[center][h2][i][b]Masters of Veranth[/b][/i][/h2][/center][hr][center][sup]Murder Mayhem & [s]Unicorns[/s] Plot An open-world RPG of Fantasy Politics by Polybius Simple d20 mechanics[/sup][/center][hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/R18eOyX.jpg?1[/img][/center] [i]The Masters of Veranth have been murdered. One by bloody one, members of the ruling council have met a grizzly end. In the wake of the murders, foreign powers have made bold moves against our fair city-state. The Holy League is once again conducting trials overseen by the Grand Inquisitors and fierce Adjudicators of the Holy Church of Karolath. The ageless rivals of Veranth, the Cypriot League are suspected of hiring mercenaries to disrupt our trade routes. Our sailors are turned into slaves, sold on the blood soaked sandy shores of Saeth Mar... The young republic of Veranth needs leadership and sound governing. You have been selected (admittedly in haste) to preside over the High Council until such a time as elections can be held. In the wake of the turmoil of the fated former council, allegiances are challenged. Centuries old treaties between the great houses and the Twenty-Four Towers of the Guilds are at risk. [/i] [h3]Your Character[/h3][hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/etIZ7cEm.jpg?1[/img][/center] You are a member of the High Council, a temporary position until such a time that elections might be conducted. You may be an aristocrat with estates and retainers or a knight, with a company of men-at-arms. Or you may play as a merchant, trading and dealing with other nations. Regardless of your chosen class, you have risen sufficiently enough in the political and social circles to achieve a seat at the council. The fate of Veranth is in your hands. [h3]The Game[/h3][hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/LaKc5Os.jpg[/img][/center] This is a game of intrigue and politics and trade and war. There is money to be made, people to kill and an empire to build. The game will be played in turns. Each turn update, you send me your orders (what your character is up to for that season) and I give an update for the events of that season. The IC is fair game for any roleplaying you may wish to do in between turns. You are free to create any NPC's necessary for your narrative stories. Collaboration is encouraged. It should be noted that if you introduce NPCs, I may commandeer them for story purposes. [hider=Build a Character] [i]Follow this list of steps and your ready to submit a character![/i] [list] [*]Read Classes & Features [*]Choose a class (Merchant, Noble, Knight, Sorcerer) [*]Choose a Secondary Characteristic (Primary Characteristics are tied to class) [*]Choose a name. Make it fit with the setting. (Lore is located in the Character Tab) [*]Write your Vignette & Master Summary of your character. [*]PM me your character sheet. [/list] [b]Classes & Features[/b] [i]The Merchant[/i] You are a wealthy merchant, perhaps an age-old family of Veranth with coffers stuffed to the brim with gold and jewels. Maybe you only recently accumulated your fortune. Whatever the case, you have been found either influential or rich enough (most likely both) to be appointed to the council. Merchants have a [b]Trading House[/b] with plenty of room to store goods and a vault. Merchants also have a [b]Flagship[/b]. They are especially good at [b]Trading[/b] [i]The Knight[/i] A strict code of honor may or may not guide your sword. A relic of ages past, carried over to Veranth from the mainland, the Knighthood has shifted to a more profit-driven profession in the last century. Knights have [b]25 men-at-arms[/b] that require no upkeep, and are loyal to the death. Knights also command the respect of the common people, who see them as valiant heroes (regardless of their actions). Although this may become corrupted with time. Knights are especially good at [b]Fighting[/b]. [i]The Noble[/i] Whether you bought your title or simply inherited the name, a noble commands a court and has access to important figures throughout the lands. Nobles possess an [b]Estate[/b] and may [b]Command a Favor[/b] at anytime, with anyone. Nobles are particularly [b]Cunning[/b]. [b]Characteristics[/b] The emboldened words in the descriptions above are not merely just that-they are part of the simple d20 system I'm using in this game. Whenever you wish to perform an action, I associate it with the appropriate characteristic (A knight leading an attack for instance, or a noblemen brokering a trade deal) and roll to see if your action succeeds and to what degree. [b]Cunning[/b] A silver-tongue. Spies in