
Childhood:
Doresal's father was an abusive, bastard, and his mother was his father's second favorite victim. Doresal was the first. This shaped Doresal's personality and made him hard and cold but without giving into the darker sorts of cruelty his Father embraced and practiced. Doresal is a workaholic, distracting himself from his troubles with his labors. So long as he is working, he doesn't have to think about distressing things, and this is rooted in his early upbringing.

Doresal would hide, poorly, near the blacksmith shop of a master metal worker. Seeing as he didn't hurt anything and stayed out of trouble, nobody cared. Through pure osmosis, Doresal picked up a fair deal of rudimentary knowledge on the subject.

A.) Rudimentary Miner.
B.) Rudimentary Smelter.
C.) Rudimentary Blacksmith.
D.) Rudimentary Armorer.
E.) Rudimentary Weaponsmtih.
F.) Rudimentary Charcoaler
G.) Rudimentary Gem Finisher

Adolescence:
Doresal attempted, at first unsuccessfully, to gain entry into the blacksmith's guild [placeholder for name of blacksmith guild]. He did not have the required sponsor and had no means of ever getting one. Luckily for him, Grand Master Fosivil Matalin took an interest in Doresal. Truth be told, the cantankerous old Grand Master overheard one of the lower level guild members telling Doresal to go to Hell or at least away from the guild. Grand Master Fosivil was known for two things, metalwork and spite. In this case, the Grand Master personally took on Doresal as an apprentice just to piss off the guild. He was a harsh and nearly fair master, but in any case, quite an effective one.

At first, Grand Master Fosivil Matalin's pet names for Doresal included, when he was not more angry than usual but still angry as always, "Stupid," and "Dumbass." When Grand Master Fosivil was his usual upset self, or worse, actually upset at Doresal, these names became unprintable and not able to be repeated in front of polite company. Grand Master Fosivil became the crucible determined to burn away what few soft spots remained in Doresal. He succeeded in this task.

Formal Trainer: Grand Master Fosivil Matalin (Blacksmith and Weapon Smith)

A.) Intermediate Miner.
B.) Intermediate Smelter.
C.) Intermediate Blacksmith.
D.) Intermediate Armorer.
E.) Intermediate Weaponsmtih.
F.) Intermediate Charcoaler
G.) Rudimentary Gem Finisher

Learned many techniques listed in "Young Adulthood section" Space Concerns

Young Adulthood:
Much to Grand Master Fosivil's surprise, Doresal did not break. Somehow. He became quite the accomplished young forger and even adopted Grand Master Fosivil's "philosophy" of not delegating anything, which would mean acknowledging that anybody else had the brain cells necessary to do any part of his work. Thus, he took to creating metalwork from start to finish and from mining to melting to metal cooling. Doresal had basically no life as a workaholic and he didn't seem to notice as this was no noticeable change from what his life had been before.

A.) Proficient Miner.
B.) Proficient Smelter.
C.) Proficient Blacksmith.
D.) Proficient Armorer.
E.) Proficient Weaponsmtih.
F.) Intermediate Charcoaler
G.) Rudimentary Gem Finisher

A.) Mining, digging and Excavating Techniques
i.) Grain of the stone: You see the patterns in stone formations, buckles, fractures, cleavage, grain etc, and use this to your advantage. Faster digging.
ii.) Larger Excavation Plan: You dig out patterns in rock so the material between the excavated lines can be more easily removed. Faster digging.
iii.) Quarrying Efficiency: You make sure to place debris and rock material in easy to remove / transport patterns. More material/less breakage waste.
iv.) Repetition resiliency: Quarrying and Mining are hard work, you are used to it and negative effects are lessened. (longer mining time)

B.) Metalcrafting
i.) Alloy understanding: You not only know alloys but just the right mixture to produce desired results.
ii.) Metal Resiliency: You know how to make metal corrode less, and last longer by melting materials into the alloy.
iii.) Retained Edge: Concerning weapons and edged/sharp objects, your superior crafting helps them keep a keen edge longer.
iv.) Molten and Ingot Familiarity: You know how to smelt so as to get the most usable, uniform metal products.
v.) Armor Recipes: You are familiar with several armor recipes and their reinforcements/alterations.
vi.) Weapon Recipes: You are familiar with several weapon recipes and their reinforcements/alterations.
vii.) Metal Recipes: You are familiar with several metalworking forge recipes

