PBEM Building

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

I am sort of looking into running my own Birthright PbEM. I say sort of because I have no idea of when this would be. Right now I am mostly in the brainstorming and planning phase.

The idea would be to start out with a core of 10 players... no more no less. I figure that is enough to have a good base - stuff happens - without too much of a workload.
I would steal Bjørns ruleset, assuming he doesn't mind, with a few alterations of my own. Some things I would be doing different, some things I would do the same. More on that later.
The area of play would be the Southern Coast. Again, I am stealing a lot from Bjørn, but the area just looks perfect to me... Lots of realms that interact, fairly equal playing field, and so on.

This thread is for brainstorming ideas. Anyone is welcome to join in with ideas and/or criticism. A lot of you people have more experience with this than me, so I'd appreciate it.

Players would be recruited first from the personal friends of mine that play in RoE (Niels, Linde, Kasper) and then from RoE... hopefully that should fill the 10 players requirement. Not recruiting friends so I can treat them better, but it's fun to play with people I see occasionally outside the game.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

The Southern Coast
As mentioned above, the playing area would be the Southern Coast. It would be the Southern Coast as described in the Ruins of Empire book. A few reasons why:
1. Level playing-field - The realms are fairly equal in strength and assets.
2. Proximity - The realms are close together and close to some of the big realms - Avanil, The City of Anuire, and Ghoere mostly. Will be used to create conflict.
3. The Spiderfell - A monster is always fun.

The following domains would be open for players:
Realms:
Medoere & Rournil’s Celestial Spell (also temple)
Ilien (also mage)
Diemed
Endier & Heartland Outfitters (also guild)
Roesone
Aerenwe
Temples:
Impregnable Heart of Haelyn
Eastern Temple of Neserie
Guilds:
Port of Call Exchange
Mages:
Caine of Endier
The realms above are supposed to be fairly equal in strength and influence... most importantly there is something to do for all those domains right from the start.

Major NPCs:
Realms:
City of Anuire
Avanil
Ghoere
The Spiderfell
Mieres & Straits of Aerele Shipping (also Guild)
Temples:
Orthodox Imperial Temple of Haelyn
Celestial Jewel of Sarimie
Mages:
Mhistecai
High Mage Aelis
Made NPCs either because they are very static (mage domains), very powerful (Ghoere, Avanil) or too far from the action (Mieres). They'll be used to add conflicts and tension to the game (Avanil might go to war with Boeruine - placing demands on his vassals) or as antagonists (Ghoere might threaten Roesone, the Spider might go raiding).

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Rules:
I would be looking to make a few changes and additions to the ruleset RoE uses. Mostly they are a matter of taste.
1. Class and Level would be more significant on the Realm level. Currently level only matters for the Mages and Priests... except regarding adventures. Possible changes could be:
- Class and Level affects regency collection. Each class would have a favoured holding type, regency collected from that holding type - up to one's level - would not count against one's bloodline strength. So a level 5 Fighter can collect 5 RP from Law holdings without it affecting his maximum regency collection (bloodline strength).
- Bonus to Actions based on Level. A Rogue would receive a bonus to Espionage, a Cleric a bonus to Agitate, A Fighter a bonus to contest, etc. This would require some tinkering - bonuses to actions that can be realm actions are very powerful.
2. New battle system. This is very much a work in progress, but I have some ideas. The focus is to build a system specifically for PbEMs - not for a battle board. A complex issue, but kinda fun to play around with. Stealing a lot from Empires in Arms on this one.
3. Adventures - a somewhat more transparant adventure system. I like transparancy because it makes my life as a gm easier - helps shift some of the workload from gm to player.

[X-Ilien & PCE/GeM (Linde)]

It sounds like a fun concept. I think the regents character level and class could have more impact than they have in this game.