the shadows. Ulterior motives. Cunning is the wheeling and dealing that is so very necessary in the upper echelon of court politics. [b]Fighting[/b] Martial prowess. Strategy. The ability to lead men into the raging hell-gates of battle or to defend them, to train them, and to use them effectively. It is also the characteristic in single combat. [b]Trading[/b] A sound mind for economics. Understanding the market and how to use it to your advantage. Also the logistics and proper management of vast sums of money and goods. [b]Secondary Characteristics[/b] [b]Arcana[/b] The understanding of the forces unseen at work in the world. There is a thin veil between this one and an infinite number of others. Sorcerers often peak through this veil-and often do not like what they see. [b]Piety[/b] Devotion to a higher god and fellow man. Like Arcana, Piety bridges the gap between the mortal and immortal realms. [b]Luck[/b] The neglected characteristic. It is said at a child's birth his fate is already known. [b]Increasing Your Characteristics:[/b] You may increase your characteristics in a couple of ways the most important being to use them. When you send orders, you may insist that you use a specific characteristic rather than the assumed. For instance, if your negotiating terms for a trade deal, you might suggest that you use a characters cunning rather than his trade. It is up to you how you wish to interpret this course of action. So for the example given, you might suggest you use your characters cunning to blackmail the merchant. Again, you would have to invent the circumstances IC that led to this course of action. Another way to increase your characteristics is by playing your character in character. For example, if you know a course of action would be detrimental to your character or the city, but your character would do it anyway, then that is playing to your character in character. Another way of putting it is 'Don't META-game'. These are not the only ways to increase your characters characteristics... [/hider] [hider=Sample Character] [b]Name:[/b] Sir Arlon Fontleroy [b]Class:[/b] Knight , Fighting, Luck [b]Summary:[/b] A knight of extraordinary skill and luck, Fontleroy finds himself in the right place at the right time more often than not. [b]Vignette[/b] [i]...[/i] [/hider] [/hider] [h3]The City[/h3][hr] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/mpCRttCm.jpg[/img][/center] Veranth is a trading city occupying an island some distance away from the mainland. Originally a safe-harbor for pirates and smugglers, in the 500 years since the nation-state has grown into a city of towers, high walls and bureaucracy. The city is surrounded by vineyards, orchards and farmland. The bustling port district has attracted the greatest shipbuilders, ironworkers and specialty crafstmen in the world. The 24 Towers of Guilds ring the walls, each a tiny kingdom too itself. Amidst all of this economic prosperity are the The Twenty-Four Towers The Guilds of Veranth are unmatched in the world. From shipbuilding to cannon-forging, the guilds attract the most talented laymen in the world and pay handsomely for talent. The Guilds have become increasingly powerful. The Religion In Old Karoleth, the High Priest rules an empire of the devoted. A dozen kingdoms bow before his holiness. Veranth (and a few other Republics) do not. This has brought tension to the land as nations increasingly interact through trade and politics. Raxas Nearly a century ago, the Sorcerer Raxas fled to a distant island with his remaining adepts. Magic has nearly vanished from the world, but a few journeymen 'hedge wizards', untrained and unruly wander the lands seeking masters willing to pay handsomely for a court-wizard. Playing Playing is simple. Make a character by choosing a [b]Class[/b] : (Aristocrat, Knight, Merchant) and pick your skills. Aristocrats are good at Cunning Merchants are good at Trading Knights are good at Fighting Throughout the game, your actions will be dependent on your skill set. Each skill you are proficient in will give a +1 to your action (roll 1d20+skill modifier Vs. Difficulty ) (A merchant wouldn't lead an army into battle, however it is possible!). When you send orders (in between turns) your skills come into play. For example, if your a merchant and you wish to negotiate new or better trade terms with a neighboring nation, I will add your skill bonuses to rolls to determine the outcome. Which brings me to: [h3][b]Generating Wealth[/b][/h3][hr] One of the most important aspects of the game is managing your finances. There are two lawful ways to increase your supply of