Rules and Clarifications

[tetramorph]

Campaign for Christendom!

A theatre-level wargame in the “Dun Kells” campaign setting

Study and familiarize yourself with the general rules of Risk, then note the modifications, below.

Turn Sequence

• Negotiation
  
• Reinforcement
  
• Invasion
  
• Fortification
  

See subsequent posts for further description of each phase.
 Each turn represents a season, Spring or Fall, respectively. We start in the year of the Heavenly King 990.

Kingdoms, Realms and Characters

In place of “continents” we have “kingdoms” with “kingdom bonuses” in place of “continental bonuses” (see chart). In place of “regions” we have “realms.”

Player	Character	Kingdom	Bonus
The Red Baron	Aelfred the Wise	Logres	4
Von	Red Catherine	Slavia	4
Mr Darke	Constans the Just	Byzantia	5
Necromancer	Pepin the Unstoppable	Germania	4
merctime	Eleanor the Unquenchable	Gallica	4
makofan	Isabel the Pious	Iberica	3

Trophies of War

In place of territory cards, invasion “trophies” will be awarded. These also will have three types: “wealth,” “knowledge,” and “power.” There will also be “wild” trophies that can be used for any of the above. Trophies will be awarded publicly on the Christendom Crier, but not their type, which will be delivered by PM to the player. These may be turned in for additional reinforcements when there are three of each type or three of one type. When a character has five (5), three (3) must be turned in. Trophies increase reinforcements by one (1) the first time and increase by an additional one (1) each subsequent time.

Characters and armies

PCs may travel with armies, remain at a given realm, or travel until reaching a certain realm and then remain there as declared in advance by the player. The presence of PCs changes one (1) die to a six (6) once per given realm invasion. PCs cannot be killed as part of invasion casualties. Invasions that defeat a PC demand at least one (1) full turn for recovery and surreptitious travel before arrival of said PC at nearest secure location.

When any given invasion brings two PCs in immediate contact, and if agreeable to referee and both players, players may employ direct man-to-man resolution in order to resolve combat. Players may role-play this as simultaneous with the immediate invasion. In this case characters may die in the usual ways!

General Notes

PCs may place public announcements, make public negotiations, pleas, spread libel, propaganda and issue any official press releases on the “Christendom Crier” thread through any phase of play.

Send PMs regarding orders for the various phases with the following subject-line: "PC short name, Kingdom Name: Phase Orders," where proper names and the name of the given turn phase are inserted in place of the italicized words. Players and referee then continue to manage all subsequent orders regarding that phase on the PM thread with the corresponding phase-name. For new turns place the turn number at the top of the new post.

Each turn there will be a chance of attack from without by the Merciless Northmen, the Khanate of Utter Oblivian from the east, the Great Caliphate from the south and the Unutterable Atlantans from the west. PCs may need to bandy together, even if temporarily, to survive such onslaughts.

[tetramorph]

Turn Phases Breakdown

Negotiation Phase

Negotiate treaties, alliances, etc., openly or secretly, spoken or written
Offer and make invasion-trophy trades, openly or secretly (inform referee)
PM referee in order to send out any scouts or spies

Reinforcement Phase

Count one (1) army for every two (2) realms occupied, rounded down, never less than two (2)
Count any Kingdom Bonuses, if any
Count any armies due to turning in three (3) trophies, when applicable
PM orders to the referee for simultaneous placement of reinforcements

Invasion Phase

PM orders to the referee for simultaneous invasions
Please note to the referee:
realm(s) and sequence
stop at number, ratio or realm?
continue to engage after simultaneous invasion?
continue to engage ally after simultaneous invasion?
cease invasion and remain to defend if invaded by another?
PC to move with army? continue with army? or stop once reaching given realm?

Fortification Phase

Move armies from any occupied realm to any other contiguous occupied realm
Note: realms may not be abandoned; each realm must have one army for occupation
Allied realms may fortify one another if contiguous
PM orders to the referee for simultaneous fortification
Referee will award trophies openly and reveal type secretly

[tetramorph]

Further Notes per Turn Phases

Negotiation Phase Notes

Players may engage in private negotiations by PM only during the negotiations phase. These can be written as letters from each monarch or as speeches delivered by ambassadors, etc. Please include the referee in any of these PMs in order to inform any spies or scouts. NOTE: you can add more than one member as the recipient of a PM. So whenever you PM a player with regards to negotiations please add the referee as well.

During the negotiation phase players may trade trophies either publically or privately by PM.

PCs may send out scouts or spies. PCs may send one (1) scout for every two realms they occupy up to a maximum of four (4). PCs may send one (1) spy for every three realms they occupy up to a maximum of two (2). Player must designate which kingdom (scouts) or character (spies) targeted. At each subsequent phase thereafter the scout or spy will have a chance of finding knowledge and relaying it to the PC.

Scouts only deliver information about army numbers and placements. Scout information is always accurate. Discovered scouts are simply killed.

Spies deliver information about alliances and plans. Spies may simply be unable to find helpful information. Whatever information spies come back with, it will never be complete, or completely accurate. They also may be discovered. PCs may kill a discovered spy. PCs may also persuade spies to turn double agent (bribes help).

Reinforcement Phase Notes

Check with referee to make sure you are both “on the same page” concern the number of reinforcements allotted to your PC this turn. Then PM the referee giving directions as to which realms in which to place your reinforcements. You may only reinforce your own occupied realms. After armies are placed referee will inform players what their characters can "see." PCs can only directly "see" realms they immediately occupy or neighbor.

Invasion Phase Notes

Only one realm may claim any given territory at a time. Should more than one army simultaneously invade any given territory, they must fight for it, or one or both sides must choose (in advance) to leave such dual-attacked realms unoccupied in such cases. Because invasions are resolved simultaneously, there is a possibility that two realms will immediately invade one another. In this case NOTE: both sides will attack with the full dice available to them; tied rolls will cause both sides to loose an army.

PM the referee orders for any invasions. Referee will resolve all invasions as simultaneous, cycling through each player’s successive orders, resolving realm invasions one by one.
Please be as specific as possible with your invasion orders. Include the following:

*Realm(s) and sequence: what realm will you invade? do you want to continue after a successful invasion or stop with only one new realm? what is the direction you would like your army to continue towards if successful?

*Stop at number, ratio or realm: at what point do you want to stop continued invasions, e.g. when you are down to three attacking armies, two, even one? Or when an invasion has you reduced to a 1:1 attack : defense ratio? Or when you reach a certain destination realm?

*Continue to engage after simultaneous invasion? E.g., what do you want your armies to do if you invade a realm simultaneously with another invader? Do you want to battle them for it, wait for it, or only occupy if they choose not to fight?

*Continue to engage ally after simultaneous invasion? E.g, what if the army you are simultaneously invading with turns out to be allied? Same orders as above, or refrain?

*Cease invasion and remain to defend if invaded by another? E.g., if in the course of invasions the realm from which you are invading is simultaneously invaded from a different realm than the one you are invading do you wish to continue invading and defend with the one (1) required army left behind for defense (default assumed) or to cease invasion and remain to defend with full available forces?

*Do you desire to have your PC move with invading army? Will they continue with said army through successful invasions? Or will they stop once reaching a given realm?

After resolution, referee reports general news on the Christendom Crier but specific reports as knowable to each player by PM.

Fortification Phase Notes

PM the referee any moves for fortification. Armies may move from any, to any contiguous realm of the same PC. Armies may move to or through an allied realm, if the alliance is public.

[tetramorph]

The Map

[The Red Baron]

Which are our starting cities?

Am I Wales, or Cornwall, or Northumbria?

[tetramorph]

The Red Baron, yes, good question. I will make that clear as I send out PC data, very soon. Some of that will also be public knowledge on the Crier. Thanks

[tetramorph]

The Red Baron, Von, Mr Darke, Necromancer, The Semi-Retired Gamer, makofan:

I just realized one more thing (I am sure we will discover many more through play) that playing "RISK" with simultaneous turns will mean:

Imagine three realms: A, B and C along one connecting line.

Here is a possible scenario: A invades B while B invades C.

I have decided to resolve this in one of two scenarios:

1. B defends against A with the one (1) required army left behind while continuing to invade C
2. B calls off invasion of C in order to defend against A with all armies

I will assume the first scenario (1) UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED by the player in the invasion orders.

So, for example, a player might say, as part of his invasion orders: If invaded while invading another, cease attack, remain to defend. Again if you do not say so, I will assume scenario one (1).

I will modify the rules above to contain this description.

Thank you all.

[Necromancer]

That sounds reasonable, tetramorph. I have a question though. Let's say I make the following invasion orders: my 3 armies in realm X will invade realm Y, unless invaded by realm Z. If so, I call off my invasion and defend myself using my 3 armies. What if I'm succesful in defending my realm against realm Z? Am I allowed to proceed with my original plan to invade realm Y with my remaining armies, or do I have to wait until the next invasion phase starts?

[tetramorph]

Wow, Necromancer, that is a really good question. I'm going to "tag" the gang so everybody will take a look at my response (The Red Baron, Von, Mr Darke, The Semi-Retired Gamer, makofan).

Let me try to explain my thinking on this one. I am going to reason things out on this post and I hope you and the other players will chime in and let me know if you think my reasoning sounds sensible and fair.

