INTRODUCTION:
A Player (maximum of 12) picks a State, a Color (Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Orange, Silver, Purple, White, Teal, Pink, Blue, Grey), creates their King (read below!) and from there, they must take control of neighbouring lands and declare their own Kingdom.
Only then can they start a campaign to reunite the lands of Brittania, and forge a new Empire!
If any Player gets eliminated, another can take their color, pick an independent State, and try their hand in the fight for the throne.
PLAYER KINGS:
When creating your State, you need to make a King; he needs a Name and a Positive Trait.
He also has Command Value (CV) randomly set between 1 and 3; you can assign your King to personally Lead an Attack or Defense to increase the roll result by that value.
If the Attack/Defense they were Leading fails, a Coin Toss is used to determine what happens; on Heads, your King returns home; on Tails, he dies.
Also, every Turn, a Coin Toss is made; if its Tails, a randomly chosen King dies 'of natural causes' and a new one is immediately created for the Player; these randomly generated Kings have 1 Positive Trait and 50% chance (via Coin Toss) to get 1 extra Trait, which can be Positive or Negative.
King's Traits (positive/negative, mutually exclusive listed in pairs):
Conqueror/Weak: +2/-2 to all Attack rolls.
Defender/Unprepared: +2/-2 to all Defense rolls.
Frugal/Hedonist: -1/+1 Grain required when Investing.
Just/Cruel: Pillaging lowers Grain by 1 less/Pillaging lowers Grain by 1 extra.
Rich/-: +5 Grain score.
Sailor/-: No Grain cost for Attacks across Seas.
Shrewd/-: Extra +3 Grain from Trade Routes.
Unifier/-: +3 to Attack rolls against NPCs (starting Region only).
Warrior/Coward: Doubles CV value of King/King cannot personally Attack or Defend.
English names: Alfred, Aethelred, Aethelstan, Aethelwulf, Eadred, Eadwig, Ecbert, Edmund, Edward
Irish names: Aed, Brian, Congalach, Diarmait, Domnall, Donnchad, Flann, Mael Sechnaill, Muirchertach, Niall, Toirdelbach
Northumbrian names: Aelfwald, Aethelred, Alhred, Ceolwulf, Coenred, Eadberht, Eanred, Eardwulf, Egfrith, Osberht, Osric, Osred, Oswiu, Oswulf
Scottish names: Aed, Causantin, Cinaed, Cuillen, Domnall, Dubh, Eochaid, Giric, Ildulb, Mael Coluim
Welsh names: Aeddan, Anarawd, Cadell, Cynan, Geraint, Gruffyd, Hywel, Llywelyn, Owain, Rhodri
TURN ORDER:
The turns of all Players are SIMULTANEOUS. Orders can be sent through Personal Messages to the GM (Haspen), or if you're not caring about what people see, in the game thread itself.
For your orders to be valid, they must be bolded using the forum bbcode.
A simple example of a Player's turn:
5 Grain to Defend Essex.
5 Grain to Invest in Essex.
10 Grain to Conquer Kent.
You cannot edit your orders once you've send the post! Think twice before posting!!
STATES, KINGDOMS, HIGH KINGDOMS, AND THE EMPIRE:
The map is divided into 81 States, each with its own name. A Player starts with one State. Note that said State can be located in a KINGDOM-type State (underlined).
Your starting State gains the special Capital modifier; Investing in this State costs 1 Grain less, and Defending it gets +5 Grain bonus. You can move your Capital to another State you own by 'spending' 20 Grain; if your Capital has been captured, you can declare a new one for free.
Each Player starts with 10 Grain, which is used to support their forces when conquering and defending, and can be used to invest into states so that they generate more Grain.
To create a Kingdom, one must control a KINGDOM-type State (underlined) plus minimum of 3 States adjacent to it. Some of the KINGDOM-states have more than 3 States adjacent to them, allowing for some wiggling room when it comes for planning your diplomacy and conquests.
Two special cases are The Isles and Galaibh; the first is considered adjacent to Ross, and the second to Moirebh, for purposes of KINGDOM-making. These connections have been noted on map with dotted lines across the seas.
There's special Grain bonus for being a Kingdom: a non-State dependent +5 to your Grain count, and this bonus persists until end of the game (or your early demise).
Once you create a Kingdom, you might want to create High Kingdom, which upgrades your Grain bonus to +10 and grants your nation a new name:
High Kingdom of England requires you to hold 10 Provinces in England, including 3 of these: NORFOLK, WESSEX, ESSEX, MERCIA.
High Kingdom of Ireland requires you to hold 10 Provinces in Ireland, including 3 of these: UI NEILL, CONNACHTA, MUMHAN, LAIGHIN.
High Kingdom of Northumbria requries you to hold 10 Provinces in Northumbria, including DEIRA, BERNICIA and LONCASTRE.
High Kingdom of Scotland requires you to hold 10 Provinces in Scotland, including 3 of these: ROSS, MOIREBH, FIFE and STRATHCLYDE.