Adulthood:
Eventually, Grand Master Fosivil got even more incredibly grumpy than usual. He made sure Doresal was a full member of the guild, primarily if not entirely to spite said guild (the usual). Upon realizing he couldn't annoy anybody else by continuing to tutor Doresal, he pronounced that his apprenticeship was done, and promptly looked at the door and didn't stop looking until Doresal went through it. He never actually told Doresal to leave, because that would require further effort out of him that wasn't pissing somebody off, but it seemed to perhaps be implied.

Meanwhile, Doresal seems to be in high demand as a fairly well skilled Dwarven forger with a wide range of skills and a penchant for making good weapons. Moreover, while Grand Master Fosivil wasn't exactly a "reference" many in the guild realized that Doresal had, in fact been trained by him. Additionally, Grand Master Fosivil hadn't bothered to politely speak to anyone in over 23 years, much less take on any other apprentices. It was reasoned that if Doresal had survived this, then he simply must have some talent. He does.

A.) Very Skilled Miner.
B.) Proficient Smelter.
C.) Proficient Blacksmith.
D.) Skilled Armorer.
E.) Very Skilled Weaponsmtih.
F.) Intermediate Charcoaler
G.) Rudimentary Gem Finisher

A.) Mining, digging and Excavating Techniques
i.) Grain of the stone: You see the patterns in stone formations, buckles, fractures, cleavage, grain etc, and use this to your advantage. Faster digging.
ii.) Larger Excavation Plan: You dig out patterns in rock so the material between the excavated lines can be more easily removed. Faster digging.
iii.) Quarrying Efficiency: You make sure to place debris and rock material in easy to remove / transport patterns. More material/less breakage waste.
iv.) Repetition resiliency: Quarrying and Mining are hard work, you are used to it and negative effects are lessened. (longer mining time)
v.) Advanced Mining and Quarrying Techniques: Includes use of planned metal spikes, ice expansion, sheet layering, slabbing, etc.

B.) Metalcrafting
i.) Alloy understanding: You not only know alloys but just the right mixture to produce desired results.
ii.) Metal Resiliency: You know how to make metal corrode less, and last longer by melting materials into the alloy.
iii.) Retained Edge: Concerning weapons and edged/sharp objects, your superior crafting helps them keep a keen edge longer.
iv.) Molten and Ingot Familiarity: You know how to smelt so as to get the most usable, uniform metal products.
v.) Armor Recipes: You are familiar with several armor recipes and their reinforcements/alterations.
vi.) Weapon Recipes: You are familiar with several weapon recipes and their reinforcements/alterations.
vii.) Metal Recipes: You are familiar with several metalworking forge recipes

Most Recent Occupation: Weaponsmith

5.D.) Test NPC 3: Construction
Name: Lorvil Ogahav
Gender: Male
Species: Dwarf
Eyes: Brown, wide, bright
Hair: Brown, straight, braided, mid back length.
Facial Hair:
Origin: Shine Steel Hold, Takad Island, Loslakva Region.

Experience Base:
Relatives:
Childhood:
Brother of Ifkold Ogahav, Lorvil was always seen as the physically weaker child by his family. What he lacked in muscle, he made up for in mind, and determination. Growing up in a military focused realm while not having many if any military gifts was not easy. However, that doesn't mean there wasn't a place for Lorvil. Shine Steel Hold may be a very military focused realm but that also means it is very aware of and in favor of fortifications. There is a long tradition of support personnel constructing highly effective fortifications and support infrastructures to support troops at home and abroad. Without military fighting talent, Lorvil, focused on these.

A.) Rudimentary Mining / Quarrying.
B.) Rudimentary Masonry.
C.) Rudimentary Engineering.
D.) Rudimentary Architecture.
E.) Rudimentary Stone working.
F.) Rudimentary Mechanical
G.) Rudimentary Stealth

Adolescence:
Lorvil Made a point of learning all he could about Dwarven stonework. His uncle made a point to work beside his nephew.

