SyrianHamster

Battle Stations! - Castle Rivergate

Righty'o, the barbarians are coming towards us. Whoever posts next, feel free to include Trinton's command to fire when they pass the gap in the river.

Battle Stations! - Castle Rivergate

Captain Trinton Ironspike scowled at the advancing horde. Ranks upon ranks of dark skinned hulks were pouring from the trees in a steady march. The barbarians of the northern forests were large men, knotted with bulging muscles from a life of hardship. They had on themselves white paint, that covered their entire bodies in elaborate swirls and criss-crossing patterns. Their faces were hard, and long, and their deep-seated eyes were as black as the night. These were real savages, if ever that word suited a group of peoples. Quickly, the Captain made a rough estimation of their numbers, though truth be told he could only see those who had reached the river's edge - there was no telling how many more waited behind in the great forest.

"Five thousand," he muttered, "how many more you got back there, you black eyed bastards?"

There was commotion all across the northern ramparts, as the defenders suddenly took on the full reality of what they were facing. Dust was rising steadily in the distance, and the stonework of the castle walls still vibrated softly even though the barbarians in sight had ceased moving. Captain Trinton, an experienced warrior of the Empire as he was, guessed that the enemy had at least twice as many as he could see - perhaps even three times. If this was true, then the tribes really had gathered in strength, and Castle Rivergate's ownership was of great importance to them... but not the Emperor, apparently. How long had it been since the frontier had seen real reinforcements? Not the odds and ends sent to die, but real fighting men - the kind that go on to conquer great kingdoms and subdue terrifying enemies.

An arrow whistled out from the battlements, just down from where the Captain stood, and he watched the projectile as it sailed gracefully through the air and disappeared into the waiting horde. Someone's done this before, he mused. Suddenly, as if spurred on by the marksman's success, the entire rampart leased a volley.

"HOLD FIRE, YOU FOOLS!" Roared the Captain, back handing a young man next to him who'd just made a fruitless shot. Trinton grimaced as he witnessed the several dozen missiles slam harmlessly into the earth, right before the gap in the river.

"You &%&ing idiots have just given them a fantastic idea of what our range is, well bloody done, I'm sure you're all gonna make General of the Imperial Court some day," he barked mockingly. "Whoever fired that first, and second arrow, congratulations in spurring these pond scum on in giving away our advantage."

The barbarians, making light of the defenders' folly, let forth a unified quire of heavy laughter. They could be seen doubling over, clutching their sides as they screamed joyfully at the futility of the doomed barrage. Even now, the Captain could feel the eyes of Lord Polvark boring into the back of his skull for his failure to maintain discipline. He decided to right his earlier mistake of not laying down the law to the newer soldiers of the walls.

"Alright, listen up," he shouted coarsely, "I don't care how good you are with a bow, and I don't care how far it can shoot - if anyone else lets an arrow go without my Gods given command, then I will personally see he or she thrown over this bloody wall. Am I clear?" hearing nothing but the odd snicker, the Captain was satisfied. "Right, knock another arrow, but don't draw it until they start moving forwards."

And as if words were magic, the barbarian horde, recovered from its laughing fit, started to surge towards the gap. Some carried large hulking shields made from several tree branches strapped together, whilst others carried nothing. They had learned little, it seemed, from the previous two engagements. This made the Captain nervous - with everyone watching the north, who was watching the east and west? Maybe the savage folk were not nearly as dumb as they pretended to be.

"One problem at a time," he mumbled to himself, "let's see to this first, then we'll think about shoring up the sentries on the flanks."

Battle Stations! - Castle Rivergate

thewizardguy said
Well, one cannot negate terrain advantages. If the northern lands are covered in forests, it's quite possible that the natives simply used their knowledge of the environment to prevent any attacking campaigns. The environment and terrain can absolutely decimate an army. A recent example would be Hitler's march on Russia, where his army was incapacitated by the Russian Winter, despite the russians having far inferior weapons and technology.

Correct, and again going back to Ancient Rome - the Romans could not defeat the Germans, largely because the dense forests played havoc on their organised formations and battle tactics that were suited to open ground.

Colliding Worlds: Europe 1200 AD

Hiatus, With Apologies

I have received several complaints over the last few days about various aspects of the mechanics in play here, some of these I find are down to the player missing the point, others I find are down to the players feeling they're entitled not to be eliminated, but there are some valid questions that need to be answered nonetheless. Having come home from work to get the next season going, and instead see all of the above, I'm now forced into a position where waving a white flag is my only strategical option here.