gold. Trading, by either directly purchasing ships and establishing trade routes, or by subsidizing trade by hiring merchants to make you money. The other is buying and constructing Industries. Winemaking, textiles like cotton and silk, granaries etc. are just a few of the many industries you might add to the economy. It should be noted that it is possible to saturate the market if their are too many of the same industry in Veranth. Each industry brings a set amount of gold each season. Vineyards Vineyards are plentiful in the sandy loam of the Veranthian countryside. Here, grapes and olives are grown among the large manor homes of the aristocracy. Pressing olive oil and fermenting wine into grapes is a major commercial enterprise in Veranth and the supply of these goods is in demand the world over. Windmills After the harvest, the grain is transported to the soaring windmills perched on high cliffs along the coast, where the grain is ground into flour and either turned into bread for the city supply or shipped to neighboring lands. Textiles Fibres such as cotton and silk are spun into fabric for clothing. Increasingly large guildhalls filled with looms and spindles are emerging as a dominant factor in the growing economy of Veranth as fabric is in demand by nobles the world over. Glass Foundry An expensive, labor intensive industry that requires skilled craftsmen. Glass is fired from saltpeter and sand at very high temperatures and shaped into vessels, ornamentation, and glass window panes for use in home and church. Ironworks Blacksmiths produce weapons, armor and shields, but also mundane items like door hinges, locks, barrel banding, cannons and cannonballs-the list is endless. Orders I prefer specific over vague, and I hope to supply enough in-game information for you to make those determinations. For instance if you wished to increase the military in Veranth, it would be better to say "Hire and begin training 50 men-at-arms to replace those slain at Sterling Shores" rather than "Get some more troops and make sure they are good ones". To start you will have two major actions that you may enact each turn. Sending messages, gifts, gold etc. is a free action and you may do as many as you wish each turn. This is a political/nation RP so I expect lots of manipulation and correspondence to play a big part of this game. Developing your character through exposition in letters and NPC interactions is encouraged. Increasing your chance of success You may invest a certain amount of gold in each action, but you have to tell me how you wish to spend that gold. For instance, you may invest 100 gold in your attempt to sway a foreign dignitary to give you favorable terms on an agreement. For each 100 gold you invest, you get a +1 to your action roll. There is no max amount of gold you may invest for each action. As for me, I will be playing the omniscient 'all'. That is to say, I control the NPCs, the will of the people and the natural elements. Sorcery (A Primer) Magic in this world concerns the practice of contacting entities from distant planes and binding them to your will for a time. It is an incredibly dangerous practice and requires intense and careful study. It is believed that magic caused the destruction of the ancient civilizations thousands of years ago through careless and relentless use. With each binding, the barrier between our world and the distant planes is weakened. Consider this when casting powerful spells. The powerful sorcerer Anom Veldt recorded this list in his tome "[i]Demons, Djinn and Entities of Considerable Power[/i]" some 400 years ago: [b]Baal[/b] A leather-winged demon from a plane of fire, Baal's magic is concerned with growing, shrinking, withering and multiplying. [b]Baphomet[/b] A horned goat demon from some fiery hell-plane, Baphomet is not to be trifled with. Surprisingly Baphomets magics are not concerned with fire, but rather binding and loosing. [b]Belphagor[/b] Not much is known about Belphagor, but its magic is used for obscuring, hiding, revealing, or locating. Mammon An enormous giant from a distant plane, the magic of Mammon concerns wealth, money, prosperity and possibly, maybe, conceivably, luck. Azazel Despite his harrowing name (The Ancients believed Azazel was the god of Destruction) Azazel is rather a tame demon, capable of many sorcerous acts. Consult this being when planning, plotting, staging, or manipulating. Table of random events 1: Storms in the sea of 2: Fire in 3: Pirate Raids 4: Funeral of 5: Unrest in 6: Crop Failure 7: Vessel Sank 8: Crime Lord emerges 9: War! 10: Noble Squabble 11: Resources discovered 12: 13: