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Post by ripx187 on Sept 27, 2018 18:44:50 GMT -5
It is a cool system! I think that computers would make it even easier to use as we won't need the huge paper-trail, and information can be kept in one location. I was never able to figure spreadsheets, I see them uploaded here and there but I can't even get those things to work. I am wondering if the system couldn't be automated?
Just type in Kingdoms and fiefdoms and see what happens. This is probably out there somewhere, hidden behind years of freeware build-up. It would also be cool to have a computer simulate tactical battles which aren't relevant to the actual game but can impact the setting in subtle ways. Much of this data can be discovered through crunching numbers and that is what computers do best!
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Post by bravewolf on Sept 27, 2018 19:08:09 GMT -5
It is a cool system! I think that computers would make it even easier to use as we won't need the huge paper-trail, and information can be kept in one location. I was never able to figure spreadsheets, I see them uploaded here and there but I can't even get those things to work. I am wondering if the system couldn't be automated? Just type in Kingdoms and fiefdoms and see what happens. This is probably out there somewhere, hidden behind years of freeware build-up. It would also be cool to have a computer simulate tactical battles which aren't relevant to the actual game but can impact the setting in subtle ways. Much of this data can be discovered through crunching numbers and that is what computers do best! Chirine has it automated: chirinebakal.proboards.com/thread/22/meta-campaignI think one can read the post irrespective of one's membership status over there. |
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Post by ripx187 on Sept 27, 2018 20:15:12 GMT -5
It is a cool system! I think that computers would make it even easier to use as we won't need the huge paper-trail, and information can be kept in one location. I was never able to figure spreadsheets, I see them uploaded here and there but I can't even get those things to work. I am wondering if the system couldn't be automated? Just type in Kingdoms and fiefdoms and see what happens. This is probably out there somewhere, hidden behind years of freeware build-up. It would also be cool to have a computer simulate tactical battles which aren't relevant to the actual game but can impact the setting in subtle ways. Much of this data can be discovered through crunching numbers and that is what computers do best! Chirine has it automated: chirinebakal.proboards.com/thread/22/meta-campaignI think one can read the post irrespective of one's membership status over there. Some people just talk way above my pay grade, and Chirine is one of them. Maybe once I have more time to process and think about what is being said I'll understand it; but not today  |
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Post by bravewolf on Sept 27, 2018 23:37:13 GMT -5
Back on September 11, 2018, I wrote that I could present my most detailed “meta-campaign” episode to date with in-line comments on mechanics & rationales for certain decisions. A couple folks here thought that would be cool to read, so here it is. I hope y’all will excuse the long delay in typing this up; things have been hectic here. First, some quick background is in order because I haven’t posted any play reports to Ruins since Session 8 (we are way past Session 8 now). Joachim the Forester (a newer PC & player) scouted the grasslands & woods east of the PCs’ home base during a period of between-session downtime. Joachim noticed natural phenomena suggestive of a disturbance originating further east than the party had traveled to date. He informed his mates of these observations & Holly Morningwood, half-elven druid, was among the PCs who joined Joachim in a loosely conceived overland reconnaissance. Well-used speak with animals spells & tracking led the party to a swamp that bordered the massive inland sea known as The Lake of Mists. The party found a partially ruined fortress & makeshift town in the swamp, garrisoned by hundreds of combat-ready hobgoblins & several times as many noncombatants, including juveniles. Our heroes wisely beat it out of there & warned the leadership in the city of Khurahaen & the town of Pavane. Between sessions, I wanted to determine how the Kingdom of Arduin would handle this potential threat, but I didn’t want to simply decide what happened. Instead, I made a mini-game of it, starting with a timeline based on expectable actions in these circumstances. 15th of Skord: Council in Talismondé (the capitol city). The council resolves to seek diplomatic terms with the hobgoblin fastness. To be led by King Elric’s chief diplomat & troops garrisoned in the settlement of Rosewater (south of the swamp). 16th of Skord: Chief diplomat & 50 light horse depart for Rosewater, with secret deterrent in tow [at this point, undetermined]. [Using the rules in OD&D: Vol. III, I calculated that the horseback journey by King’s roads to Rosewater would take about three days. Following Hargrave’s guidelines in The Arduin Trilogy, travel through civilized lands on road yields only a 10% chance of wandering encounters. None were rolled.] 19th of Skord: The diplomatic contingent arrives in Rosewater. The fyrd is already raised, having been warned by Khurahaen & Talismondé by carrier bird. Rosewater has 500 soldiers. 20th of Skord: The chief diplomat takes 100 soldiers from Rosewater, boosting her retinue to 150. They depart for The Lake of Mists. [Similar to the journey from the capitol to Rosewater, I tracked the diplomatic contingent’s progress on my hex map of Arduin. My hexes are 5 miles across. Now that the diplomatic contingent had foot soldiers as well as cavalry, the maximum distance they could cover in a day without a forced march was 3 hexes. Because the force numbered over 100 persons, the daily movement rate was reduced to 2 hexes to accommodate the rigors of keeping that many soldiers together with outriders & whatnot guarding the main body of troops—again per OD&D: Vol. III.] On the 20th of Skord, the diplomatic force moves 2 hexes, ending the day at the margin of the swamp. No wandering encounters. As the force is 2 hexes from the hobgoblin fortress, we must roll to see whether they encounter a hobgoblin patrol. A “5” is rolled, so, no. Next day, the 21st of Skord, the diplomatic force heads out. Now moving through swamp, only 1 hex is covered. Roll for navigational error & wandering encounter [both on 1d6, per OD&D: Vol. 3]: Lost, moving back toward the southwest. Roll for wandering encounter: “6”. Yes. What do they encounter? Four swamp slimes [Rolled on The Arduin Trilogy’s overland encounter table.]