First of all, let me apologise immensely to you all. The mechanics were experimental, untested, with the exception of the combat system which was borrowed from a previous nation RP where only humans were involved. As you can imagine, this left a great deal of room for one giant fuck up. It was stupid of me to even start this RP without first hypothesising certain situations, or looking further into the systems in use. I can see now that there has been far too much centralisation of player stats and buffs, and that the recruitment/unit cap systems are fundamentally flawed and in urgent need of overhaul. Please believe me when I say "it looked good in my mind", because it did, but with so many races involved and so many variables to go with them, I was asking for trouble.

I have also sensed that the mechanics have turned this nation RP into almost a fully fledged tabletop war game, which was, believe it or not, not the objective. They were there to prevent players from breaking world logic, from God modding and from defying the laws of physics. The story of two worlds colliding, and the many epic sagas it was supposed to spin, was sunk in the water the moment I conceived the idea of tech trees, population levels and race characteristics - then combined them with a combat system.

I will now put this RP on indefinite hold, as I attempt to overhaul the entire thing without the need to wipe the slate completely. I cannot put an exact time limit on how long this should take, but you should expect my proposals to be laid forwards within 48 hours. If you feel that you would like to leave the RP because of this giant fuck up, then you can by all means do so, and I apologise to you for wasting your time. Those of you who wish to stay, I give my thanks, and again, my apologies.

What I will change, I do not yet know, however I can promise you that the combat system will likely remain - because it actually functions quite well, it's the other stuff that's as rickety as an old rope bridge that I'll need to axe, set on fire, disown or nuke.

Sorry again for this, as a GM this is the first time I've had to stop one of my RPs to go and do some thinking, and I fully believe that it's because I was far too ambitious, and far too hasty with its design.

Thanks for your understanding, if it is there to give.

Battle Stations! - Castle Rivergate

thewizardguy said
Yhe barbarians themselves seem rather generic at this point in time, as they haven't made a large appearance in the story as of yet, but the tattoo aspect reminds me of African tribes. The heavy clubs makes me think of Orcs more than anything, but it seems strange that such a barbaric people with a seemingly low level of technology would have controlover a large swath of land, suggesting they don't have any adversaries of suitable size to challenge them. Quite probably, the Empire just doesn't have the men to push forward.

I was actually veering more towards ancient Rome, in the way that by the end of its time, many of its armies were comprised by peoples from all over Europe - and Africa - because the Italian home states couldn't provide the troops alone.

You're right though, the Empire just hasn't gone that far. It could be for several reasons, and I'll just let it play out along the whims of the players, but here's a few ideas:

- the north holds no strategic importance

- the north holds no resources worth conquering

- the Empire is busy elsewhere, and has never had time or resources to press forwards.

- the Empire tried to press forwards, perhaps some years prior, and has been unable to recoup its losses since the failed campaign.

- no one believed that warring tribes of roaming savages would unite to threaten the Empire directly

Endless really, but it's just something to keep the ball rolling.

EDIT: I agree, we have excellent character diversity so far.

Open fantasy world

It's okay, having seen that I've opened the gates of Hell, I will renounce my sexy hamster race and revert to a human.

Possibly a soldier of some renown, maybe even a wayward Prince, serving one of those city-states you mentioned. I'll decide once more details become available.

Open fantasy world

Too Old 4 This said
@Primal Oh, here's an idea. Make a drawing file on googledocs and then share it with everyone who submits an approved race. That way the map is accessible to everyone and it can be worked on in real time. As the owner of the file, you can kick anyone if they start making candy kingdoms and ponyvilles all over the place.

You can hate all you want, but I'm planting my ponyville with or without your consent. It will likely expand, to include the candy kingdoms, and united as one, the Ponyharribo Empire will lay claim to the land.

This world will be no place for old men. Muhahahahahaa ahhhhhhhh I'm so lonely.

Battle Stations! - Castle Rivergate

Whitney said
I went ahead and hopped in. :)

That's the idea!

Open fantasy world

Just abandon ship man, choose an Elf or something!

Open fantasy world

Too Old 4 This said
Might I recommend a map, even a blank one. People are going to go their own merry way with every race and not design them with intertwined histories unless you force them to acknowledge the fact that their race does not exist in isolation. If they have to pick a spot on a map and say 'THERE That's where my not at all furry race lives' then they are forced to contend with the fact that some other player's race is adjacent and must therefore write them into the history and culture of their own race. Doing this would make the world feel more real and organic and less the result of a random collection of ideas.

I ... I just wanted to be a large hamster with a hunger for human flesh chained up in some dungeon with a bunch of a leopard-thong wearing pony men and what not. Why you gotta get technical? Haha.

I mean if we feel the world needs to be fleshed out that much, sure, but I'd advise that it be kept in the IC. Otherwise we're looking at a hefty and complicated workload.