I often think back upon the games I have made on this forum, and "A Tale of Civilizations (http://www.gamingsteve.com/blab/index.php?topic=15921.0)" really stands out at least for me in terms of quallity and longevity. Lately I have been thinking of a way to take the best parts of AToC and create a new game which requires less work from my side (towards the end of AToC an update took MANY hours), and more freedom for the players. Here is the game idea that I came up with:
- Cunae -
(http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z242/Hucklordofbuck/Cunaemap1.jpg)
Cunae is a small but fledging centralized soon-to-be empire with a strong aristocracy. Obviously it is very inspired by early Rome, although do not get stuck up on this to much. The land known to the Cuneans is rich of forests and sandy beaches with fertile ground where they grow crops in small villages. The only city of the Cuneanic People is Cunae, so it is truly the power epicenter of the nation. From there the noble families control everything from expansion and trade to military excursions. The official power belongs to "The Peoples Senate", traditionally the noble families hold most senate posts though. This senate elects a leader for the nation once every year who works as the chairman of the senate and the ceremonial leader of Cunae.
You, the players, each control one of these families. You RP their behaviour, you order their personal legions around, you invest their money, you decide who your young ones marry etc. In this way every player both competes and co-op with each other. Might it be worth it to lose some influence over Cunae to support another familiy with troops for taking over a barbarian city? It's all up to you!
Member list: Family
BagderMan22 Abdullah
Little Anucdian-Sardina
Martyk Kraetus
Josasa Verdo
Razonatair The Black Clan
Hydromancerx Skandalon
Dr. Octagonapus Yamino
Now, all things aren't set in stone yet, what technologies are discovered and the like, so I would like to hear feedback before I write down the rules and make the templates and such. You can also start to sign up, and this is how you do it:
Family name.
Family members: I have a system for this to be somewhat ballanced;
You get 1000 "age points" that you get to "buy" members for. Everyone up to the age of 50 is worth 50+(their age) in points, but every year above 50 are subtracted.
Examples of this to clarify:
Undatarian, 16 years old. (66 points, 50 + 16)
Antonius, 75 years old. (75 points, 50 + 50 - 25)
Herataras 50 years old. (100 points, 50 + 50)
You should also write a bio to each person, the less important ones can have short bios but you should have some people of greater importance with longer bios. You may not give your members any significant power through this bio however as that is handled by me, the GM. (Example: Antonius has since last month been the Consul of the senate. <- NOT ALLOWED)
I also recommend you to write a bio about your familiy in general, maybe a bit about their history and such. If you show by your application that you can RP in a way that a game like this benefit from, then you are in! (I might limit the amount of players though based on interest, I doubt this will be a problem though.)
Enough of me talking, please give feedback! I take inspiration from AToC and Rome: Total War, is there something else I should check out before we start?
Abdullah
Family members:
Aaron, 25 years old (75 points)
Eldest son of Alphaeus, husband of Apphia, father of Aamina. Tallest member of the family at 6'2". Has brown hair and eyes.
Apphia, 25 years old (75 points) nee Babineaux
Purchased from the slave trade at age 5 and was married to Aaron at age 15. Mother of Aamina. Blonde hair and green eyes cause her to stick out from the rest of the family.
Aamina, 5 years old (55 points)
The first child born to Aaron and Apphia. She possesses her mother's eyes and her fathers hair.
Abaddon, 1 year old (51 points)
The only son of Aaron and the only hope at expanding the Abdullah family. His eyes are blue and his hair is a downy white.
Alphaeus, 65 years old (85 points)
The eldest of the family and Aaron's father. In his prime he fathered 2 daughters and traded them for liquor. He possesses a hunched figure, long spindly fingers and an extremely strong liver.
Aaliyah, 35 years old (85 points) nee Francis
Alphaeus's trophy wife was a recent purchase and does all the work around the household.
Asad, 18 years old (68 points)
Alphaeus's second son and Aaron's half brother. He loathes Aaron and spends most of his time spreading rumors to ruin Aaron's status.
