The Realm of Neumark
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/localization10.jpg
Neumark is a proud kingdom, forged out of dozens of squabbling realms by the Great Leonard the Conqueror nearly 300 years ago. Since then Leonard's dynasty, House Verens, has ruled this land, sometimes wisely and justly, sometimes not.
But now the realm has been shaken to its core. A terrible plague known as the Creeping Death arrived on its shores last autumn. Among the countless killed were old King Roland's heirs, and the king himself was left enfeebled by illness and grief. Without the steadying hand of a King, it falls to the Great houses of the land to decide the realms fate.
The Game
Neumark is a forum game set in an original medieval/low fantasy kingdom vaguely based on England in the era of Edward Longshanks. The players take on the role of one of Neumark's powerfull dynasties, and must compete and/or cooperate to determine its future.
Turns take up 1 week real life time, and represent a season of Neumark time. We start in Spring 299 After the Conquest (AC), with the plague slowly abating and the worthies of the realm meeting for an emergency Parliament.
Orders should be sent via email to paradoxneumark@gmail.com by friday. The GMs will then process the turn and hopefully get it up by saturday evening.
As of right now, the GMs are Mr. Santiago and Deaghaidh. In the highly possible even that one of us cannot fullfill his duties, we can hopefully find a new one to replace him so the game doesn't die.
General Rules
All normal forum rules obviously apply. In general, don't be a jerk, and remember that this is supposed to be fun.
GM decisions are final, but players are free to ask why/how the GMs came to those decisions.
For the most part, the game is a work in progress and constructive criticism is appreciated. But try to keep Out of Character discussions of things like game rules, background lore, and other miscellany in this thread. When speaking OOC in this thread please prefix the statement with OOC:
For the sake of keeping track of who is playing who, please include your house in your signature. Having a link to the game there would be nice as well
Game mechanics
Economy
Neumark is divided into provinces that are ruled by a lord, lady, or sometimes a cleric or a mayor. Think of these as roughly equal to a county in CK2.
Each province is made up of holdings. Holdings are either castles, towns, or churches/monestaries. Think of these as like baron-level titles in CK2.
Each holding generates income and supports troops, the number of both depending on the type and size or wealth. Towns generate the most cash, while Castles can support more troops.
Troops cost money to maintain, although castle holdings can support a finite number for free if they aren't mobilized.
At game start, each player can decide what rank he wants his holdings to start at. Each Great Lord has four starting holdings, and their combined rank should be 10
Castle holdings generate 1 income per level, and can support three troop slots per level
Church holdings generate 2 income per level, and can support two troop slots per level
Town holdings generate 3 income per level, and can support 1 troop slot per level.
In addition to their own incomes, Great Lords have vassals that pay them taxes. It's up to the players to decide how much to tax their vassals. Remember though, disloyal vassals might withhold taxes or refuse to fight for you, while loyal vassals might go above and beyond in their service.
Great Lords, Prince-Proxies and Free Cities owe taxes in turn to the crown. Whoever is King or Regent gets to set the taxe rate, and whoever is Lord Treasurer gets to decide how tax money gets spent. Of course, players can always refuse to pay their share, and dare the crown to punish them...
Military
A Lord without armed retainers is no Lord at all. Military units fall into these categories:
Light Infantry:Melee troops leveed from the lower classes. At worst, mere arrow-fodder and useless mouths to feed, at best skirmishers to smother the enemy through weight of numbers. Take up one half a unit slot.
Archers: Ranged infantry of many varieties, whether they be longbowmen, shortbowmen, crossbowmen, or any other variety of bow.
Heavy Infantry: Melee infantry equipped with serious armor. Great for storming a castle or breaking a shieldwall, but vulnerable to skirmishers if not supported.