[X-ETN/Maire Cwyllmie (Libor)]

The following domains would be open for players:
Realms:
Medoere & Rournil’s Celestial Spell (also temple)
Ilien (also mage)
Diemed
Endier & Heartland Outfitters (also guild)
Roesone
Aerenwe
Temples:
Impregnable Heart of Haelyn
Eastern Temple of Neserie
Guilds:
Port of Call Exchange
Mages:
Caine of Endier
The realms above are supposed to be fairly equal in strength and influence... most importantly there is something to do for all those domains right from the start.

Maybe it would be good to restrict players to landed and temples only. If there is only 1 PC guild and only 1 PC mage, they would have no other players to compete with them in their main area of interest.

[X-Bellam & BC/TB (Bobby)]

Rules:
I would be looking to make a few changes and additions to the ruleset RoE uses. Mostly they are a matter of taste.
1. Class and Level would be more significant on the Realm level. Currently level only matters for the Mages and Priests... except regarding adventures. Possible changes could be:
- Class and Level affects regency collection. Each class would have a favoured holding type, regency collected from that holding type - up to one's level - would not count against one's bloodline strength. So a level 5 Fighter can collect 5 RP from Law holdings without it affecting his maximum regency collection (bloodline strength).
- Bonus to Actions based on Level. A Rogue would receive a bonus to Espionage, a Cleric a bonus to Agitate, A Fighter a bonus to contest, etc. This would require some tinkering - bonuses to actions that can be realm actions are very powerful.
2. New battle system. This is very much a work in progress, but I have some ideas. The focus is to build a system specifically for PbEMs - not for a battle board. A complex issue, but kinda fun to play around with. Stealing a lot from Empires in Arms on this one.
3. Adventures - a somewhat more transparant adventure system. I like transparancy because it makes my life as a gm easier - helps shift some of the workload from gm to player.

It sounds like you've got the right idea for doing this, to me, but I'd just like to say anyways: Class and Level sound like good things to base this one.  Skills, feats, etc. probably would not be.  Once you get into people doing a full writeup on their characters, it'll get too complicated.

The other thing I would say is "expand slowly."  Once you decide to add players, do so slowly and see how much the workload expands.  Much as you might like to give more people the chance to play, it does no good if you then burn yourself out or can't keep up with it in a reasonable timeframe.  Keep that golden goose alive!

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Oh yeah, Bjørn has the right idea there. The game would focus on the domain level... with adventures being more freeform. Class and level are what counts, not feats, skills or spells.

I intend to expand slowly, if at all. First plan is to get 10 players and have a turn every 3 weeks. If that's too much, I make the turns slower. If I'm ok with it ot if it's easy, expand to more players or a faster turn ratio.

The point about guilders and mages needing competition is a good one. Keep in mind that Ilien is a mage domain, as well as Endier is a guild domain. So... actually there are 2 guilds, 2 mages and 3 temples. My hope is that it's enough to give competetion. The guild and mage that are there are partly because they are forced to interact with a ruler. Caine is the court mage of Endier, PCE the guild of Ilien and has heavy Khinasi connections. They should have something to do, other than compete for resources.

I was actually considering to give each of the temples, guilds and mages at least one province each, so no one stands without land. Having a piece of land makes the game more fun, for me anyway.

[DM B]

Be very sure to create mag/guild domains that HAVE to interact with other domains. Otherwise not fun. And guilders, above all, should have province(s). IMO they are interesting even without, but experience has shown that they do not seem very attractive to the average player.

And definitely do NOT include Mieres...

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Thanks for the advice and yes, my hope was that all domains would be made to interact with someone from the start.

Now, above I have established where and when the action is going to take place. 15 years in the past compared to RoE II, on the Southern Coast. Now I need something for the game to be about.

RoE II has the murder of the pontiff, the boeruine-avanil war, and the undead Raenech. They set the scene and created some action right from the start - something to react to and to create conflict. I need something similar for this game, something that disturbs the status quo and sets the scene.