Ayishah, 15 years old (65 points) nee Tranchia
Purchased to marry Asad. She has extremely light skin and hair and her eyes are blood red.
Bethany Kindre, 20 years old (70 points) nee Abdullah, nee Hortica, nee Abdullah
Eldest daughter of Alphaeus and the only one to marry out of the family. Wife of Aeschylus Kindre.
Aeschylus Kindre, 35 years old (85 points)
Purchased Bethany's hand in marriage with 400 gallons of beer. Is of little importance to any member of the Abdullah family.
Agatha Hortica, 5 years old (55 points)
Bethany's daughter and the only surviving member of the Hortica family. Happens to be Alphaeus's favorite grandchild.
Aelia, 10 years old (60 points)
Alphaeus sold Aelia to a brothel to pay for his expensive alcohol addiction. Is the favorite girl of many nobles of lesser importance and tends to know more than she lets on.
A long line that can trace its ancestry back to the caravans from far away lands and are easily identifiable by their dark skin. They spend their money frivolously on expenses such as gold and silk. They prefer the use of imported animals as their main form of transportation and often adorn their mounts with silver and other expensive items. They have a firm hold on the silk industry and the slave trade, giving them a great deal of power over the expansion of Cunae.
Events
None
EDIT: Added two more family members upping the total family price to 508. Also added the maiden names in bold after the character's name. I will probably add another branch to the family following one of Alphaeus's daughter.
EDIT2: 778 points spent after adding both daughters and their respective families.
Edit3: 829
Al-Akhair
Family members:
Lord Balinard di Dinotina III, 50 years old
Eldest son of Le Rouge, husband of Countess Crey, father of the Brothers la Rouc. Lord Balinard was a decisive pupil; his drawings and sketches would lead into his development of the popular steam toys. Despite his mechanical finesse his primary artistry is of that in finance. Using is innovative studies of the Modus of the human mind as a blueprint he successfully was able to formulate a widespread rules of engagement that would allow him to manipulate the economic market with an accuracy of over five hundred per mil. It is in no small part due to this that The House Al-Akhair has had a resurgence in recent times and his status and the economic bedrock has led him to keep his status as Primus within the household as quite firm.
Countess Lamonia la Crey, 52 years old
Educated at one of the private houses of the house al-Akhair (the House Butaria, notorious for its former status as a Ludus) The Lady Grey was first found knowledgeable of the Natural Arts at the young age of thirteen, where she successfully decoded the Primarch de la Alrecih, first proposed by her distant ancestor Carnonius of Baul. When her fame at this citied her thought the ranking of the house she immediately was promoted to the level of Magnus at the incredibly young (relatively) age of 35. As a Magnus she gained much popularity and the love of her colleague, one Balinard di Dinitia. There romance was quick and after a short period of time she would come to sire the illustrious (and infamous) Brothers la Rouc, and the resulting boost to her succedere would make her eligible for Primus if it was within her forte.
Leonius the Steadfast, 25 years old
The eldest of the Brothers la Rouc, Leonius the Steadfast would earn his titulus in the legendary Battle of Sir Reyn, in which he would use methods of human engineering first popularized by his father and the calculations devised by his mother in order to network a 300 man army into the death camps of the Nuul freeing the slaves and damaging the supply line to the point where the General Ahhr Cain came to naught but starving men. This was not his first instance, for when he took his stab into the forte of battle, he was thought to be an armrest general, and yet when he took upon the games of the board he was thought to be a pomp living off his parent’s affluence. This was proven wrong as he popularized a series mechanisms and methods, based on solid logic and the devise of all working for their best chances, a method of tactisizing various actions of enemies and allies upon any field of contest. When he guest chaired the runnings at the Circus the Flavum won with a perfect streak. He would come to be obsessed with the games however and after the Senate awarded him the rank of general his mechanical and cold hearted approach to human life would seem eerie to some. In one instance he sacrificed four hundred men to gain one enemy totem, a seemingly frivolous act that shattered the religious authority of the opponent armies and allowed him to break into the civil war wracked country unopposed. His actions here, at the hatred of his men, earned him the seemingly ironic titulus of”The Steadfast.”
Larcounn the Rouge, 23 years old
A great statesman and middle of the Brother la Rouc Larcounn the Rouge’s history is a long and brutal one. When he was five years old, he was kidnapped by a rival house (one’s whose identity was not known) here was subjected to a number of brutal tortures and made into a proven assassin for their use. When he was thirteen he was eventually captured, after leaving a bloody trail through the Senate. After a long reprogramming he was able to shoot up through the ranks of the forte animaus, gaining enough influence to be the headline behind the successful campaign of Senator Rrokou and the current domination of the Populares party. After a while he became to be known as radical, propagating Al-Akhair style Gender Equality and complete abolition and suffrage on the ticket of the party. His senatorial campaigns where shot and his name was nigh discredited. His life in shambles he dropped of the map and his private ambitions were left to the shed. This would come to naught however when then Consul Rrokou was caught in a vast conspiracy that sought to assassinate him and overthrow the authority of the senate. Using his knowledge of human mechanisms he was successfully able to pinpoint a pattern within the voting and party blocks of the senate to find the conspiracy and was able to successfully stop it. When the aggressors were finally hanged, a spiteful senate, obliged to give him a titulus satirically gave him the name of “the Rouge"; cementing his dishonorable honor within society. After the event he privately campaigns and sees to his own affairs, seeming to be none than yet another wealthy elite set out to debate, in truth however he is actually the political and financial backer of the notorious 31st Century, a radical vigilante group that upholds the ultra-liberal viewpoints of Larcounn lead by the infamous and savage like “madman” Īnsigne Vir, the dreaded “homō hominī insigne” who wears a cape of a large badger pelt and wields a huge seemingly homemade macuahuitl that marauds among the wealthy as a shadowy and raging specter.
Conain the High, 19 years old
The youngest of the Brother la Rouc and a child prodigy among prodigies. His works in the various natural arts studied at the forte of El, a hidden order within the house who secret eldritch methods him to the brink of insanity. The success of the recude showed well however, as his knowledge lead to the reproduction of Thunderbolt Ireton, which in turn lead to vapid campaigns across the north with the small but deadly “Black Legion.” His status as “the High” lead questions into his mind and his methods are rather descript, however he is one who bears the title well despite his golden chalice.
((Part II Comes Tomorrow.))
I meant the sentence I bolded out.
You aren't showing any sign of wanting to cooperate, instead you become all defensive when I criticise your work. That isn't something that's going to work out well as I will have to boss you players quite a bit in this RP. As I said before, you will need to redo most of your biographies completely. Here, I bolded out everything that you made up that you are not allowed to make up:
Al-Akhair
Family members:
Lord Balinard di Dinotina III, 50 years old
Eldest son of Le Rouge, husband of Countess Crey, father of the Brothers la Rouc. Lord Balinard was a decisive pupil; his drawings and sketches would lead into his development of the popular steam toys. Despite his mechanical finesse his primary artistry is of that in finance. Using is innovative studies of the Modus of the human mind as a blueprint he successfully was able to formulate a widespread rules of engagement that would allow him to manipulate the economic market with an accuracy of over five hundred per mil. It is in no small part due to this that The House Al-Akhair has had a resurgence in recent times and his status and the economic bedrock has led him to keep his status as Primus within the household as quite firm.
