Crusader Kings

[CeeJay]

Introduction December 26, 1066. William the Bastard, now William the Conqueror, is the new King of England after slaying King Harold Godwinson in battle. Of course, this has little bearing on you, given that you are one of the many counts and dukes Of the Holy Roman Empire, the heart of Europe and one of the many heads of Catholicism. Your family may be important, may be totally unknown, but from here on, the question of history's knowledge of you lays on your shoulders. Shall you become akin to the House of Capet, the bloodline that sat on all of Europe's grand kingdoms at one time or another? The House of Habsburg, well known for creating a kingdom from nothing, spreading your family into all of the electoral seats of the Holy Roman Empire? Or perhaps you'll be the the house of Wessex, only known for falling to the blade of conquerors. The question is up to you.

GameplayThe world of Medieval Europe has had some minor, minor alterations, if only for more fun on my half. Specifically, there are Elves, Animalfolk, and Tiefling (who are fully able to own houses of nobility, etc). Other fantastical races are there, but blocked from Nobility, and as you're playing Nobility, there's no need to worry about them for player creation. The races have certain bonuses that will be discussed later.​

Not a true NBRP:

Characters are everything! Your character is not just you, but the whole concept of your nation, and your ability to lead troops, everything! Your baronies will be led by NPCs who will have very distinct opinions on you based on your personality and traits, and how the gel or clash with their own. Other players can't have true alliances with you without some marriages, The Pope is all important, religion dominates most peasants' lives, and everyone has their own goals that you might be able to use to your advantage.

Deep but Simple Character System:

Simple but robust Character creation system means that not everyone will necessarily be good, nor will you necessarily be what you want to be. It's entirely possible that your first son will become a blundering, weak willed fool who can't even look you in the eye, but you will have no choice but to accept him becoming your heir, for he was born first. Thankfully though, there will be little to no dice rolling that you will need to deal with, besides of course, combat, which will be a bit more abstracted and discussed as it comes up.

Open Ended Goals:



Spread your family and spread your religion as you try to work your way up in society, through intrigue, obtaining the status of elector, military prowess, religious shows of power, crusades, and more! Become a King, or perhaps even the Emperor. The limits of your accomplishments are only limited by your desires and your abilities - and occasionally the abilities of those against you.

Requirements A passing understanding of the Holy Roman Empire's function during the period, a fairly solid understanding of how feudal systems work (or a willingness to learn), a willingness to learn how levying and the like works, a willingness to deal with my silliness, a willingness to not be upset at the loss of characters while still being dedicated to developing and RPing as them, a willingness to come up with your own personal goals to accomplish, and a willingness to deal with me working out the kinks in adapting a video game's system into a Play by Post RP.


If you want to create a character, give me an email that I can add on to http://dicelog.com/dice . This way I can keep track of all of the rolls that are made (if there's a way for me to do this through the website then I'd love to hear it).

Spoiler

Humans have No bonus, no Penalty


Elves have Permanent +2 to Learning, -2 to Martial


Animalfolk have +2 to Martial, -2 to Stewardship


Tieflings have +2 to Intrigue, -2 to Diplomacy


Children have 40% chance of being either parent, 20% chance of hybrid. Hybrids cannot create hybrids, will always create the other parent's species or one of their own, 50-25-25 respectively. Hybrids get +1 for each of parent's bonuses, -1 for each of parent's penalties.


Roll a 5d10, then add 5 to your roll. Assign numbers where you please. No rerolls unless I explicitly say so or you aggregate lower than 45.

• Martial: (Dictates not only your ability to fight in combat, but your ability to lead troops and get your troops to fight better.)
  
• Diplomacy: (This dictates your ability to get along with other human beings, which in turn dictates your ability to get alliances, get your allies to come fight, get elected to positions like Emperor, get the Pope to do nice things for you...)
  
• Stewardship: (This is your ability to get money and keep track of it. Things will come cheaper, and you'll make more money when this is high, of course. A good compliment to any of the other skills.)
  
• Intrigue: (Exactly what it says on the tin, the ability to commit and uncover intrigue and plots, and in turn increasing the chances of less than scrupulous things like sowing dissent between rival lords and their vassals or assassination coming out how you had planned it.)
  
• Learning: (At first, a boring trait, it dictates your personal learning - religious folk tend to appreciate learning a lot more than others, but the hidden benefit is that Learning increases the speed at which your folk learn new concepts and successfully implement them. In layman's terms, your technological progress.)
  

Traits: Take one Tutored trait by rolling a d4. Pick the profession tree by your highest plain trait.

1. Misguided Warrior - "The Misguided Warrior was trained in warfare and the martial arts, but sadly lacks all talent for it." Martial +1, Learning -1.
   
2. Tough Soldier - Tough Soldier - "The Tough Solder is fearsome on the battlefield, but only a mediocre commander." Martial +3, Learning -1.
   
3. Skilled Tactician - "The Skilled Tactician is an adept in the art of war - a valiant warrior and reliable commander." Martial +6, Intrigue +1, Stewardship +1, Learning -1
   
4. Brilliant Strategist - "The Brilliant Strategist has an almost preternatural understanding of all things martial, having the perfect makings for a Marshall or a military tutor." Martial +9, Intrigue +2, Stewardship +2, Learning -1
   

1. Naive Appeaser - "Naive Appeasers want to be well liked and fancy themselves diplomats. Unfortunately, everyone else just tends to bully them." Diplomacy +1, Martial -1
   
2. Underhanded Rogue - "The Underhanded Rogue is a rough but decently effective diplomat." Diplomacy +3, Martial -1
   
3. Charismatic Negotiator - "The Charismatic Negotiator is an excellent diplomat, impressing dignitaries with elegant dress and persuasive rhetoric." Diplomacy +6, Learning +1, Intrigue +1, Martial -1
   
4. Grey Eminence - "The Grey Eminence is the epitome of statesmanship having fully mastered the art of diplomacy. A good choice for Chancellor as well as a tutor for children seeking the best education in diplomacy." Diplomacy +9, Learning +2, Intrigue +2, Martial -1
   

1. Indulgent Wastrel - "The Indulgent Wastrel was groomed to become good with money, and if good means spending it quickly, the Indulgent Wastrel certainly is." Stewardship +1, Diplomacy -1
   
2. Thrifty Clerk - "The Thrifty Clerk is a dutiful, if not particularly skilled, administrator." Stewardship +3, Diplomacy -1
   
3. Fourtune Builder - "The Fortune Builder came out of adolescence armed with a well honed business sense, determined to live a life of luxury." Stewardship +6, Martial +1, Learning +1, Diplomacy -1
   
4. Midas Touched - "This character is truly Midas Touched, never seeming to run out of funds - an excellent choice for Steward and mentor to children destined to become administrators." Stewardship +9, Martial +2, Learning +2, Diplomacy -1
   

1. Amateurish Plotter - "The Amateurish Plotter has received an education emphasiing intrigue skills. Unfortunately it didn't stick." Intrigue +1, Stewardship -1
   
2. Flamboyant Schemer - "Flamboyant Schemers thrive on court intrigue and fancy themselves masters of the trade. However, their lack of secrecy tends to endanger even their best efforts." Intrigue +3, Stewardship -1
   
3. Intricate Webweaver - "The Intricate Webweaver is a master manipulator, well suited to a life of intrigue." Intrigue +6, Martial +1, Diplomacy +1, Stewardship -1
   
4. Elusive Shadow - "The Elusive Shadow has mastered the art of intrigue and should make a perfect Spymaster - as well as an ideal mentor for prospective schemers." Intrigue +9, Martial +2, Diplomacy +2, Stewardship -1
   

1. Detached Priest - "The Detached Priest received a clerical education but displays no talent beyond basic literacy." Learning +1, Intrigue -1
   
2. Dutiful Cleric - "The Dutiful Cleric is learned and possessed of beautiful penmanship, but lacks particular interest in theology." Learning +3, Intrigue -1
   
3. Scholarly Theologian - "The Scholarly Theologian is wise and well read, with a deep understanding of philosophy and theology." Learning +6, Diplomacy +1, Stewardship +1, Intrigue -1
   
4. Mastermind Theologian - "The Mastermind Theologian is recognized as one of the top scholars of he Faith, perfect for the role of Lord Spiritual and as an ecclesiastical teacher." Learning +9, Diplomacy +2, Stewardship +2, Intrigue -1
   

Pick 1 trait from Battle traits. generate 3 random numbers 1-29 to get your three personality traits. You don't have to have these traits dominate your character, but they shouldn't just be ignored. There are other traits that can and will be awarded through play or through actual birth (children may come out as geniuses, may come out as a clubfooted inbred dwarf).






Map of the HRE with demarcations for Vassalage.

All Effectively Independent Counts at Game Start

All Independant Dukes as of Game Start

Map for players may be made if I really can't figure out how to get a good one from in game easily.