Some ideas:
War from the Spiderfell - The Spider has struck succesfully into Ghoere and everyone is waiting to see whom the next target will be.
The Seadrake starts to seriously cut into naval trade and ravage along the southern coast... moving further east than it usually does. The pirates from Mieres are still untouched and grow bolder. Is something pushing the Seadrake east or has the pirates made a deal with it?
War: Alamie invades Tuornen. A conflict of arms right next to the Southern Coast and something that might trigger the cataclysmic Boeruine-Avanil war that everyone knows is coming... someday.
Mieres sends word that it is under heavy assault from organized armies of humanoids welling up from the south. Once they overcome Mieres they will be free to raid into Anuire, but Avanil seems reluctant to send the necessary aid to his vassal.
Etc...
I like the Seadrake and will hold onto that one - it can certainly push Ilien, Diemed and Aerenwe into action. Alamie-Tuornen is nice too, the other two are kinda meh and suspeciously remniscent of events in RoE. Ideas?

[X-Haelyn's Aegis/RK (Andy)]

Hmm, in RW one big problem that the DM had was the Gorgon - he made some rumblings early on to spook up some adventures, and us players all freaked - meaning that a lot of the inter-group backstabbing went out of the window - we figured we had to work together or get crushed...

But the Spider is a goblin, and goblins breed - so maybe at present people think that its some warped child of the spider striking out to win their own realm - and as a result they don't go to defcon 5 just yet.

Another spider idea revolved around the habit of Azrai's curse to mutate those it touched, and spider poison, what if people were being kidnapped, and transformed somehow?  You get botched jobs at the start, escapees that are no longer entirely human, and if nothing is done a new race could be born.

Another funny with the spider is that he's invulnerable.  Invulnerability can be read as the slayer of the awnie metamorphosing into it - similar to the way that the vampire did with the sinister, that works particularly well if something eats him which is the traditional way of dealing with regenerating foes.  So you can have the Spider have a quiet phase and then come out quite different - mostly sane for example.

I toyed with the idea of awnmebhaighl to try and get wizards involved.  Bascially weak spots in the veil allowed a shadow world spellcaster to start reaching over the veil - at first magical events, if those weren't dispelled / otherwise dealt with they started to escalate towards an el-Sirad situation, eventually the spellcaster would create a gate between the worlds and start moving in big time.  They idea was that every landed ruler would want a friendly mage, as the mage should be best at dealing with the incursions.  I didn't come up with anything concrete on that one though.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

A further thought: Sword and Crown. This one was damn fun and it's a good way to get a lot of diplomacy and backstabbing going. The start date in the Ruins of Empire book is spring 1524 HC. The next S&C is in summer 1525. That might be too far into the future... 5 turns is a long time - starting in winter 1524 or spring 1525 might be more fun.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

The Gorgon is kinda... used. No doubt, if the game runs for enough turns his next crusade will become a problem... He does go on a rampage at least once pr generation.

I like the idea with the Shadow world. Actually, I love the concept of the Shadow world - the shaping, the Cold Rider, etc. Some kind of magical event weakening the veil could be cool - something has to be done about it. And something in the Southern Coast must be causing this.

I'm getting images of drider-like creatures. Only with goblins and unfortunate souls caught in the mix.

An interesting event could also be something forcing the Spider out of the fell. Say a big, blooded dragon lands in the fell, defeats the Spider and forces it to run, then starts taking over the fell. Lots of strained diplomacy with a new, strange neighbour and the Spider on a rampage.

[X-Elinie/RiD (Niels)]

Arent dragons a bit like Elves, in that they are part of Mebhaigl, so always considered "blooded" without being it?

Hm, unless perhaps its a bloodthefting dragon... Using a version of Detect Blood, it is rampaging around, sniffing out blood and gobbling it down.

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

For the purpose of True Magic, certainly. It does take Divine Blood to rule a domain though.

And in my book, eating someone in one piece is an effective way of bloodtheft as stabbing them through the heart

[X-Bellam & BC/TB (Bobby)]

My favorite concept in this game is the Agendas.  A better way to turn the players from cooperative bunny-lovers into vicious, cold-hearted politcal bastards, I have never seen.  They also do a lot to set up the concept of each regent.  Spend some real time working out each regent's agendas, and you'll see a real reward from it later on.