Formal Trainer: Jorsavil Ogahav (Uncle)

A.) Intermediate Mining / Quarrying.
B.) Proficient Masonry.
C.) Intermediate Engineering.
D.) Intermediate Architecture.
E.) Intermediate Stone working.
F.) Intermediate Mechanical
G.) Rudimentary Stealth

Young Adulthood:

A.) Proficient Mining / Quarrying.
B.) Skilled Masonry.
C.) Proficient Engineering.
D.) Proficient Architecture.
E.) Skilled Stone working.
F.) Proficient Mechanical
G.) Rudimentary Stealth

Adulthood:

A.) Skilled Mining / Quarrying.
B.) Exceptional Masonry.
C.) Skilled Engineering.
D.) Proficient Architecture.
E.) Exceptional Stone working.
F.) Skilled Mechanical
G.) Rudimentary Stealth

A.) Mining, digging and Excavating Techniques
i.) Grain of the stone: You see the patterns in stone formations, buckles, fractures, cleavage, grain etc, and use this to your advantage. Faster digging.
ii.) Larger Excavation Plan: You dig out patterns in rock so the material between the excavated lines can be more easily removed. Faster digging.
iii.) Quarrying Efficiency: You make sure to place debris and rock material in easy to remove / transport patterns. More material/less breakage waste.
iv.) Repetition resiliency: Quarrying and Mining are hard work, you are used to it and negative effects are lessened. (longer mining time)
v.) Advanced Mining and Quarrying Techniques: Includes use of planned metal spikes, ice expansion, sheet layering, slabbing, etc.

B.) Masonry
i.) Non Mortar Fitting: Dwarves use no mortar, rather they fit stones together precisely.
ii.) Expert stone laying and stacking: Expertly Builds vertically with stone
iii.) Expert Smoothing, Shaping, Polishing and Engraving
iv.) Dwarven Stone Secrets:

C.) Architecture
i.) Dwarven Architecture: Style featuring purpose driven artistic design
ii.) High functionality: Designs serve occupant's needs and aid their lives.

D.) Engineering
i.) Dwarven works: Purpose driven engineering, sometimes massive.
ii.) Redundancy: Dwarves typically overbuild as a safety precaution. Stable works.

F.) Mechanical
i.) Dwarven Mechanics: Focusing on stone and metal infrastructure, troop support and traps.
ii.) Water Familiarity: Knows water transit machines and using water as a timing device.
iii.) Large Load Mover: Dwarven mechanics often move large loads in simple but impressive ways. Large stone slabs, boulders,
iv.) Trapworker: Dwarves use traps, sometimes deadly ones. You know how.

Most Recent Occupation: Construction and Repair

5.E.) Test NPC 4:
Name: Ifkold Ogahav
Gender: Male
Species: Dwarf
Eyes:Black, wide.
Hair: Red, straight, close cropped, high and tight.
Facial Hair:
Origin: Shine Steel Hold, Takad Island, Loslakva Region.

Childhood:
Relatives:
1.) His family was militarily focused and children in his family played with toy axes quite often from an early age. Additionally, it is a common method of bonding between children and adults to spar playfully at times, and focusing on instruction in others. Children participate in mock battles in the mountain hall's recreational areas and reenact tactical battles fought by their ancestors for fun (analog, manual FPS games). These tactics often emphasize group infantry formations and heavy use of shields with axes, along with heavily armed crossbow ranged support troops.

Acquaintances and skills developed.

A.) Squad bonus (Specify squad based on participants)
B.) Phalanx formation use intermediate level.
C.) Advanced marching
D.) rudimentary ax use.
E.) Rudimentary Shield use
F.) Rudimentary armor use.
G.) Rudimentary tactics.

2.) Adolescence traditionally brings formal military training in the form of intermediate ax, shield and armor use for primarily defense focused attacks. Instructions include mass drills and individual reviews of technique with accessed evaluations of technique and implementation focused not upon judgment but improvement. These include specific recommendations on how to move, proper breathing, and what to look for to recognize potential problems, opportunities, and events relative to combat.