Drilled Infantry: Formations of footmen who fight in massed ranks, typically armed with polearms. Great at withstanding frontal assaults, but vulnerable to flanking and ranged attacks. Can only be mustered from towns
Light Cavalry: Lightly armored horsemen, typically armed with a shortbow or javelin and a melee weapon. Great for scouting, raiding, and pursuing a routing enemy, but no substitute for heavy cavalry
Heavy Cavalry: Elite warriors, heavily armored with a melee charge that few can withstand. Expensive but powerfull. Take up two unit slots and can only be raised from castles
Ships: Coastal holdings can support warships, that can be used to sieze control of the seas and transport your troops
Combat
Combat results are calculated by the GMs using dice. Factors like terrain, morale, and others can give bonuses to one side or the other.
Combat consists of several phases:
Planning: Rolls determine whether things go according to plan for either armies. Your orders might be a brilliant battle-plan worthy of Hannibal, but the Planning roll decides whether, for instance, some of your troops get lost while marching or one of your commanders disobeys orders. Winners of this round get a bonus to the rest of the rolls. Probably the phase where GM discretion comes in the most.
Skirmishing: The time just before the main clash of forces, where archers and light troops have the advantage over ponderous heavy units.
Melee: The main battle lines meet, and heavy units turn the tables
Pursuit: When one of the armies starts to retreat, the pursuers have the chance to inflict casualties on them and turn a defeat into a rout. Light cavalry is murder during pursuit.
This system is still a work in progress
Intrigue
Obviously warfare isn't the only way to get what you want. Players have pretty much free reign to come up with plots and strategems. Include these underhanded deeds in your orders, describe what resources you are putting into them and what you aim to achieve, and the GMs will come up with a way to determine success. You'll be notified of the outcome when the turn is processed.
Parliament and the Crown Government
From time to time, the Lords of the Realm will meet in Parliament. On turn 1, Parliament will be convening to select a Regent, who will form a Small Council.
The Regent (or King) controls the Crownlands, and appoints Small Council members
The Lord Marshal commands royal forces in battle
The Lord Treasurer sets the tax rate and control the royal treasury
The Lord Chancellor conducts foreign relations on the crowns behalf
The Lord Justice controls the legal system, and through it a valuable network of informants
In Parliament, a player gets 1 vote per holding, no matter the rank. Vassals will generally follow their liege's lead in voting. NPC votes are decided by the GMs according to how various factions pander to their interests.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/localization10.jpg
Neumark is a proud kingdom, forged out of dozens of squabbling realms by the Great Leonard the Conqueror nearly 300 years ago. Since then Leonard's dynasty, House Verens, has ruled this land, sometimes wisely and justly, sometimes not.
But now the realm has been shaken to its core. A terrible plague known as the Creeping Death arrived on its shores last autumn. Among the countless killed were old King Roland's heirs, and the king himself was left enfeebled by illness and grief. Without the steadying hand of a King, it falls to the Great houses of the land to decide the realms fate.
The Game
Neumark is a forum game set in an original medieval/low fantasy kingdom vaguely based on England in the era of Edward Longshanks. The players take on the role of one of Neumark's powerfull dynasties, and must compete and/or cooperate to determine its future.
Turns take up 1 week real life time, and represent a season of Neumark time. We start in Spring 299 After the Conquest (AC), with the plague slowly abating and the worthies of the realm meeting for an emergency Parliament.
Orders should be sent via email to paradoxneumark@gmail.com by friday. The GMs will then process the turn and hopefully get it up by saturday evening.
As of right now, the GMs are Mr. Santiago and Deaghaidh. In the highly possible even that one of us cannot fullfill his duties, we can hopefully find a new one to replace him so the game doesn't die.
General Rules
All normal forum rules obviously apply. In general, don't be a jerk, and remember that this is supposed to be fun.
GM decisions are final, but players are free to ask why/how the GMs came to those decisions.
For the most part, the game is a work in progress and constructive criticism is appreciated. But try to keep Out of Character discussions of things like game rules, background lore, and other miscellany in this thread. When speaking OOC in this thread please prefix the statement with OOC:
For the sake of keeping track of who is playing who, please include your house in your signature. Having a link to the game there would be nice as well
Game mechanics
Economy
Neumark is divided into provinces that are ruled by a lord, lady, or sometimes a cleric or a mayor. Think of these as roughly equal to a county in CK2.
Each province is made up of holdings. Holdings are either castles, towns, or churches/monestaries. Think of these as like baron-level titles in CK2.
