A new (sort of) RPG

[Cobra5]

Another new RPG? Don't we have enough?

Yeah, I'd say we have enough. But hey, more is ok, as long as no-one gets bogged down.

But isn't another gonna bog everyone down? I mean, people have trouble posting as it is!

Nope. At least, I hope not. This one is diferent. You only post in it once a week- any day of the week, it dosn't matter. But only once, never more, never less (Not posting in a week skips your turn). There will be a deadline, say, every friday or something, and on that day your turn becomes final. But then you have a whole week to think of your next turn and post it whenever you feel like it, or whenever you have the time.

Turns? There's gonna be turns?

Yep. Like I said in the title, this is only sort of an RPG. It's more of a turn-based strategy game. Although, diplomacy and charisma will play a big part of the game, so how you play your character will make a diference. Although, most of the game is structured.

So what's it all about?

Well, each player is going to be the leader of an imaginary nation on an imaginary Earth. Everything about your country will be cusomizable... I've made the map, and divided it in to "regions" (Which are state-like divisions). Each country is made up of many diferent regions, which the player may or may not choose (Not sure yet). Also, diferent regions will have diferent types or resources in them. I havn't set it in stone, but the natural resouces are probably going to be Timber, Ore, Fuel/Oil, and Food. There will also be unatural resourses, like Power, Population, and the obligitory Dollar (or... Woolong?).

The nations will be bare when you get them. You can choose their backstory if you want, and you place the starting cities, along with naming them, any terrain features, a Flag, and anything else you want to say about your country. Since the whole thing is only updated once a week, It really dosn't matter how much I have to keep track of as Game Master. It could be as complex or as simple as you want it to be.

I'll be keeping track of each countries resources and whatnots, so you don't have to worry about people bumping themselves up a few points now and then while you're not looking.

So what exactly do the players do with their countries?

That's up to you. One thing is for sure, though- Countries will not start off self-reliant. They'll have a weakness of some kind that, if not taken care of, will eventually cuase the downfall of that country. Perhaps one country is massive, with huge amounts of resources and people... but not enough food, becuase their region of the world is frigid and not very agricultural. Will you trade with other nations? Invade them to obtain more fertile lands? You get the idea.

Invade? Is this a wargame?
It can be, but no, it's not supposed to be. I will think of a war system of some kind. Like it or not, war is a part of this world. Big countries might want to look out for smaller ones, or conquer them to make themselves even more powerful. But, just like in real life, War is very draining on a nations resources... Timber and Ore are needed to make equipment, Money and Food are needed to sustain the armies, and population are needed to be the army. All of which, of course, can be destroyed in battle.

This will hopefully encourage players to look for peaceful solutions. As such, the charasmatic and crafty players may become more powerful then a large army.

But in the end, I want war to be an option to players, not a nessecity. Then again, if you get invaded, you really don't have much of a choice, do you?

So what kind of technology are we talking here? Mages and knights? Tanks and troopers? Mechs and spaceships?

I'll let the players decide. While I was working on it, I had a picture of the present day world in mind. But This could, of course, change. Like, for example, if we do it medieval, we could change the Oil/Fuel resource to something else. Or if it was furturistic, we could have some kind of space system, like some nations have andvanced outer space technology, and mine asteroids or something. I dunno.

Like I said, though, I had the real world in mind as I made this. Let's try to not do anything too radical, but its ultimatly up to the players.

So, how much is done?
Well, the map is almost done. There's two major continetnts, A larger north one and a smaller southern one. The north one contains 58 regions, while the southern one contains 40 (thats 98 total for the mathmatically chalenged). They havn't been divided in to nations yet, and I havn't put in resources of any kind.

You can see the map so far here.

I have to do a resource system. I have some idea of a basic one... Cities decrease some resources, but increase others. Like, each city might need one food every turn, but produces one money or population, or something. I dunno. I still have to think of this, and all ideas are welcome.

I don't plan on the players' nations being equal. This may sound like a bad thing at first, but listen- Not only is it more realistic, but it provides more opertunities to players. That is, as long as players are willing to play as smaller countries. Both large and small players will have operitunities- large players won't be ruling the entire game, although they may have a larger say. For example, perhaps smaller nations will be rich in resouces. They might be small in size and population, but if they command the wealth, they still are a force to be reckoned with. But then, what if they are invaded? There resources do make them quite a good prize for battle. So smaller nations may have to form aliences with more powerful, military nations.

Of course, if players prefer a more balenced game, I can make sure the starting countries are varied, but equally powerful.

My hope is everything becomes dynamic. Will you be a peaceful trade nation, building up massive wealth and relying on stronger allies as military might? Will you be a conquering overlord, forcing other into submission? Will you be a "White fleet", and army meant only to prevent war? Will you be a liar and backstabber, earning trust, exploiting people, then turning on them? It's up to you.

Also, a lot of the game is going to be run in PMs. Only information which every country knows will be posted on the map. Resources of regions, locations of cities, armies, political borders... etc. You will take your turns by sending me a PM of what you want to do in your turn... then I will make all the changes on the next day that I need to make the changes.