. The slimes total 17 HD. They collectively do 32 HD of damage per round. The diplomatic force can inflict, say 75 HD of damage per round [as big as the slimes are, not the entire force can engage]. The diplomatic expedition is at 118 troops after destroying the slimes. [For brevity’s sake, I aggregated total HD of each side as well as the HD of damage they could dish. Yeah, I made it a math problem.] Soon after the fight, the chief diplomat realizes they got turned around when they wandered back out to the grasslands north of Rosewater. The Tentacle River & Scimitar Hills are visible, allowing the group to reorient itself. They camp for the night in the grasslands. 22nd of Skord: The diplomatic party heads back into the swamp. They stay on course & move 1 hex, now adjacent to the castle hex. Another wandering encounter is rolled, this time with 24 swamp saurigs. The saurigs are surprised [rolled per standard OD&D rules] (the outriders did their job well!). Surprise distance is 90 yards. The outriders bring up the main force & the intimidated saurigs move off. [Why would 24 saurigs attack a force five times their numerical strength while at disadvantage? The Arduinian force didn’t pursue because the saurigs aren’t pertinent to their objective.] The hobgoblins come out of the keep later in the day. Parley ensues. The Chief Diplomat, Irileth Lothollen (elvish) asks what the hobgoblins mean by setting up a military garrison in the swamp.
Strognar the Brick: Not a military fort, but a colony for displaced people. See all the women & children?
Lothollen: (as some noncombatants come forward) I see…How did such a large number of your people come to Arduin unnoticed? Why didn’t you announce yourselves?
Strognar: Some sorcery gated us here—an entire town! [Note that this is a lie; the Hobgoblin Occupational Army has been creating & linking underworld passages around Arduin to attempt a takeover.]
Lothollen: We can offer you safe passage out of Arduin to your homeland.
Strognar: It is too far and chaotic besides; plus also, we like it here in the swamp.
Lothollen: Where is your homeland?
Strognar: Máragore.
Lothollen: That’s not so far.
Strognar: We’d like to remain; by now, our old town will have been stolen from us.
Lothollen: Why should Arduin allow you to stay? What would we get out of it?
Strognar: We can secure the swamp against bandits provide lumber and fish.
Lothollen: The lumber and fish are already ours. Banditry? What of the fires reported here recently?
Strognar: The lumber & fish might already be yours, but we could increase the king’s take if allowed—nobody is working the place profitably till we showed up. The fires weren’t our doing, save for our campfires.
Lothollen: A bastion of civilization in the swamp is intriguing…I am prepared to issue terms for your consideration. You may present counter-terms. I will transmit the draft terms to King Elric for his deliberation and execution.
Strognar: Name your terms.
Lothollen’s Draft Terms
I. Strognar the Brick of Máragore shall garrison 20% of his fighting troops with the Arduin Homeguard for a period of seven years, and then rotate another contingent in for relief.
II. Strognar shall host a like number of Arduin Homeguard on an identical rotating basis.
III. Strognar and his people shall have full trade rights as a warden & vassals of the King Elric of Melniboné.
IV. Strognar, as Warden of the Southerly Swamp, shall have hunting, gathering, & timbering rights to the swamp for the duration of his lawful & loyal occupancy.
V. Strognar shall patrol the swamp to safeguard it from banditry & other threats to civilization.
VI. The Arduin Homeguard shall commence a military & demographic census of your people before stipulations I–V take effect.
Strognar agrees to these terms. Lothollen & company repair to Rosewater before returning to Talismondé. Strognar plays host before the diplomatic contingent leaves on the morning of 23rd Skord. Message sent ahead to the capitol via carrier pigeon.
24th of Skord: King Elric visits the hobgoblins, flying in using Space Marine power armor. He approves the treaty, and then returns to the palace.
25th of Skord: The King sends a military detachment across the lake for inspection and assembling the outgoing hobgoblin units. The hobgoblin units are dispatched eastward.
I rolled reactions at a couple points during the parley to get a sense of whether Lothollen & Strognar could overcome their prejudices. Lothollen’s reaction roll also served as a proxy for King Elric’s disposition toward a peaceable approach to the hobgoblin problem. The rolls were on the favorable side, so for the most part the two negotiators sparred for concessions. The Arduinians don’t have much affection for hobgoblins, but the sight of hundreds of children & other noncombatants made outright assault on the place untenable to the generally hospitable people of this kingdom. I also wonder whether Elric might not have some malady or issue playing in the background, or does he have less conventional ways to keep tabs on the hobgoblins?
I wrote the entire background exercise by hand & really sped up the pace of writing at the negotiation to try to capture the sense of urgency & pace that such an exchange might have in these circumstances. It might not be the best, most logical (though I strived for internal consistency) play-through ever done, but it’s mine, not yours—you are free to do better! I do welcome questions & criticisms, though, as I can only benefit from additional perspectives.
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