High Kingdom of Wales requires you to hold 10 Provinces in Wales, including GWYNEDD, GWENT and DEVON.
Once a High Kingdom is created, another Player can take the title if they manage to push the current High Kingdom out of the required Provinces.
HOWEVER, a High Kingdom cannot create or take over another High Kingdom (example: High Kingdom of Wales cannot become High Kingdom of England, even if they own the necessary lands).
Your main goal, however, is to create the Empire of Britannia. There are two requirements for this:
First, you must control at least 12 KINGDOM-type States, out of total of 18: NORFOLK, WESSEX, ESSEX, MERCIA, DEIRA, BERNICIA, LANCASTER, DEVON, GWENT, GWYNEDD, STRATHCLYDE, FIFE, MOIREBH, ROSS, UI NEILL, CONNACHTA, MUMHAN, LAIGHIN.
Second, your dominion must be continuous; Provinces across Seas are treated as connected.
If no Player fulfills these objectives by end of Turn 20, game ends via Economic Victory; Grain from your States only is multiplied by amount of KINGDOM-type States you own. The Player with highest score is declared winner.
INDEPENDENT STATES:
Non-Player States will always dedicate themselves to defense of their borders, meaning that 10 Grain will always be spent on Defense.
The independent States will never use Grain for Conquests, nor they will Invest Grain to improve their economy. Fools, all of them!
GRAIN AND INVESTMENTS:
Grain is used twofold; to supply soldiers fighting abroad or defending the states, or to improve the economy of the state.
If you do not dedicate any Grain to defense of a province, any opportunistic Player can simply walk their well-fed soldiers into it and automatically take control of the state!
The more Grain you dedicate for defense, the greater chances of repelling the enemy. Same with conquering your neighbours; the more Grain you set aside for the conquest, the greater chances of success.
You can also Invest your Grain in a State that you control. Each State at start lets you use 10 Grain per Turn.
For each 5 Grain Invested into a State, the State will provide you with 1 extra Grain, starting from next Turn.
Example: You have 90 Grain, and your home State, Oxford, provides you with 15 Grain. If you invest half of your Grain, 45, into Oxford, this will raise Oxford's Grain output to 24 (15 + [45/5=9] = 24).
The maximum amount of Grain a Province can reach is 30.
CONQUESTS, DEFENSE, AND THE DIE OF WAR:
Once you decide to conquer some of your neighbours, you must know that each combat is resolved using a d10 die. You can only Conquer States adjacent to the ones you control (or across Seas, look into paragraph below).
There's a special case in region of Wales; despite having some water between them, Glywysing and Somerset are treated as if adjacent, and their connection was marked by a straight line.
Combat formula is simple: d10 + Grain = your number. If you roll higher than the opponents' defending force, you win and the State is yours!
HOWEVER! The maximum of Grain you can dedicate to a single Attack or Defense command is 30.
Example: You decide to conquer State of Mide, and dedicate 19 Grain to the task. State of Mide can afford to dedicate only 12 Grain for defense of its borders. You roll is 6, their roll is 4. 19+6 = 25, 12+4 = 16. State of Mide loses the fight and its lands are now yours!
If a State is attacked by more than 1 Player at once, the Grain spent on Defense is spread as equally as possible with any leftover spent against the Player with highest amount of Grain dedicated to the conquest.
If a State is defeated by more than 1 Player at once, the control of the State falls into the hands of the Player that dedicated more 'raw' Grain into the State's Conquest. In case of draws, a Coin Toss decides the victor.
Once a State is conquered, inevitably there will be looting, pillaging and destruction at hands of victorious soldiers. The Grain output of the State is thus HALVED, and the new owner of the devastated land will need to re-invest into it. This can lead to Devastation:
Devastated States are those States that have 0 Grain output; it is not possible to launch attacks from Devastated States, and one must first Invest in them to be able to launch attacks from it in the next Turn.
TRADE ROUTES:
If you are adjacent to another Player by sharing a land border or across a Sea, you can establish a Trade Route with them. This requires both Players to declare establishing a Trade Route with each other through the commands they send.
A Trade Route provides +5 Grain to both Players' counts, and prevents the two Players from attacking each other.
To stop trading, simply notify the GM about your wish to do so when sending orders. (remember to specify which trade route you wish to cancel if you have several!)
THE SCARY SEAS OF BRITTANIA:
Seas are numbered 1 to 7, allowing conquest of islands and between Britain and Ireland. Oversea conquest require preparations and preparations require extra Grain; to launch an attack across a sea, you must spend extra 5 Grain on the attack.
Note that this requirement is NOT in effect if you have a land state adjacent to the target - then its assumed your attack simply comes through that land state instead.
Example: You own Ulaid, in Ireland, and decide to attack Ayr, in Scotland, and spend 15 Grain on this attack. This means only 10 Grain will be used to attack Ayr, while 5 Grain will be spent on 'preparations'.
1. notquitethere,
2. The Canadian kitten,
3. Kashyyk,
4. a1s,
5.
6.