Also, if this works out, I look forward to seeing how the world turns out. I want to see how we could run the world, if it were up to us. But that's wishful thinking

So what do you all think of this? Should I keep working on it, or does it sound like crap?

[Tassatul]

Hey, I like it. Mostly like how its run like a real world, and not everybody knows everybody elses alliances and that kinda stuff. I think the countries should be unequal as well, just for more realism. But make sure if theyre weak in one area, to be strong in another. And Im sure therell be a thread that has posts(by you, prolly) that tells of internationally known things. Like, so-and-so attacked him, or she traded this and that, or whatever.

[Cobra5]

Yeah, they'll be a thread for that. Also, I'll update the map at every turn, although it probably won't need much updating, unless there's a war going on.

I just hope I'm not getting too ambitious. There are so many things I want to do, so many ideas for games, RPGs... well, I'm sure you all know how it is ;D

[palla]

Tassatul said:

Hey, I like it. Mostly like how its run like a real world, and not everybody knows everybody elses alliances and that kinda stuff. I think the countries should be unequal as well, just for more realism. But make sure if theyre weak in one area, to be strong in another. And Im sure therell be a thread that has posts(by you, prolly) that tells of internationally known things. Like, so-and-so attacked him, or she traded this and that, or whatever.

I agree that it should be kind of unequal. Anyways, this looks like a really fun game. If no one else wants to, I volunteer for a small country.

[Cobra5]

Well, before I do anything else, what time period are ya'll looking foward too? I'd prefer the real world, but anything works.

[copyKatt]

yeah, i'd be up for a small country too. but, its not like i wouldnt accept a larger one . sounds like a good one to me. and since a player only has to post or play once a week, it wont be so hard. and if people dont send will their pm, we could just assume the county did do anything. nifty.

[palla]

Cobra5 said:

Well, before I do anything else, what time period are ya'll looking foward too? I'd prefer the real world, but anything works.

I'd prefer the modern world as well. Could prove to add some 'flavor'..which even I don't don't what that means.

[Deimos]

sounds cool to me, like a deeper version of Mr McCulley's WWI game...Diplomacy (US History II)

I could handle this...I think

[Cobra5]

Lol... it's not Mr. Mculley's game... he just really likes it ;D

Sorry. I felt like I had to point that out, I'm a BIG fan of diplomacy. I have been for a long time... but Mr. Mculley's class was the first time I got to play with so many people. Other time it was only like, 2 or three people. Man, this one time-

Erg... I'm ranting again. Back on topic... ;D

So far, then, we have 4 players (Katt, Tassatul, Palla, Deimos). I won't be a country, but I will be GMing (As in, keeping track of everything), So I really don't count.

And that's only in one night! ;D

[Deimos]

this should be really good

note- I lost rather severely in Diplomacy...Dan was there (not the same team though)...we were first to lose...even France outlasted us, and they were left stranded on Portugal- with no pieces of their homeland left. I was England...sorry Dan

[Tassatul]

hmm diplomacy. . . i seem to remember seeing multiple diplomacy threads at blizzforums, but i never knew exactly what it was, besides some kinda game

[Dr. Dan]

*Slowly starts to awake from an extended slumber*

*Hears strange voices in the background, muffled through his ears due to lack of use over the extended slumber*

*Hears the word "Diplomacy"*

*Jumps up, fully awake, and screams*
"DIPLOMACY!! WHERE!!??"

*In other words::*
"Ahem...I mean...*cough*...I would, um, like to play as well. :-)"

[palla]

Whoa, he woke up.

I've never played Diplomacy, or Risk, or any such game. That might put me at a disadvantage.

[Cobra5]

While the basic theme behind this game might be similer, there are probably not going to be any technical similarities between this game and Risk, diplomacy, etc...

So in otherwords, previous experience not required.

Also, I think I got the resources down. If this post seems too long for you, I wrote a shortened version after it. Just scroll down.

Natural Resources
Fuel= Countries NEED fuel to run... and on top of that, it's somewhat rare. As such, just like in real life, contries that control the oil have quite an advantage.

Every city that a country owns consumes fuel every turn. Any city that does not get the full amount of fuel it requires is inactive for that turn.

While every country will have perhaps a small amount of natural fuel resverves, the majority of the fuel lies in a single area (yet to be determined). Who owns this area owns the fuel- and not much else. The fuel deposites are a barren wasteland.

Timber= Has two puposes. A) It is the main resource when constructing a new city. B)Every city needs Timber to run. Like Fuel, a city without timber won't function. Although, cities only rquire a small amount of timber.

Timber is not exactly rare, although it is more common in some areas then others. Large baren areas that don't have many other resources often contain large forests.

Food= This is used to sustain a country's populance. The more cities you have, the more food you need. If you are short on food, even by one unit, all of your cities and resources shut down (Except for food). Also, your population slowly decreases.