Imagine a regular old Risk game. During a given player's turn, upon initiating the invasion phase, he might invade a whole chain of territories. So, for example, a player "turtling" in Australia might amass a force of armies large enough to wind up taking South America -- all in one turn.

In the version of Risk we are playing, however, turns are simultaneous. In this case the guy emerging with massive armies out of Australia might run amok with a player bringing a cohort out of Europe, their armies engaging one another in Asia somewhere. Let's say the guy out of Europe winds up invading the territory from which the guy out of Australia is currently invading a different asian territory. In this case, if I were refereeing, I would do each players invasions in a round. So, I would read what Europe guy wants, Australia guy and, say America guy (let's say it is down to three). Let's say they each gave me orders indicating they wanted to go as far as possible in a given direction until they were down to their last invadable army. Europe guy is heading through Asia to Australia. Australia guy through Asia to America. America guy through Europe to Africa. With me so far? I would keep executing an invasion for each player in order. Once resolved, they would each get another round of invasions, etc., until all their orders were completed (in this case, when they are down to their last invadable army, in the directions they want to go, respectively). In this case, Australia guy told me to stop and defend if invaded while invading a different realm. So, for that round of simultaneous resolutions, his invasion towards the Americas would stop so that he could fully engage Europe's invasion force. Once that was resolved, if he still had any armies available to continue his invasion course, and if there were still rounds of invasions left to resolve (let's say America is now making headway through Europe towards Africa), then, yes, I would continue with his original orders. If, however, the battle b/w Europe and Australia exhausted all Australia's armies there in Asia, or (more importantly for your question) if Europe could do no more and America's invasion orders were also exhausted, then EVEN IF AUSTRALIA STILL HAD ARMIES WITH WHICH TO INVADE this phase of the turn would now be over and he would be stuck where he left off in the realm where Europe attacked him.

Does this analogy to a house-ruled variant of the regular game help to make sense of what I am thinking?

So in our case, if you issued orders to invade, but to stop if invaded and defend, one of three things might happen: 1. after that invasion was resolved you might not have enough armies left with which to continue your invasion orders (remember, you always invade with ONE LESS ARMY than you have because EVERY REALM MUST HAVE ONE ARMY to remain occupied), 2. everybody else's simultaneous invasion orders might have been resolved over the course of the resolution of your defense and, therefore, I would not continue with your invasion orders even if you had the armies to do so, or, 3. you might still have enough armies to invade AND others' simultaneous resolutions may still be going on, in which case I would continue with your previous invasion orders.

Does that make sense?

Uh-oh. That makes me realize something. Perhaps we need to have players designate, also: do you wish automatically to call off an invasion if the realm you are invading is occupied by PC X (or not occupied by PC Y). Would that be helpful? That would avoid possible unnecessary alliance breakers! You guys let me know what you think about this idea as well.

I love this! House ruling on the fly! And I haven't even got enough orders in to start resolving invasions yet! Now that is Old School!

[The Red Baron]

I think we can deal with some more obscure situations as they arise, possibly through roleplaying if two sovierns should happen to both be leading thier respective armies.

[Mr Darke]

Just let it run how it runs. We all know this is an experiment and are cool with that. If it takes a game or two to get it right then so be it. The part I am enjoying is that we can negotiate alliances and such which changes the dynamic quite a bit. I have also noticed it may be possible to win without an invasion at all.

[Necromancer]

Thanks, tetramorph. I was expecting a "yes, you can" or a "no, you can't" type of answer, but you certainly delivered more than that!  Anyway, I guess we'll handle the different scenarios as they arise. I'm sure there will pop up some unexpected events every now and then.

[tetramorph]

Mar 26, 2015 6:59:28 GMT -5 Necromancer said:

Thanks, tetramorph. I was expecting a "yes, you can" or a "no, you can't" type of answer, but you certainly delivered more than that!  Anyway, I guess we'll handle the different scenarios as they arise. I'm sure there will pop up some unexpected events every now and then.

Fair enough, all.

If PCs come in contact with one another, I will contact the relevant PCs for that battle.

I guess I am imagining the abstraction of orders that are being carried out, NPC-style, but armies on the march without their commanding PC leading the charge.

We will see what unfolds.

Thanks, folks.

[tetramorph]

The Red Baron, makofan, Mr Darke, Necromancer, Von, merctime:

I just updated the OP to provide some description of how the various phase orders should ideally be PMed to me. I've learned through this first turn what keeps my inbox the clean and clearest!

Here it is again:

Send PMs regarding orders for the various phases with the following subject-line: "PC short name, Kingdom Name: Phase Orders," where proper names and the name of the given turn phase are inserted in place of the italicized words. Players and referee then continue to manage all subsequent orders regarding that phase on the PM thread with the corresponding phase-name. For new turns place the turn number at the top of the new post.