Countess Lamonia la Crey, 52 years old
Educated at one of the private houses of the house al-Akhair (the House Butaria, notorious for its former status as a Ludus) The Lady Grey was first found knowledgeable of the Natural Arts at the young age of thirteen, where she successfully decoded the Primarch de la Alrecih, first proposed by her distant ancestor Carnonius of Baul. When her fame at this citied her thought the ranking of the house she immediately was promoted to the level of Magnus at the incredibly young (relatively) age of 35. As a Magnus she gained much popularity and the love of her colleague, one Balinard di Dinitia. There romance was quick and after a short period of time she would come to sire the illustrious (and infamous) Brothers la Rouc, and the resulting boost to her succedere would make her eligible for Primus if it was within her forte.
Leonius the Steadfast, 25 years old
The eldest of the Brothers la Rouc, Leonius the Steadfast would earn his titulus in the legendary Battle of Sir Reyn, in which he would use methods of human engineering first popularized by his father and the calculations devised by his mother in order to network a 300 man army into the death camps of the Nuul freeing the slaves and damaging the supply line to the point where the General Ahhr Cain came to naught but starving men. This was not his first instance, for when he took his stab into the forte of battle, he was thought to be an armrest general, and yet when he took upon the games of the board he was thought to be a pomp living off his parent’s affluence. This was proven wrong as he popularized a series mechanisms and methods, based on solid logic and the devise of all working for their best chances, a method of tactisizing various actions of enemies and allies upon any field of contest. When he guest chaired the runnings at the Circus the Flavum won with a perfect streak. He would come to be obsessed with the games however and after the Senate awarded him the rank of general his mechanical and cold hearted approach to human life would seem eerie to some. In one instance he sacrificed four hundred men to gain one enemy totem, a seemingly frivolous act that shattered the religious authority of the opponent armies and allowed him to break into the civil war wracked country unopposed. His actions here, at the hatred of his men, earned him the seemingly ironic titulus of”The Steadfast.”
Larcounn the Rouge, 23 years old
A great statesman and middle of the Brother la Rouc Larcounn the Rouge’s history is a long and brutal one. When he was five years old, he was kidnapped by a rival house (one’s whose identity was not known) here was subjected to a number of brutal tortures and made into a proven assassin for their use. When he was thirteen he was eventually captured, after leaving a bloody trail through the Senate. After a long reprogramming he was able to shoot up through the ranks of the forte animaus, gaining enough influence to be the headline behind the successful campaign of Senator Rrokou and the current domination of the Populares party. After a while he became to be known as radical, propagating Al-Akhair style Gender Equality and complete abolition and suffrage on the ticket of the party. His senatorial campaigns where shot and his name was nigh discredited. His life in shambles he dropped of the map and his private ambitions were left to the shed. This would come to naught however when then Consul Rrokou was caught in a vast conspiracy that sought to assassinate him and overthrow the authority of the senate. Using his knowledge of human mechanisms he was successfully able to pinpoint a pattern within the voting and party blocks of the senate to find the conspiracy and was able to successfully stop it. When the aggressors were finally hanged, a spiteful senate, obliged to give him a titulus satirically gave him the name of “the Rouge"; cementing his dishonorable honor within society. After the event he privately campaigns and sees to his own affairs, seeming to be none than yet another wealthy elite set out to debate, in truth however he is actually the political and financial backer of the notorious 31st Century, a radical vigilante group that upholds the ultra-liberal viewpoints of Larcounn lead by the infamous and savage like “madman” Īnsigne Vir, the dreaded “homō hominī insigne” who wears a cape of a large badger pelt and wields a huge seemingly homemade macuahuitl that marauds among the wealthy as a shadowy and raging specter.
Conain the High, 19 years old
The youngest of the Brother la Rouc and a child prodigy among prodigies. His works in the various natural arts studied at the forte of El, a hidden order within the house who secret eldritch methods him to the brink of insanity. The success of the recude showed well however, as his knowledge lead to the reproduction of Thunderbolt Ireton, which in turn lead to vapid campaigns across the north with the small but deadly “Black Legion.” His status as “the High” lead questions into his mind and his methods are rather descript, however he is one who bears the title well despite his golden chalice.
((Part II Comes Tomorrow.))
I might have missed a few things, but I should have gotten most of it.