Ore= This is used for only one thing- building. It is used to build cities along with timber, and it is also used ot build armies, trade convoys, and anything else. It is common in rocky, mountinous areas, but can be found in small deposites almost anywhere.

Ore is not used to sustain cities. Even if you have 0 ore, your cities will still function. But you can't build them any larger.

Other resources
Power= This one is rather simple. One powerplant will sustain perhaps 2 or three cities. Powerplants might require a fuel of some kind (like timber or oil or something)... I don't really know. I might not even have this at all. Who knows.

Population= You have a maximum population. The more cities, the higher your maximum population. Also, the more cities, the faster your population grows.

So, if your maximum populaiton is say, 100, and you have 20 people in your country (Just an example... the real numebr will prolly be much higher ), then every turn you will gain mor people (Perhaps 10 per city or something). When it reaches 100, it will stop growing untill you build another city. Cirtain things will decrease your population (Like lack of food), but only losing a city will lower your maximum population.

If your population goes down to 50% of it's max, every other one of your turns will be skipped, other then populaiton growth. Countries will, however, start with a sizable population.

Money= I have devolped a system to control diferent curriencies... so if the players want, every counrtry could have their own monetary unit, which throught the game, will increase and decrease in value sepending on the nation's total resources. But it that sound too complex, we could just have one international unit of money. (See the bottom for the actual system)

Every active city produces money. Active cities are every city that has enough food, timber, and fuel.

The uses of money should be obvious. Building anything, trade, etc etc...

So. does that sound good to everyone? I was thinking about dropping timber entirely, but I decided to leave it in for some varity... I didn't really think it was all the needed.

Now, cities.

Cities are the basic unit behind your country's power.

You can build new cities using Timber, money, and a little Ore. Every city ups your maximum population, but not your current population- SO if you build too many cities too fast, your maximum will rise and your current population will be less then 50%... so you can't build as often as you want.

Each city requires A lot of Fuel, and also Food and Timber to be 'active'. 'Active' cities increase your current population (but not above the max), and give you money. If all of your cities are inactive (For whatever reason) then you get no resources in that turn except food.

If even one city is short on food, all cities become inactive.

There is no rule as to where you can and can't build cities. You can build as many as you want in one region, or you can have no cities at all in a region and still 'control' it. Just becuase a region has no cities dosn't mean no-one lives there... it just means there are no large cities there. So you can still mine ore in an unocupied region, etc...

If you would like, you can say that instead of having two cities in one region, you just have one city that it twice as large. There is no diference whatsoever. In every way it counts as 2 cities... it's just for aesthetics. You could also say you have 3 cities that count as one, or whatever. It's up to you.

Cities and resources will be marked on the map, as well as in my notebook. You don't have to worry about keeping track of them all- you can just look at the map and see. Also, I'll be keeping track of all the percentages and stuff... so you can just check a progress report of some kind to see all of that. So you don't have to worry about the mathmatics or anything. That's my job. You just worry about running the country.


Now, the monetary system- It is rather complex, and all of it will be transpaerent to the players, so you can just skip all of this unless your interested. All of the resources that a nation has (except population and power) is added up. Some resources count more then others. That number counts as a nations total "score". Then, all of the nations scores are added up, and that counts as the world's total score. Then, each countries percentage of the total world score is how much their money is worth.

For example, let's say there are four countries. ONe is rich and control 50% of the worlds score. Two other are average, at 20% of the world's score each, and the last is poor, at 10% of the world score.

Now let's say the two even countries try to trade. Their money is exactly equal, so if one country send the other $100, the other country will get $100.

Now let's say The poor country sends the average country $100. Since 10% is half of 20%, the average country will only recieve $50, even though the poor country sent $100.

If the rich country sent the poor country $100, then the poor country would recieve $250 (20% is 2.5 of %50)

If two or more countries for whatever reason use the same unit of money (Like Europe and the Euro) then all of those countries are considered one nation when doing the calculations for that money unit.

It is somewhat complex, but I will personally be handeling the computations, and I have the whoile thing memorized Don't worry about me, I can handel it. But of course, if this seems too complex, we can just use a standardized money.

[Cobra5]

Too many big posts! So here's a shorter version:

Every country has these things:

Natural Resources:
Fuel/Oil- A lot of it is needed to run cities

Food- You need this to run your country. If you run out, bad things will happen...

Timber- You use this (And ore) to build new cities. Cities also need a small amount per turn to function.

Ore- You use this to build 'things' (like armies, trade convoys, new cities, etc...)


Unnatural Resources:
Population- Your populaiton depends on how many cities you have. IF it falls too low, bad things might happen.

Power- This might not be included. Powerplants take up either fuel or timber (Fuel plants are much more powerful), but they power your cities so they are importnant.

Money- Almost everything costs money. Also, the more cities you have, the more money you get per turn.


Cities:
Cities increase your money and population, but they require Food, Timber, and a lot of Fuel each turn. IF they run out of these things, they stop working. If all of your cities stop working, or you run low on food, your turn is skipped untill things stabalize again.