In the year 250, King Cerol Woodcrafted (so named for his elvish and weak demeanor) decided that for too long the goblins had had the run of the northwestern "bulbous swamps" seven bold dwarves were sent out to found a new colony for the glory of the Searing city! additional colonists were promised to follow in their wake, however this was to be no ordinary colony, instead of being directly under royal rule 3 of the dwarves had convinced the uncertain and decreipt king to grant them a bit more autonomy, thus the council of three was formed and this colony was allowed to form its own laws and govern itself! The King and all dwarves involved may live to regret it...
Welcome to Hailquake, a forum game fort!
This fort will be played alongside a game of influence carrying on in the same vein as a previous game (the dwarven metropolitan area)
I will oversee the fort as a nonexistent entity, playing in turns of one season. players will control one dwarf and will perform actions within the rules of the game by posting on the thread in order to attempt to sieze power or fulfill whatever other agenda they have. I encourage you to be as cutthroat with each other as you can, take seizing power as the aim of the game if you like. if you die you can start over as many times as you like, after all losing is fun!
The full rules can be found hereThe following are
summaries only without all details i encourage you to read in depth about whatever pertains to your dwarf directly.
All players start with 5 influence, influence is used to get your way in the fort and perform actions to further your own goals or detriment those of others. NPC dwarfs never have influence and cannot perform actions.
a dwarf can never go below -40 influence, if you have less than -30 you are so unpopular NPCs may murder you. You should aim to get above 50 influence because then you can potentially sieze power for yourself (or the people if that's what you're into)
Each season you will gain influence based on your profession, if you hold a government position and if you have any legendary skills and will drift back towards 0 if your influence is too low
Each season you will lose influence based on how many guards you maintain, if you have a residence, if you are hiding like a coward, have been righteously imprisoned or are training unofficially
your influence will also decay at higher levels
You can gain one time influence from: making an artifact, killing great beasts and from actions by yourself or other dwarves, and gaining government positions
You can lose one time influence from: being found to commit a crime, accidentally causing the death of another dwarf, from actions by others and from failing most actions, most government positions lose a portion of their influence if you lose the position.
You may hire guards (as an action) to protect you from threats without and within. In the case of a siege or beast attack or other such event they will move with you as a squad, keeping you safe, and they reduce the likelihood of being assassinated or captured. they do however cost you influence each season.
You may also claim a residence or fortified residence. A normal residence is more or less just a bedroom and barracks with a door you can lock and a small food stockpile, a fortified residence will feature a bridge or other such impenetrable defense, and a source of food and water allowing you to hold out there in theory indefinitely.
You may hide in your residence (as per actions) to stay safe but you might get thirsty if you're not in a fortified residence, and it costs you influence.
Residences don't cost anything to claim but cost you influence per season to keep.
If you join the military you are committed to following the orders of your superiors and cannot refuse, you may find it very dangerous!
However you can still train as a warrior and fight stuff without joining the military, however training separately from the military will cost you influence, you will train with any guards you may have, if you have none training may not be very effective since you have no one to spar with.
Some government positions allow you to have residences or guards or train alone without any influence cost.
Normal Actions:
Acclaim a dwarf : citizens agree or disagree, agreeing gives influence to the target (once a season)
Denounce a dwarf: Citizens agree or disagree, agreeing subtracts influence from the target (once a season)
Petition for a position: Require more influence than the current holder, the council votes.
Form a faction: enter a faction demanding a change in law or a position, pardoning/punishing someone or overthrowing the government, you are only allowed to be in one at a time
Call an election: only for positions that are democratically elected (by default mayor) if 5 people agree a vote occurs.
Attempt assassination: attempt to assassinate someone quietly. If it fails you may get found out.. This action must be performed by DM to the GM, do not make a forum post
Attempt capture: attempt to apprehend someone and bring them to your residence (you must have a residence) This action must be performed by DM to the GM, do not make a forum post
Hire a guard: costs you influence but protects you against assasination, capture and outside threats as well.
Hide in your residence: protects you from harm (probably) but costs you influence (you must have a residence)
Claim a residence or fortified: protects you against assasination and capture and you can hide there but costs you influence
Actions if you have more than 50 influence
Question the government: costs them influence, gives you some
Request a position: the target must have less than 50 influence, if the council refuses they will lose influence
Attempt to overthrow the government!: other dwarves can agree to help you, and military dwarves count for more. If you fail you will likely be captured, if you succeed you can remake the government however you like!
If you have less than 0 influence you can only do these actions
Ramble madly about someone: For everyone that chooses to listen the target loses influence, but you lose influence too
Ask for someone to take you in: someone may take you in if they have a residence, giving both of you influence, and you may hide there.