Formal Trainer: Major Thalmorva Evadorin
Vice Trainer: Sargent Uvlin Facinom

A.) Advanced Ax techiques
i.) Counterattack disarm (Catches enemy weapon in backcurve of ax and twists with leverage to disarm)
ii.) Reverse Strike (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head (behind the blade, blunted area) to try to stun and off balance)
iii.) Joint strike (attempts to hinder or if possible disable a foe with an ax strike to joint areas)
iv.) Pommel strike (attack using the ax handle tip instead of the blade or ax head)
v.) Rising attack (rising from a prone, rolling, or tumbling position for an attack)
vi.) Trip attack (uses the non sharped rear facing area of the ax head to trip a foe)
vii.) Ax head ram (shoves the fairly blunt top part of the ax head straight into the enemy)
viii.) Leaping strike (attacks from higher ground and avoids falling injury. May ignore armor)

B.) Phalanx formation use Advanced and adaptive
i.) Defensive area formation (greatly reduces non artillery ranged weapon attack effectiveness
ii.) trampling march (after maiming or injuring (and perhaps killing several) enemies, the phalanx keeps advancing and slowly stampeding over others).
iii.) Repell Chariots (drilled in making a "channel" or path for a chariot to drive into (and uses shields to avoid damage from wheel sythes etc etc).

C.) Shield usage
i.) shield bash (using front facing or sides of shield, does blunt damage to target (you hope)).
ii.) Expert blocking (After hundreds of hours of drilling, blocking is done rather well.
iii.) Shielded strike (uses shield to conceal the movement of the ax until a strike is made)

D.) Armor Usage:
i.) Blow deflection ( roll with the punches)
ii.) Armored elbow Strike

E.) Situational Uses
i.) Anti polearm (The axes in question are well designed to catch or deflect polearms due to the back curve of the blade, and additionally using a sheild helps
ii.) Use against Orcs and Overhand attacks (orcs love overhand sweeping attacks and these axes are used to make a quick disemboweling movment before that blow can land or in some cases even swung.
Most Recent Occupation:

5.F.) Test NPC 5: Administrative, Managerial, and organizational
Name: Kerla Vondindi
Gender: Female
Species: Dwarf
Eyes: Green,
Hair: Blonde, straight, Shoulder Blade length.
Origin: Often nomadic on trade routes between the three Loslakva Region Dwarven Holds.

Childhood:
Raised on her family's caravan, transportation was life for Kerla. She was trained from an early age as a merchant and to value production and allocation. Her life was not easy. She did not fit in, and her parents were not supportive of her. Rather they regarded her as somewhat of a failure, because she showed none of the traditional guild dominated craft skills they wanted from her.

A.) Rudimentary Organization
B.) Rudimentary Record keeping/Financials
C.) Rudimentary Management
D.) Rudimentary Speech / Communication
E.) Rudimentary Animal Handling / Training
F.) Rudimentary Medical Treatment
G.) Rudimentary Legal / Government
H.) Rudimentary Stealth
I.) Rudimentary Architecture / Design

Adolescence:

A.) Proficient Organization
B.) Proficient Record keeping/Financials
C.) Proficient Management
D.) Proficient Speech / Communication
E.) Proficient Animal Handling / Training
F.) Rudimentary Medical Treatment
G.) Rudimentary Legal / Government
H.) Rudimentary Stealth
I.) Rudimentary Architecture / Design

Young Adulthood:

A.) Skilled Organization
B.) Skilled Record keeping/Financials
C.) Skilled Management
D.) Skilled Speech / Communication
E.) Skilled Animal Handling / Training
F.) Intermediate Medical Treatment
G.) Intermediate Legal / Government
H.) Rudimentary Stealth
I.) Rudimentary Architecture / Design

Adulthood:

A.) Exceptional Organization
B.) Very Skilled Record keeping/Financials
C.) Very Skilled Management
D.) Exceptional Speech / Communication
E.) Very Skilled Animal Handling / Training
F.) Proficient Medical Treatment
G.) Intermediate Legal / Government
H.) Rudimentary Stealth
I.) Intermediate Architecture / Design

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