 

[MDL]

I'm so in! Probably have a friend that's willing to join this as well, but no promises. But can you explain the magical races and how they fit into medieval europe?

 

[CeeJay]

Basically, It's argued by some heretical groups that at one point there was magic in the land, great magic, and it had come with all of the sorts of curious dragons and the like. Nowadays the four noble races represent about 90 percent of the species of the land, the other ten percent being made of half orcs, halflings, and the like. No huge Dwarven citadels, no glorious tree places or the like. The most magic that people do is small tricks, little pieces of prestidigitation done to impress minor nobles in fairs. Anything more than that or to the wrong audiences often leads to accusations of heresy, witchcraft, and eventually death to the folk. Miracles do occur, though they're often rare and only in the presence of the most holy and pious folk, or so people say.

 

[MDL]

But why not just not have magical creatures and make an awesome medieval historical roleplay?

 

[CeeJay]

Because it's far easier to turn ethnicity and culture into species than it is to try and get people to understand the differences and subtle conflicts between Czechs versus Lombards and Italians and Burgundians and Germans and Flemish.

 

[MDL]

Very true and as I said, I'm willing to give this a go. It's intriguing, to say the least.

 

[CeeJay]

Well, awesome, thank you very much.

 

[Miz]

This game has been approved by the Staff. Huzzah!


Its set to awaiting players, please notify us when you feel you have enough players to begin.

 

[Feantari]

Curious and excited, but how do you plan to make this RP different from the game? If I decided to go fire up a game on the PC what would I be missing?

 

[CeeJay]

Curious and excited, but how do you plan to make this RP different from the game? If I decided to go fire up a game on the PC what would I be missing?

First thing is basically RP and the ability to tailor your characters a lot more than you can in the game, the second is the ability to play with other human beings without needing to synchronize your play time with them, the third is the access to psuedomagical races and that bit, along with a lot more emphasis on character than on just idle building. The game is a lot of waiting and then bursts of action, where this will hopefully have a good deal of action most of the time with bursts of heavy action around wars and succession crises and the like. Wars will also be more involved because you'll be able to try and lead through events I'll give you based on your skill level.


Things you'll miss will be a larger area to play as (you can't play as any English or Scottish or Sicilian or French Dukes right now, etc) A more robust system for crusades and the like, a more visibly evolving world outside of your own playing area, a more consistent speed for gameplay... I could think of more, but really the point I'm trying to make has been made:


RP is your big win, a lack of huge diversity in duchies and counties and the like is your drawback.

 

[MDL]

I just have to say that I'm not thrilled with the idea of fantasy creatures, I just can't get an understanding of the setting, is it medieval Europe or isn't it?

 

[CeeJay]

I just have to say that I'm not thrilled with the idea of fantasy creatures, I just can't get an understanding of the setting, is it medieval Europe or isn't it?

Strictly speaking, no, it's not medieval europe in the most literal sense. There are races/species that are not strictly human for reasons that are partially my own, but partially because it opens the possibility up for more diverse characters than just normal borin' folk as strictly speaking the most not-white person you'd see in the Holy Roman Empire is a nothern Italian, who are just slightly darker than white and more often have black and brown hair as opposed to brown and white hair. It's also an attempt to create some artificial differences and conflicts between players for being 'foreign' and some more interesting heresies, as again, the Holy Roman Empire was almost strictly Germanic folk (which again, I find kinda boring). Anyway, none of the characters the players will be playing are real historical characters, the Habsbergs and other similar families will not be player families, and the world's history will not follow along historical lines as the players will fuck this up (as they are wont to do, given the fact that players want to do exciting and cool things, and being railroaded into exactly what history says is boring so even from that sense it's not medieval Europe.


From a broader sense, yes, it's medieval Europe. There are feudal lords, a lack of concepts of things such as Germany or the United Kingdom or self determination, most people are peasants or serfs, chivalry is about to be crystallized as a concept, romance is what happens after your father/mother marries you off to get some sort of land/influence/alliance if you're lucky, Christianity is a central tenet of most people's world, the Pope holds huge levels of sway and power, Islam controls the Iberian Peninsula, and the Crusades are coming very very soon.

 

[Thief of Words]

Is this still open to more players? ; I'd be quite interested, given that the focus of my Literature major was upon English Lit. in the Early period (which includes 1066 as one of its rather significant historical markers).

 

[CeeJay]

This is still open to players because I really only have 2 "possible" players, and no one actually committed. ^^;