Polybius

The Age of Iron

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Works for me, welcome to the thread!

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Magic is a thing. It originates from a kind of mystical energy known commonly as mana. A sorcerer can use this mana as a powersource for casting spells. The ancients had awesome magicians capable of amazing feats, like calling down thunderbolts from the sky or levitating. They were in control of the magical forces. Magi in the post apocalypse can be just as potent, only... they're more unstable. Advanced attempts end in the mage going *BOOM* more often than not. I'm picturing magic as something extremely dangerous that warps reality in disturbing ways when unchecked. Harnessing it promises great rewards, sure... but it's very risky and the cost can be terrible.

That's my idea anyway. What would you want it to be like?

@Duck

That's a perfect. I guess my only question is what is in the realm of possibility for magic starting out and how commonly known is it in the world? In the Conan stories he hated magic, even feared it. Would that be a recurring theme for sorcerers? Barbarians?

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What's pigeonholing?

@rush99999

What Shorticus said. Essentially I'm saying I will use my god-like powers to give you all the opportunity you need to succeed in the game world. The most important thing in game mastering is to say 'yes and..' as much as possible.

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And thanks for the answers as usual. I'm looking forward to this RP. I'm still trying to figure out if I pigoen-holed myself too much by making the Nightlurk Warband anti-orc.

May I send you a PM with the lore tidbits I had in mind concerning my company?

@Shorticus

Certainly. Any pigeonholing attempts will be derailed by me.

The Age of Iron

Is magic a thing? Is it really magic or old technology that seems magical to us as children of the apocalypse? If it is magic how does it work?

Mercenaries of Mundus-Opinions Needed-Come take a look!

1.You've compared the companies in this story to heroes akin to the Fellowship of the Ring (at least at later levels). I'm also noting that a high level hero has literally 5x the HP of a lower level one. So I'd like to ask: does HP represent a mixture of skill and toughness, or does it represent one or the other? Are 4th level characters comparable to Aragorn and other heroes in terms of combat ability?

(This is for writing purposes.)

2.Also, will you be defining what sort of cities each city on the map is and/or telling a bit more about them as time goes on?

@Shorticus

1. Not exactly. Level 1 D&D characters are assumed to simply not run ranting an raving in fear when they encounter goblins, kobolds and other baddies. Your characters are fantastic, that's for sure, more capable than your average country bumpkin, but in the world of Mundus, there are literally hundreds of powerful characters. In Middle Earth, I think it's assumed that Aragorn is 1 in a million or something and magic is rare and extremely powerful-direct contradictions to my Core World Assumptions. I'm not sure if you can draw direct comparisons between a Lvl 4 Warrior and Aragorn.

2. Details concerning game mechanics will be filled in. Flavor text, lore etc. can be filled in by players and adopted by others (including myself) to suit your RPing needs.

Thanks for the Q's as usual Shorticus, greatly appreciated.

Mercenaries of Mundus-Opinions Needed-Come take a look!

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Without the greater host of men and the context it provides, you're left with a few brigands or strongmen, which doesn't feel like a true merc company, in my eyes; Just a street gang.

@Aristo

Ah well. I don't know what to tell you then. It is what it is.

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1.That's very good info. Thanks. So, we're not going to know what the enemy's formations look like (usually) until after the battle itself?

2.Also, let's talk about the Kingdoms. Malaph Kar looks like a place where monsters aren't KoS. What about Praeda? The Free Cities of Maleah? I'm willing to wager that Malaph Kar and MAYBE Praeda are the only places monsters can chill before their reputation goes high.

3.Finally, I noticed ogres mentioned in Malaph Kar. Are those enemy-only, or might those be recruitable in a company's very distant future?

@Shorticus

1. That's the way it's going to work at this point.
2. Right. Malaph Kar is monster friendly.
3. NPCs of different races will be available for hire with the right reputation.

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Forgive me if I say something dumb. I'm incredibly sick and have a massive headache to boot.

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So, let's say I know my warband is gonna be larger than the enemies I'm facing. Let's also say I want to envelop them and hit from all sides. Example:

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

0000000

Where blue = melee fighters, orange = archers or mages, and red = the enemy? This way when the enemy gets hit in melee, they quickly get surrounded by the melee fighters.

@Shorticus

In this case yes, that seems to be what would happen. But in game you might now always know how enemy forces are deployed, or how many. Something I'm struggling to reconcile is the tactical aspect with the amount of GMing I need to do. A contract card might look something like this:

Contract

Tyne-Brethna Caravan Guard
Employer: Guild Master Korma Fadwic (Fadwic Trade Consortium)
Reputation: 0+
Enemies/Danger: Low. Lightly armed bandits.
Pay: 40g upon completion.
Summary: Mercenaries needed to guard a caravan carrying food, iron ore and fabric from Tyne to Brethna. Bandits have increasingly attack trade caravans along the Old Stone Roads.

---

Post battle report might look something like this:

Caravan Guard

Success!
Casualty Report: (your guys)
Joe Bob, Human Militia -1 HP Wounded
Slim Pickins, Human Scout -2 HP K.I.A

Slim Pickins equipment was recovered from the battlefield.
(+1 Poor Equipment)

Payment Received: 40g

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@Aristo Although, I agree, I also would like to see larger formations, I believe it is @Polybius' intent to build a combat resolution system that will work, first with a smaller force of a half a dozen to two dozen people. Once he and a group of us feel comfortable with that, we can see about exploring larger formations.

@Gunther

Oh absolutely. I also want to make a system that anyone can just pick up and alter quite easily for a different setting.

Mercenaries of Mundus-Opinions Needed-Come take a look!

As a fan of Glen Cook's Black Company, I'm super down for this.

However, I'd like to make a proposal. As written, the RP seems to be very small-scale; most companies probably won't exceed 20 or even 10 men. Personally, I'd be more interested in a slightly larger scale; in the realm of controlling small, private armies.
I don't want to derail the initial system, but if other players are also more inclined towards a bigger scale, then I might suggest instead of hiring and equipping single individuals, we replace them with formations of men, and any equipment or upgrades they receive can be treated as unit-wide. The possibility for RPing interaction between key characters can still be there, while players can control companies with a little more substance and bearing on the setting.
Again, if popular opinion leans toward the single-man, small-scale, then I've got no problem with it; but I'd really be more invested in a RP with more bodies where our actions carry more weight.

@Aristo

Interesting. So your main concern is that you won't impact the world in any major or significant way? I guess all I can say is trust my worldbuilding to present those opportunities. Besides plenty of small bands of intrepid warriors have altered the course of the worlds they occupy. The Fellowship of the Ring. Those crazy vikings in The 13th Warrior. Every final fantasy game ever.

Large scale battles are great-and there will be plenty of them in this game with opportunities for all. But open warfare with large armies is simply not something that happens all the time (in the world of Mundus or real world history). To break the monotony of war, rest, train, war I want to give a variety of missions, guarding, searching, dungeon delving, assassinating, scouting etc. Small scale simply presents more opportunity for my world and your characters. Does that make sense?