Each holding generates income and supports troops, the number of both depending on the type and size or wealth. Towns generate the most cash, while Castles can support more troops.
Troops cost money to maintain, although castle holdings can support a finite number for free if they aren't mobilized.
At game start, each player can decide what rank he wants his holdings to start at. Each Great Lord has four starting holdings, and their combined rank should be 10
Castle holdings generate 1 income per level, and can support three troop slots per level
Church holdings generate 2 income per level, and can support two troop slots per level
Town holdings generate 3 income per level, and can support 1 troop slot per level.
In addition to their own incomes, Great Lords have vassals that pay them taxes. It's up to the players to decide how much to tax their vassals. Remember though, disloyal vassals might withhold taxes or refuse to fight for you, while loyal vassals might go above and beyond in their service.
Great Lords, Prince-Proxies and Free Cities owe taxes in turn to the crown. Whoever is King or Regent gets to set the taxe rate, and whoever is Lord Treasurer gets to decide how tax money gets spent. Of course, players can always refuse to pay their share, and dare the crown to punish them...
Military
A Lord without armed retainers is no Lord at all. Military units fall into these categories:
Light Infantry:Melee troops leveed from the lower classes. At worst, mere arrow-fodder and useless mouths to feed, at best skirmishers to smother the enemy through weight of numbers. Take up one half a unit slot.
Archers: Ranged infantry of many varieties, whether they be longbowmen, shortbowmen, crossbowmen, or any other variety of bow.
Heavy Infantry: Melee infantry equipped with serious armor. Great for storming a castle or breaking a shieldwall, but vulnerable to skirmishers if not supported.
Drilled Infantry: Formations of footmen who fight in massed ranks, typically armed with polearms. Great at withstanding frontal assaults, but vulnerable to flanking and ranged attacks. Can only be mustered from towns
Light Cavalry: Lightly armored horsemen, typically armed with a shortbow or javelin and a melee weapon. Great for scouting, raiding, and pursuing a routing enemy, but no substitute for heavy cavalry
Heavy Cavalry: Elite warriors, heavily armored with a melee charge that few can withstand. Expensive but powerfull. Take up two unit slots and can only be raised from castles
Ships: Coastal holdings can support warships, that can be used to sieze control of the seas and transport your troops
Combat
Combat results are calculated by the GMs using dice. Factors like terrain, morale, and others can give bonuses to one side or the other.
Combat consists of several phases:
Planning: Rolls determine whether things go according to plan for either armies. Your orders might be a brilliant battle-plan worthy of Hannibal, but the Planning roll decides whether, for instance, some of your troops get lost while marching or one of your commanders disobeys orders. Winners of this round get a bonus to the rest of the rolls. Probably the phase where GM discretion comes in the most.
Skirmishing: The time just before the main clash of forces, where archers and light troops have the advantage over ponderous heavy units.
Melee: The main battle lines meet, and heavy units turn the tables
Pursuit: When one of the armies starts to retreat, the pursuers have the chance to inflict casualties on them and turn a defeat into a rout. Light cavalry is murder during pursuit.
This system is still a work in progress
Intrigue
Obviously warfare isn't the only way to get what you want. Players have pretty much free reign to come up with plots and strategems. Include these underhanded deeds in your orders, describe what resources you are putting into them and what you aim to achieve, and the GMs will come up with a way to determine success. You'll be notified of the outcome when the turn is processed.
Parliament and the Crown Government
From time to time, the Lords of the Realm will meet in Parliament. On turn 1, Parliament will be convening to select a Regent, who will form a Small Council.
The Regent (or King) controls the Crownlands, and appoints Small Council members
The Lord Marshal commands royal forces in battle
The Lord Treasurer sets the tax rate and control the royal treasury
The Lord Chancellor conducts foreign relations on the crowns behalf
The Lord Justice controls the legal system, and through it a valuable network of informants
In Parliament, a player gets 1 vote per holding, no matter the rank. Vassals will generally follow their liege's lead in voting. NPC votes are decided by the GMs according to how various factions pander to their interests.
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