Accost someone with uncomfortable truths: the target may ignore you, giving you influence or confront you costing you both influence
Actions soldiers can perform
Denounce a coward: pick someone who has refused to join the military or hid away from danger, it will cost them influence unless they join the military there and then, also if a soldier disagrees with you it costs you influence as well
Boast about your kills: gain influence unless someone shows you up, can only do this when you have fresh kills
Ask to be made captain of your squad: can only ask if you have more kills than the current captain, the militia commander decides and you both lose influence if he refuses.
Ask to leave the military: The militia commander decides. unless you have a government position to go to, or better an injury, this will be costly in influence and you may be denounced as a coward.
At the start of the game the highest authority is the council of three dwarves, they are responsible for making all laws and have the final say in most matters (and if they don't they can choose to change it so they do).
To prevent over complication all fortress property except residences will be commonly owned including weapons and armour, except in the case of artifacts, where relevant, the creator of the artifact owns it and may choose what happens to it. Residences will be constructed independently of when people claim them and I will try to keep up with demand but if we run short it will operate on a first come first served basis.
Laws, as stated above, are made by the council, although we will start with a few to stop things like open murder. Aside from the stated punishment laws will cost influence to whoever is found to break them. Unless it is something that can be done covertly (captures/assassination) or in the secrecy of your own residence it is assumed that you are seen committing a crime, however you might not necessarily be apprehended if you resist arrest.
If the punishment for a law is death, permanent imprisonment or exile it is considered a MAJOR law.
otherwise it is considered a MINOR law.
breaking a major law hurts your influence more than a minor law.
The council can change government positions how they like at the beggining of the game but if you overthrow the government (see actions) you have the power to rearrange it however you like, although new influence bonuses and maluses will be the purview of the DM (me)
you may only hold one position at once, excepting council members, they may hold 1 position in addition to being a council member
Roughly in order of importance, guards residences and training allowed by the position are represented by letters: #g = guard = # of guards, r = residence, f = fortified residence, t = training allowed so "King(10g/f/t):" means the king is allowed 10 guards, a fortified residence, and to train on his own. Most positions give influence when you gain the position and cost a proportion of that influence when you lose it. If a position gives mandates, you lose influence if they are not fulfilled but gain influence if people are punished for not fulfilling them.
Council member(r): The supreme authority of the fortress, the council consists of 3 dwarves and with a majority vote they can add or remove laws, appoint or dismiss dwarves to government positions or pardon criminals.
Mayor: democratically elected, you decide what the fort actually does (preferably don't be too specific though, it complicates the game), although you have the most control over the actual fort and are theoretically independent the council could decide to do away with mayors and take control or replace it with any other kind of system if they wanted.
Militia commander(r): In charge of the military. you can ask players to join the military, if they refuse it costs them influence, you also decide who becomes a militia captain, and any relevant military decisions are yours. gain influence if the military succeeds in a battle and are very difficult to assasinate because all your soldiers will protect you.
Captain of the Guard(r/t): you are in charge of apprehending criminals and keeping order. In a way you are critical to the upholding of the government because you have to enforce the law.
If a criminal is discovered you have to catch them, if you fail you lose influence.
you may attempt to solve unsolved crimes using your detective skills. you might fail and get the wrong guy, if you succeed you get influence and apprehend the criminal.
You can search a residence to find a missing person, but if you pick the wrong residence you lose influence.
Dealing with vampires is your job too, you lose influence if people are getting drained but gain influence from getting rid of a vampire.
Militia captain: You are in charge of a squad of soldiers. If your squad wins a fight you gain influence, you are also harder to assassinate.
Manager: You do what a manager does. You can accuse dwarves who hide in their residence or train on their own of being lazy, costing them influence
Hammerer: You execute criminals. you may lose influence if the dwarf you execute is too popular! you are slightly harder to assassinate/capture
Bookkeeper: you keep the books. As we all know bookkeepers have disturbing prescient powers so you can see assassination/capture attempts coming and flee/hide beforehand
Broker: Gain a little bit of influence when the fort trades with merchants.
The following vanilla DF feudal positions will be voted by the council when we get the opportunity to appoint them.
Baron(1g/r/t):can't be lost, you have it for life!
Count(2g/r/t):can't be lost, you have it for life!
Duke(4g/f/t):can't be lost, you have it for life!
King(10g/f/t): If you can become king, I'll be impressed. this position can't be lost, you have it for life! you can also order people to be imprisoned, executed or pardoned on a whim, but it does cost you influence.
You may choose to go into exile at various times, such as when someone tries to assassinate you or you escape from arrest. You can choose to go to the caverns or the surface, I promise i won't let you starve but other than that safety is not gauranteed, it's a dangerous world out there!
You can choose to come back and face the music any time (including when a siege starts and you dont fancy your chances)
You can choose to come back in disguise (you have a chance of being recognised) essentially restarting the influence game at 5 influence until such time as you choose to reveal yourself when you will become your old self with a proportion of your old and new influence
If you wish to play make a post including your desired name and profession, you will be dwarfed as fast as the available population allows
The game has now started!
Please do not initiate more than one action per post, and post which action you are performing in green